I arrived early in the morning at the airport in Washington, DC where the cast of the Inferno 3 all flew in to meet, group together, and then board a plane for Capetown, South Africa. It was so good to see Colie, Jenn, and Tyrie, whom I hadn't seen in several months since our show The Real World Denver finished taping. One by one the alumni Real Worlders and Road Rulers arrived at our terminal. To my surprise everyone was a lot nicer than they seemed on television. People like Tonya, Aneesa, Ace, Paula, and Danny were just a few of those excited to meet the Denver cast and share their advice and experiences being on past challenges. The flight over to Africa was long, nearly an entire 24 hours, and we were so excited when we finally arrived at our amazing new home in Capetown. For some of us, this would be a dwelling place for an entire month, while others might not be so lucky. One in particular had a very short stay at the house…
One of the few cast members seemed particularly standoffish towards me was CT. During the entire process of flying over to Africa I don't think we really spoke once. It wasn't until dinner that CT began to open up and gave a toast to our first night in the house, while chugging a bottle of JD. The bottle soon emptied and CT soon became observably intoxicated. I was so preoccupied with moving my stuff into my new room, hanging out with people in the hot tub, and having a good time my team, that I didn't realize how drunk CT had become.
Out of the blue late in the night a fight arose between CT and Kenny in which everyone gathered to observe. CT was now shirtless and demanding an apology from Kenny, whom apparently had beat him badly in wrestling. CT's ego had been bruised and when Kenny wouldn't give him the apology he expected, CT began roaming the house for the rest of the night taking his anger out on anything and everyone he could. At one point he knocked Tonya off the couch in the living room. He was clearly trashed and had trouble keeping his pants from falling down to his knees. The night was winding down, and I was sitting by the pool with Abram, when I, too, experienced the wrath of this drunken lunatic, CT. He walked up to me out of the blue and asked if I could "take a punch?" This was the first time we'd even communicated since I'd been here. I thought that it would be a light, friendly punch somewhere in my chest, or shoulder, to which I'd be given the opportunity to reciprocate the friendly gesture, and so I said… "Yeah." Bad Idea.
Next CT says, "You're the gay guy aren't you?" Understand that this was before a single episode of the Real World Denver had aired, none of these "alumni" cast members really knew much about myself or any of my Denver roommates. So it was no surprise that Abram was somewhat shocked when I told CT I was in fact gay. Abram questions me, "You're gay?" It was then as I turned to Abram to say yes, but before I could say anything, CT punched me right in the face harder than I've ever been hit in my entire life. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't even think clearly. My gut reaction was to hit him back but I didn't want to get in a fight with this maniac seeing as how I was completely sober and he was clearly out of his mind. I walked to my bathroom to check my face out and to try and cool down. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why this had happened. I expected my first challenge to be tough, and to be picked on by the veteran players, but never in my entire life would I have thought this would have happened especially from the guy who everyone seems to think might in fact be gay. Well under the rules of the house, CT was kicked off the show. I had one hell of a black eye for two weeks, but knowing that CT spent more time on the plane than in Africa seemed satisfactory retribution.
