On this week’s episode of The Challenge: USA, Paulie Calafiore openly talked about being attracted to both men and women on this week’s episode. In a recent interview with GLAAD’s Anthony Allen Ramos, the reality show veteran said that it “feels good” to share his truth, and said that he didn’t come out publicly mostly because of toxic masculinity and pressure to be viewed as a strong competitor and athlete.
“I almost felt guilty that it’s taken me this long,” admitted Calafiore. “I really had to change my perspective and be like, ‘well, you know there might be other people that are going through this exact same thing… and maybe this is what they needed to hear and what they needed to see in order to do it themselves.’”
In The Challenge: USA, alums from Big Brother, Survivor, and The Amazing Race compete against vets from MTV’s The Challenge.
He continued, “Maybe there’s a younger version of me somewhere who gets to see this and [says] ‘You know what, I don’t have to pretend to be this [way] because I’m an athlete.’ So, if I can inspire just one person or motivate just one person, then I feel as though I’m doing justice.”
Calafiore makes sure to give love to those who paved the way before him and talked about being accepted by his family and girlfriend. More than that, he talks of being accepted by the queer community and the validation of bisexuality within the LGBTQ community. “The infighting, … needs to stop,” he said. “This isn’t a competition of ‘who’s actually representing this?’. It’s like, no, everything is together. It’s not just L, and then G, it’s LGBTQI+ community. … So, as a community, what can we do to be better and support all of our brothers and sisters?”
The Challenge: USA airs Thursdays at 10pm on CBS.