The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies had plenty of rookies in the cast, but only a few lasted until nearly the final. Only one reached the Season 37 final, Survivor Romania’s Emy Alupei, who proved herself as a rookie by winning four eliminations in her debut season.
Despite her gaining popularity with some Challenge fans, others brought up her previous performance on another reality show which included Emy using a racial slur. Based on that performance, it’s believed that Emy wouldn’t get called back for the next season of MTV’s show.
The Season 37 rookie recently commented on the matter, referring to her performance from six years ago.
Keep in mind that this report contains spoilers about some of the speculative cast members for the upcoming Season 38 of MTV’s The Challenge.
Emy comments on her ‘culturally insensitive performance
Taking to her Twitter on Friday, Survivor Romania and The Challenge: Spies, Lies, & Allies star Emy Alupei posted an apology about her 2016 performance on X Factor Romania. The popular TV talent show featured Emy singing and rapping several songs to show off her abilities.
Her rap song of choice was Nicki Minaj’s Only, featuring singer Chris Brown, which includes explicit lyrics and racial slurs throughout. Monsters and Critics previously reported about Emy’s explicit performance, with a YouTube video included. However, that previously public video is now private on YouTube.
In her Twitter statement, Emy explains that she was 18 years old at the time of the performance, and Nicki Minaj was among her idols. She also mentioned that since she’s from Romania, she didn’t realize repeating the racial slurs from Nicki Minaj’s song was “culturally insensitive” when used by white people.
“I would never in my life intend to offend, insult, hurt or disrespect anybody. I am sorry from my heart for saying these words in the song. I now understand the impact and heaviness of using this word and how offensive my performance was to an entire community. I sincerely apologize to everyone, my friends and to strangers I have offended,” her Twitter statement said.
MTV’s Spies, Lies & Allies season was a big debut for Emy, as the rookie performed well in the game and also debuted a hit song she’d created called Alien. MTV included the song in one of the episodes, with Emy giving her castmates a live performance at a club.
After the season ended, Emy returned for the Spies, Lies & Allies reunion hosted by Maria Menounos, and performed Alien again at the closing of the special.
Will Emy return for The Challenge Season 38?
With a 4-0 elimination record and appearance in the final during her debut season of The Challenge, many fans believed that 23-year-old Emy Alupei would be one of the returning rookies for the show. However, spoilers and rumors for Season 38 have suggested otherwise.
Monsters and Critics previously reported on the rumors that Emy and her Survivor Romania friend Emanuel Neagu were removed from the Season 38 cast at the airport. The speculation was that Emy’s explicit performance from years ago was why MTV dropped her from the follow-up season to Spies, Lies & Allies.
Based on the details, Emanuel won’t be on the show either due to speculation that he would’ve teamed up with Emy for the new season’s format involving partners who are allies such as relatives, friends, or significant others.
MTV previously cut ties with The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 winner Dee Nguyen due to her making an offensive joke on Twitter that was deemed insensitive to the Black Lives Matter movement. Following the social media post, the former Geordie Shore star was heavily edited out of the remaining episodes of her final season of The Challenge, Total Madness, and fired by MTV.
As of this report, there’s no word on whether or not MTV fired Emy, as they haven’t released any official statement or commented on the matter.
The Challenge Season 38 is TBA on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars 3 episodes arrive Wednesdays on Paramount Plus.