"Eye on the prize": Paulie Calafiore opens up about his upcoming appearance in The Challenge: USA season 2

In August 2023, CBS will premiere season two of The Challenge: USA, featuring Paulie Calafiore as a contestant. This is not the first time he will appear on a reality TV show as he was earlier part of Ex On The Beach, Big Brother season 18, and The Challenge: War of the Worlds season 33.

Although Paulie Calafiore has participated in competition shows before, he is rather nervous about entering The Challenge: USA season 2.

On Tuesday, CBS announced the 24 contestants who will appear in the upcoming season of The Challenge: USA. Calafiore opened up about his time on the show and told Us Weekly:

“Ultimately, I went into this season with the mindset of like, ‘There’s always two wolves that everybody has within themselves, and you can choose to feed one or the other.’ So, I chose to feed the one that was peaceful."

He added:

"Not to say that the not peaceful one wasn’t chirping in my ear, being like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? What are you doing?’ I really had to keep my eye on the prize this season.”

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The Challenge: USA season 2 contestant Paulie Calafiore sheds light on his "biggest fear"

In the interview, Paulie Calafiore shed light on the fears he experienced before entering the game show.

“[The] biggest fear whenever you return after a long break is, like, 'Do I still got it?' And as soon as you get done with the first daily, you’re like, 'OK, yeah, I still got it. I can still hang with the young kids they’re pulling in here nowadays,” he said.

He mentioned that while filming season 2 of the show, he felt like he was on the reality TV show, Big Brother. He said that in the earlier seasons of the show, there were "no doors on any of the rooms." However, in the new season, not only were there doors but there were doors that shut.

“There was a constant feeling of, ‘Conversations are happening and I’m not a part of it.’ Throughout the house, everybody was on edge,” Calafiore told the publication.

The upcoming season of the reality show will feature contestants from reality TV shows such as Big Brother, Survivor, and The Challenge. Here's the list of cast members set to appear on this season of the show:

1. Wes Bergmann
2. Michaela Bradshaw
3. Paulie Calafiore
4. Cassidy Clark
5. Luis Colon
6. Tyler Crispen
7. Tori Deal
8. Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio
9. Michele Fitzgerald
10. Amanda Garcia
11. Dusty Harris
12. Chanelle Howell
13. Ameerah Jones
14. Alyssa Lopez
15. Jonna Stephens
16. Josh Martinez
17. Tiffany Mitchell
18. Sebastian Noel
19. Faysal Shafaat
20. Alyssa Snider
21. Monte Taylor
22. Chris Underwood
23. Cory Wharton
24. Desi Williams

The 24 contestants will compete for a $250,000 cash prize and the season 2 title. The last two contestants, one male, and one female, will split the cash prize in the finale. T.J. Lavin will host this season of The Challenge: USA and fans can't wait to see this season's cast members go head-to-head.

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Watch the upcoming episodes of The Challenge: USA season 2 on CBS on August 10 at 10 pm ET.