The Challenge Australia was riddled with an outbreak of ‘cold sores’ which forced the contestants to restrict physical contact.
The hit reality show follows challengers competing in grueling physical challenges with a partner of the opposite sex, and the objective is to survive the eliminations.
Cold sores are contagious blisters in or near the mouth caused by a virus, which means the outbreak has prevented the stars from locking lips.
Speaking anonymously on the So dramatic! podcast, one participant said the singletons were encouraged to keep it strictly platonic for fear of picking up the mouth blister.
There actually weren’t that many hookups among the cast, apart from Megan [Marx] and Konrad [Bien-Stephen], because everyone had cold sores,’ the insider shared.
‘Everyone just broke out in them during filming, so there was no hooking up. Strangely enough, Megan and Konrad didn’t get cold sores but everyone else did,’ they added.
However, the source insisted that the cold sores ‘weren’t spread,’ and claimed that everyone got the virus except Megan and Konrad who were confirmed to be hooking up.
Leaked footage emerged of Megan and Konrad enjoying a racy spa romp on the series.
Konrad, who was previously in a relationship with fellow Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield, and Megan struck up a romance soon after arriving in Buenos Aires to film The Challenge.
Elsewhere, Emily Seebohm and Ryan Gallagher both confirmed went Instagram official after meeting on the Australian gameshow.
Emily told Yahoo Lifestyle! that her initial pairing with Ryan helped the couple form a strong bond.
‘Me and Ryan, obviously we were paired with each other first challenge, we won and we worked really well together,’ she told the publication.
However, despite their closeness on The Challenge, Emily stressed that the pair never hooked up during filming.
‘After the show, we both met up in Argentina and we decided to go travelling together and yeah, we’ve kind of been inseparable since the show,’ she added.
