Cory Wharton is so against getting the vaccine, he's willing to skip out on attending The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies reunion. The MTV star recently took to Twitter to let his fans know he won't be in attendance at the upcoming reunion taping because he refuses to get vaccinated. His revelation comes as more celebrities have started to speak up about their vaccination status, despite the public scrutiny towards anti-vaxxers. Despite how well Cory has performed over the season, it looks like he doesn't care to recap it.
Cory has been a regular on MTV since first appearing on Real World: Explasian in 2014. Shortly after, he made his Challenge inception on Battle of the Bloodlines. Over the years, Cory has won second place cash prizes but has yet to take home the big win in the finals. Outside of competing, Cory shares parts of his personal family life on Teen Mom OG as the father of Ryder Wharton with Cheyenne Floyd. But despite how transparent he's been with the MTV cameras, there's one area where Cory will apparently put his foot down.
Over the week, Cory revealed his anti-vax status while also confirming his absence at the upcoming reunion. In a since-deleted tweet captured by Page Six, Cory said he would be ditching the Spies, Lies, and Allies reunion due to not being vaccinated. “No challenge reunion for me, they said due to my vaccination status,” Cory wrote in the now-deleted tweet. “They are really strong arming ppl [sic] now a days. Smh.” But after receiving backlash from his fans, Cory decided to remove the post. One follower asked the MTV star how the mandate was a "Strong arming" tactic. "Seems to me they gave you a perfectly reasonable choice to either follow the rules they've decided to implement for peoples' safety or not come," AO3 said.
Cory seemingly is following in the footsteps of rapper Nicki Minaj who recently made media headlines after revealing her she skipped out on attending the Met Gala due to their vaccine mandate. With her having over 22 million followers on Twitter, she was put through the wringer by many who shamed her controversial opinions on the vaccine's rumored side effects. Now just one week later, Cory appears bold enough to admit that he also is against getting the COVID vaccine. So far, Cory is the only cast member who has said he will be skipping the reunion over the mandate. But considering how he deleted the tweet, it looks like Cory isn't ready for the public ridicule that comes with not being vaccinated.
So far this season, Cory has performed well as the teams continue to rotate. With the winner of the elimination being able to pick a new partner, the players can't really bank on keeping the same partner throughout the game. This has put a strain on the alliance forming the show is known for. Cory has done a good job so far at staying out of the drama. It might be why he's willing to miss The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies reunion. It'll probably be the last time he tweets about the vaccine, or he might've even joined Nicki in Twitter jail.