Natalie Negrotti: What’s Her Challenge Legacy?

Rewind to 2018. MTV decided to cast Big Brother competitors on Vendettas to bring some new blood into the franchise. We see two people — Natalie and Victor from Big Brother 18. Victor left the show with a sour taste, but Natalie did two more seasons.

Her time on The Challenge was a bit of a roller coaster, and she definitely made an impression on her first two seasons. Then, she fizzled out, and we haven’t seen her in four years. Though we may never see her on The Challenge again, her time on the show definitely left fans with some memorable moments.

Vendettas

For a debut season, Natalie’s run on Vendettas was pretty successful. She won five daily challenges and appeared in three Troikas, but she’s better remembered for her relationship with Bananas. This was an odd coupling, and it became the center of drama when Devin revealed Bananas made out with Kayleigh earlier in the season. Natalie eventually called things off with Bananas, but not before she helped throw Kayleigh’s luggage over the balcony.

Near the end of the season, Natalie lost in the Ring to Kam. She returned for the reunion, and her drama with Kayleigh continued. Kayleigh said that Natalie’s relationship with Bananas was fake because Natalie’s a lesbian. While Natalie was dating a girl, she insisted she’s pansexual and that her relationship with Bananas wasn’t just for show.

Final Reckoning

Natalie’s run on this season was very unusual. After the first real challenge, she spent the next 70% of the season in the redemption house. There, she watched a lot of the drama unfold, and her biggest involvement was when she confronted Kayleigh for outing her during Vendettas.

She finally won her way back into the main house during the dangerous That’s The Ticket redemption game. Once in the house, she performed quite well with Paulie. They won two challenges, and when they landed in the final Armageddon, they beat Bananas & Tony and earned their way into the final. They lost, probably because Natalie got lost during a run, but Natalie was noted for being particularly deceptive and manipulative with her grenade, essentially using it to make Sylvia & Joss lose.

War of the Worlds

With only 16 veterans on this season, getting cast was hyper-competitive. So, you’d be forgiven if you forgot that Natalie was one of the select few that was on the season. She was essentially edited out, allegedly because of Glittergate, and then she went home.

There really isn’t much notable from this season. Natalie’s performance wasn’t strong, and we didn’t see any drama with her. The only thing we really saw was her friendship with Cara Maria and Paulie has blossomed since Final Reckoning.

What’s Natalie’s Legacy?

If we look at her early time on The Challenge, Natalie is the first person to bring Big Brother-style gameplay to the franchise. She was in a showmance, and in retrospect, it was quite obviously a strategic move. She also got involved in drama, and she was willing to make some risky moves. A couple times, she could have been in the Troika because she won a challenge on Vendettas. Instead, she let someone else have power with a promise of safety, and this helped her build trust.

On Final Reckoning, people caught on to her strategy, but her coming out story was a humanizing moment. Otherwise, her game was fairly sneaky. She didn’t have as many numbers as she had on Vendettas, especially because Paulie caused a lot of waves in the house, so the pair actually had to win to make moves.

Then, War of the Worlds happened. And this shows us a very important truth about being on reality TV shows. If you get on production’s bad side, you can be dropped and replaced.

But, Natalie recently shared that she was contacted for season 39.

Natalie said she declined to be an influencer and children’s author (or something like that). Do I believe this? Yes, especially for a season like 39 where the initial cast is relatively young (in terms of Challenge tenure). And, if the season is redemption themed, she’d be a natural fit after Final Reckoning.

We also don’t know how quickly she declined. There are many rounds in the casting cycle before Challengers get in front of the camera. Many people accept availability calls but aren’t used as cast members or alternates. If Natalie immediately declined the invitation, we’ll never know if production wanted her on the final cast, or if she was going to get dropped for other people.

Regardless, she is the type of person who could be successful if she comes back. She can be sneaky when she needs to be, and she’s no stranger to a crafty alliance. When she appeared on Vendettas, she was really all by herself at first. So, if she returns without any allies, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that she could be successful.