The Challenge star Nicole Zanatta has been to the final twice during her three appearances on the series but has been unlucky in terms of winning a championship. Some viewers may have felt she was unlucky in love during her appearances on MTV’s shows too.
She’s been featured in several relationships during her time on the reality competition series, and also on Ex on the Beach. Now, months after her brief appearance on Double Agents, it appears she may have a girlfriend.
The former finalist shared evidence of that on social media, with many fans commenting and speculating that it appears she has started dating her former castmate again.
Nicole shares photo of kiss with girlfriend?
Based on recent images that Nicole Zanatta has shared with fans, it seems she may have found someone she is happy with. The two-time Challenge finalist shared an image from Staten Island, New York, on Thursday showing her kissing what seems to be her new girlfriend.
“She likes my tattoos, I like her hair,” Nicole shared in the caption to go with her photo, seemingly indicating they’re enjoying one another’s company.
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The pictured racked up over 6,500 Likes as of this report, and plenty of speculation about whether or not that might be a former castmate of Nicole’s from Challenge history.
The woman in the photo above is seated and does have a resemblance to one of Nicole’s Challenge castmates. It certainly had a lot of people intrigued by that possibility, based on IG comments.
The Challenge fans react to Nicole’s girlfriend kiss photo
The photo evidence (above) has several fans wondering if Nicole may be dating her castmate Laurel Stucky again. The two had a relationship and resulting issues that were part of The Challenge and had seemingly split up. They appeared together on Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love with a focus on their relationship issues.
“Is this Laurel!?” a fan asked, with emojis seeming to celebrate that The Challenge stars rekindled their relationship. Several other fans appeared to have had similar thoughts after seeing the photo.
“WAIT LAUREL?” a fan commented likely due to the fact the mystery lady’s face is not visible in the photo.
“She definitely has a type. I thought that was Lorel for a second,” a fan commented on the IG post. While some people asked straight out if it was Laurel in the photo, Nicole didn’t not reply.
“How often this one going to last? you change girlfriends more than your underwear,” another fan commented as a joke to Nicole.
Nicole and Laurel’s reality TV history
Nicole, who first appeared on Real World: Skeletons made her debut on The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions season. That season featured “underdogs” who thought they were competing with one another until the “champions” arrived, including Laurel Stucky. That was where the two first met.
Nicole returned for Vendettas, and thought at the time Laurel was not part of the cast. However, that wasn’t the case, as MTV introduced a special twist that season.
During an episode of the Vendettas season, cast members prepared a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to Nicole for her birthday. During the episode, Nicole brought up her ex-girlfriend Laurel not being there that season.
During a confessional, Nicole shared that she and Laurel dated for about 10 months after appearing on Invasion of the Champions. However, she also revealed in the confessional that they just recently broke up.
That said, she didn’t realize that Laurel was going to be part of that Vendettas season as well. Laurel came in as a mercenary to join the cast in Episode 11, surprising Nicole due to their history.
Nicole and Laurel appeared on MTV’s Ex on the Beach, where their relationship issues and breakup came under the spotlight. That particular season of Ex also featured another Challenge star that Nicole had a relationship with, Jemmye Carroll.
Another photo showed Nicole with ‘mystery lady’
Earlier this month, Nicole shared another photo on her Instagram, which shows her seated on a step alongside someone who appears to be the same woman. However, she doesn’t have any resemblance to Nicole’s castmate Laurel Stucky.
“A side of spicy rigatoni and a nice red,” Nicole said in the caption for her IG photo, as she is seen all smiles next to the “mystery lady.”
It seems that the mystery lady also commented on the kiss photo, as a comment appears from @laurenbrittany_ which simply has emojis of food, wine, and a heart. Nicole also replied to that with a heart emoji for her.
The last time fans saw her on TV, Nicole suffered an unfortunate exit early into her third season on The Challenge. She was medically disqualified due to a tough injury suffered during a daily mission. At the time, she’d been partners with Devin Walker, and they could have done quite well had her injury not occurred.
She posted about how the injury was ‘life-changing’ for her after leaving the show. Based on the recent photos, she appears to be sling or cast-free, so she may be fully or close to fully healed. Based on her “friend” leaving comments, it appears to be a strong relationship they are forming with one another.
“Yea what is the over/under? I’d like to place a wager as well,” @laurenbrittany_ replied on a fan’s question about how long Nicole’s new relationship will last.
Based on her IG profile, Nicole’s “friend” most likely wants to enjoy her privacy during their rumored relationship. She indicates in her bio she won’t accept friend requests from individuals she doesn’t know personally. That said, the important thing is that Nicole appears to be healthy and happy at this point in her life, following her difficult circ*mstances on reality TV.
The Challenge Season 37 premiere date is TBA for 2021 on MTV.
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