Getty Tonya Cooley
Two seasons of MTV’s The Challenge, Inferno II and The Duel, dropped on Netflix on December 15 and many fans of the show and new viewers will be wondering about some of the different competitors on the show and what they got up to after their Challenge careers. One of the cast members with a memorable storyline on Inferno II was Tonya Cooley, who was on the Bad A***s team.
During the season, Cooley was seen losing her cool in an argument with fellow contestant Beth Stolarczyk and throwing her suitcase and belongings into the pool. A recurring storyline throughout the season was Cooley’s struggle to get along with her female teammates, namely Veronica Portillo, Rachel Robinson and Tina Barta. Cooley often opened up during her confessionals about how she felt left out and was not supported by her teammates.
After her appearance on Inferno II, the Real World: Chicago alum returned for four other Challenges until her final appearance on The Ruins in 2009. Following the show, Cooley sued MTV and said she’d been sexually assaulted by a couple of the cast members on that season.
Cooley’s Lawsuit Alleged That She Had Been Sexually Assaulted By 2 Male Cast Members & the Lawsuit Was Settled Out of Court
Cooley filed a lawsuit on October 27, 2011, against Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP), MTV and fellow cast members Kenny Santucci and Evan Starkman claiming that the two competitors “took another male participant’s toothbrush and … insert[ed] the toothbrush into [the] plaintiff’s vagina” when she was passed out, according to the Hollywood Reporter’s published version of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit stated that BMP provided the contestants with unlimited alcohol to “encourage the participants to engage in scandalous behavior that would increase viewer ratings.” It also stated that MTV and BMP “encouraged and condoned male contestants to mistreat females, usually in a sexually offensive matter.”
MTV’s parent company Viacom responded to the lawsuit by stating Cooley was sent home from The Ruins because “she violently struck another contestant.” The counter-charge also argued that “In addition to failing to avail herself of VMN’s policies and complaint procedures, [Cooley] failed to avoid the injuries of which she complains. For example, while she was a contestant on The Ruins, [Cooley] was frequently intoxicated … rowdy, combative, flirtatious,” the Hollywood Reporter shared.
In interviews with BuzzFeed News, several other cast members said although the incident in question was inappropriate, the assault described in the lawsuit never happened. Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, whose bunk bed was next to Cooley’s, said she had gotten drunk and passed out and a photo of Santucci and Starkman holding the toothbrush was taken but there was no assault, he said. Contestant Susie Meister said:
The truth of the matter is, Tonya got wasted, passed out on her bed with her bikini bottoms falling off, and the guys did hold up this toothbrush as a joke to take a picture — which is totally inappropriate and disgusting. But there wasn’t an assault that happened.
They both mentioned that there were cameras on the contestants at all times and if there had been any sign of an assault, crew members would have intervened. Devenanzio said he thinks other contestants who disliked Santucci and Starkman told Cooley an inaccurate version of events. “I don’t think Tonya is purposefully accusing people that didn’t do it,” Meister said. “I believe she believes it happened when it didn’t.”
The lawsuit was settled privately and closed in October 2012 and the details of the settlement have not been made public.
Cooley Appeared on 8 Seasons of ‘The Challenge’ & Won 1 & Later Opened Up About Her Struggles on the Reality Show
Cooley, now 40, made her MTV debut on The Real World: Chicago in 2001 and 2002 before making her debut on The Challenge back when it was known as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge for its 6th season, Battle of the Sexes. She also appeared on The Gauntlet and Battle of the Sexes 2 before her Inferno II appearance. She then competed on Fresh Meat, followed by Inferno 3, which she won, then The Island and The Ruins, her final season, in 2009.
Cooley spoke to BuzzFeed News in a phone interview in 2016 and although she could not discuss specifics of the lawsuit, she shared her experiences on the show and the struggles she had with alcoholism that stemmed from her reality TV career. “I was drinking too much and it … stopped being a game of sport for me and I [made] some unhealthy choices,” she told the outlet.
She said the show brought out a lot of problems she had in her life prior to reality TV: “I’m not going to hide the fact I became an alcoholic on the show. I was a great competitor, but I was just lost personally. Mentally, I wasn’t mature enough to handle some of the situations I was in and, in turn, I drank a lot.”
Cooley is now sober and opened her own hair salon, she shared with BuzzFeed News and said most fans of the show would be shocked to see her now. “I am a genuinely happy person now. I still have a bit of the wild and crazy Tonya in me, but I’ve learned to balance her out. It would have been nice to have people see that I actually made it.”
READ NEXT: The Challenge Star Undergoes Surgery for ‘Devastating Injury’