‘The Challenge’: Stephen Bear Responds to Revenge Porn Accusations, Calls Himself the ‘Victim’ in Statement
The Challenge star Georgia Harrison accused ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear of secretly recording her while they had sex and publicly sharing the video. As a result, Bear was taken into custody. A week later, the reality star broke his silence with a statement from his legal team.
Georgia Harrison accused Stephen Bear of secretly recording her
In 2018, UK rookies Georgia Harrison and Stephen Bear fell for each other during The Challenge: War of the Worlds. Although Bear had a girlfriend at the time, he ended the relationship to pursue Harrison.
However, the two didn’t last and broke up many times before splitting it up for good in the summer of 2019. A year later, Harrison took to social media to publicly accuse her ex of secretly recording a sexual encounter they had at his house with strategically placed security cameras.
Additionally, The Challenge star claimed she had proof that Bear showed the video to other people. Bear eventually responded and implied the video involved a different woman. After a back-and-forth, many fans began noticing that Bear uploaded the tape to his OnlyFans platform.
Harrison reached out to the official OnlyFans social media account, and they seemingly responded by disabling Bear’s account.
Bear reportedly arrested on revenge porn crimes
After the UK Celebrity Big Brother star attempted to create several more accounts, he left the platform. Bear also took a vacation to Dubai for a few weeks following the accusations.
On Jan. 15, the UK native returned to London, where police officers waited for him at the airport. According to the Essex Police, they took the 31-year-old into custody in connection with Harrison’s allegations.
In the statement, the department explained they are investigating the reality star for his involvement in “suspicion of disclosing private sexual photographs or films without consent with the intent to cause distress and harassment.”
Additionally, Bear was slapped with a count of obstructing a police officer. Following a day of questioning, the Essex Police confirmed to Us Weekly that Bear posted his bail and remained out of jail until his court date on Feb. 10.
Bear claims he’s innocent in statement
A week after the reality star was released from custody, he posted a statement from his legal team regarding the allegations. It started off calling Bear the “victim” because he has to deal with “vicious trolling on social media.”
His team also implied they would deal with the harassing online comments in a legal manner. The statement continued and noted the police have yet to charge their client with a crime. Additionally, they called Harrison a “so-called victim” and claimed she “named and shamed” Bear.
The team also accused The Challenge star of “reveling in the new attention” and called the allegations “immature and ridiculous rumors.” The statement closed by claiming that Bear “feels passionately about other people that have been falsely accused of crimes and faced a wave of abuse” and will advocate “for these people who have no platform in the future.”
After the arrest but before the statement, Harrison noted she would not publicly comment about the situation as it’s an “ongoing criminal investigation.” The Challenge 36 airs Wednesdays at 8/7 Central on MTV.
