‘The Challenge: USA’: Leo Temory’s Girlfriend Clarifies Phone Call: ‘We Were Both Overwhelmed’
The Amazing Race star Leo Temory left behind his businesses to compete in The Challenge: USA. One episode featured a heated phone call with his girlfriend, who wanted to come home as the companies weren’t doing well. Following the episode, she clarified the call and blamed production for editing things out.
Leo Temory’s girlfriend called him about his businesses during ‘The Challenge: USA’ episode 7
During the August 18 episode of The Challenge: USA, Leo Temory had a heated phone call with his girlfriend. Apparently, she took care of his businesses while he was competing, but issues caused them to lose money every day, totaling over $40,000 at the time.
His girlfriend was upset as she felt he should be home running the day-to-day operations and seemingly wanted him to quit to return and take care of things. Therefore, Leo packed his bags and got ready to leave until his teammate Alyssa Lopez convinced him to stay, as his exit might affect her spot in the game.
Following the episode, his girlfriend, Alia, posted a screenshot of a message written in her Notes app to her Instagram story. She claimed the viewers don’t know what happened “behind the scenes,” noting that “uncommon issues” with the businesses were happening at the time.
Additionally, she accused production of preventing Leo from having “business calls that they already agreed on.” His girlfriend admitted, “we were both overwhelmed,” as she also had a full-time job. Alia claimed the show cut and edited the scenes, pointing out that their phone call and his attempt to leave happened on different days. “He wasn’t even wearing the same outfit,” she noted.
Leo has won two eliminations during ‘The Challenge: USA’
The 36-year-old Los Angeles native entered The Challenge: USA alongside only three others representing The Amazing Race franchise, including runner-up Cayla Lee and winner James Wallington.
They were immediate targets, but Leo remained safe. He had a history of people not wanting to team up with him due to his lack of focus, and Sarah Lacina was no different.
However, the two had to work together during episode 5 when they were blindsided into elimination as winning couple Tyson Apostol and Cashay Proudfoot wanted to take a shot at the Survivor champ. They came out on top, eliminating Azah Awasum and Cinco Holland Jr.
He remained safe until a couple of episodes later when he and Alyssa finished at the bottom, earning a spot in the elimination round. The team sent Kyland Young and Kyra Green home and stole the money in their bank account, bringing Leo up to $9,000, the fourth most remaining contestant.
Leo initially appeared on ‘The Amazing Race’
In 2013, Leo and his cousin Jamal Zadran, the “Afghanimals,” competed on The Amazing Race 23, where they immediately made their mark with their boisterous personalities.
The team was U-Turned twice but survived, the first team to do so, ultimately placing fourth. They returned for the following season, All-Stars, where they focused more on their social game.
Although it worked as they avoided getting U-Turned, the duo placed fourth again. The cousins returned for a third and likely final time in 2019 for The Amazing Race 31, where they implemented their initial strategy.
Even though they struggled throughout the season, the duo finished with their placement in third. Leo’s appearance on CBS’ reality competition show is his first since his time on The Amazing Race.
