In a recent Instagram video, Leroy Garrett opened up about his experience on Dirty Thirty. Specifically, he spoke about episode 9: Rampage. This is the episode when Camila went on her racist outburst and called Leroy a series of racial slurs.
If you’ve seen the episode, you’ll know Camila was hysterical. It all stemmed from a gameplay discussion. Leroy wasn’t even talking about Camila specifically, he was talking about general strategy and using the word “her.” Feeling entitled to Leroy’s strategy, Camila started calling Leroy names. It started by mocking Leroy’s lack of a championship title, which is fair enough, but it escalated to racial slurs.
In the video, Leroy says that Bananas threw a pillow at Camila as she was leaving. Then, she violently threw the pillow back at Leroy before leaving the room. Afterwards, she was screaming, crying, and running all over the house in tears.
Leroy was left without people to defend him, and production didn’t stop her after calling Leroy slurs (including the n-word). When she exited the room, she runs around the house and calls Leroy more racial slurs.
Mind you, Leroy is stuck in a tough position. He’s always been a level-headed person, but Camila had been severely disrespectful and had thrown around derogatory words. Leroy still needed to navigate the situation as a Black man. Despite Camila’s tirade, he will become the “angry Black man” if he shows any type of anger, even if it’s only verbal.
After leaving the room, Camila was escorted to a hotel for her violent behaviors. She had thrown dumbbells around and screamed at production. The next morning, she returned to the house with a sense of anger.
Leroy gives thanks to the cast members who defended him, specifically Jemmye, Britni, CT, Bananas, and Tony.
Much of Leroy’s discussion revolves around his guilt from the situation. In some ways, he feels complacent. He was in a predominantly white house, and he didn’t defend himself. Production had always praised him for being a great cast member and for his easygoing nature. He worried that standing up for himself would reflect upon him poorly as an “employee” of MTV. So, he prioritized his spot in the game and the money he’s received from being cast on the show.
Production never really took Leroy’s side. Camila was allowed to return to the game and she didn’t apologize until Leroy brought up the incident. She gave a half-hearted apology, but MTV seemed to be OK with that. They didn’t take Leroy’s side, they kept Camila in the game, and they allowed her to win the grand prize.
It’s hard to fully understand Leroy’s position, especially if you’re not a Black person. Watching the video, Leroy clearly holds a lot of grief when reflecting on the situation. He felt like he needed the opportunities and prioritized money. In the end, MTV wanted to sweep the assault under the rug. All they offered was a therapy session.
In fact, production almost didn’t air this episode. Cast members needed to speak up, which resulted in the episode airing (hence why there’s almost 0 gameplay) and air a “race in America” special.
This isn’t the incident that got Camila banned. It was because she assaulted a crew member on Champs vs. Stars. In fact, MTV stilled follows Camila (at the time of Leroy’s recording) on Instagram but they don’t follow Leroy.
Leroy is one of the few cast members who seems to be universally loved. It’s sad that this incident has weighed on him so heavily, and he was truly placed in a challenging position. While I cannot resolve the pain caused by this incident, I applaud Leroy for his courage to speak out. He was put in a position where he could not win. If he, as the victim, spoke up he would need to sacrifice his opportunities on MTV. By remaining somewhat complacent he kept getting cast on The Challenge but he needed to live with disappointment. I’m glad he is working to forgive himself, because he should not assume any responsibility for this incident. He couldn’t win, MTV clearly didn’t care, but as fans of the show we can advocate for cast members who have been so obviously mistreated.
Stop Being Polite 