The Challenge: Ride or Dies season will bring some familiar faces to the competition series, including Johnny Bananas, Nany Gonzalez, Nelson Thomas, Laurel Stuckey, Tori Deal, and Jordan Wiseley.
However, it also brings in some brand new competitors, as rookies will look to make a name for themselves by battling the vets and attempting to reach the final.
Moriah Jadea is one of those new rookies and will be partners with a top competitor in the game, Fessy Shafaat, as he hopes to win his first season.
As fans saw in Season 37, Fessy cost himself another chance at winning the show, this time due to an altercation with his friend, Josh Martinez.
Josh and Fessy are no strangers to receiving critical comments from fans online and even hate, something they’ve likely experienced throughout their reality TV careers.
It’s something Josh recently mentioned in his Instagram Story Q&A, indicating he decided to take a season off and didn’t want his sister as his Ride or Dies teammate due to how it might affect her negatively.
Ahead of her rookie season on the show, Moriah commented about fans bullying cast members online, indicating she “can’t imagine” what online fans of the show might say about her.
The Challenge rookie Moriah comments about fan bullying
The Challenge Season 38 cast will feature rookies with and without experience in reality TV, including Amber Borzotra’s boyfriend Chauncey Palmer, Kaycee Clark’s brother Kenny, and Fessy’s partner Moriah.
Even though she has already filmed the season, which includes a mentally demanding game, she’s bracing herself for the mentally challenging season as episodes begin to air on MTV.
“Tbh seeing how fans bully people from the show I’m like damn I can’t imagine what u guys are going to say about me from a small portion of a clip u see or mistakes I’ve made. This just confirms to me to stay true to yourself because people will love u one day and hate you u next,” Moriah said in her tweet.
A fan tweeted replying to Moriah brought up that The Challenge production will typically edit a cast member as a hero or villain and that if she gets that villain edit, the hate will arrive.
In her reply to the fan, Moriah spoke about how this is what she signed up for, and regardless of the edit she gets for her season, social media allows cast members to “speak our truth.” Fans can follow her on Twitter @moriahjadea to see her reactions throughout the season.
Will Fessy help or hurt Moriah in the game?
Some rookies will team up with fellow rookies heading into Ride or Dies. Moriah seems to benefit from having Fessy as her teammate for her rookie campaign. However, coming into the season as Fessy’s friend may not be an enviable title.
As fans have seen, Fessy has reached the final in two of his three Challenge seasons but has yet to win one. He last reached a final with Kaycee in Double Agents, but Kaycee became badly injured during a run. Even though she hobbled to a checkpoint, Fessy refused to participate in the eating portion of the final.
That received criticism and backlash from host TJ Lavin who criticized him over the decision not to attempt the task. It also brought the same from online critics, which Fessy continues to endure during his Challenge career.
He got kicked off Spies, Lies & Allies due to the infamous argument involving him and his castmates over blindside moves and missing pizza.
Ultimately, him pushing his friend Josh away by the face resulted in Fessy being sent home for the season. Many fans were ecstatic over that, while others felt it was too minor an event for Fessy’s disqualification.
Either way, he’s become a polarizing character for The Challenge fandom, which could potentially hurt Moriah, especially regarding online critics. Also, one has to wonder if a few things happened during her rookie season she is worried about fans seeing.
A Ride or Dies super trailer arrived online, showcasing the drama, hook-ups, daily challenges, and intense eliminations on the way.
Much of the drama in the trailer involved vets, including Nany, Tori, Jordan, and Bananas. So far, the rookies have yet to reveal any issues, but plenty of footage is on the way.
Fessy did well with rookie Esther Agunbiade as his teammate for most of Season 37, so he may bring out the best in Moriah. Fans also love to root for an underdog, so it should be interesting to see how the rookie performs under the pressure of daily challenges and potential eliminations.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies premieres Wednesday, October 12, at 8/7c on MTV.