Leroy and Naomi met on The Real World: Las Vegas, after a series of hook-ups, the two never expected to be in the Dominican Republic working together on MTV’s Challenge: Battle of the Exes. After two weeks of failing to win in competitions, the two met their match when forced to fight against Emily and Ty in the dome and were ultimately sent home. TheCelebrityCafe.com caught up with the duo to find out what happened, and what living with an ex-hookup was really like.
TheCelebrityCafe: What sort of relationship did you two have prior to going on Battle of the Exes?
Leroy: We were OK, I mean, we weren’t on that great of terms, but we were OK.
Naomi: Prior to Battle of the exes, me and Leroy were friends for the most part who would hook up whenever we saw each other...at some point after RW Las Vegas we were "talking" in a more serious way, but decided it wasn’t going to work because he isn’t the commitment type of guy.
TCC: How shocked were you, for the second week in a row, to see another team leave so suddenly?
L: I felt kinda bad for the team, but at the same time it was good to see another team go. The more teams that go home, the closer we get to the money.
N: I was so shocked! I remember thinking, “People are dropping like flies!” And for it to be one of my closest friends, Heather and Dustin, I was so upset.
TCC: This is the second week in a row that you were sent into the dome as the bottom team, but other teams are constantly saying that “Leroy and Naomi are a tough team to beat.” What happened?
L: The few times we were there, we weren’t doing too well on challenges to begin with so, on this last one we got sent to the dome. We just got dealt a bad hand with questions, that’s all that was. I don’t blame her for getting her questions wrong, and I don’t blame me, it just happens. Getting sent to elimination rounds, I always feel like I can win them, in it, or if I am just watching it, it doesn’t really bother me. I feel like if you win competitions and come back and start sending people home. We didn’t this time though, so we got booted.
N: [I] just think that our communication was off, my confidence level was down and my mind wasn’t in the game when it came to challenges. At eliminations, it was a different ball game; I knew I didn’t wanna go home, so I put all my performing insecurities aside and just went in.
TCC: You had the opportunity to decide the order in the challenge, what was your strategy behind that?
L: The strategy was...I wanted to go first because it seems that we would get the easier questions at the beginning. As soon as I found out what the game was going to be, and the strategy was she wanted to go closer to last because she was terrified, that’s the only reason we put the order that way. A lot of times it isn’t good to go first because you want to see how everyone else is doing, but just for that one I felt that the questions would be super easy at the beginning, and they were, I was right and we ended up getting stuck with the hard ones.
N: Well they didn’t show it, but I generated the order and it was the reverse order of the previous challenge. But Leroy switched it up on the spot because he had no confidence in my decision making. We put Paula first because we know she freaks out when they put her first and that would cause her to perform terrible. What we didn’t know was that by putting ourselves close to last, we got the hardest, dumbest questions.
TCC: You guys seemed to get along a little bit better than some of the others, was this part of your strategy?
L: Yeah right, we didn’t get along at all. We probably got along the worst out of every couple there, to be honest, I don’t think they showed it that way, but we definitely did. It was horrible.
N: We actually didn’t get along, there’s a lot they didn’t show. At the challenge house, me and Leroy were barely friends. He was upset that I didn’t want him to hook up with people, and I was upset because he didn't want to hook up with me.
TCC: It seems like they showed more fights between Jasmine and Tyree than any other…
L: They have their little beef too, but me and Naomi were definitely beefed up the entire time. It was a constant argument, every day.
TCC: Which is harder, the challenges or co-habituating in a house full of exes?
L: Having to deal with the exes, having to deal with my ex was the worst! But, the challenges weren’t really hard. There was nothing overbearing, or that you felt you couldn’t do it, they were fairly easy. Dealing with my hook-up, she’s not my ex, it was just terrible.
TCC: Who was your biggest threat in the game?
L: The team that we lost to. I thought that Ty and Emily were the strongest team there, physical wise.
TCC: Throwing Emily and Ty into the dome was strictly strategic on Paula and Dunbar’s part, in other words, they really wanted to send Emily and Ty home, but in the end you two ended up going home. Were you upset with their decision or did you realize it was strictly strategy?
L: No, I didn’t care who they threw us in against, I don’t really get involved with other teams. We were already going into the elimination; I could care less who they throw in against me. I would never take it personal, it’s just part of the game. When you’re the power couple you have to do what is in your best interest. If your best interest is to put a couple in that is going to keep you making it to the final and win it, then by all means, you would do it. If the shoe was on the other foot, and someone was in there, I would throw the CT’s and the Johnny’s in there because I would feel like there are in my way to getting the money. I didn’t care that she did that at all, I figured it might bite her in the ass because there was a very good chance that we could have lost, which we did.
N: Hell yeah! I know challenges aren’t fair, I just feel like, wouldn’t they want a weak team till the end? If so then why put us up against one of the most ‘brawlick’ girls in the house…I didn’t understand that.
TCC: Was CT your best scenario to go up against in for you to stay in the game?
L: The best case scenario for me to stay in the game would probably be Abram and Cara Maria. Because, Diem is in better shape than some of the guys even, she can go for days, she has a ton of gas, she is in way better shape than my partner…and CT’s a beast too! Even Aneesa and Rachel - Anessa is pretty competitive so it was just tough all the way around…there is no team we could have matched up evenly with or dominated.
TCC: Who do you think is going to take home the grand prize?
L: I have my money on Ty and Emily.
N: Either CT and Diem or Johnny and Camila, but who knows there are tons of strong teams!
TCC: Is there anything else fans should know?
L: I love the Challenge, I would do it again, but hopefully I wouldn’t be paired up. When we get the call to do the show, we didn’t know what the teams were going to be, you don’t find out until you get there. That’s just a bad part of it, but if there is another Challenge, I would definitely do it again.