The Challenge: All Stars Rivals might feature castmates with feuds and rivalries in their history, but it also helped some individuals discover new friends.
For returning show winner Sam McGinn, she found a friend in Devin Walker, as they bonded during their time filming Rivals.
Unfortunately, the nature of The Challenge and the teams strategizing to win can quickly turn friends into rivals and enemies.
In Episode 5, viewers saw several friendships potentially fractured. One of them was Dario Medrano and Leroy Garrett’s friendship.
During the episode, Dario suggested to the daily challenge winners, Sam and Frank Sweeney Fox, that they send Devin and Leroy into elimination.
Ultimately, they made that move, which hurt Devin and Sam’s friendship. Sam recently spoke about that big game move on the Zach Nichols Podcast.
Sam said she begged Frank not to send in Rivals team
While talking to her former Real World: San Diego roommate, Zach Nichols, on his podcast, Sam mentioned the decision that she and Frank made to send Devin and Leroy into elimination.
“Devin and I had gotten quite close at this point. We hung out quite a bit, whether it was crosswords, [or] just sitting on the couch. We would like make burgers together and like go and eat our burgers together. We cooked together all the time,” Sam said.
Sam admitted that outside the castmates she already knew in the house, she easily became closest to Devin as a new friend or connection. She referred to him as “funny, sweet, and smart.”
However, that caused a serious issue when it came time to make the big game move that she and Frank made. According to Sam, she begged her teammate not to send them in.
Sam McGinn appeared on the Zach Nichols Podcast to speak about All Stars Rivals. Pic credit: @zachnicholspodcast/Instagram
During Episode 5, Sam and Frank won the daily, which involved teammates each writing down the answer to a question to see how well they knew each other. For every incorrect answer, an extra ingredient went into a special milkshake they had to drink at the end of the game.
Once they won that daily challenge, Sam knew “it was coming” and that it was their chance to possibly “flip the game.”
“I pulled him aside and like pleaded with [Frank]. And this may look f****** cringey or whatever, but I did. I pleaded for Devin and Leroy,” Sam said.
“I went to Frank and was like, ‘Is there anything that I can do or say or Devin and Leroy can do or say that can change this decision?’ and he’s like, ‘No.’” Sam told Zach and his co-host.
Devin blasted his castmates after his Rivals elimination
While most of Devin’s frustration in Episode 5 went toward Dario during a heated argument, he had additional interview comments after MTV aired the episode. Devin spoke about bonding with Sam and their relationship after filming.
Regarding their elimination move, Devin said he was surprised that Sam and Frank would make that decision with what appeared to be “very little remorse.”
He told Parade’s Mike Bloom that he didn’t want people in his circle or as friends who were “afraid.” Devin said that even though making moves is a standard part of the game, Sam caved at the “first sign of resistance” to advance her and Frank’s position for how they finished Rivals.
“I thought Sam was a better person than that, and I was proven wrong. But I don’t forgive people for what they do in The Challenge,” he said.
“In my mind, the people who are asking for forgiveness and say, ‘Oh, it’s all good on the show,’ those are the people that are f****** people over. No one that’s keeping their word is saying, ‘Let’s leave it on the show.’ It’s just the people that are lying and backstabbing to advance their position in a game,” Devin added.
Devin made similar remarks in his interview with Golden Derby but also suggested Frank didn’t give Sam much of a voice in the game, so she agreed with his game moves.
Based on his remarks, it seems he discontinued his friendship with Sam outside of the show. It’s unclear if they’ll do another season together, but viewers have seen former rivals and feuding castmates squash their issues from The Challenge multiple times.