Former Big Brother star and two-time finalist on The Challenge, Paulie Calafiore, was among the surprise cast members revealed for The Challenge: USA 2 on CBS.
Within the first episode, viewers saw him reunited with several castmates with whom he’d been in heated altercations during previous Challenge seasons, including Johnny Bananas and Josh Martinez.
They all seemingly put their previous differences in the past and ended up on the same team, making for an interesting redemption story in Paulie’s return to the competition series.
Based on online reactions, Paulie’s reality TV return was well-received by plenty of fans, who noted that they liked the calmer, more mature version of the hot-headed competitor they saw in previous seasons.
While many of his supporters would’ve liked to see him on the spinoff season longer, he was an early exit as he got eliminated by his former rival Bananas.
At least one former castmate didn’t shy away from taking some shots at Paulie, as Ride or Dies winner Devin Walker fired off several messages about his elimination. Paulie recently reacted to those remarks.
Paulie Calafiore learns about Devin’s tweets about USA 2
Paulie has been making the rounds with various podcasts and publications since his appearance on The Challenge: USA 2. In an episode of the Reality TV Aftershow podcast, former Survivor contestant Jonny Fairplay asked Paulie what he thought about his former castmate’s tweets.
Paulie said he hadn’t really been looking, so Fairplay read off one of the tweets in which Devin said it “had to sting” for Paulie to lose to his “biggest enemy” after all the “s**t” he talked. Devin also called Paulie a “loser” in his tweet.
“That is a classic Devin tweet to a T,” Paulie said, adding, “It almost has a high school feel to it.”
“I’m almost like, ‘Can we get past the part of The Challenge where we use terms like we’re in high school?'” Paulie asked.
“I could imagine him typing that while he’s drunk. Like, ‘I kinda like wanted to just tweet this and stir the pot and see if I’ll get a response or reaction,'” Paulie said.
Why is there beef between Devin and Paulie?
Paulie and Devin appeared in just one season of The Challenge together, 2018’s Final Reckoning. That was Paulie’s debut in the series, where he reached the final alongside Natalie Negrotti.
Meanwhile, Devin entered the game as a mercenary with Cory Wharton. After winning in an elimination against two of the teams in the original cast, Cory got into an altercation with castmate Tony Raines and was kicked off the show, meaning Devin also had to leave.
Devin and Paulie were among those at the Final Reckoning reunion and are also featured in MTV’s “6 Most Explosive Challenge Reunion Moments” highlight video.
Paulie was a spectator as Devin got up to confront Bananas over what he felt were insensitive remarks about his deceased father.
While Devin and Paulie didn’t have any incidents during that season, Paulie had been vocal while away from MTV’s The Challenge. The former castmates exchanged online remarks via social media and in interviews. That included Paulie calling out the “vacation alliance” and Devin for their “scared” gameplay.
During Paulie’s recent podcast appearance (above), he said maybe Devin was getting “jealous” about how Paulie bonded with Bananas during the spinoff as if he was “stealing his boyfriend.” Viewers saw Devin and Bananas patch things up from their Challenge feud during MTV’s Ride or Dies.
Paulie mentioned that his USA 2 castmate, Wes Bergmann, may also have been jealous about Paulie and Bananas’ mended relationship.
Paulie revealed Wes hadn’t said anything to him since they filmed together due to Paulie lying to him ahead of filming about being in the cast. That was part of a crazy bet that Bananas made with Wes, which may have resulted in the scene where Wes jumped naked into a pool in USA 2, Episode 5.
All Stars OG got involved in Devin’s messages to Paulie
Interestingly, it was also mentioned that MTV OG and All Stars competitor, Laterrian Wallace, responded to Devin’s tweet about Paulie.
“You’re a champ so you’re allowed to talk yo s***. Ive never done a challenge with either of you two so don’t really know the history but geez some of y’all cut deep with tweets! FYI never speak to me like this I’m a different kind of man,” Laterrian said in his reply to Devin’s tweet.
“I literally don’t know who you are,” Devin replied to the Road Rules and Challenge OG, including a facepalm emoji.
Luckily for Devin, it doesn’t appear he and Laterrian will cross paths anytime soon, with Devin seeming to continue appearing in MTV’s version of The Challenge and LT seeming done after multiple returns for the All Stars spinoff.
As far as Devin and Paulie crossing paths, that might be a different story. Depending on the direction of MTV’s Season 40, these two could end up competing against one another, should they both get and accept calls for the show. Is a Devin vs. Paulie showdown on the horizon?
The Challenge: USA 2 airs Thursdays at 10/9c and Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.