‘The Challenge: Vendettas:’ One Veteran Claims Host TJ Lavin Rigged An Elimination Challenge

Fans of MTV’s popular reality competition, The Challenge, know that just as much gameplay takes place on Twitter as it does every week on their television screens. Social media is the root of many feuds, which carry over onto the show, as proven in Season 31, The Challenge: Vendettas.

Case in point, Challenge veteran Veronica Portillo attempted to warn the upcoming casts of the show against Johnny Bananas devious ways Wednesday afternoon. After Johnny showed support for Vendettas recently eliminated player, Melissa Reeves, on Instagram, Veronica felt it was necessary to highlight his comments on social media.

“Hey #Challenge32 cast. Remember @MTVBananas words next time & refrain from becoming his puppet,” Veronica tweeted.

Johnny clapped back at Veronica’s remark, joking she was upset that MTV hadn’t given her any airtime so far in Vendettas. The two mildly argued in a chain of tweets, but the evening’s most interesting revelation was when a separate post from Veronica began gaining traction after it was retweeted by Johnny.

The day before her Twitter fight with Johnny, Veronica claimed that host TJ Lavin tried to rig the last elimination challenge between Melissa and Sylvia Elsrode. In this particular challenge, both women had to drudge through an oil pit on their knees to retrieve a ball TJ had dropped through a Plinko-like contraption.

According to Veronica, TJ strategically dropped the ball more on Melissa’s side than Sylvia’s. The Semester at Sea star also claimed producers of the show wanted Sylvia to lose since they allowed “illegal moves” during gameplay. Melissa noticeably kicked and kneed at Sylvia in a way co-stars felt deserved a disqualification. It should also be noted that while viewers only saw roughly 10 minutes of this competition, it lasted around one and a half to two hours, according to cast member Cara Maria Sorbello.

TJ caught wind of Veronica’s claims and shut her accusations down immediately.

“I’ve NEVER pulled any bulls*** on the show! EVER! You guys give it all you’ve got and are honing for real money. I don’t f w that stuff. All love,” he shared with his followers.

Johnny re-tweeted TJ’s declaration, which has been given a lot of support from Challenge viewers. Fan reactions to Veronica’s accusations suggest no one believes TJ would ever attempt to rig a challenge.

“Veronica is really trying to call @tjlavin out? Literally the REALEST guy on earth,” one fan asked.

“@tjlavin seems like a stand up guy! I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t favor one player over the other, he just enjoys competition and is a damn good host for the show,” another added.

Whether or not Veronica will reappear on another Challenge after making accusations against the host and its producers remains to be seen. One of Johnny’s tweets suggested she was not invited back for Season 32, joking she had to warn cast members about him on social media since she wouldn’t be able to in person.

To see how the rest of The Challenge: Vendettas plays out, watch every Tuesday night on MTV.