by Gina Scarpa

 

It was an unfortunate series of events that unfolded this week on The Challenge: Battle of the Exes. First, Vinny got too rowdy in a club and tore Mandi's shirt off. That resulted in him being booted off the show, but not before he inadvertently took his innocent partner Sarah down with him. Today, we caught up with the pair to talk more about The Challenge and the status of their friendship since leaving the competition.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did the two of you feel about being paired up together as exes?
A. Sarah: I was okay with it. Our history didn't run that deep. We didn't have a relationship like CT and Diem where it was a lot of leftover emotions.
A. Vinny: I was actually happy. She's very experienced.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why were Wes and Mandi such targets from the beginning?
A. Vinny: It was hard for me to vote them off because I'm good friends with Mandi but her partner is such an idiot. Wes is a snake.
A. Sarah: It's really easy in a group to have a common enemy. Everyone was like, "At least it's not me." A lot of the new kids saw Wes and Mandi get voted in first and wanted to see them go in again. For me, I was like, "If I pick Wes and Mandi, I won't have any new enemies." If I pick a rookie and they come back, I have a whole new set of enemies.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The challenge on swinging from beam to beam this week looked so hard! Almost every team failed at it. How did you two do so well?

A. Sarah: It was really hard and we owned it! It was all about balance. All these guys were trying to be all ballsy. We worked well together and it was awesome.
A. Vinny: You gotta go together, you can't go one at a time.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When I talked to Mandi about what happened at the club, she said that the whole thing blew over pretty quickly. What was your take on it?
A. Vinny: For me, it was like, I woke up in the morning and I was still drunk. I was about to eat and people were saying, "I don't know if they're gonna let that slide, what happened last night." And I was like, "What happened last night?" There was a lot that happened that night.
A. Sarah: There was a huge yelling match between Camila and the whole house, Diem and CT almost got into it. It was a bad night.
A. Vinny: I wasn't even thinking about what happened with me and Mandi. I thought it was a great episode, not for me personally. I would watch that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Sarah, do you think that you had to leave the show because there wasn't another "ex" for you? It's not like you run around hooking up with guys on these challenges, at least as far as we can see.
A. Sarah: You know, I think that how long it would take to get somebody else out there... I'm sure there's a reason for everything. I'm sure this won't be my last Challenge. I'm sure they'll give me, I'm sorry Vinny, a partner who's not going to do something like that. Let the record show that any time I've been on my own, I've made it to the end. I don't work well with others.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How are things between the two of you and what's the status of your friendship?
A. Sarah: I mean, Vinny and I talked a lot after at the hotel after we left the show. I feel like I got to say my part. I wanted him to know how these kinds of actions affect everybody else. I thought maybe this lets people think that it's okay and it's not okay. Maybe we should look at this as a learning experience. It probably isn't right to rip off a girl's shirt. I'm cool with it and I think Vinny knows that. He's apologized to me. And to be honest, a lot of wonderful things happened when I went home. It was all for the best.
A. Vinny: I'm always trying to have a good time. I'm not trying to get Mandi and take her top off. I'm just trying to have a good time. People on the show were saying, "Vinny isn't trying to hurt Mandi." She was grinding with me and it happens, you know? I wasn't looking to abuse her, you know? It wasn't like that. I made a bad decision, I thought it was funny, and it definitely wasn't funny. In the past, I've seen stuff like that and no one's gotten thrown off the show. I didn't think there would be repercussions.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What have the two of you been up to since Battle of the Exes?
A. Vinny: Ever since I saw the 40 pound weight gain on television, I've been at the gym. I've been working out really, really hard. I've lost a lot of weight. I'm in good shape, I have a good job and if they asked me back to a Challenge, I'd go back. I can't resist them. It's one of those things you can't resist. If I'm coming back, I'm comin' lean and mean!
A. Sarah: I have been just like Vinny. I can't say that I didn't like what I saw but I've been motivted to do the next Challenge and I've been training for an adventure race coming up in August, which is basically like the final challenge without cameras and the BS. And I'm in school right now.

 

The Challenge: Battle of the Exes airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on MTV.

 

(Image courtesy of MTV)

 

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