Moriah Jadea took exception to recent remarks on Zach Nichols’ podcast regarding her showmances on The Challenge.
She debuted as a rookie on MTV’s Ride or Dies season, arriving at the game as Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat’s teammate.
While they had their issues during the season, Moriah became comfortable and interested in Johnny Bananas, leading to a showmance that featured during the season.
They hung out multiple times after the filming of the season but never officially became boyfriend and girlfriend, based on comments on Season 39.
Fast forward to the newest season of The Challenge on MTV, Battle For a New Champion, and Moriah became interested in a new castmate, not named Bananas.
Her interest in castmate James Lock became a talking point for some of her castmates and even The Challenge alum Zach on his recent podcast.
Zach Nichols comments about Moriah’s showmances on podcast
As Zach and his co-host spoke about the start of a recent Challenge episode where Moriah and James were “hitting it off,” Zach interjected, “Yeah, Fessy was right about her.”
Zach and his host chatted about how Moriah said during The Challenge 39 episode that she was “more attracted to [James] physically and mentally.”
She also felt guilty about Bananas due to how much time they spent together after filming.
“She’s more attracted to a background pirate,” Zach said, with his co-host adding, “Than the Banana Man.”
When Zach’s co-host said he wondered how Bananas felt watching this episode, Zach speculated he probably doesn’t care much.
“I don’t really know how to feel about this. I kind of feel like Johnny doesn’t really care. If Johnny wanted her to be his girlfriend, I feel like he would have had that,” Zach said.
Moriah fires back after podcast clip surfaces online
Shortly after that podcast video clip appeared on Instagram, Moriah stopped by the comment section to react.
She called out her former showmance, Bananas, for possibly spreading a narrative about her through his friends and castmates.
She said that her “favorite part” of Zach’s podcast was “the whole entire thing being completely wrong.”
“The narrative that friends will help put out there is comical. Johnny, if you’re watching this, smiling, and reading this… this is a kind promise that if I see anything negative or more untrue about me than this false narrative maybe I’ll just speak up,” Moriah commented.
“I will own up to anything with no shame… I’m sick of being the bigger person. I kinda am sick of people knowing I won’t stoop low. Maybe I will?????” Moriah said.
The recent remarks arrive after Moriah’s showmance with James was part of the story in recent episodes of Battle For a New Champion aired on MTV.
Bananas’ name was mentioned as part of the story. Moriah was in tears as she expressed guilt to her castmate and friend, Nurys Mateo, about her interest in James despite hanging out with Bananas outside the show.
Nurys told her she could tell that Moriah and James’ connection was “effortless” compared to how long it took Moriah to warm up to Bananas in Ride or Dies.
Zach has appeared in multiple seasons with Bananas, including one where Bananas felt betrayed by him. However, they’ve seemingly remained on good terms with no known ill will toward each other.
Moriah was Fessy’s Ride or Dies teammate
Fessy previously appeared on Zach Nichols’ podcast during his time on The Challenge: USA 2, airing on CBS. As mentioned, he came to Ride or Dies with Moriah, with rumors circulating online they’d met through Instagram DMs.
Moriah’s showmance story on Season 39 prompted Wes Bergmann to comment online, and Bananas also jumped in to react.
Bananas currently appears on House of Villains on E!, filmed earlier this year, where he’s been seemingly interested in castmate Corinne Olympios.
She’s also appeared at various events with Bananas, including a Halloween outing and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bananas’ new Rumble gym in Florida.
As of this writing, there’s no “girlfriend and boyfriend” label on Corrine and Bananas, so it will be interesting to see what transpires and if Bananas comments further on Moriah’s showmance.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.