‘The Challenge’: Leroy Garrett Speaks on How ‘Dirty 30’ Racism Scandal Was Mishandled

Update 8:50 p.m. ET:

On Wednesday evening, MTV released a statement via their Twitter account regarding Garrett’s video. Their statement began, “MTV and Bunim/Murray were saddened by Leroy’s recount of his experience on The Challenge in 2017. We apologize to Leroy, a beloved member of our family. While we sought to support cast and address the incident on air at the time, it’s now clear we didn’t do enough.”

They continued to share in a follow-up tweet that they have “learned from this experience” and will be taking action to make sure that its programs are safe for everyone involved. MTV stated that they are “continuing to double down on our education programs for all cast and crew to ensure a safe, respectful and inclusive set free of discrimination and harassment in any form.”

Original story:

The Challenge alum Leroy Garrett is speaking out about a serious situation that occurred on Season 30 of the show, which was subtitled Dirty 30. Viewers will recall that about midway through the season, Camila Nakagawa went on a racist tirade against Garrett, during which she verbally attacked him, called him a “Black motherf—ing p—y” and hurled a pillow at him. While competitors have been disqualified from the show in the past, Nakagawa was allowed to stay and went on to win the season with nary a mention about the incident from production or host TJ Lavin. (Garrett had to be the one to bring it up the day after the incident took place.) On Monday evening, Garrett not only addressed how he handled the situation but also took MTV to task for the role that they played in the ordeal. 

Garrett published a 30-minute-long video on Instagram that was titled “Forgiving myself.” In the video, he watched the episode that depicted this situation, which was titled “Rampage,” and chronicled how he felt. Garrett, who announced his retirement after Season 36 (Double Agents), explained that he felt as though it was time to speak out about the matter. He shared that it has taken some time for him to forgive himself for how he handled everything, explaining, “This has been weighing on my mental for years, and now it’s time to break free. I finally wanted to forgive myself for not taking a stand. I no longer live with regret or fear.” He added that sharing this is the “first step” in his “healing process.”

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The video largely focused on what occurred and MTV’s lack of response to Nakagawa’s racist tirade against him. Garrett explained that he was shocked that MTV did not remove her from the game. (He also voiced how frustrating it was to watch her go on to win the same season.) Furthermore, he was frustrated by the fact that he had to be the one to address the matter in front of the rest of his cast members after production failed to step in. He specifically recalled that host Lavin entered the house the day after the incident occurred and simply moved forward to speak about the game. 

“I thought, ‘What the hell is going on? No one is about to talk about what happened?’ Imagine that,” Garrett said. “The producers didn’t tell TJ to say something. I have to say something. I was the victim last night and I have to bring up why something happened to me and basically force someone to apologize – someone who wasn’t going to do it on their own. Mindblowing to me.” He went on to say that it was “heartbreaking” to see that MTV didn’t take action in regards to Nakagawa. Garrett continued, “To know that a network who, at this point, who I’ve given at least seven or eight years to, everything, you guys are basically just recording it. You’re not doing anything to help me. Nothing.”

Garrett noted in his video that one of the reasons why he felt compelled to speak out about this now was because the MTV network was still following Nakagawa on Instagram, which he took to mean as a sign of support. He also shared that they are not following him. However, ChallengeTeaa on Instagram reported that MTV appears to have unfollowed Nakagawa in light of Garrett’s video. 

Garrett went on to say that competitors have been sent home for “less,” so he is confused why the network didn’t remove Nakagawa from the situation after she shared such ignorant statements. (Not only was Nakagawa not sent home, but she was cast on The Challenge‘s spinoff Champs vs. Stars after this. She went on to be disqualified from that series after an alleged altercation with a crew member). Garrett added, “So, what is it about her, or what is it about me, that made you not care about what happened to me?”

The former Challenge competitor also said that he will be paying close attention to the casts for future Challenge shows to make sure that the network doesn’t give anyone who previously shared racist statements a pass by casting them on another season. Garrett ended his video by saying that MTV has his number and that he will be looking forward to having a conversation with them about how they can “make change happen” and that, “The ball is in your court. All eyes are on you.”

In response to this video, Nakagawa did take part in an Instagram Live on Tuesday. While she did denounce racism, share how sorry she was for what she said, and claimed that she tried to get in contact with Garrett, she still seemed to express confusion as to why this situation was being brought up. 

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In more recent years, MTV has made strides to reaffirm its stance against racism. The network aired a special called Race in America: An MTV Discussion hosted by Nessa Diab in which they discussed the incident. The network also addressed their stance on racism in 2020 when they banned Dee Nguyen from appearing on further seasons of The Challenge after her comments on Black Lives Matter. They stated, in part, “MTV and Bunim/Murray Productions strongly condemn systemic racism and stand with those raising their voices against injustice.”