‘The Challenge’: Michele Fitzgerald Only Wanted to Start a ‘Showmance’ With ‘Messy’ Fessy Shafaat on According to Laurel Stucky
The Challenge: Ride or Dies cast features a mix of old-school competitors and newer franchise stars. And the differences between the two really stood out to Laurel Stucky. The powerhouse vet made her first appearance on the MTV reality series since season 34 War of the Worlds 2, teaming up with her good friend Jakk Maddox.
During a recent appearance on Johnny Bananas‘ Death, Taxes, and Bananas podcast, Laurel revealed that during filming, she witnessed things happen in the house that she would have never seen years ago.
Laurel Stucky and Jakk Maddox were eliminated in episode 6 of ‘The Challenge: Ride or Dies”
Laurel was a Fresh Meat contestant who was drafted into The Challenge back in 2010 by three-time winner Kenny Santucci. Those were the days when the vast majority of competitors on The Challenge were alumni of either The Real World or Road Rules. Of course, since then the MTV series has started including reality stars from the Paramount family of networks, not just MTV stars. They include competitors from Big Brother, Survivor, and Love Island — as well as reality stars from around the globe.
Season 38 marked Laurel’s seventh time competing, with three finals and one win on her resume. But in episode six, Laurel and Jakk were sent into elimination by Survivor vets Michele Fitzgerald and Jay Starrett. They went up against Jordan Wiseley and Aneesa Ferreira in the “In Your Face” elimination, and were ultimately sent home. Laurel got emotional at her elimination and told Jordan to “kick Jay and Michele’s a**es”
Michele Fitzgerald approached Fessy Shafaat about starting a ‘showmance’ in season 38
While talking to Bananas on his podcast, Laurel discussed the dynamic between her and Michele in season 38 after calling her “annoying” in episode six. Laurel says that she talked a lot with Big Brother alum Fessy Shafaat during filming, who revealed that Michele attempted to have a showmance with him.
Laurel witnessed Michele trying to cozy up to Fessy, and later Fessy told her that Michele approached him and said “I have many options for a showmance this season.”
“She was trying to get him to be in a showmance with her. And he was like ‘go ahead and put your benchwarmers in’ basically because he wasn’t interested in being in a showmance with her,” Laurel explained.
“And I was like, that’s weird, you know because coming from like, you and me, where we’re in this old school train of thought where we came on the show basically in The Real World era where they casted thousands of people to be real. They really sought us out because they knew that we were just gonna be ourselves.”
Laurel Stucky says the newcomers on ‘The Challenge’ are ‘fake’
“That’s so fake to me to say to somebody ‘do you want to be in showmance with me’ because not once in my entire time on television have I ever done something that I wouldn’t do because it’s just who I am,” the Free Agents winner continued.
“And I think that is what separates the people now that are coming on to television because they’re fake. So I just started to develop an opinion about her based on what I was thinking, and maybe she could feel that. But I never had anything against her.”
Bananas agreed with Laurel, sarcastically pointing out that the newer generation of Challengers are being “extra” just for camera time and aren’t authentic versions of themselves. He also noted that this wasn’t so blatantly obvious in previous seasons as it has been on Ride or Dies.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays on MTV.
