Fans have watched teams on MTV’s Challenge: Battle of the Exes laugh, cry, throw chairs and kiss and make up but no two players have been as closely adored as Cara Maria and Abram. The pair has struggled to keep their relationship alive all the while keeping their team alive in the game. Last week, Cara Maria and Abram were defeated in the Dome by Ty and Emily and sent their separate ways. Lucky for TheCelebrityCafe.com, these two have come together to discuss their journey on the show and where their relationship stands.

TheCelebrityCafe: You guys have the love story that everyone wants to see work out. How difficult is it to have an on screen relationship?

Cara Maria: I think it’s difficult because in real life you have a relationship with somebody and you get input from other people who know your story and that’s hard enough to deal with, but when you have a relationship that developed on TV and continued basically through three seasons, I mean I talked about him on Rivals, and competing on Exes, you have opinions from people all over the place that see things the way they are edited and don’t know the whole story and everybody has something different to say, which does make it a little difficult. Also, just watching this last show made me want to hug and kiss Abram all over again when I see the sweet things that he said. It’s a really real, sort of surreal experience to have a relationship on TV.

Abram: As far as my perspective goes, people always talked about Challenge’s going, “Oh, I would only do that on a challenge.” But I tell people if they’ll lie, cheat, steal on a challenge it means to lie, cheat and steal in the real life. What I really think, and where I’m getting at is, however you act on theChallenge for whatever extenuating circumstance, that’s really how you are under pressure or not. I think that I actually like the idea of having to stand up for your character and what you want and when you really feel love and to declare it publically. That’s a big challenge to be able to and I think it’s a big part of the show. I like the challenge of trying to have a relationship on The Challenge.

TCC: Do you think it was better that you two actually had, what appeared to be a significant relationship, compared to the explosive fights like Tyrie and Jasmine, for example, had or like on the last episode, Camilla and Johnny? Do you think it was better for your game that you two actually cared about each other?

CM: I honestly say no because, I’m just so comfortable with him, and I felt like if we were really going at it like Jasmine and Tyrie; they didn’t really have a relationship going into it, the hooked up once, and they hated each other so much that they were in competition with each other, but they actually did really well in the challenges. I think when you’re with somebody who [you’re in competition with] you do better.

When I’m with Abram I’m just so comfortable and sort of laid back about things that it almost didn’t feel real. I didn’t really push myself as much as I should have and I’m disappointed with that. I wish I had taken it more seriously, but I was just too laid back. If you watch Brad and Tori on Cutthroat they were a married couple…they didn’t even want to do the tight-rope thing that we did. I’m not sure if couples are a good team…

A: Wait now; hold on, I think it depends on the couple. I think it depends on the couple and on the relationship. I think that being with somebody on those Challenge’s can make you way stronger and give you more stability. I think the only way they could give you more stability is if you’re both committed to each other and really were together and solid and you trusted each other. Cara Maria and I were in turmoil the entire show. She was easily distracted, even to the point where even before we would be done finishing a challenge, I don’t think they ever aired it, Cara Maria and I go into an argument because we showed up and we were trying to work things out, but I actually started to pack my bags and I told Cara Maria I would leave the show, and that the money and the show didn’t mean anything. I think the fact that we were in turmoil is what caused that to not be a better situation.

TCC: Focusing on the game, what was your strategy in the “Don’t Rock the Boat” challenge?

CM: Being the first one to go is a disadvantage because you can’t see the strategy that other people have and we had no idea how people were going to get across from beam to beam so we figured somebody was going to fall. If somebody falls, that’s it they’re automatically going in. Our strategy was just basically get across without falling. That was why we did it the way we did by jumping on each other, because we thought “this way we are definitely not going to fall.” In the end, people followed Rachel and Aneesa’s strategy and moved quick and it wasn’t a good play. We just literally thought, play it safe and move across.

A: I don’t think it was a bad strategy at all, based on everyone’s performance I still think it was right to play a safe game. We were up first so we figured someone would fall; Rachel and Anessa had not done that well on balancing stuff, I figured they’d go right off, and low and behold everybody pulled off a spectacular game.

CM: For the record, our harnesses got tangled. If you watch it, it shows me going up first and then him hoping in front of me and our harness are crossed. Then, magically they cut back to our harnesses not being crossed and we literally spent like a minute or so trying to get it. He unhooked me in the air and unhooked himself because he had to untangle our harnesses while we were up in the air and then continue the challenge. If you twist, you’re screwed. We’re looking at everybody and looking at production like, “What do we do?” and you’re sitting there and your time is ticking and Rachel and Anessa are still hoping. We’re tangled and Abram decided to take matters into his own hands and unclip us so we could keep going.

TCC: So, you finish the challenge and find out you’re at the bottom. Who is your best case scenario to go up against in the Dome?

CM: Well, Rachel and Anessa would be the best case… Then it would have been a puzzle or an elastic band one, but not the rumble in the dirt.

A: In all honesty, I was happy to go against Ty and Emily. I thought they were tough and I go to the challenges because I want to get weighed and I want to get measured. I like the competition I like the excitement, the fact there was 150,000 dollars on the line…

CM: Oh God, don’t remind me.

A: I love that! But I lost and I never so happy to lose $75,000 [laughs].

CM: You said that in Cutthroat…

A: So what, who cares man. I still make money. [To Cara Maria] Don’t even look at me like that!

CM: I’m just disappointed in myself, not you.

TCC: Abram, Johnny had mentioned before you went into the Dome that you are one to fear, that at the turn of a switch you turn into ‘beast-mode.’ We as viewers don’t really get to see that, so how do you respond to that?

A: People keep on telling me that, but I never really figured it to be at the turn of a switch. The truth is, on the whole Challenge’s, especially this one, it was partners. So I had to make sure that I was being appropriate so I could encourage my partner. And screaming and yelling at Cara Maria doesn’t work very well…which would be my preference.

CM: Like, before a challenge he wants to get amped up and yell and get crazy and do like caveman yell. I get in the zone of pure quiet and I don’t want to talk and I don’t want to deal with anybody. I just want to deal with one step at a time. He gets all up and crazy and I’m in my own little zoned out world and he had to kind of compromise what gets him ready for a challenge to help me out. If he gets crazy, I get shaky.

A: Which is OK, I get the adrenaline and I keep on telling people, I would really like to do one solo. I love the competition. I couldn’t have been happier, I felt like an American pit-bull in a dog fight. God I was happy [laughs].

TCC: The intense discussion that you guys had, what seemed like, the night before the Dome. Did that have any effect on your performance? And has that conversation amounted to anything?

A: I’m sure that with everything that has been going on with Cara Maria and I was affecting where our hearts were at, and how much we wanted it. I know that both of us were feeling a little bit run down and kind of emotionally exhausted I guess…and kind of beat up because we were trying to be with each other, we’re crazy about each other, and for whatever reason we were having trouble because we knew we couldn’t be in the same city after the show and that’s what was causing the problems. I think that definitely played into how much we wanted it and at the same time...We lost fair and square but I can tell you that both Cara Maria's and my heart weren’t in it and we are relieved that it can all be over.

CM: I agree with everything he said… it was a weird feeling going into the Challenge I really thought we were going to make the finals, but then as time wore on it was almost like, I hate to say it, but it felt like it didn’t matter to me if I was there or not and we did end up leaving… as awful as it was having to go home and as mad as I was, it was still a little bit of a sense of relief as well. What Abram says is right…

TCC: We’ve touched on what it was like being in a relationship going into the house; but when you go in there as an ex-lover, ex-boyfriend/girlfriend ex-whatever, so then you have both ends of the spectrum we’ve seen people lash out at each other and then there’s the people that can get along, but is the key to really making it work so you can win in this game? What is the secret to making it in the house?

A: Win! [laughs] All of the politics won’t save you at the end of the day; if you can’t win the challenge you get sent into the dome and so then you’re on your own so politics can’t save you there. You can try to control who goes against you, but still then you have to go into the Dome, you have to compete and you have to win. If you don’t do any of those things then you go home. The Challenge tend to lean more and more in that direction where it’s on you. I have no regrets about losing because it’s all on my own head and what am I going to do? Be upset that I lost? There’s nothing else that can be done.

TCC: As a viewer, I try to figure out what the key to this game is. If you have a good social game then people aren’t going to target you, but on the other hand, if you’re a physical power house then you’re going to win. But, at the same time, if you are a physical power house then people want you out and I think that’s why Ty and Emily got sent in for the second time because nobody really wants to go up against them. So, is there a way to fly right in the middle?

CM: As a side note, they are ‘definites’ because Johnny and Camilla keep winning. They are sort of the main power couple and their ties are with Mark, Paula and there can only be one more for the four so it either had to be CT or Abram. As far as Ty and Emily, they are just kind of a wild card that got thrown in that are super strong and can take everything by force so it kind of threw the game off a little bit.

A: The politics do play in and that’s one of the things that I love about the Challenges. You have to win you have to do the politics, you have to have friends you have to have the fake friendships and go through all of the pretenses and you have to have your own scheming…I guess what I’m getting at is it’s a combination of everything and that’s why I really like the Challenge’s because it tests you in all ways.

I agree with you about what you said about Ty and Emily because they’re strong, they’re a target. Cara Maria and I actually in the very first challenge we said we want to be in grey. We actually had this conversation, we said we don’t want to be the power couple but we don’t want to be the very bottom couple, we want to be right in the middle and that was the perfect spot till the very end where you make your move. We were getting to that point, but we just couldn’t perform the way we wanted.

TCC: Now that you are back out into the real world, everyone wants to know, where does your relationship stand?

A: You know what, if I knew, I’d tell you. You would be the first one to know. Right now I am lying in a hotel room with Cara Maria in Boston to “figure things out” between the two of us. Me personally, I have to head back to Atlanta where I’ve been working for a little while, I will be making my way back to Montana where I have a house that I rent out as a vacation home. Because I have to be there to take care of it and make sure everything is going OK with it, that makes my salary for the year, I am unable to be in Boston and Cara Maria is in Boston. So at this point in time we are still in the same boat as we were before, which is 3,000 miles apart and still crazy about each other.