The Challenge: Why Was Dee Edited Out? The Wild Story Explained

MTV's "The Challenge" presents an intense competition for former stars of other reality shows. That's a lot of personalities being forced into a single space, and occasionally, controversies from the real world impact what happens on the show.

Dee Nguyen was a winner of Season 34's "War of the Worlds 2," so she was invited back to compete in Season 35's "Total Madness." However, racially insensitive comments from Nguyen meant she got edited out of that competition. In June 2020, when Black Lives Matter protests occurred throughout the United States, many people participated in Blackout Tuesday, where they posted a black square instead of photos on social media to make room for more Black voices. While she later deleted the comments, US Weekly reported how Nguyen instead commented, "All you posted was a black square and went about your day and posting your lame a– thirst traps. People are dying." She followed this up with, "People die every f–king day. U don't know me or what I do. I suggest you wake the f–k up and get off social media."

Other reality stars chastised her online, including her "The Challenge" Season 35 co-star Bayleigh Dayton. She wrote, "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SUPPORT BLM. I'm disgusted and disappointed. THIS IS NOT A TREND. THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH FOR US." The day after Dayton shared her message, MTV fired Dee on "The Challenge" and edited her out of the episode that aired on June 10, 2020. Dayton clarified on the "Challenge Mania" podcast that she didn't directly reach out to MTV to get rid of Nguyen, but she understood why the network did what it did. Nguyen would eventually apologize for her comments, but it seems some people never learn.

Dee Nguyen later released a statement to US Weekly apologizing for her insensitive comments, "What was stated wasn't meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it's certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant." However, the damage was done at that point, and she was edited out of the June 10 episode, which also meant Bayleigh Dayton got cut out of a good portion of the show. Dayton explained how the two also feuded on the show, "Me and Dee got into a physical altercation because she just decided that she wanted to sabotage me in the competition by hurling things at me and hitting me and stripping things from me." She went on to explain how such events were regular occurrences during filming. 

Despite everything that happened between the two, Dayton remained optimistic on the "Challenge Mania" podcast that Nguyen could serve as a lesson to how people should react when called out online. She elaborated, "I really wanted Dee to be a good example of what should have been happened. If Dee would have taken responsibility, like, 'This is not my intention. I need to do better,' I think it could have ended up better for her." Unfortunately, it appears she didn't learn much from her situation with MTV and "The Challenge." In 2022, Nguyen posted a TikTok where she laughed at a man in a wheelchair who asked her to dance on a dating app, implying individuals in wheelchairs can't dance. 

The man she laughed at, Kyle Montgomery, posted on Instagram about the situation, mentioning how she deleted the TikTok and then blocked him. With this track record, don't expect Dee on "The Challenge" any time soon.