Former The Challenge and Real World star Zach Nichols continues to express strong opinions about the cast members of Battle For a New Champion.
The latest included remarks directed at Moriah Jadea, whom he called “delusional” for how she’s played the game to save her showmance over people she’d met and bonded with on her first season of The Challenge.
In the recent episode of Season 39, viewers saw Jay Starrett and Michele Fitzgerald having to figure out how to make the many members of their large alliance happy and safe while trying to eliminate two of the game’s top competitors.
Since Moriah has been linked with James Lock during the season due to a showmance, she wanted to keep him safe again.
With Jay having the first vote for who to save and Michele his ride or die in the game, Michele told Moriah that her man James would have to “do some dirty work” if they were going to keep him safe.
During a recent episode of the Zach Nichols Podcast, Zach addressed Moriah’s continued need to save James, a cast member she had only just met during filming and known for mere weeks.
Zach Nichols calls out Moriah Jadea as ‘delusional’
“I think Moriah’s so out of her mind, out of place, trying to act like James- like she just wants him there because that’s a shield for her. It’s her slam piece, and that’s her shield,” Zach said in his podcast.
“But I’m gonna tell you right now, her actually expecting James to be given this same respect that Nurys [Mateo] and Olivia [Kaiser] are being [given] is so terrible and delusional and so selfish,” he said.
Zach and his co-host Pierre agreed that Moriah “gets away with it” and didn’t understand it.
“She gets away with her terrible bucket hats. She gets away with her STD, James,” Zach said, referring to James during the podcast as an “STD or parasite” that is attached to Moriah and the alliance.
Zach’s co-host brought up the Johnny Bananas storyline from Season 39, saying Moriah is “the same girl that went on the show with a boyfriend, and everyone’s trusting her.”
In the video clip (above), Zach mentioned that he believed Moriah was “dealing with a lot of her indiscretions right now” as Season 39 episodes aired on MTV.
“As you watch this, you’re like, ‘Are you that delusional?'” Zach asked.
He continued his rant, mentioning that he was in a similar season with a castmate, Jenna Compono, now his wife, with whom he had a showmance during The Challenge. That season was Battle of the Exes II.
Zach said it was Jenna’s rookie season, and his teammate at the time, ex-girlfriend Jonna Mannion, wanted to throw Jenna and her ex-boyfriend Jay Gotti into the elimination. However, Zach agreed with that season’s larger alliance to preserve Jenna and Jay as a “layup” to possibly go against near or in the final.
Moriah fires back at Zach’s podcast remarks
Soon after a clip arrived on social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, Moriah stopped by the comment section to respond to Zach’s rant about her.
In her response, Moriah said she agreed with “some” of what Zach said, including that she was acting “delusional” and going through “a lot of emotions from things not related to the game.”
She said the plan had always been to have Olivia and Nurys safe, but at the end of the order so that Kyland Young and Horacio Gutierrez would go into the elimination. However, it didn’t work out that way in the recent episode.
“Johnny was truly never my boyfriend but I did feel like I already hurt someone and I really felt like I had to stand on that all season. Lots of people said they would make their confessionals a certain way for me but I told them I rather it just be the truth. I’m sure both of you have had not good moments, you live and you learn!” Moriah wrote.
“I don’t think there is anyone you guys rip on more than me! Mentally I’m done with the season tho!” Moriah wrote.
She also didn’t hesitate to remind Zach that his “mistakes were broadcasted” when he was on reality television and said his co-host’s mistakes are “just closeted.”
It’s not the first time Zach has mentioned Moriah or her showmance with James. He previously called her out over her nose job and a featured storyline in Season 39 that mentioned her showmance with Bananas in Season 38.
That storyline implied that Moriah felt bad or guilty and as if she was hurting Bananas by not contacting him to let him know that she’d met someone new, James, in Season 39.
As of this writing, Moriah’s managed to keep herself and her new showmance James safe throughout the new season, so it should be interesting to see if they reach The Challenge final and how they fare in their attempts to win the show.
The Challenge: Battle For a New Champion airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.