Nurys Mateo went into The Challenge: Cutthroat with a plan to keep her head down and enjoy herself. Then she found out what the season was called.
“I really don’t want to be in a position where I am yelling at people,” she says she told herself. “I want to have such a good experience where I’m making nothing but friends and everything is going well.” And then production announced the theme. “I said, that’s insane.”
Four episodes later she was gone, beaten by Anna Leigh Wilson in “I’ve Got You Pegged” after torching most of the Gray Team on her way to the arena. She’s had a few days to watch it back, and one thing has been eating at her: Chris Underwood, the ally she broke a tie to protect, hasn’t reached out.
Below, Nurys talks about why she thinks she may have been played, why she stands by calling Sydney Segal the “fakest b—h in the house,” what she really thinks Johnny “Bananas” DeVenanzio is doing with Alexis “Lete” Lete, and the double standard she says fans are applying to Cory Wharton.
Gold Derby: You were coming in hot this week. Talk about the emotions of this season, and why you were so emotional leaving after that arena.
Nurys Mateo: Everybody has a different why every season. My why this season was honestly, I got to escape from the real world. The real world sucks and I really just wanted to have fun. I told myself this time around, I really don’t want to be in a position where I am yelling at people. I want to have such a good experience where I’m making nothing but friends and everything is going well. That’s literally what I said. And then we get there and they’re like, the season’s called Cutthroat. And I said, that’s insane. That’s insane.
I’m always going to be me. Even if I don’t want to be feisty and yelling, I’m always going to have to say my piece.
Afterward you cried, and you said it’s just because you love this show.
I definitely cried a lot more than they showed. For me this is a dream, and I feel like a loser sometimes saying it, but it’s the truth. I only ever signed up to do reality TV because I wanted to be on The Challenge. I only ever put my life on the line and dealt with all the scrutiny and all the hate from the fans because I wanted to be exactly where I’m at.
I had gone ham at the gym before going in there. I had trained — not because I was training for The Challenge, but because I was training for life. I thought I went in there stronger. And then in the elimination I’m giving it my all and I see her pull ahead and I’m just like, damn, I let myself down.
I just wanted to stay. I wanted to keep having fun. I didn’t want to go to the real world anymore. And I kept hearing this might be a make-or-break season, and I said, damn, could you imagine this is the last season and I just left fourth? I was hurt. I love this show. I love the game. I’m always going to be grateful whenever I get called, win or lose. Even if I go home first, it’s a dream. People want to talk s–t about it sometimes, but I’m like, this is amazing to even be here and have the opportunity to compete, even if it’s once.
You said you were most disappointed in Chris, because you had his back when you broke that tie and threw Leo in, and then he let you get thrown to the wolves. Is he still your biggest disappointment?
Thank you for asking that. It’s been something since I watched the episode yesterday that has crossed my mind. And the funniest part about it all is that he never even reached out to me.
That’s telling, because the whole time I actually did think that he had my back. In all four episodes they haven’t shown one interview of him saying who he’s actually working with. They haven’t shown him saying anything other than Sydney. So I don’t know if he ever actually had my back. In the house I thought he did. And even when I was hurt, I still accepted his apology and decided, you know what, I don’t want to be too upset with you.
Now, watching it back and seeing the edit — I think if they’d had a clip of him saying “I have Nurys’ back,” they would have shown it. And because they haven’t shown that, I’ve been super disappointed. As my friend, you’re seeing this edit that makes it look like you’re not on my side, and you haven’t even reached out to say, hey, by the way, I know the edit looks like this, but I did have your back. That’s what I would say. I would never want a friend I’ve gone out of my way to protect to feel like I didn’t have their back.
So I’m at a place of, did you actually ever have my back, or was I a pawn in your game? And if I was, it’s f—ing war, because I don’t play that. One thing about me is I hate feeling slighted. I hate feeling lied to. I hate feeling like I’m the butt of the joke. So I’ve been sitting here like, damn, was I played? And having him not reach out to me makes me feel as if that is what the truth was.
I’m like, oh hell no. Just know it’s war if we play against each other next time. I will not be saving you, and I will be finding a way to throw you in. That’s just how I feel now.
You also said Sydney’s the fakest b—h in the house. Is she actually the fakest b—h in the house?
She is. She’s the fakest. I don’t want to talk on people I don’t know from the Challenge, but she’s probably the fakest b—h I know from the whole show, from all the casts.
Listen, there are people who can be feisty and talk s–t. There are people like Amanda Garcia and Ashley Mitchell, people the fans go, oh my God, about. But they say it to your face. They are not scared. And that’s one thing about me — I’m the same way. If I say something out loud, if it comes out of my mouth, you can repeat it, because I’m not scared. I stand 10 toes down with exactly what I said. If I told you I don’t like you, and you want to tell them, and they want to ask me, yeah, I don’t like you, because I’m real.
That’s what she lacks. She talks s–t about people behind their backs and then smiles in their face. That’s not real. You don’t have to like me. We don’t have to be friends. But if you don’t like me, keep that same energy. Don’t come smile in my face when the whole time all you’re doing is talking s–t. That’s a very weird energy. So I just don’t like her.
Last week you got pulled into a love triangle that wasn’t really a love triangle, and you had to pull Josh and Adrienne aside. What was that like?
It was not hard at all. My friends were watching the episode with me last night and they were like, well, that’s very mature, but why did you get so upset?
I had just woken up. I slept in that day, and sleeping in is not good, because the moment you sleep in it leaves room for everyone to talk. And the game of telephone works so fast in that house. So I go downstairs and run into Will Gagnon and Chris “CT” Tamburello, and they call me a troublemaker. And I said, how am I a troublemaker? I was so confused. They were like, I don’t know, we heard something about you and Adrienne, a love triangle.
I got triggered instantly, especially when you don’t even know there’s a possibility of you being put in a love triangle. I’m going around the house and I keep hearing the same thing. I’m trying to find Michele, because Michele’s my friend, she’ll tell me what’s actually going on. And that’s when I found out. I was like, absolutely not, I’m going to go shut it down right now, and I don’t care if it’s in front of everybody, because everybody’s talking about it. The same way you guys made it public, I’m going to make it public.
This is insane — I just woke up and my name is the talk of the house, in a negative light, over a man I truly didn’t want, a man I never even thought I was talking to. So I was super annoyed, and I was not going to let that rumor go around any longer. I apparently yelled enough that even if you were in your room, even if you were in another conversation, you came out and you heard. And I’m like, you know what? Good. Now everybody’s on the same page. There’s no game of telephone. You guys are hearing it from our mouths.
This is like an old-school Challenge with all the love connections. Quick takes. Bananas and Lete.
She’s too good for him.
Does he really like her, or is he using her for his game? He’s been accused of that before.
One hundred percent just using her for the game. You can tell just from watching his types in the past. And being in the house, Lete’s a beautiful girl, but you could tell it started off as a joke. It started off as him being like, I need airtime and there’s nothing going on.
This is actually not even me talking s–t. I think that’s why he does a good job at the show. He knows when the energy in the house is too low, and he knows, okay, maybe we need more lighthearted moments, maybe we need more showmance situations. That’s what he did, because it wasn’t serious, even on her end at the beginning. When he wrote her the note and she came in with the bathing suit on top of it, that was fully a joke. I don’t think he was actually interested, and I don’t think she was either. That situation was fully for the cameras.
Now, whatever happens after I’m gone, it may get more real, because more time goes by and your walls get broken down when you’re talking to these people every day. From what we’ve seen through four episodes, I don’t think any of it is real. But I don’t know what happens past that.
Cory and Izzy. Messy?
It’s a very complicated situation. They’re both beautiful people and I thought they looked great together. A lot of people are giving him a lot of s–t, and rightfully so. But I’m also slightly proud of him, because there have been a lot of times in the past where Cory would have done a lot worse. He wouldn’t have been as considerate. The fact that he was considerate enough to know, hey, let me not take it past just conversation — that’s big, because we’ve seen Cory not be the best before.
People are so quick to want to hate him. And it’s been so crazy to me that he’s getting all this hate about his relationship, and then the whole Anna Leigh and Leo thing gets shown yesterday, and the fandom is praising her for almost cheating on her husband. I’m like, this is insane. Why does one person get ostracized and everyone’s hating him, and then she does this and everybody’s like, oh my God, that’s my queen, she’s amazing for the show? I’m confused. Why are we not holding them both to the same standard?
Last one. Your number one draft pick, male and female, any era.
I would pick Kam Williams. I think Kam’s amazing. She’s Final-built, she’s strong, she’s smart, and she could be messy with me. For a guy, probably Kyland Young or Horacio Gutiérrez Jr., because they know me so well. I think we’d be able to kill it together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
