Britni Nicol was eliminated on the March 13 episode of The Challenge: Vendettas, and obviously, Brad Fiorenza was devastated to see her go. After all, the two have been romantically involved since the very first episode, and it turns out, this was more than just a showmance! Britni confirmed to HollywoodLife that she and Brad are still together now, months after filming. “We’re doing really well,” she told us EXCLUSIVELY. “The whole long distance thing is really hard, but we make it work. Luckily, we do a lot of events for Diem Brown’s charity, so on top of doing a great thing for a beautiful cause, we get to see each other quite a bit — more often than other couples who do long distance. Hopefully we’ll do many more shows together! It’s a good relationship to have because you go from being stuck with somebody for so long, then you get a nice little break in-between and it makes it exciting to see each other again.”
Unfortunately, the strong bond between Brad and Britni put a target on their backs for most of The Challenge, especially at the beginning of the season. Actually, it took a LOT of coaxing from Britni to get people to back off. “Johnny [Bananas] was the main one that talked everyone into wanting to separate Brad and Britni,” she explained. “He was the main puppet master. So I talked to him and I was like — it doesn’t have to be this way. I know it’s my people against you, but it doesn’t have to be. I think he felt for me a little bit because he knows I’ve been aligned with certain people on Dirty 30 and Vendettas and was always targeted. So I kind of had a breakdown because…just because Brad and I fell for each other, don’t mess with me because of it. Plus, after Brad’s first elimination [which eh won], everyone was kind of like, let’s not mess with that one for a while! So Brad’s beast mode played into my advantage!”
Zach, Tony and Natalie threw you in the Ring after promising they wouldn’t. Did you actually trust them or were you truly blindsided? I was completely blindsided, but I don’t even know why! Look what happened to Bananas [last week], look at what Zach did to Brad — they had an alliance and Zach screwed him over the first week. Natalie is so wishy-washy, she plays a Big Brother game, so I don’t know why I was so shocked. It was right there in front of me. I’m huge on loyalty — trust and loyalty are my thing. I was really hoping the loyalty was there, especially from Tony because we went through Dirty 30 together and I trusted him outside of the house.
Do you still hold a grudge? Mostly toward Zach and Tony. Natalie, I knew she was just playing what she knew [Big Brother], and I couldn’t be mad at her. Zach and I had this alliance — we talked under the radar and were working together, in a way. I’d tell him when he was on the radar and vice versa. I was like, okay, this works out well…I trust you, no one knows, and no one has to know. That did not play out as planned. And then Tony, we’re friends outside of the game, so I was more upset with him than anyone.
How have you been able to align yourself with so many ‘Challenge’ vets? Honestly, luck played out for me. I have no idea. I’ve always been attracted to an older crowd because I don’t like drama and bulls***. I just want to laugh and giggle and watch the drama from afar. So I just clicked really fast with these vets last season, like Derrick, Veronica, she just kind of sat back because it was her first Challenge in a while, Jemmye, Aneesa,. I could relate to them more. I would rather just compete and call it a day.
Is being strategic or physical more important on the Challenge? If it’s physical, then they can’t take that away from you. For example — Cara Maria, you don’t want to compete against that because she’s going to come back and come back for blood. But the politics…I did a little more of that this season, and it did save me from a lot. I’m working on the political game and I think I did okay in my first political game I ever played!
I’m done being overestimated. I’ve been working out so hard. Look at Tony — he used to be the layup, now look at him…he’s insane! He’s been in the Troika for HOW long!? He did a complete spin and I have to give credit where credit is due. He worked out so hard just to prove to everyone that he can do this and he busted his ass. So I’m ready to come back and prove myself, too. One thing I can say is that I only get sent home by big players! Hopefully next time I’ll just make it to the Final.