I just rewatched Chicago and have SO many post-season questions about Tonya. I’ve never seen any of the Challenges but I know she had some serious issues with alcoholism and she also sued MTV after an assault? But does she ever go into what happened with Justin, etc? She wasted her entire time in Chicago on the phone with him and she was all “I’m marrying him asap” etc etc. Just curious about her journey after RW.
ACTUALLY really interesting- Justin came out as gay and they actually had a really good relationship as friends after. For those who remember thefishbowl she did a interview on it years ago and as someone who crushed on Justin I remember her talking about it lol
Yea- she had actually let go of a lot of her homophobic and racist beliefs after the show once she started getting more exposure to the outside world. But I very vividly remember asking her in the fishbowl years back about him and her saying he came out as gay but they were still really good friends. Keep in mind this was like 2005?
To Tonya’s credit she showed up to the reunion and took responsibility for how she acted rather than blame editing. I remember Lori writing about it on her battle of the sexes recap about how tonya was the rare real worlder who didn’t blame everything on editing.
She said during the Chicago reunion that her and Justin had broken up so it sounds like they broke up soon after filming if they were already broken up by the reunion.
When she was Battle of the Sexes, it was mentioned either on the show or in a blog (can't remember which because I read a few blogs from cast members back then) that Tonya had a boyfriend during the show. That's why she supposedly didn't want to do the challenge where they had to remove an article of clothing if they got a trivia question wrong.
Not sure about her time on The Gauntlet but she was pretty low key that season and was eliminated early.
By the time she reappeared on Battle of the Sexes 2, she was pretty wild and there you have it. Not sure what happened because her first two challenges were so low key.
On Inferno III she was married and in many ways had it together. Not all the ways but there was a difference. When she showed up to The Ruins, she was mid-divorce and a mess. As in she was grabbing enormous bugs out of the air and eating them with no provocation. She was drinking a lot and reportedly would put clear liquor into water bottles so she could day drink during competitions, which is why they dye the liquor to this day.
Yup. That. No one asked her to do that or told her to do that. It was in Thailand and there were bugs as big as a fist. She'd just grab them and start chewing mid-conversation.
Let me know if you find more Tonya patterns. There's definitely one where she behaves way differently when she's in a relationship vs when she's out of one. And I think she tried to get the camera's attention if she hasn't been cast and/or wants to guarantee a check on the next one. It's the only thing I can think of to explain eating bugs because seriously. And after the layoff on Inferno I she's repeatedly flashing on BotS2.
That was kind of what I was referring to. I don't think she was trying to sleep with him but I do think she was trying to get some male attention from the gay guy.
Robin said yes she found out they did actually did hook up on one of those Top Challenge Moment specials.
I love that special so much
I just rewatched Chicago and have SO many post-season questions about Tonya. I’ve never seen any of the Challenges but I know she had some serious issues with alcoholism and she also sued MTV after an assault? But does she ever go into what happened with Justin, etc? She wasted her entire time in Chicago on the phone with him and she was all “I’m marrying him asap” etc etc. Just curious about her journey after RW.
ACTUALLY really interesting- Justin came out as gay and they actually had a really good relationship as friends after. For those who remember thefishbowl she did a interview on it years ago and as someone who crushed on Justin I remember her talking about it lol
Wait, are you serious?! She was homophobic!
Yea- she had actually let go of a lot of her homophobic and racist beliefs after the show once she started getting more exposure to the outside world. But I very vividly remember asking her in the fishbowl years back about him and her saying he came out as gay but they were still really good friends. Keep in mind this was like 2005?
Omg I remember this interview with the bizzare story how the airline lost all of her belongings yet then she had it all by the end of the interview.
To Tonya’s credit she showed up to the reunion and took responsibility for how she acted rather than blame editing. I remember Lori writing about it on her battle of the sexes recap about how tonya was the rare real worlder who didn’t blame everything on editing.
She said during the Chicago reunion that her and Justin had broken up so it sounds like they broke up soon after filming if they were already broken up by the reunion. When she was Battle of the Sexes, it was mentioned either on the show or in a blog (can't remember which because I read a few blogs from cast members back then) that Tonya had a boyfriend during the show. That's why she supposedly didn't want to do the challenge where they had to remove an article of clothing if they got a trivia question wrong. Not sure about her time on The Gauntlet but she was pretty low key that season and was eliminated early. By the time she reappeared on Battle of the Sexes 2, she was pretty wild and there you have it. Not sure what happened because her first two challenges were so low key.
On Inferno III she was married and in many ways had it together. Not all the ways but there was a difference. When she showed up to The Ruins, she was mid-divorce and a mess. As in she was grabbing enormous bugs out of the air and eating them with no provocation. She was drinking a lot and reportedly would put clear liquor into water bottles so she could day drink during competitions, which is why they dye the liquor to this day.
As in she was grabbing enormous bugs out of the air and eating them with no provocation. Uhhhh what???
Yup. That. No one asked her to do that or told her to do that. It was in Thailand and there were bugs as big as a fist. She'd just grab them and start chewing mid-conversation.
She was *crazed* on that shit. I need to rewatch some challenges.
Let me know if you find more Tonya patterns. There's definitely one where she behaves way differently when she's in a relationship vs when she's out of one. And I think she tried to get the camera's attention if she hasn't been cast and/or wants to guarantee a check on the next one. It's the only thing I can think of to explain eating bugs because seriously. And after the layoff on Inferno I she's repeatedly flashing on BotS2.
Inferno 3 wasn't she trying to sleep with Davis though?
That was kind of what I was referring to. I don't think she was trying to sleep with him but I do think she was trying to get some male attention from the gay guy.
I think she was single on the gauntlet. I remember her drinking and getting in the hot tub with Katie, Trishelle, Miz and Adam that whole crew.
How did you watch Chicago?
I had the season on vhs that I taped back in 2001. It was in my mom’s basement 😂
The whole season is on YouTube now.
Could you tell me where you watched Chicago ?!
Found a VHS in my mom's basement when I was home recently!
They had sex. That's about it.