Exclusive Interview
‘The Challenge’s Beth Insists ‘I’m Not a Liar’ After Jonna Cheating Rumor: Inside Her Allegations
Beth Stolarczyk and Jonna Mannion‘s beef started on Season 3 of The Challenge: All Stars in 2022, and now they’re forced to work together on Season 5, which has a Rivals theme. The drama runs deep with the women, though, since it was more than just cutthroat gameplay that led to the tension between them.
Even though Stolarczyk was only on Season 3 for two episodes before her exit, there was plenty of time for her to perpetuate a shocking rumor about Mannion. The two wound up facing off in an elimination, with Stolarczyk quitting before they completed it.
Scroll down for everything we know about the cheating rumors and what Stolarczyk told Swooon about the drama.
What rumor did Beth start about Jonna on The Challenge?
Stolarczyk alleged that Mannion was cheating on her husband, Kevin Stephens, with fellow Challenge star MJ Garrett. Mannion and Garrett were partners on Season 2 of All Stars and eventually won the whole show. They both returned for Season 3 and played their individual games as close allies.
The accusations came after Mannion targeted Stolarczyk during a daily challenge. “She’s a cheater in so many ways,” the Real World alum said. Ahead of elimination nominations, Stolarczyk spoke with that day’s female winner, Sylvia Elsrode, about who she’d choose to go against in an elimination if she was sent in. Stolarczyk said she would probably choose Mannion, and when pressed to explain why she added, “She’s a little manipulator and she’s cheating on her husband with MJ. She plays a dirty game.”
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Stolarczyk used the rumor to target Mannion as someone who wasn’t trustworthy in the game. “I don’t think you play the game very honest,” she told her opponent. “I think you’re super shady. Based on a lot of things. I don’t think you’re an honest person and that’s just all there is to it.”
Did The Challenge’s Jonna cheat on her husband with MJ?
Mannion and Garrett have both denied the cheating rumors. “Beth is full of s***,” Mannion said in a confessional. “Yeah, MJ and I are close. MJ and I went through an entire season together and we won a final. And that’s it. I’m not having an affair, OK?” In his own confessional, Garrett added, “Jonna and I are not having an affair.”
However, ahead of Season 5 in 2025, Stolarczyk stood by the accusations she made, but apologized for publicizing them. “It was very ugly outside of the game,” Stolarczyk told Swooon. “I may be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them. Am I sorry I said what I said? Yes. But I am not a liar. I will not go down with people thinking I am a liar. Because I am not a liar.”
She added, “I’m apologizing for saying what I said. I lost my cool. But I’m not a liar. For people to go out of their way to say that I’m a liar … no. My reputation is everything to me and I’m not a liar. That’s just the way it is. I’m not a liar. I shouldn’t have said it, but I’m definitely not a liar.”
The ordeal affected Mannion in her personal life, though. “I signed up for this, my family supports and backs me, but the Internet lives forever,” she told E! News in 2022. “When someone comes out and says something like that, people now have this opinion of you and it lives on.”
At the time, Mannion confirmed that Stolarczyk hadn’t reached out to her, despite telling other people that she wanted to apologize. Ahead of Season 5, Stolarczyk admitted that she and her partner never spoke before returning to film the show together.
“I want to have an opportunity to apologize to her, so being on the show is going to give me the opportunity to apologize to her,” she told Swooon. “I say in the previews I want to right my wrongs, and I do want to right my wrongs, and I want to be the best team player I could be, and I want to win the money. This is a great opportunity. I don’t know how many more Challenges I’m going to get the opportunity to be on, so I want to win the money. Jonna has won a couple times. I don’t know if she cares about winning the money. Maybe she’s just going to throw it. I have no idea. Is she going to accept my apology? Is she going to want to continue on in the game with me? I have no idea. So I had a lot of anxiety going into this game, for sure.”
Are The Challenge’s Jonna and her husband still together?
Mannion and Stephens are still together. They share a daughter named Naleigh, born in 2016, and a son named Cal, born in 2020.
While Mannion doesn’t post about her personal life on social media all that much, but she shared a carousel of photos with Stephens in August 2024. Meanwhile, his most recent update was in December 2024 when he tagged her in a post from a concert they attended together.
The Challenge: All Stars, Season 5 Premiere, Wednesday, January 29, 8/7c, MTV
