The Challenge: Battle of the Eras features 40 cast members, some of whom have storied rivalries and feuds with one another.
In Episode 5, several feuds will be under the spotlight, with teammates Cara Maria Sorbello and Laurel Stucky involved in a heated confrontation.
However, the altercation initially involved Laurel and another castmate, Michele Fitzgerald, who previously appeared as castmates in MTV’s Ride or Dies season.
In a clip uploaded by The Challenge on social media, Michele is trying to chip away at the “wall” she suggests Laurel has towards being friends again.
However, Laurel seems uninterested in friendship because Michele and teammate Jay Starrett threw Laurel and her teammate, Jakk Maddox, into elimination during their Ride or Dies season.
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Cara stands nearby during the conversation and offers Michele a big hug and friendship outside the show, which seems to irritate Laurel.
Laurel calls out Cara Maria after a fiery exchange with their castmate
“This is draining me. I’m kind of done with it already,” Laurel tells Michele during the Battle of the Eras Episode 5 preview clip.
Laurel says she doesn’t want to be “forced into a friendship” with Michele, who begins shaking her head.
“Give me a second. Give me the f***ing floor, dude,” Laurel tells her, as Michele says, “I’m not speaking.”
Laurel explains that she was “developing” a “perception” of Michele as a person, but then she threw her into elimination and “really put the nail in the coffin.”
In a confessional interview, Cara indicated she’s reminded of her previous days on The Challenge with Laurel when she sees what Michele is dealing with now.
“In this moment, it’s all clicking, and I just don’t like what I’m seeing,” she shared.
Laurel and Michele agree to be “cordial” with one another while filming for the show and elsewhere.
“Michele, I’ll be your friend outside of this,” Cara says as she hugs her castmate.
In a confessional interview, Laurel indicates that Cara wasn’t even part of the conversation and suggests that Cara is trying to rally castmates as allies against her in the game.
Cara and Laurel share additional remarks about the Season 40 feuds
In the Instagram comment section for The Challenge’s video post, Laurel and Cara both showed up with more to say about the situation.
Cara indicated that Michele “walked on eggshells all season with Laurel” and that “Laurel would reel her in and then dig her down.”
She also said she saw her “young self with Michele” and realized that “she’s a people pleaser” who wanted to make things right.
Cara said her effort was to “save Michele” from a situation similar to what she had experienced on the show with castmates in the past.
“I wanted her to know she was supported and didn’t need to walk on eggshells or jump through hoops for approval from someone who would only dangle it like a carrot for her and use it for manipulation,” Cara commented.
“She literally had Michelle in tears dude. Its one thing if u do it to me its another thing when u come for someone else,” Cara said, also indicating, “Theres a lot you didn’t see and wont see but I do not stand for this.”
Laurel also popped up in the comment section to address several things, including a fan account question about her rallying people against Cara in All Stars 4. According to Laurel, Cara made that story up because she was upset about Laurel winning the show.
In addition, Laurel seemed to praise their castmate Michele despite their differences.
“Thank you @mich_fitz for helping me see quite a lot of things, and thank you for communicating consistently through it all, albeit difficult. I very much appreciate our conversations that we had in this house,” Laurel commented.
Along with the Michele conversation, the trailer for Episode 5 showed what appears to be a huge blowup involving Laurel and Cara. However, it could mostly be Laurel yelling at Cara, as Cara is shown in tears with multiple castmates around to try to prevent the argument from escalating.
However, according to Cara, viewers will only see part of what happened because of how production edited the final footage for the show. After Season 40’s surprising elimination outcome in Episode 4, the editing was also recently called into question, with fans believing the game was rigged based on what they saw on their screens.
The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
