Unlike many superfans, Big Brother alum Natalie Negrotti wasn’t surprised when she found out that her former housemates Victor Arroyo and Nicole Franzel began dating after the game ended.
“I could tell in the Big Brother house that Victor had a huge crush on Nicole,” Negrotti, 27, tells Us Weekly exclusively. “Just the way he would look at her — and he was always looking for her — you could definitely tell he had a huge crush on her.”
Arroyo’s attraction to Franzel wasn’t shown on the CBS reality series’ 18th season when it aired in the summer of 2016, likely because she was in a showmance at the time with their fellow houseguest Corey Brooks.
Still, Negrotti says, “You always know when someone likes someone or someone is interested in someone. Victor was definitely very interested in Nicole during the show. He didn’t vocalize it because Nicole was with Corey, but I could tell for sure. It was just a matter of time.”
Now, the former NFL cheerleader and Arroyo, 26, are both competing on The Challenge: Vendettas. Though they’ve been pitted against one another, she has nothing but kind words for the gym manager. Well, sort of. “I’m not close with Nicole or Victor,” Negrotti tells Us. “I wish them the best, but I’m not friends with them.”
Arroyo and Franzel, 25, announced in September that they had been quietly dating for three months. “Everything came together for the premiere of Big Brother 19, where we were in New York and we just clicked,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “From then on, I guess it was a love story, and now she’s my girlfriend. … A lot of people don’t know her beyond Big Brother, but she’s a sweetheart in real life and I love her to death.”
The Challenge: Vendettas airs on MTV on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
