The Challenge's Darrell blasts Laurel's 'bully
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"It's disappointing for such a smart woman. I don't know what happened to her," Darrell Taylor tells "Entertainment Weekly."
By Sydney Bucksbaum
Sydney Bucksbaum is a writer at Entertainment Weekly covering all things pop culture – but TV is her one true love. She currently lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Chicago so please don't make fun of her accent when it slips out.
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, season 40, episode 7, "Trust In Your Era."
The Challenge star Darrell Taylor was eliminated in this week's episode of season 40, but the drama isn't over for the four-time champion.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly with his fellow eliminated Era 1 teammate Tina Barta about their exits from Battle of the Eras, Taylor revealed that he's ready to go toe-to-toe with Laurel Stucky at this season's reunion. "Don't get me fired up," Taylor said. "I'm going to save this for the reunion... I don't know what's going on with her. She done lost her mind."
The Challenge Season 40
Darrell Taylor, 'The Challenge'. MTV
Cara Maria says Laurel 'mimicked past abuse' in unseen footage from The Challenge season 40 fight
Laurel has been a particularly controversial figure this season due to her fight with Cara Maria Sorbello in which she allegedly "mimicked past abuse" in unaired footage, resulting in Cara needing to seek out therapy during filming. Laurel also antagonized Darrell, insinuating that a massage he got from Emily Schromm was inappropriate (Darrell is married with two children, and Emily was helping him treat his back injury).
"It was not even that," Darrell says of Laurel's allegations. "The day before the elimination, I had tweaked my back and I was like, 'Oh, that's not good,' It was after the toga party that it was kind of tight that night, but then I went to sleep, it was fine. That next morning I went for just a little jog, something to sweat out the alcohol. And then I felt it and I was like, 'Holy s---, it's my right side. I never pulled my right side.' So I had Emily help me out."
Darrell had previously named Laurel as a target for that week's elimination, so after she won the trivia challenge for Era 2 (since Jordan Wiseley threw it for Era 3), she immediately started celebrating by insulting Darrell. But Darrell revealed there was more to it that wasn't shown.
"While we were on the bus, I was sitting next to Averey [Tressler], and somebody was throwing peanuts and it was hitting me in the back of my head," Darrell said. "So I stood up and I said, 'Whoever the f--- is throwing peanuts needs to stop.' And as I looked around, I saw Laurel's face, she did a look guilty. And then I said, 'Male or female, I will beat your a--, hit me with another f---ing peanut again.' And I was shaking and trembling because I was so angry."
The Challenge's Laurel talks winning All Stars 4 and what wasn't shown in her fight with Cara Maria
At that point, Darrell was worried that his back injury was going to cause him to medically DQ from the season, and Laurel picking on him only made it worse. "My back was out and I don't even know if I'm going to be able to continue to do this Challenge anymore and someone's throwing f---ing peanuts at my head, and come to find out it was Laurel," he said. "Fast-forward, she walks by in the room, she's trying to mug me and intimidate me, looking at me all crazy. I look at her right back, like who the f--- you looking at? She wins [the trivia challenge] and then right away, she says, 'F--- you Darrell.' 'Well f--- you, too.'"
He continued, "What pisses me off is, if it was a guy, we wouldn't have these problems. It would've already been handled, but I felt like they weren't doing enough to protect me, like she was trying to provoke me to do something."
Darrell said that Laurel continued to behave that way toward him all season because he thinks she wanted him to react in a way that would get him kicked off the show. "Like when I'm on the bus, she'll come in my area, standing by me, trying to make her presence known," he added. "Get the f--- out of here. She was trying to bully, and I'm a male and she wants me to snap and do something stupid. I didn't feel like I was protected enough. I should get a restraining order on her a--. That's what I will do next time I'm on The Challenge."
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Darrell slams Laurel's behavior this season as "little kiddie s---."
"I get it's a game, but she was taking it to another level," he said. "You're like 40 years old, acting like you're 12. You're doing too much. It's disappointing for such a smart woman. I don't know what happened to her. I think the game just [got to her]. Maybe it's a front, she just tries to intimidate people in the game, but it looks like it ain't healthy for her, because that's just way too much energy for me to be spiraling like that and fighting with everybody. I ain't got time for all that. It's probably entertaining for the fans, but f--- that."
Darrell and Laurel have competed on many seasons together, but he's shocked at how bad her behavior got this time. "This is a Laurel that I've never seen — but I guess I have at the reunions," he added. "I seen her yelling at Michele [Fitzgerald] before, where she throws these, 'I can't hear you,' and she's just screaming all crazy. I think if she doesn't get her way, she just throws a temper tantrum. I think it's a lot of insecurities on her part, honestly. That's the only thing I could think of."
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