Tori Deal led Team Orange to victory, but not without some blowback.
The Challenge Season 42 captain had “tunnel vision” when it came to winning the final in Thailand.
So much so, her strategy at one point involved pushing Orange teammate CT Tamburello to the point that he would need to be medically disqualified from the competition.
However, CT is a prominent and beloved fixture in The Challenge community, and the fandom did not take Tori’s intensity toward the longtime vet well.
During Wednesday’s Challenge Mania event, Tori acknowledged that her attitude toward CT during the final wasn’t exactly the nicest.
“The reason why people hate me so much is because they love the franchise, and the franchise is CT and Bananas,” Tori said on Oct. 28.
“I didn’t see it in the moment, but I respect it very deeply, and I’m very honored to win amongst the greatest to ever play the game. Truly.”
Earlier in the week, Tori also clarified her “medical DQ” strategy, explaining that she wasn’t actually wishing harm on CT.
“In the heat of the moment, and feeling exhausted myself, I said something really, really harsh when I was super tunnel vision trying to win,” she said on TikTok.
“I just wanted to clarify I would never really want someone to get severely injured. That’s not at all who I am.”
ICYMI:
Team Orange took home the W at the end of Season 42, earning a total of $550,000.
In a surprise twist, and since Tori was the captain, she got to decide how the prize money would be divided among the five Team Orange players.
When host TJ Lavin asked whether Tori would take all the money and run or share it with her teammates, she ultimately decided to split the earnings equally.
Well, almost equally.
The two-time champ insisted on a $1 “captain’s fee” from each teammate, leaving Tori with $110,004 and the rest of Team Orange with $109,999 each.
