MTV’s The Challenge‘s Leroy Garrett retired from the show this year, but he’s now saying that MTV’s response to a 2017 incident in which contestant Camila Nakagawa called him a racist term was a big reason behind leaving the show. The incident happened during 2017’s Dirty 30 season of The Challenge. Camila, now 33, was drunk at the time and began aggressively shouting in Leroy’s face, calling him racist and derogatory names. At the time, Leroy reacted calmly, but the producers of the show did nothing about Camila’s outburst. The next morning, Leroy brought up the argument while host TJ Lavin was talking about the game, and asked if Nakagawa had anything to say. She apologized but said she knew it wasn’t enough.
Leroy, a 36-year-old Michigan native, first entered the MTV reality TV world when he starred in 2011’s The Real World: Las Vegas. He went on to compete in 12 seasons of The Challenge, but never pulled out a final victory. He retired earlier this year after competing on The Challenge: Double Agents with an emotional Instagram post. He is also still dating Kam Williams, who he dated on the show.
Leroy broke his silence about the 2017 incident in a nearly 37 minute-long Instagram video Monday entitled “Forgiving myself” in which he detailed his reasoning for leaving the show, Us Weekly reported. “This has been weighing on my mental for years, and now it’s time to break free. I finally wanted to forgive myself for not taking a stand. I no longer live with regret or fear. This was the first step in my healing process,” Leroy captioned the video. In the video, Leroy says he thought Camila would be sent home for what she said. “I thought, ‘What the hell is going on? No one is about to talk about what happened?’ Imagine that. The producers didn’t tell TJ to say something. I have to say something. I was the victim last night and I have to bring up why something happened to me and basically force someone to apologize — someone who wasn’t going to do it on their own.”
Leroy continued criticizing MTV’s response throughout the video. “It’s really heartbreaking and it’s sad…to know that a network who, at this point, I’ve given at least seven or eight years to, you guys are basically just recording it. You’re not doing anything to help me.” Leroy noted that Camila not only won the season’s $450,000 prize, but was invited back to compete on The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars, during which she was sent home for being disrespectful to the crew. “You basically rewarded her for being racist and being violent. I’ve seen people get sent home for less,” Leroy said. He also said that at the time he was asked by producers if he wanted to see a therapist. “I don’t want to see no damn therapist. I want you guys to do something,” he said he thought at the time.
Lots of The Challenge stars commented on Leroy’s Instagram post showing their support, including his girlfriend Kam. Johnny “Bananas” Devenazio commented “It breaks my heart that you’ve had to live with this pain for so long. I’m sorry I didn’t do more for you in the moment,” while Aneesa Ferreira wrote “I wish we could’ve done more to support you. I’m happy that you have forgiven yourself though. You’re an amazing human being and I appreciate how vulnerable you were with this post.”
So far, it doesn’t look like MTV has responded to Leroy’s video. MTV seems to have escaped backlash for the incident, with other cast members saying they support Leroy, but not going after MTV. It remains to be seen whether The Challenge cast members will show solidarity with Leroy by retiring from the show, or simply do lip service through Instagram comments.
