‘The Challenge’ Alum Dee Nguyen Thinks Castmates Used Her as a ‘Scapegoat’ to Show BLM Support
Due to insensitive remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement, MTV fired The Challenge champ, Dee Nguyen. While some fans supported the decision, it confused others due to the network’s choice to continue working with other cast members who have made similar comments. Two years after firing, Dee publicly talked about the infamous tweet that ended her reality TV career.
Dee Nguyen opens up about MTV firing
In June 2020, MTV cut ties with The Challenge champ Dee Nguyen for making offensive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Over two years later, Dee opened up about her firing for the first time in podcast The Deevine. During the nearly 30-minute-long episode, she explained how her career with MTV ended due to a tweet.
While the reality star acknowledged the inappropriate timing of her posting, she still “stands by it” and doesn’t believe it implied anything racist. She said the reaction from her castmates she considered friends “shocked” and “confused” her because they developed a close relationship during filming.
Therefore, she felt her co-stars knew her heart yet made her a “villain” in the situation. Dee got emotional when she talked about how they came for her online as she thought they could’ve texted her. Instead, since they took it public, Dee thinks her castmates used her as a “scapegoat” to show their support for the BLM movement. She didn’t name the co-stars, but it’s believed she’s talking about couple Bayleigh Dayton and Chris “Swaggy C” Williams.
MTV fired Dee for insensitive comments about the BLM movement
As The Challenge: Total Madness aired, Dee tweeted, “I don’t know why some of you think I’m anti-Black Lives Matter. I’ve been saying that since the day I lost my virginity.”
Additionally, she replied to a fan who accused her of not caring about BLM, “people die every f***ing day.”
Bayleigh screenshotted her remarks and posted them to Twitter, where she called out Dee for her statements. In response to the comments she began receiving, the War of the Worlds 2 champ attempted to defend her initial remarks, sparking a back-and-forth online with Bayleigh.
She then apologized, but champ Wes Bergmann, with whom Dee filmed a web series, stood by Bayleigh and cut ties with her. MTV followed suit a couple of days later and announced they would no longer work with the champ due to her “offensive comments.”
Dee won a season of ‘The Challenge’ before her firing
After participating in Geordie Shore, the 29-year-old Australia native made her debut on The Challenge: War of the Worlds partnered with Wes.
They created a dominant pair, winning several daily missions and an elimination. However, the couple got eliminated shortly before the finals. Wes and Dee returned for War of the Worlds 2 but on separate teams. While he was targeted early in the competition, she went to the finals with Team UK.
The shorthanded group pulled out the victory, resulting in a $250,000 check for each of them. Dee returned for the following season, Total Madness, and performed well again, winning four daily missions and two eliminations.
However, her messy gameplay resulted in her getting thrown into Purgatory multiple times until the eventual winner and her former ally Jenny West sent her home in a memorable Hall Brawl. MTV cut ties with Dee as Total Madness aired and chose to edit her out of the remaining episodes. The Challenge airs Wednesdays on MTV.
