CT Returns To ‘The Challenge’ As A Tribute To Diem Brown: ‘I Needed To Do It’

Image Courtesy of MTV

Grab your tissues, folks. The Jan 13 episode of ‘The Challenge’ will feature a big return of one of the competition monsters, CT — his first time back on TV since ‘Exes,’ when we watched him remain at Diem’s side when she was sick. This time, he’s brought along her sister.

What better way to honor Diem Brown than to bring along her “bloodline” for The Challenge season that’s all about family? That’s how CT Tamburello felt before heading on the show with Diem’s sister, he told HollywoodLife.com in an exclusive new interview.

“I thought I was done. I didn’t want anything to do with TV, I didn’t want to be in the spotlight anymore,” CT told us about being hesitant to sign on this year. “I was done, but then there was something . . . I feel like I needed to do it. ‘Closure’ is not the right word, but when I found out I was gonna be doing it with Faith [Brown] and it was a tribute to D, I thought, ‘If I was going to climb out of the hole I was hiding in for the last year, this was the way to do it.’ You know, you’ve got to show everyone you’re ok. MTV was so supportive. They always were, they kept telling me, ‘There’s still a place for you here,’ but they didn’t push too hard. ”

He also said that when it comes to making the TV return, he thought, “what better way to do it?” While there was “no way” he could have come back for a full season at that point, this was a good time to do what he does. “It was like I poked my head out of the hole and was like, ‘Am I okay to come out now?'” 

CT was also extremely honored by the amount of support he received on social media after everything. “I didn’t realize it — people started watching in high school and college kids that have been watching for so long. They’ve watched me grow, and [watched] Diem grow and our relationship grow. It put things in perspective — it’s like you have a bunch of friends that you never see.”

You can watch CT and Faith on The Challenge on MTV on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 10PM.