Paramount appears to learn from its 'Big Brother' racial double standard on 'The Challenge'

Three contestants were abruptly removed from MTV’s long-running athletic reality competition series "The Challenge" this week following a reported racial incident that the show chose not to air.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s episode of "The Challenge: Cutthroat," host T.J. Lavin entered the house without Leo Dionicio, Josh Goldstein and Nelson Thomas present.

"Leo, Nelson and Josh all broke the code of conduct here on 'The Challenge,' so they're all gone," Lavin told the remaining contestants.

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The show did not air the incident that led to the three disqualifications or provide any additional details.

Page Six reported that Dionicio, who is Black, used the N-word during a game and Goldstein, who is White, repeated it. According to the report, Thomas became angry over Goldstein’s use of the word and later damaged the kitchen. Production then removed all three contestants.

The Paramount+ original is the 42nd season of the long-running MTV franchise. "The Challenge" is generally classified as reality television, but the modern version is built around athletic competition. Contestants run, swim, climb, wrestle, carry heavy weight and race through obstacle courses that test strength, endurance and mental toughness. Seasons typically end with a grueling final that can stretch across multiple days and resemble an adventure race more than a reality show.

The controversy also bears a striking resemblance to one Paramount faced three years ago on another reality competition show. The company appears to have learned from a racial double standard it applied back then.

Thomas subsequently confirmed at least part of the reported account.

"I let my emotions take over, broke dishes, destroyed [the] kitchen and violated the code of conduct," Thomas wrote on X. "That’s on me."

Thomas also claimed that Goldstein apologized to him privately and urged Goldstein to address the situation publicly.

"Saying you have Black friends doesn’t give you a pass to use the N-word," Thomas wrote.

Dionicio, meanwhile, discussed his removal during an appearance on fellow "Challenge" competitor Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio’s "Death, Taxes and Bananas" podcast.

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At the beginning of the discussion, Devenanzio said they had been instructed "from the top" not to reveal the specifics of the incident. Despite that, Dionicio argued that he did not deserve to be included in the mass disqualification.

"I was really, really upset because what was said was super ignorant," Dionicio said. "I thought the hand I was dealt was pretty messed up considering I didn’t really do s--- wrong."

Dionicio said he believed one contestant should have been fined, another should have been removed and he should not have been punished at all.

Johnny "Bananas" pushed back on Dionicio’s argument.

"I think what’s understood is that they have to have a rule, and it has to apply to everybody equally," he said.

Later in the conversation, however, Dionicio acknowledged that every contestant had signed the same agreement.

"I know we all signed the same contract," Dionicio said. "It’s just frustrating because I didn’t really think that would apply to me. But then I realized, you know, I’m not bigger than the program, unfortunately."

Dionicio never explicitly said, "I’m Black, so I should be allowed to use the N-word." But taken together, his comments strongly suggest that is his position. He reportedly used the word, said he did not believe the rule should have applied to him and then emphasized in a separate post on X that he is Black and Afro-Latino.

Paramount declined to discuss the specific actions that led to each contestant’s removal. A source familiar with the production said Bunim/Murray Productions has a clear code of conduct and that all three cast members were removed after violating it. The source directed OutKick to Thomas’ public comments about the incident.

The response did not confirm whether Dionicio and Goldstein were removed for using the same word or whether the same provision was applied to both contestants. But Paramount also did not dispute the reported account or challenge OutKick’s interpretation that the rule was enforced equally. Dionicio and Goldstein did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.

In August 2023, CBS removed "Big Brother" contestant Luke Valentine after he used the N-word inside the house. The network said Valentine violated the show’s code of conduct and that it had "zero tolerance" for the use of a racial slur.

Except, as OutKick reported at the time, another contestant, Kirsten Elwin, had used the same word days earlier and received no apparent punishment.

Valentine is White. Elwin is Black.

At the time, I wrote that CBS could not claim to have a zero-tolerance rule while applying different consequences based on the race of the person who violated it.

I wasn’t arguing that a White person and a Black person using the N-word carry the same social meaning because they don’t.

But a television production’s code of conduct is either a rule or it isn’t. If contestants are told that a particular word is prohibited, their skin color should not determine whether the rule applies to them.

CBS and MTV were both under the Paramount umbrella when the "Big Brother" incident occurred, just as they are now. This time, the company appears to have applied the standard equally.

Again, Paramount’s refusal to explain the disqualifications prevents us from saying that definitively. But the available reporting indicates that Dionicio and Goldstein used the same word and were both removed from the competition. Dionicio’s subsequent comments suggest he believed being Black should have changed how the rule applied to him.

If the reported account is accurate, production enforced the rule against everyone rather than determining who was socially entitled to violate its conduct policy.

Paramount deserves credit for apparently correcting the double standard it applied on "Big Brother" in 2023. Now it should be transparent enough to confirm that equal enforcement is exactly what happened.