Finding real love on reality TV. Despite the added pressure that being followed by a camera adds to a relationship, sometimes stars quickly fall head over heels.
On MTV’s The Challenge, finding a romance is very likely — but making it last is not. Many didn’t think Paulie Calafiore and Cara Maria Sorbello would create a real bond after meeting on Final Reckoning in 2018, but they proved others wrong. The duo went on to compete alongside each other on War of the Worlds later that year and War of the Worlds 2 in 2019.
Then they hit pause on filming reaity TV to focus on themselves both individually and as a couple and later decided to move in together in Montana.
“You can’t put a price tag on happiness. For so long, I was, like, you know the money is so good. I can’t say no. I needed a little break for my own sanity and my own happiness, just finding what makes me me again and get my light back,” she explained to Us Weekly exclusively following the War of the Worlds 2 finale in December 2019. “I’m freakin’ fantastic, so I’m gonna have a little break so they can make someone else the bad guy this next season because I’m not going to be on it!”
“Here we are today, after everything we have been through, still together — and only we know what that means,” he added.
Although Sorbello and Calafiore are a more recent couple, some have lasted the test of time. Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos met while filming the first-ever season of The Challenge in 1998, then titled Road Rules: All Stars.
He had previously appeared on The Real World: Boston while she had starred on The Real World: San Francisco. The pair went on to marry in 1999 and have nine children. Their ninth child was born in 2019 with a heart defect.
“She was born last week, one month before her due date. She is doing great, though still in the NICU until she learns to eat on her own. I’m home now, trying to recover from my first C-section (hats off to all the c-section moms out there — I had no idea!) and working hard with my breast pump to keep up with her growing appetite,” Campos wrote via Facebook at the time. “When we visit with her at the hospital, the kids fight over who can hold her — I don’t blame them! She’s the sweetest, most perfect angel we have ever seen.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see more Challenge couples whose romance lasted outside the house.