Paulie Calafiore wasn’t the first Big Brother star to win The Challenge but he came close on several of his seasons. Instead, he saw Amber Borzotra make history with her win on Double Agents this past season. While Paulie seems ready for a return in the future, it’s uncertain when that might happen.
However, he addresses fan remarks and questions about the show regularly, so it seems MTV’s competitive reality series probably crosses his mind here or there. With a recent batch of fan questions online, he let everyone know his ideal season theme or format for his potential return.
That includes his thoughts on daily challenges and who goes into eliminations for each episode, with Paulie giving a pretty interesting version of how he’d like the show to be.
Big Brother star appeared in two Challenge finals
After debuting on Big Brother 18, Paulie moved over to The Challenge for the Final Reckoning season. That’s where he first made a name for himself as a hotheaded cast member ready to go at some of the game’s top competitors.
That season involved a Redemption House twist, with Paulie and his partner Natalie Negrotti having to fight their way back to the game after elimination.
They’d end up getting all the way to the final, which also featured Cara Maria Sorbello, someone Paulie took an interest in during the season. Both Paulie and Cara’s teams finished as runner-ups to the team of Ashley “Millionaire” Mitchell and Hunter Barfield in that infamous moment where Ashley took all the prize money for herself.
Paulie returned on the War of the Worlds season but ended up going home in Episode 14 just ahead of the final, which his girlfriend Cara Maria qualified for.
The last time viewers saw Paulie compete on MTV’s The Challenge was the War of the Worlds 2 season. While he made the final alongside Cara Maria, they lost to the UK team. That squad featured Chris “CT” Tamburello, Jordan Wiseley, Rogan O’Connor, and Dee Nguyen.
Paulie received a good bit of criticism for that season’s final as he seemed to have serious trouble in terms of endurance. MTV released a clip on their YouTube (below) that spotlighted him needing help from Cara Maria and even passing out on his back on the ground.
Paulie reveals his ideal format for The Challenge
So he’s been on three seasons, holds a 3-3 elimination record, and has been in two finals with zero wins on his Challenge resume. That certainly gives Paulie an incentive to return at some point and get his first win.
During a fan Q&A session Paulie did on his Instagram, one question that came in asked “ideal theme if/when you return to The Challenge?”
Paulie posted a slide on his IG Story, complete with him seated on a throne looking at a warrior or gladiator-style helmet. He revealed his ideal format, with a focus on the daily challenge winners, losers, and how eliminations would work.
“Winner of daily has power. Last place goes into elimination automatically. Duel format where they call out who they want or winner can choose to jump down,” Paulie shared with his slide.
In a way, Paulie’s description of an ideal theme for The Challenge seems to merge aspects of both MTV’s Double Agents and Paramount Plus’ All Stars spinoff season. On Double Agents, the winner of the daily challenge got the power to decide who they sent into elimination, while the house voted for their opponents. The daily challenge winners could decide to go into elimination if they wanted, but there was also that Gold Skull format.
On All Stars, the worst-performing competitors or captains of the losing team in the daily challenge would automatically go into elimination. The rest of the house would vote for their opponent, with the team that won the daily challenge safe from elimination.
Paulie’s format is pretty good but still leaves a lot up to the losing team if they get to choose who they face. So production might even introduce a twist to prevent giving too much power to a team that didn’t perform well daily.
Still, it seems Paulie will return to the show at some point, no matter the theme or format. He hasn’t given an exact timeframe, but it seems like once he’s back, he’ll be looking to claim that elusive first Challenge championship.
The Challenge Season 37 is TBA for 2021 on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars episodes are currently available on Paramount Plus.