The lack of hook-ups on The Challenge reportedly wasn’t for lack of attraction between the contestants – but rather a cold sore breakout.

One of the show’s contestants told So Dramatic! that multiple cast members had cold-sores, which prevented them from fraternizing.

“There actually weren’t that many hookups among the cast, apart from Megan and Konrad, because everyone had cold sores,” the source said.

They added, “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.”

Cold sores are otherwise known as herpes simplex virus HSV -1 which is caught via oral or genital contact, but once the person has the virus, it can reemergence when their body is stressed.

“They weren’t spread, they must have just been from stress and weirdly, everyone got them except the people hooking up,” the source said.

While contestants Ryan Gallagher and Emily Seebohm didn’t hook up on the set of The Challenge, they did meet on the show and fell in love after filming wrapped.

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Emily told Yahoo Lifestyle! that her initial pairing with Ryan in the first challenge helped the couple build 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.

“Inside the game, we were just the people that could trust each other. Ryan had my back one hundred and fifty per cent and I had his back one hundred and fifty per cent, and that’s hard to find in a game where you’ve gotta lie, you’ve gotta deceive people and you’ve gotta backstab people. And we just knew that from each other we weren’t going to do that.

“And that’s something that doesn’t come easy in life either, having someone that you can trust one hundred and fifty per cent.”

However, despite their closeness on The Challenge, Emily said they 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 continues.

“I’m super happy. I know I didn’t win the show, but I definitely feel like I won… We’re saying it’s love.”

For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.

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