The Challenge star Michele Fitzgerald recently spoke about her heated feud with castmate Amanda Garcia which began after they appeared in MTV’s Spies, Lies & Allies.
The two were friends during Michele’s rookie season, which was also Amanda’s return Challenge season, and featured her having a showmance with castmate Faysal “Fessy” Shafaat.
Amanda and Fessy then had an off-and-on relationship away from the show. Drama arrived when Fessy and Michele hooked up after they left filming SLA while Amanda was still there. More drama arrived at the season reunion involving these castmates.
It all led to Amanda claiming that Fessy dumped Michele so he could get back with her again. Amanda called out her castmate in several interviews and on Instagram Live about Michele’s hookup with Fessy and other inconsistencies.
Over a year after Spies, Lies & Allies, Amanda arrived as one of six MTV veterans competing with CBS reality TV stars on The Challenge: USA 2 spinoff. Other MTV vets included Jonna Mannion, Wes Bergman, Johnny Bananas, Cory Wharton, and Amanda’s enemy Tori Deal.
Michele was one of the CBS stars, as was Fessy, allowing for some early drama between Amanda and Michele due to elimination voting. The Survivor star commented about their fight, cut footage, and Amanda’s “hatred” of her.
Michele comments about Amanda’s hatred of her on The Challenge
While appearing on castmate Johnny Bananas’ podcast, Death, Taxes & Bananas, Michele was asked about her feud with Amanda. She broke down the situation involving Spies, Lies & Allies for Bananas, who wasn’t on that MTV season.
That included Michele bringing up Amanda and Fessy’s showmance and Fessy’s fling with Bettina during SLA. Michele also mentioned how she and Emanuel liked each other early in the season, but Emanuel eventually decided to go for Tori.
Michele said she wasn’t quite sure why Amanda continued to have hatred for her but said it was unfortunate because they were once on good terms.
“Hell hath no fury, I think, and it’s really interesting because I was close with Amanda, and so it definitely irks me and bothers me that we couldn’t seem to repair that,” Michele told Bananas during his podcast.
Michele also suggested that Amanda’s “hatred” is helping her because it gives her a storyline on USA 2.
“Maybe, maybe she’s doing it for a storyline. I honestly don’t know. I don’t know what motivates somebody to hate somebody so much, but now I hate her back,” she said.
Bananas said USA 2 castmates were ‘terrified’ during the drama
In The Challenge: USA 2, Episode 2, viewers saw Michele call out Amanda in the stands after Michele received the most votes of any female competitor in the house. Michele believed that it was Amanda who orchestrated the votes against her.
After winning the elimination event against Ameerah Jones, Michele returned to the house and was congratulated by castmates, except Amanda.
Instead, Amanda asked Michele if she had anything to say to her in person since she had so much to say earlier at The Arena. Michele and Amanda bickered a bit, with Amanda bringing up how Fessy “dumped” her before. Michele called Amanda “petty” for the argument.
While some MTV Challengers were joking about the fight or even trying to stir things up, nearby CBS castmates seemed unsure what to do. Bananas commented about how he was used to it but could tell others weren’t prepared for what they saw unfold.
“When people get into it, they start arguing in the house…You get your popcorn, like you make a joke out of it,” he said about drama on The Challenge.
“But I was looking around at the faces of some of the CBS people, and they were genuinely, like, terrified. They’re like, ‘Oh my God,’ [and] I’m like, ‘Guys, this is on a scale of one to 10. This is a one-and-a-half compared to some of the stuff that went down in the past,” he said.
A few others ate up being able to witness the drama, including Amazing Race star Dusty Harris, who admitted he’s a long-time fan of the show, so it was great to have a front-row seat live at the event.
Michele and Amanda said footage was cut from their argument
Michele brought up how she got caught up in the moment of the fight in the house but also realized others were standing there watching it unfold, and she almost felt as if she was doing something she couldn’t be. However, she said with everything that happened from SLA and at USA 2, she had to respond to Amanda’s trash talk.
In addition, she said footage was cut from their argument at The Arena, including both of them holding their middle fingers up toward one another and cursing each other out even more. Michele said that made it seem weird later when Amanda was calling out Michele at the house for acting like a “big dog” at The Arena.
In comments on the superfan’s IG video post above, Amanda pointed out that some of the things she said to Michele in the house were also cut out.
It seems there’s no love lost between these two. As viewers also noticed in teaser trailers, Amanda was shown yelling “I hate you” at someone from the stands at The Arena. It remains to be seen which cast member she’s directing that toward, but it seems highly possible that’s also Michele, if not her other enemy, Tori.
The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c and Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.