Cara Maria and Tori fight about “War of the Worlds 2” during “The Challenge” season 39 reunion

Sydney Bucksbaum
·8 min read
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Plus, find out why Laurel actually defended Michele's honor during Part 1 of the messy reunion special.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for part 1 of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion.

Old wounds still haven't healed for some The Challenge champions.

While most of the season 39 cast gathered for part 1 of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion, the five returning champs in attendance — Cara Maria Sorbello, Laurel Stucky, Tori Deal, Darrell Taylor, and Devin Walker — totally stole the show (is anyone surprised?). They roasted and supported the new champ Emanuel Neagu, runner-up Nurys Mateo, and the rest of the contenders, as well as fought about past seasons.

<p>MTV</p> Tori Deal, Devin Walker, Laurel Stucky, and Darrell Taylor

MTV

Tori Deal, Devin Walker, Laurel Stucky, and Darrell Taylor

In fact, Cara Maria and Tori proved that time has not healed anything when it comes to their notorious War of the Worlds 2 rivalry. Fans remember that in 2019, the women began that season on the same team before Tori and her then-fiancé Jordan Wiseley defected to Team U.K. after Cara Maria and her boyfriend Paulie Calafiore rallied the numbers on Team U.S. to work against them. So when Cara Maria gave advice to the season 39 contenders who were salty about how real-life friendships impacted this game, telling them that nothing in the game is real and they should only protect themselves moving forward, Tori immediately called her out based on their storied history.

Tori pointed out that in War of the Worlds 2, Cara got to the final without ever going into a single elimination because she made a massive alliance with all her real-life friends. Cara shot back by accusing Tori and Jordan of working against her from the beginning because they didn't want another "power couple" at the end. Tori denied that, and both fierce champs left their feud simmering as the reunion moved on. This is one intimidating potential Rivals 4 pair.

Here are the 16 other most shocking moments from part 1 of the season 39 reunion.

<p>MTV</p> Olivia Kaiser and Michele Fitzgerald

MTV

Olivia Kaiser and Michele Fitzgerald

  1. The tears started flowing even before the cameras officially started rolling. As the final cast members walked on the set, Nurys began crying, as this was the first time she and Olivia were in the same room since their elimination. She walked off the set with Zara to get a tissue and talk to producers, and she said it's both seeing Olivia and having to go through this reunion experience without Horacio (since he was away filming Exalton) that made her emotional. Later on in the episode, Horacio joined virtually as a surprise and both he and Nurys teared up at seeing each other for the first time in months.

  2. Olivia said she's happy that Nurys and Horacio have made things work despite her originally not thinking they were compatible, but Nurys said that she's lying. "You were the biggest f---ing hater the entire time," Nurys said. Meanwhile, Horacio said he's still friends with Olivia because he didn't want her to feel alone. Olivia said she owed Horacio more in this game based on what they went through together last season, but she lost herself. She also admitted that she and Nurys were best friends before this season but had also "made myself believe a little different at this point just to make myself feel better" because of the way things turned out between them. She officially apologized, and while Nurys said she could accept an apology, they'll never be friends again. Laurel said that while their relationship will always be different moving forward, it could still become something good, because she had a friendship break before on The Challenge (and the camera, of course, panned to a stone-faced Cara Maria) but that the love never dies and it comes back as something new.

  3. As Olivia previously told EW, Nurys also confirmed that it was Aneesa who told her brother bad things about Olivia, and Olivia didn't understand why because a week before filming, Aneesa had messaged her something really nice and supportive. Cara Maria laughed as she said, "That's literally Aneesa in a nutshell."

  4. Horacio revealed that he and Laurel took a step back after their short-lived Ride or Dies showmance, and they are good friends today. She fully supported Nurys and Horacio's relationship, and Tori said that Laurel's first reaction upon learning about it was, "They're both really hot so it's good for them."

  5. Berna couldn't film the reunion because she was filming Survivor Turkey. Let's hope there are no eating challenges for her on that show.

  6. Asaf was still trying to make some kind of impact on the season by calling out the champs before host Maria Menounos could get even get through the introductions. "You've been on our season for like 10 minutes, half of you lost, but good to see you," he said to Darrell, Cara Maria, Laurel, Devin, and Tori. Corey called him out as the rest of the cast laughed uncomfortably, "Are we getting started already, Asaf?"

  7. Laurel and Tori said Emanuel is a deserving champion — "A win's a win," Cara Maria agreed — but Devin said that he won a season of "all losers." And when Emanuel tried to talk smack to the champs, Nurys revealed that he only won because he "cheated off of Colleen" and "copied her entire Sudoku" in the final. "Humble yourself," she told him. Then Tori said she considers Nurys to be a champion despite not having the title. "There should be a girl and guy winner every season," Tori added.

  8. Corey stood by what he said about wanting to see anyone but Jay win because he had "an easier ride" all season. Jay tried to say that he was playing harder than everyone else because he was playing Corey's and others' political games for them as well, but Michele immediately shot that down and made the conversation move on.

  9. Corey got balance beam redemption by walking on a shorter version of the one he struggled with during the final, and fully committed to it by rolling out of his tumble on the floor at the very end.

  10. Laurel called out Michele and Jay for not adapting their gameplay from Survivor to The Challenge since it hasn't worked out for them for multiple seasons now. But Corey defended Michele by pointing out she only went home because of a purge, not because she lost in an elimination like Jay, so it could be argued that she played a great game this season.

  11. However, Laurel shocked everyone by defending Michele later in the reunion when it came to Callum playing her by not revealing he had a girlfriend back home during their showmance. Laurel and Callum got into a loud fight — they have history from doing Ex on the Peak together — and she said he's always been sneaky with women. He tried to write Laurel off by telling her to go drink some more red wine but Laurel didn't let up. She then vocally supported Michele "because she didn't deserve that," which caused Michele's jaw to drop. "Change your f---ing attitude and change your f---ing behavior," Laurel yelled at Callum.

  12. When even the host grilled Asaf about how ineffective his "alliance" was by keeping it secret, Ravyn jumped in to point out to Asaf that if the others in the massive U.S. alliance knew he was with them, it would have been better for his game. And then Asaf and Melissa got into a fight over the particulars of their parent alliance/agreement. They still hate each other, no surprise there. But props to Big T and Melissa for bringing sunglasses onstage for this exact moment as they put them on to ignore Asaf. Queen behavior.

  13. Corey tried to explain that he will always support Big T after she came out, but he also stood by the moves he made in the game against her and Melissa. But Big T and Melissa accused him of always attacking women after he stood up to yell, and he got visibly flustered and said it's because they kept poking and pushing him to a intense level of frustration, and they never take accountability for their own actions. Big T said they'll never be friends, and Corey added they never were friends.

  14. Devin revealed he's single now, which means his off-camera romance with the first person eliminated this season (remember Jessica?) ended. He promised to be "banging" whenever he's back.

  15. Michele and Colleen almost got into a massive fight when Colleen said that Michele played the most desperate game this season. But then Colleen learned what "desperate" means from Corey and takes back her answer, arguing that she just didn't know the definition of the word, which immediately calmed Michele down and diffused what was about to become a very spicy situation.

  16. Part 1 of the reunion ended when security was called in to separate Asaf from Kyland and Melissa after Asaf got mad at them for accusing him of using her kid against her in the game — even though footage is shown backing up their claims.

How will that fight end? What other tea will be spilled? Find out when part 2 of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

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