Maybe it was the chilly temperatures, the oppressive seclusion or the fact that bunkbeds aren’t particularly conducive to lasting love, but — unlike precedingly steamy seasons — The Challenge: Double Agents was, for the most part, glaringly chaste.
Its successor, Spies, Lies and Allies? Not so much. Just ask Aneesa, the game’s most enduring veteran, who bore witness to the sudden uptick in hookups from a distance, calling the cast the most — err…erotically charged? — she’d seen in 20 years.
“There’s never been this much romance in the Challenge house,” Aneesa, who first started competing in 2002, said. “Everywhere you look, there’s a couple. And I’m over it. Where’s my person?”
And though astute Aneesa would have to leave the game shortly thereafter because of a shoulder injury, she made a good point: The hormones are pooling between Season 37’s high-octane missions. So which couples will dive in with both feet, and which will fail to breach the shallow end?
Some of this season’s competitors, like Tori and Nelson, will have to narrow their interests before they can determine true romantic eligibility. While Tori was originally interested in her partner Kelz, his elimination left Tori all by her lonesome…that is, until, Michele was eliminated from the game, and Emanuel — Michele’s beau — suddenly became available.
Not to be outdone, Nelson — who came into the game entangled with Ashley (he insists it was purely sex, while she saw the potential for more) — has since been smitten with Berna, a Survivor export who was reared between tightrope walkers and lion tamers in the Turkish circus (seriously).
Less complex? Big T’s sudden attraction to Aneesa’s partner Logan. Big T was reticent at first but admitted when Logan was suddenly in danger of elimination that “I do like him.” Drawing from classic love stories, Big T said she loved Logan’s hands, while Logan called Big T an “octopus” with whom he liked to simulate wrestling in the yard’s side lawn.
“Yes, I enjoy rolling around the grass with Logan,” Big T said. “Of course I’d like things to go further.”
(Then they went further, and she elaborated: “Logan in a good kisser. He’s a very talented man; he’s very good at using his hands.”)
And Logan loved that Big T — in spite of her typically posh demeanor — was also an open book with a penchant for silly games.
“I really love her personality,” he said.
Less open? Nany and Kaycee. While the two have been the center of coupledom rumors since they met on Total Madness, they seem less cagey about their connection on Spies, Lies and Allies, frequently stealing off together into the beautiful Prague expanse.
Still, with two cast members falling victim to The Lair each week, it’s only a matter of time before some of these love stories reach their untimely conclusions. But can you see any tales lasting beyond The Challenge…or at least until it’s over? Share your thoughts, then be sure to tune in to the next Spies, Lies and Allies episode on Wednesday at 8/7c.
