Michele Fitzgerald Says She 'Fought' Relationship with Devin Walker 'a Little Bit': 'I Was Cautious' (Exclusive)

• Survived winner Michele Fitzgerald started dating Are you the one? alum Devin Walker after both competed at Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs
• Fitzgerald tells PEOPLE that her relationship with Walker “took a natural course” toward a relationship
• The reality TV star says she “felt a lot of pressure” going into Season 40 after the way she left things in Season 39

Earlier this summer, Michele Fitzgerald confirmed she was dating Devin Walker after the two competed on Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs. But she Fitzgerald PEOPLE she and Walker didn’t really get along from the start.

“We’ve had a bit of a heavy history and we have a bit of a history outside of the show,” he said Survived winner, 34, says. “I was wary of getting into another relationship on the show with my history.”

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Fitzgerald used to walk Survived‘s Wendell Holland and Dean Kowalski and had a performance with Callum Izzard Challenge season 39 So when it came to a new relationship with a co-star, “I struggled a little bit,” she says of starting things with Walker, 35. “But when you’re stuck in a castle and there’s Prince Charming, you just have to.”

He feels the bond with Walker was built during filming Battle era in Vietnam.

“He was always someone I got along with very well,” says Fitzgerald. “In my first season, I went to the first elimination, I had to choose a partner. Of all the people I could have chosen, I chose Devin. And next season beyond Ride or dieI continuously tried to work with him and create alliances with him. He’s funny and I think it just naturally went in that direction.”

Challenge’s Devin Walker and ‘Survivor’ winner Michele Fitzgerald.

MTV; Getty

Fitzgerald made it Challenge debut in season 37, Spies, lies and alliesbut jokes: “It’s really amazing how much mess you can make in such a short amount of time.”

In Season 39, Fitzgerald juggled her relationships with Horacio Gutiérrez Jr., Olivia Kaiser and Nurys Mateo after Kaiser, 32, cheated on Gutiérrez’s girlfriend Mateo, 29.

‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’ Era 4 contestants.

MTV

“I think things like that will haunt you when you look back and think, ‘I should have played it differently,'” says Fitzgerald. “The game is so fast and sometimes you don’t think about the consequences of your actions while you’re in it. You have so many people you are trying to appease, who sometimes get lost along the way. I think I’m really trying to be more aware of the chain reaction that my actions cause.”

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The reality star also entered Season 40 having history with Amanda Garcia and Laurel Stucky.

“I’ve been seen as a lot of things — devious, manipulative, villainous, whatever — and I’ve really gone into this season and thought I’m going to shed all the prejudices that I have and hopefully everyone else can give me the same grace,” Fitzgerald says. . “Are me and Laurel going to be hopping around the meadow holding hands soon? Probably not. We are working on it.”

‘The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras’ Era 3 contestants.

MTV

Fitzgerald kicked off Season 40 with a strong win in the first daily challenge alongside Gutiérrez, 28. The TV personality admits she “felt a huge amount of pressure” entering the Battle era because fans thought she “got a free ride” in season 39 because she “played with all my friends.”

“I really felt a lot of pressure to show that I can not only play a social game, but that I can also play a physical game,” she continues. “We all have different motivations for being there, and what makes you put a fire under your ass is all it takes to motivate you to put up with those conditions. It doesn’t matter what it is.”

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Fight against many of the greatest legends of the game in the Battle era additional pressure.

“We’re playing a very different game now,” says Fitzgerald. “It’s fast-paced, it’s strategic and it looks a lot different. The show reminded us a lot of previous generations: this is supposed to be fun. There was a lot of pressure to not only compete well, but also to maintain the authenticity of the foundation that they laid Challenge. Era 4, we are the last ones left. — it’s been an ongoing story about how this show is supposed to be fun. So we’re out there having fun.”

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Challenge 40: Battle of the Epochs airs Wednesdays at 8:00 PM ET on MTV.

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Source: HIS Education