For The Challenge: Ride or Dies season, the theme involves pairs of men and women who have a special bond between them, making them “Ride or Dies.”
Some teams feature husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, or great friends. Among them are Johnny Bananas and Nany Gonzalez, or Tori Deal and Devin Walker, who have been castmates for multiple seasons and are friends outside of the show.
With some teams, fans might be skeptical about their bond. One of those mysterious pairings is Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat and rookie Moriah Jadea.
Based on what’s been presented in episodes, they’re good friends outside the show. Moriah recently spilled the tea about Fessy, including how they met and he asked her to participate in Ride or Dies.
She also spoke about him treating her poorly once the season unfolded, which viewers started seeing around the show’s midseason point.
This report will include spoilers from MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies season.
Moriah Jadea shares how she and Fessy met before The Challenge
During a recent MTV’s Official Challenge Podcast episode, Ride or Dies rookie Moriah was the special guest, giving all the inside details about her time on the show to hosts Devyn Simone and Da’Vonne Rogers.
At one point, they asked Moriah to share how she and Fessy knew one another before the show and how it came he asked her to appear in The Challenge: Ride or Dies.
She said Fessy initially messaged her on Instagram, and they arranged to meet at a bar, but he didn’t say much of anything to her when she got there. Moriah said she had to go up to him and say hello, and he said “Hi” but acted really shy.
She said she was about to leave because it seemed weird, but he asked her to stay. Ultimately they became good friends, with their friendship going about a year before Ride or Dies came about.
When asked by Devyn if Fessy and her were “cuddle buddies,” Moriah indicated they were “sometimes” based on their moods.
As far as Fessy asking Moriah to appear on the show, he had a rather interesting pitch.
“He was just like, ‘Hey, I might need to bring a girl for Ride or Dies, and I don’t want to bring my sister, and you’re very athletic, and you know we get along, and I know that me and you won’t have any issues in the house. Would you want to come?'” Moriah said of him presenting the opportunity to her.
She said they eventually went to a testing session in Atlanta, Georgia, and throughout the entire process for casting, Fessy downplayed things about them being on the show. Moriah says they got the call to be on the show about three days before they had to depart for filming.
Viewers have seen and heard Fessy remind Moriah multiple times that he was the one responsible for getting her on The Challenge. However, if not for her participation, he may not have had a Ride or Dies partner.
Moriah comments about Fessy’s treatment of her during Ride or Dies
Viewers saw in Ride or Dies Episode 13 that Fessy had no problem offering up his teammate for the elimination at The Zone, following her burn vote that got him put into the previous elimination.
However, Moriah said there was more to his poor treatment of her. That included him not really talking to her much during the show and even telling her to find another girl to talk with about things.
In one episode, Moriah comforted Fessy when he felt he wasn’t performing like all-time greats like Bananas or Jordan Wiseley. However, having a shoulder to cry on didn’t seem to work the other way for Moriah.
She said Fessy told other women in the cast that he trusted them more than Moriah and had known them longer. All of the above made for a rough experience for the rookie competitor. In Episode 13, her team lost the daily challenge, putting Moriah in jeopardy of elimination.
Ultimately, Moriah was ousted from the game, as she became the easy main vote at The Zone. The only other options were Nany and Amber Borzotra, with both doing more seasons and having closer ties to castmates.
Fessy didn’t vote for Moriah, but enough of his teammates did. She’d lose a super-close elimination battle to Nany due to a misspelling in a series of scrambled words.
During her podcast appearance, Moriah praised Fessy for his competitive abilities but not as someone she could count on beyond that.
“I won’t lie; he was a great partner when it came to competing, but as far as like making sure I feel good, showing me how to do things, I had to do that like all by myself,” she said.
Viewers will see if Moriah returns to the game. A twist after her elimination revealed she’s still able to compete in the final as long as her Ride or Dies partner isn’t eliminated, unbeknownst to Fessy.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.