After The Challenge: Vets and New Threats aired its third episode, MTV star Nia Moore officially announced her retirement from the competition series.
In the episode, Nia and her rookie teammate, Gabe Wai, were one of the major storylines, due to his frustration with being unable to compete effectively.
He also seemed unhappy that she was his new vet partner, as her knee injury was holding them back.
That brought some drama as Nia confronted him over his comments. She reminded the rookie that she competed on this show more than he had and reached two finals.
By the end of the episode, Nia learned the results of an MRI she had undergone for her injury. Host TJ Lavin announced that it was determined she couldn’t compete in the elimination against America Lopez.
Due to that, Nia went home. However, there might be more to the story, as Nia recently revealed to fans.
Nia says production wouldn’t let her compete on Season 41
A recent episode of The Zach Nichols Podcast featured Zach discussing Gabe’s frustration over being her new partner and Nia confronting him about it.
Nia left several comments on an Instagram video clip from the podcast, explaining that she asked production to compete in the daily challenge, but they denied her.
“I even told production I was good enough to compete in the challenge because it was swimming. I wanted to show up for him the way I did my other two partners, injured or not. Rookie mistake and the spanking he got for it was justified. I wish him well tho,” she wrote in her IG comment.
In another comment, Nia says she “begged” them to allow her to participate, but they wouldn’t.
“I literally begged them to let me do that challenge and production said no. Also, the doctors said they didn’t recommend it but that i could compete—but it was up to my discretion. They sent me home anyway lol,” Nia said.
Is Nia a two-time finalist on The Challenge?
Nia’s retirement comes after her storied journey to redemption on MTV. She initially debuted as a cast member on The Real World: Portland, where she became involved in a notorious altercation with her roommates, the couple of Averey Tressler and Johnny Reilly.
She carried her Hurricane Nia persona over to The Challenge, where she continued her ferocious attacks. Nia channeled her energy into some impressive elimination wins in Free Agents and Battle of the Exes II.
In the Exes II season, she reached the show’s final. However, Nia had another incident, this time with former RW roommate Jordan Wiseley, which led to production kicking her off the show.
Many believe this counts as an appearance in the final. Nia even told her partner, Gabe, during the Vets and New Threats episode that she’s a two-time finalist. However, Nia’s Challenge Wiki Fandom page doesn’t count it as one.
After the Exes II incident, it took a while for production and fans to accept her back onto The Challenge. However, it came on the All Stars 3 spinoff on Paramount+, where she reached the final and finished third.
Interestingly, that likely led to something misleading for fans: The AS3 cast was revealed as only featuring former finalists or winners. So in the minds of production, Nia became a finalist on Battle of the Exes II.
Following another appearance on the World Championship spinoff, Nia returned to MTV on Battle of the Eras, and more recently, Vets and New Threats. However, Season 41 seemed to mark her last appearance on the show.
The Challenge: Vets and New Threats airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
