Two weeks after completing chemotherapy for her second battle with ovarian cancer, Diem Brown boarded a plane and flew to Thailand to compete on MTV’s The Challenge: Rivals II. Little did viewers know (unless they followed her amazing People magazine blog) that Diem was undergoing early menopause, giving herself hormone shots and taking steroids to keep her cancer at bay during her time on ‘The Challenge,’ so it’s no surprise her emotions were a bit out of whack.
According to Diem’s latest People blog, she informed the show’s production team that she might be a loose cannon during the filming, due to her medical issues, but they insisted that they would protect her. Apparently, she even realized that coming to Thailand was a mistake and tried to quit, but the production team promised people would know why she was a little out of sorts this season.
During the last episode, however, Diem says she was edited to look “crazy” and “melting down,” which resulted in a flood of social media hate and even a death threat!
“I think it’s easy for producers to forget we are not “characters” and when reality TV tries to lead viewers to an opinion of right or wrong, good or bad, we are the ones that suffer the brunt of the audience’s social media reactions,” she wrote.
“After last week’s episode aired, my ‘character’ was transformed and I was showered with an onslaught of online hate. I even got a text with a screen shot of my address from someone (who somehow accessed my personal information) about how he or she was going to kill me in graphic detail.”
Diem said that although she is “confused by decisions the production company made with this season, given our prior talks” she isn’t holding a grudge against the production people she trusted. However, she has decided to quit doing ‘Challenges’ because of what happened.
“I have realized that competing in ‘The Challenge’ series isn’t for me anymore, so I am officially ending my ‘challenge career’ with the conclusion of ‘Rivals,'” she wrote. “I’m excited to move on from the pain that last week created and give all my focus to my passion for patient advocacy. I can’t wait to share some exciting news with y’all next Thursday.”
The Ashley is crossing her fingers that Diem has found a new TV gig so that we will get to keep watching her on our screens! She loves Diem!
(Photos: MTV)
21 Responses
I don’t think Diem is whiny or even that she acted that crazy on Rivals2. I think people just have a double standard for the trashier personalities on this show (Jemmye, Knight, Nany, Camila and even CT) versus the straight characters (Diem, Emily, etc.).
I saw Camila’s freak-out over what appeared to be nothing in the “thrilla camilla” episode to be much worse, as well as the Knight/Jemmye ketchup-gate, but expectations of the behavior of these characters are so low that no one had much reaction.
I also think Diem handled herself very well on the reunion. She looked like grace under fire when she was being questioned initially on her “character” changing, and she looked positively regal next to CT during their Q&A and he looked high or something.
I hope Diem does leave the trashy challenge-life for good, and move onto a show of her own – preferably more in the demographic that suits her (Bravo vs. MTV). She has more twitter followers than any other MTV challenge star (slightly more than CT, but they’re almost tied). Certainly she has the fan base to headline a show of her own.
Finally, I’ve heard from friends in Boston and NYC that she is in fact back with her ex and they’ve been spotted a dinner in restaurants, at the mall, at amusemarks, alone and together. Does anyone have any insight on that??
So so happy to finally hear people call diem out for her whiny self-obsession and that she has always acted like a spoiled ditz and the most annoying person in the whole cast. I’m sorry for her cancer of course but that isnt an excuse for everythg and she was no different on this season than every other one. She is staggeringly immature… cancer usually makes ppl grow up or gain perspective but she just remains as shallow as a saucer and so immature! Which is really saying smthg among the other “land of misfit toys” of the show – she’s the worst! Also frank SUCKS. I can’t stand him!
I like Diem, yes she has a flare for the dramatic when it comes to stuff, and maybe she is a little emotional, but honestly she is just an average 20 something to me. I could not imagine going though all she has and still wanting to be on such a physically and emotionally draining show. I believe she is a good person, but good people stupid/crazy things. I do believe she isn’t the perfect little angle production depicted her as in the first several season, but I don’t believe she is crazy either. I think you have to consider what she has been through, its not playing the victim, its just her making people realize that she doesn’t have control over her body or her life due to cancer, so of course she is going to freak out when she doesn’t have control in a challenge. And yes she has reacted in such a way since the beginning, because she has had these same struggles since the beginning as well. All in all I believe she is a good role model and a good person!
Diem is in her early 30’s and has been acting like a spoiled brat on TV for the better part of a decade now. I don’t think it’s off base to conclude that that’s pretty much her personality.
Munchausen Syndrome. And her charity is Munchausen by proxy. Ever notice that its site focuses mostly on her? And what kind of a journalist is/was she, with that terrible grammar and syntax?
This Munchausen reference is in bad taste.
When Diem cried for herself and made herself seem like a victim at the reunion I thought she seemed ridiculous and pathetic. Using your cancer as an excuse for bad behavior is insulting to us the audience and other cancer survivors. She could have just apologized. She is shrill, self-pitying, hypocritical (having voted plenty of times “against” people she knew to eliminate them), and displays a lack of empathy. I think she mostly feels sorry for herself and doesn’t take others’ feelings into account. People who buy into her line of BS have been fooled.
I agree. She always points her fingers at everyone and everything when it comes to her own bad behavior. She has a long history of not taking responsibility.
you, ktd are pathetic in the worse way imaginable.
Her cancer story is inspiring, but I won’t miss her from the challenges. She was the most annoying and whiny castmember ever.
I wish Diem had been on earlier challenges. It was a whole different group of people back in the day. She would have fit in better and it wouldn’t be so awkward to watch her amongst this group of flakes.
Oh, Diem…I feel awful for her and her cancer struggles at such a young age. BUT at the same time, she’s done many seasons of this show and has the same behaviour throughout, and she always hides behind her partner, whoever she is dating or says that she was planning on leaving early anyways when facing eliminations. I sometimes feel like she thinks she is protected, because she has cancer, she’s dating CT, she’s friends with everybody, etc. If she tried to quit and production wouldn’t let her, that is shitty but she also doesn’t seem to grasp that at the end of the day, it’s a game and she’s seen how things go before.
She needs to stop playing the victim card, seriously,Half of the castmembers on this challenge have been saying that she isnt the good girl everyone thinks she is, whether she was on meds or not she acts like this, this isnt her first rodeo on past challenges she reacted the same way.
Now she isnt the only one or the last one that gets a bad edit.she took a free ride on the past 6 challenges, getting a good edit.
most of castemebers dont get always a good edit but you dont see them complaining about it they just ignore them and move on.Its sick that ppl threat to kill her, but then again she should just ignore them.
Im glad she decide to move on, Im just no a fan of hers or her character.
First of all, she’s not a character–she’s a person in real life! Second of all, to say she should “just ignore” these very volatile & scary death threats that she’s getting is the most ridiculous thing I think I’ve ever heard! She is a celebrity…she may not be Jennifer Aniston status, but she’s still a celebrity no less and there have been plenty of celebrities who have had crazy stalkers that went through with their death threats! I’m sure it’s terrifying for her…& to have to deal with that while battling cancer again must be Godawful. No one deserves to be threatened like that! NO ONE! I don’t give a flying F if you don’t like her personality or how she may react to challenges! Seriously!!! SMH
I am a fan of C.T. And Diems relationship. It made me warm inside to see them together again. However that feeling soon went cold when he started acting like a jerk, and proving my not so favorite Johnny Bananas to be right about his motives with her. The whole challenge is getting hard for me to watch. Its just so raunchy and has so little to do with the actual game anymore. I know people like the drama and all but that’s the whole reason I don’t watch the Real World anymore, because it turned into a show about hook ups. I think Diem is better then that and hope she keeps us updated on her amazing life journey.
That makes me sad she is one of the few girls left I really like. You could tell she was struggling with so many physical and emotional issues on Rivals 2. I know she gos on these challenges to prove that there is life after Cancer and to be a role model, but MTV always makes her look loony. I would loose my cool to if I had to be on there with all those crazy nasty cast mates. Plus CT threre on top of that!
Whether you are a fan of Diem Brown or not, it seems like the producers at MTV’s The Challenge would, at the very least, recognize the extremely debilitating effects of both cancer and hormone treatments, and openly acknowledge this during the show. They obviously consider Diem to be Challenge royalty, or they wouldn’t continually invite her to participate, in spite of the fact that she’s one of the more senior members of the cast. It’s clear that they manipulate and encourage any and all interaction between Diem and her storied history with fellow castmate, and all around hunk, CT. While its true that Diem has never reacted especially well when facing an elimination round, I think she deserves tons of credit for her terrific, and deeply personal, blogs and videos throughout her second battle with ovarian cancer, and her indomitable spirit, which has enabled her to beat a deadly cancer twice.The Challenge producers at MTV should be ashamed of themselves for compromising the dignity of such a tough survivor, and owe her an apology. It is my opinion that much of The Challenge is staged, though it’s still a fun show to watch, and the producers could certainly have found other ways to utilize Diem rather than making her look so crazy and out of control that she decides to quit for good. And no one deserves death threats! Stupid producers. Good luck to Diem!
It’s unfortunate if production mislead Diem, but Diem completely distancing herself from all of her own actions (most of which we have seen before in past challenges) is not cool. Take some responsibility please! (But she never does, does she…)
I understand that Diem was taking all sorts of medication, however, if you take a look back at all of her previous shows, she has the same reaction every time she is faced with an elimination round. She may have had an excuse for why she went off THIS time but there’s at least 2 more instances where she flipped out prior to going into elimination.
She is egoistical, manipulative, self-pitying, hypocritical (having voted plenty of times against people she knew to eliminate them), and displays a lack of empathy.
I think she mostly feels sorry for herself and doesn’t take others’ feelings into account.
Personally, I’m glad she has chosen not to come back. I’ve never been a fan of her and I think she needs to focus more on her health.
I understand that she was taking all sorts of medication and such which causes extreme emotions and reactions, however, if you take a look back at all of her previous shows, she has the same reaction every time she is faced with an elimination round. She may have had an excuse for why she went off THIS time but there’s at least 2 more instances (fresh meat & the duel 2) where she flipped out prior to going into elimination. Personally, I’m glad she has chosen not to come back. I’ve never been a fan of her and I think she needs to focus more on her health.