The Challenge’s Bayleigh Dayton Responds to Dee Ngyuen’s Firing, Reveals Whether They’ve Spoken Since and More

Credit: MTV(2)

The Challenge's Bayleigh Dayton Responds to Dee Ngyuen's Firing, Reveals Whether They've Spoken Since and More

A messy situation. Bayleigh Dayton and Dee Nguyen publicly butted heads throughout season 35 of The Challenge, but everything changed on June 8, when MTV announced that it was cutting all ties with the season 34 winner following her racially charged comments. On Blackout Tuesday, a social media initiative where people posted a black square instead of photos in an effort to make room for black voices, Nguyen, 27, faced backlash when she continued to post photos of herself. "All you posted was a black square and went about your day and posting your lame a-- thirst traps. People are dying," one comment read. She then responded, "People die every f--king day. U don't know me or what I do. I suggest you wake the f--k up and get off social media." She later tweeted, "Idk why some of you think I'm anti BLM. I've been saying that since the day I lost my virginity." She added the angel emoji. Both messages were shared by the Big Brother alum on June 7. "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SUPPORT BLM. I’m disgusted and disappointed. THIS IS NOT A TREND. THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH FOR US," Dayton, 27, wrote at the time. "Posting for clout about the death of black people? Shame on you @deenguyenMTV." Although she was fired the day after Dayton shared the messages, the former Miss Missouri said on the June 13 episode of the "Challenge Mania" podcast that she did not complain to producers about Nguyen. "Never once did I send it to MTV or anything like that. I wasn’t really expecting for all of this to happen," she shared. "But with the number of complaints that they received, they decided to make a decision that was best for them. I’m not, like, malicious. I’m not trying to rub it in. I just felt like enough was enough and we had to actually use our platforms for something positive." Additionally, Dayton uploaded a new video to her YouTube channel to teach others how to help contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement. On June 10, the Geordie Shore alum released an apology to her cast members and the crew for her comments. “What was stated wasn’t meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it’s certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant," she told Us in a statement. "I would love to take it back. But it is out there and to set to record straight. Racial intolerance is intolerable and unacceptable. Having had to deal with racism my entire life, ironically through all this, there is a warm feeling I have with the fact that humans are standing together to call out unacceptable comments and behaviors that in the past were rarely called on. Again, we are shown that you can be judged in a second on all social media platforms.” So, how does Dayton feel now? Scroll through the gallery for more revelations from her latest interview. [podcast_block]

Credit: MTV(2)

The Challenge's Bayleigh Dayton Responds to Dee Ngyuen's Firing, Reveals Whether They've Spoken Since and More

A messy situation. Bayleigh Dayton and Dee Nguyen publicly butted heads throughout season 35 of The Challenge, but everything changed on June 8, when MTV announced that it was cutting all ties with the season 34 winner following her racially charged comments. On Blackout Tuesday, a social media initiative where people posted a black square instead of photos in an effort to make room for black voices, Nguyen, 27, faced backlash when she continued to post photos of herself. "All you posted was a black square and went about your day and posting your lame a-- thirst traps. People are dying," one comment read. She then responded, "People die every f--king day. U don't know me or what I do. I suggest you wake the f--k up and get off social media." She later tweeted, "Idk why some of you think I'm anti BLM. I've been saying that since the day I lost my virginity." She added the angel emoji. Both messages were shared by the Big Brother alum on June 7. "THIS IS NOT HOW YOU SUPPORT BLM. I’m disgusted and disappointed. THIS IS NOT A TREND. THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH FOR US," Dayton, 27, wrote at the time. "Posting for clout about the death of black people? Shame on you @deenguyenMTV." Although she was fired the day after Dayton shared the messages, the former Miss Missouri said on the June 13 episode of the "Challenge Mania" podcast that she did not complain to producers about Nguyen. "Never once did I send it to MTV or anything like that. I wasn’t really expecting for all of this to happen," she shared. "But with the number of complaints that they received, they decided to make a decision that was best for them. I’m not, like, malicious. I’m not trying to rub it in. I just felt like enough was enough and we had to actually use our platforms for something positive." Additionally, Dayton uploaded a new video to her YouTube channel to teach others how to help contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement. On June 10, the Geordie Shore alum released an apology to her cast members and the crew for her comments. “What was stated wasn’t meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it’s certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant," she told Us in a statement. "I would love to take it back. But it is out there and to set to record straight. Racial intolerance is intolerable and unacceptable. Having had to deal with racism my entire life, ironically through all this, there is a warm feeling I have with the fact that humans are standing together to call out unacceptable comments and behaviors that in the past were rarely called on. Again, we are shown that you can be judged in a second on all social media platforms.” So, how does Dayton feel now? Scroll through the gallery for more revelations from her latest interview. [podcast_block]

Credit: Courtesy of Dee Nguyen/Instagram

Unexpected

"All of it was unexpected. ... The Dee thing coming up was so random and it wasn’t even necessarily directed at us, I just got it in my DMs so many times and I had already spoken to Dee, personally, about a few other things where I was like, 'Hey, enough is enough,'" she explained on the episode. "So I just tweeted about it. ... Dee’s a role model so she has to be careful with the things she says because people are looking up to her."

Credit: Courtesy of Bayleigh Dayton/Instagram

Not Speaking

The Kansas City native revealed that she hasn't spoken to Nguyen since the firing. "She sent me some messages but they just weren’t very nice so I just didn’t respond," she said.

Credit: Courtesy of Dee Nguyen/Instagram

Sending Good Vibes

"[Fans] think that I tried to do something malicious toward Dee. I didn’t," Dayton stated. "I’m not even the one who reported her to MTV, so everybody can get that out of their head. ... I have no idea what she’s going through and I hope she’s handling things the way that's best for her life. I’m not the judge of anybody."

Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Being Typecast

The former pageant queen also said that she and fiancé Chris “Swaggy C” Williams were "absolutely" typecast on season 20 of Big Brother. "That’s the whole point. When I got called for Big Brother, the first thing they said to me was like, 'Hey, you’re top 25, but that doesn’t mean top 25 black girls so get ready to go.' I know I’m the only black girl that’s going," she explained. "They have to fill certain roles. On top of that, there’s certain black people that they don’t want to cast in these roles because they’re gonna be put in situations that might make them feel uncomfortable. So I had to make sure to communicate that, 'Hey, I’m used to being in uncomfortable situations, it's OK.' But that’s not something somebody should have to communicate."

Credit: Courtesy of Dee Nguyen/Instagram

What Wasn't Aired

After Nguyen's firing, MTV edited out most of her time in the June 10 episode. However, that also meant cutting out Dayton.

"Me and Dee got into a physical altercation because she just decided that she wanted to sabotage me in the competition by hurling things at me and hitting me and stripping things from me," she claimed on the podcast. "Dee would do things like that on a regular basis inside the house, inside the challenges. It got to the point where it wasn’t just me and Swaggy, everyone was being, like, 'She’s being a little bit too vindictive. She’s letting the power get to her.'"

Credit: Courtesy of Bayleigh Dayton/Instagram

Moving Forward

Dayton added that she supports the network's decision since she can't speak to production. That said, everyone should be held accountable.

"I really wanted Dee to be a good example of what should have been happened. If Dee would have taken responsibility, like, 'This is not my intention. I need to do better,' I think it could have ended up better for her," she said. "I think the stance people are taking on this particular issue kinda shows people’s true colors. ... People have to be held accountable for the things that they do. I feel like if I did something that was offensive to anyone, I would be held accountable so I feel like everybody else should be too. ... Everybody has the right to defend themselves, some people just choose not to."