Two-time Challenge finalist Paulie Calafiore recently shared his take on the big announcement of the brand new global tournament called The Challenge: War of the Worlds.
Ironically, it shares the same name as two seasons that Paulie appeared in for MTV’s competition series, one of which saw him reach the finals.
After responding to a fan’s question about the new series on his Instagram Story, more than a few commenters on Twitter reacted to what Paulie had to say about the new Challenge shows.
Paulie weighs in on The Challenge: War of the Worlds tournament
This past Tuesday, Paramount Plus revealed their new global tournament called The Challenge: War of the Worlds. The two-part tournament will take place on Paramount Plus. Ahead of that, there will be four different Challenge shows featuring competitors in four countries.
They’ll include The Challenge: CBS (working title), The Challenge: U.K., The Challenge: Argentina, and The Challenge: Australia. These four shows will determine finalists who will advance to the two-part tournament. Ultimately, the “first-ever Challenge World Champion” will be crowned.
Based on details so far, it won’t feature any of the regulars from MTV’s show, but the CBS show will feature reality stars from CBS shows. It’s still unclear if that means any of the Big Brother, Survivor, Amazing Race, or Love Island stars seen in seasons of MTV’s show are in the cast.
If so, that could mean Big Brother star Paulie Calafiore is eligible to compete, and he already showed his abilities to at least reach a Challenge final. A fan recently asked him his thoughts about the new Challenge CBS and War of the Worlds series, and Paulie replied on his Instagram Story.
“I think it’s amazing. I hope the competitors bring it because they have been severely lacking the past 3 seasons…and other countries don’t care about ‘Good Personalities,’ they care about winning to bring honor back to their nation,” Paulie replied.
Paulie has been critical of the recent casts of MTV’s The Challenge, claiming that many of the veterans aside from a few aren’t worthy competitors or talented athletically. The most recent season may have shown that, based on a truce formed by the veteran alliance.
Season 37, which was Spies, Lies & Allies, featured a cast of more rookies than veterans. Most of the vets got together and used a strategy to vote rookies into elimination each episode until few remained. Towards the end, only rookie Emy Alupei of Survivor Romania reached the finals along with seven veteran cast members.
More than a few rookies from different countries mentioned wanting to represent their nations and give a good performance for their fans back home while on MTV’s show.
Fans react to Paulie’s comments about new Challenge series
Once Challenge fans saw Paulie’s comments pop up online, they began to react to what he mentioned about competitors bringing “honor” back to their nation.
“Given he’s been unable to get cast for years now, claims like this aren’t doing his image of being delusional any favors,” one fan commented on Twitter.
Another commenter on Twitter suggested that Paulie acts like War of the Worlds is comparable to competing at the Olympics.
“Just a couple of the non Americans who were cast to bring honor to their nations,” another commenter tweeted, sharing a photo of former Challenge cast members Stephen Bear and Dee Nguyen, both of whom are no longer appearing on the show.
Dee, from Australia, was fired from MTV following comments she made regarding the Black Lives Matter on social media, while Bear, who is from the United Kingdom, is currently facing trial for revenge porn charges.
One Twitter commenter suggested that Paulie is “butt hurt” because he can’t get on the MTV show, with another wondering if Paulie competes on the new series, would it even count as a legitimate Challenge championship?
Fans last saw Paulie appear in The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 season, where he reached the final as part of Team USA along with his girlfriend Cara Maria Sorbello and other competitors.
During that final, footage showed that Paulie ran out of fuel in terms of endurance, possibly costing his team the win. Ultimately, Team UK won, featuring Americans CT Tamburello and Jordan Wiseley, along with Rogan O’Connor and Dee Nguyen.
After debuting on Final Reckoning, Paulie also competed in the original War of the Worlds season on MTV. He reached the final in his rookie season alongside teammate Natalie Negrotti, also a former CBS Big Brother contestant, and they finished in third place.
The Challenge: War of the Worlds premiere date is TBA for Paramount Plus.