The Challenge: USA 2 has brought Big Brother, Survivor, and Amazing Race players into the competition series, along with MTV veterans who had vast experience playing the game.
Survivor’s Cassidy Clark was among the savvy new CBS players to join the cast, and she made an immediate impact within the first part of the season.
That included becoming an early team captain and putting together what may have been the strongest group of all the cast members.
She was also featured in an early elimination battle with a fellow rookie and what seemed to be a potential showmance with her castmate, Josh Martinez.
Viewers have seen Josh in flirty situations during his Challenge career, including a hookup with one of his Spies, Lies & Allies castmates.
The tease of Josh’s latest showmance arrived briefly in Episode 5 of USA 2, with Cassidy commenting about it following the episode’s airing.
Did Cassidy and Josh have a showmance in The Challenge: USA 2?
During USA 2’s fifth episode, several cast showmances were hinted at during some of the footage. There was Alyssa Snider and Tyler Crispen seeming to enjoy one another’s company, and then a hot tub scene featuring Cassidy and Josh.
“Thank you for showing me the ropes,” Cassidy told Josh from across the hot tub.
“Well, you’re doing good,” he told his castmate regarding her gameplay in The Challenge.
In a confessional interview, Josh said that he and Cassidy were “having fun and getting to know each other” and “for selfish reasons,” he didn’t want to see her go home yet.
“I like Josh’s energy. I like him as a person,” she said in a confessional after Josh’s was shown, adding, “He’s handsome. He’s cool. I think we relate on a lot of things.”
Footage showed Cassidy getting closer to Josh in the hot tub, and she admitted in confessional that she enjoyed “being around” Josh and “hanging out with him.” Not much more was shown between them.
During MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast, host Devyn Simone asked Cassidy what was happening with her and Josh based on what was shown in the footage.
Cassidy explained that she and Josh had “deeper conversations” than with some of her other castmates.
However, Cassidy said there was nothing more between them than some flirting and deep talks.
“I am a very flirty person just in general,” she said during the podcast episode, adding, “We maybe had a little bit of a flirtatious energy, but I guess- I don’t know, we would just be silly and laugh.”
She said they got to a point where they decided to protect each other in the game, and that was “the energy” between them in their friendship.
“I saw it more as a friendship, personally,” Cassidy said of their situation, seemingly putting rumors of a showmance to rest.
Josh’s previous flirtations included MTV vet and SLA rookie
Viewers were introduced to Josh in the first War of the Worlds season on MTV when he managed to get back into the game after being purged during the daily challenge. Since MTV vet Amanda Garcia’s rookie teammate got hurt, Josh was his replacement and teamed with Amanda.
That started their friendship, although Josh initially wanted more than that with Amanda. He admitted that to her, but Amanda said she saw him more like a brother than anything more and was even weirded out by his flirtations.
As longtime viewers have seen, Josh and Amanda’s bond has grown over the years and Challenge seasons, and they’ve remained great friends.
In the War of the Worlds 2 season, viewers saw Josh begin to like castmate Georgia Harrison from Love Island UK. They seemed to enjoy one another’s company and even may have talked about seeing one another after the season, but things never moved beyond that.
Josh’s more recent “hookup” was shown during Spies, Lies & Allies when he and rookie competitor Esther Agunbiade were shown kissing briefly.
Beyond that, Josh hasn’t been in any serious showmances or had romantic relationships from his time on The Challenge. However, his wise castmate Johnny Bananas admitted ahead of USA 2 it’s probably best for one’s game not to have a showmance during the competition series.
The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c and Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.