The Challenge: Ride or Dies is underway on MTV, with cast members teaming up with their loved ones and friends as part of the latest season’s theme.
Among the duos competing on the show are Johnny Bananas with Nany Gonzalez, Amber Borzotra with Chauncey Palmer, Tori Deal with Devin Walker, and Kaycee Clark with her brother Kenny.
There’s also the return of two Survivor stars as teammates, as Jay Starrett is back on The Challenge with his friend Michele Fitzgerald.
The teammates were featured in Ride or Dies Episode 2, with Michele questioning whether Jay needed to hold onto a particular ally he was working with early in the game.
It led to some interesting confessional interview comments from Michele, and she’s since apologized for her remarks to her teammate.
This report will contain spoilers from The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 2.
Michele apologizes to Jay for Ride or Dies comments
Early in The Challenge: Ride or Dies Episode 2, Jay shared in a confessional interview that he felt good about his and Michele’s allies. He mentioned Michele was good with the vets, and he was solid with rookies Johnny Middlebrooks, Ravyn Rochelle, Horacio Gutierrez, and Olivia Kaiser.
However, a later conversation had Michele voicing her concerns about Jay’s association with Johnny, as she felt it could hurt them going forward. Michele suggested that Jay cut those ties early, or they’d continually be on the chopping block.
She brought up how a twist at the eliminations involving three teams drawing daggers from a rock made things shaky regarding alliances. At that point, she and Jay were one of the four teams up for elimination.
Two of the other teams were Johnny with Ravyn and Horacio with Olivia. Footage showed Johnny talking with Olivia during the episode and made Michele question how solid an ally Johnny was for them.
“I’ve never been known to be like a chill girl. I’m not, like cool as a cucumber. Like, the dagger pick is a really weird element in this game. I’m freaking out, and I want to put Jay on a collar and a leash, and I want him to sit and stay and be a good boy and shut up,” Michele said in a confessional interview.
Those remarks brought Michele to Twitter after the episode aired to apologize to Jay, as cast members sometimes learn things their castmates say or do only after the show airs on MTV.
“A public apology to my partner @Jay__Qs I do not think you are my dog but if it’s any consolation I love my dog more than anything in the world so…. Love you, mean it,” she tweeted.
Earlier in the episode, Michele also said that she and Nany had formed a friendship in real life, so she expected that would carry over to their time on Ride Dies. However, Michele became emotional when the power team, Nany and Bananas, chose her and Jay as one of the four teams possibly going into the elimination.
“I’m a little butthurt that Nany and Bananas put us in, but the truth is we’re a pair, and I’m partnered with somebody where their actions and their behavior are gonna blow back on me. Jay, sit back. Shut up. I’m gonna do all the work and I’m gonna take it from here,” she said later in a confessional.
She and Nany hugged it out after talking things over at the club, seeming to smooth over any hurt feelings about the elimination team decision. Even so, Michele tweeted that she wasn’t sure who she should trust after “looking back” on the episode’s events.
Survivor stars appearing in first Challenge season together
Jay and Michele have been on at least one Challenge season before, but Ride or Dies is the first team they’ve appeared together in a season.
Fans saw Jay make a solid debut in Total Madness, where as a rookie, the Survivor star won a thrilling upset in an elimination against Challenge OG, Chris “CT” Tamburello.
It was his second win in elimination for the season. He’d ultimately get taken out by rival Rogan O’Connor.
Jay returned for Double Agents, where he teamed up with Theresa Gonzalez, which put a target on him due to her bold game moves against popular Challenge stars.
He nearly returned for Spies, Lies & Allies but was sent home ahead of the show’s filming due to a rumored rules violation. Meanwhile, Michele made her debut as a rookie and won in the season’s first elimination alongside fellow rookie Corey Lay.
Last week, Jay shared a photo of himself side-by-side with Michele as he tweeted about “trying to survive another night on The Challenge.”
Neither player has reached a Challenge final, but both have solid experience on reality TV and competition shows. In addition to Jay’s previous Challenge seasons, he competed in Survivor Season 33, Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X, and was on MTV’s Ex on the Beach.
Michele appeared in two seasons of Survivor and won the show, claiming the million-dollar prize for Survivor: Kaôh Rōng.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.