With the recent episode of The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies, viewers saw cast member Ashley Mitchell surprisingly deactivated from the season.
It came as a surprise as Ashley was in earlier parts of the episode and then disappeared when her teammates showed up at the nomination meeting to decide which cast member went into elimination.
Her removal from the season brought forth a lot of online speculation from fans and comments from castmates who were part of the season’s filming. It’s also bringing in comments from former castmates of Ashley’s, including Paulie Calafiore.
Cast member was deactivated from Spies, Lies & Allies
The Spies, Lies & Allies season featured several cast members deactivated, including Aneesa Ferreira, Tommy Sheehan, and Fessy Shafaat. The reasons for their deactivations were either medical disqualifications due to injury or, in the case of Fessy, making physical contact with a castmate.
However, several cast members got deactivated without any explanation given in the episodes. Nam Vo was the first to go home in Episode 1, with rookie Lauren Coogan deactivated in Episode 2. Reasons weren’t provided for their departures by TJ Lavin or MTV.
In Episode 14, the same happened with two-time champion Ashley Mitchell. She appeared in the daily challenge for the episode, which her Sapphire team won, and later during the club scene. However, she was absent when her team and the rest of the cast showed up at the weekly nomination meeting to decide on one of the elimination competitors.
Later at the elimination, host TJ Lavin informed the cast that Ashley was “deactivated” and could no longer continue in the game due to breaking one of the show’s rules. No further explanation was given beyond that, but there are online rumors about why Ashley had to leave The Challenge.
Verbal altercation took place, didn’t make Episode 14 footage
Online spoilers suggested that Ashley got into a nasty verbal altercation with castmate Josh Martinez and said some things that went against the show’s rules. That altercation wasn’t part of any of the Episode 14 footage.
Castmate Nelson Thomas seemed to confirm those rumors during a recent Instagram Live session he held after the episode aired.
Ashley has commented about getting kicked off the show, with no specifics given, but said she respected the decision and was “taking anger management” since going home.
There was online speculation that Josh and Devin Walker had been amongst Ashley’s castmates who went to production to complain about what she said. Devin commented on the situation to say that he, Josh, Logan, and other castmates weren’t responsible for Ashley being sent home.
Several of Ashley’s other Spies, Lies & Allies castmates also made comments since the episode aired, including Tori Deal, who defended Josh from online criticism. Emanuel Neagu said he was there “defending Josh” during the actual incident and that Ashley was “DQed for many reasons” and “exploded” that day.
Paulie reacts to Ashley situation, refers to ‘mob mentality’
Two-time Challenge finalist Paulie Calafiore last appeared in the War of the Worlds 2 season and headed up a large Team USA alliance that featured girlfriend Cara Maria Sorbello. Ashley Mitchell was also part of their alliance. Paulie’s been away for several seasons now but continues to comment about the show from afar.
His last remarks on Twitter referred to the “mob mentality” he says exists due to certain “weak vet competitors.”
“I can’t speak on the Ashley situation, I wasn’t there. I can speak on the same group of weak vet competitors that only band together cause they can’t win anything otherwise. Mob mentality bullies. Period,” Paulie tweeted.
It’s not the first time that Paulie has called out the Season 37 veteran cast members. In a previous interview, Paulie said the group of vets on Spies, Lies & Allies is one of the weakest he’s seen on the show.
He’s also called out Devin Walker in particular, who reacted to Paulie’s comments by suggesting he and Cara Maria are “ex-Challengers” with a “pathetic delusion.”
In another interview, Paulie suggested that certain cast members are “like snitches” who run to production to tell on him and Cara for things they find or make up in order to prevent them from being on the show. Like Paulie, Cara hasn’t appeared on MTV’s The Challenge since the War of the Worlds 2 season.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.