Are Paulie & Cara Still Together From The Challenge? Their Relationship Status Revealed After He Kissed Another Reality Star
Jason Pham
They’ve been one of the most surprising success stories to come out of The Challenge, but are Paulie Calafiore and Cara Maria Sorbello still together? After years of ups and downs, it looks like one of reality TV’s most toxic couples may officially be over, and at least one of them could be moving on with another reality star.
Are Paulie and Cara still together from The Challenge?
While Paulie and Cara haven’t officially revealed their relationship status (and still follow each other on Instagram), Paulie seemed to have confirmed their split on Netflix’s reality dating show, Pop the Balloon. “My name is Paulie. I’m 36 years old. I’m back and forth between Montana and Florida. I’m originally from Jersey, so I’ve got a little bit of spice to me. Let’s press that a little bit,” Paulie said on Pop the Balloon as he introduced himself to multiple women.
While Paulie didn’t name Cara, Paulie did reference a past relationship that ended about a year ago. “My last relationship had a lot of history, but I’ve spent the last year working on myself in therapy to make sure the next king or queen that comes into my life can help me move the empire that I’m building because I am an entrepreneur and a creative in the real estate space,” he said.
Paulie went on to reveal his red flags, which may suggest what went wrong in his relationship with Cara. “Something in terms of jealousy, possessiveness, control, a lot of that stuff. Communication is key with me. I feel like there should never be anything wrong as long as you can communicate thoroughly, confidently, and you should be able to be vulnerable and express your feelings. As long as you are able to vulnerable and be like, ‘Hey, I’m feeling this type of way and I’m just letting you know,’ we can have a have conversation about it. But don’t mask it with arguments and then it comes out later like, ‘Actually, I was feeling this way and that’s why I started that argument,'” he said.
Along with starring on Pop the Balloon, Paulie also sparked speculation that he split from Cara after he made a surprise appearance during the Vanderpump Villa Season 2 reunion, where he kissed cast member Aidan McHugh. Paulie and Aidan met on Vanderpump Villa Season 2 when Paulie and Cara, who were still together at the time, were guests at Lisa Vanderpump‘s Castello Rosato. Aidan and Paulie (whom Aidan nicknamed the “Crop Top Daddy” had somewhat of a bromance on the episode, though nothing romantic happened between them until the Vanderpump Villa Season 2 reunion when Paulie surprised Aidan on stage and gave him a kiss.
“Good to see you, buddy,” Paulie said as he lifted Aidan up. “Where’s my crop top?” Aidan asked Paulie. The scene continued with Aidan confronting Paulie for not responding to him. “Hold up. I texted you, dog,” Aidan said, to which Paulie responded, “You DM’d me.” Aidan then replied, “I DM’d you and I texted you.” That’s when Paulie interrupted Aidan and asked him, “Are you going to argue with me or are we going to kiss and make up?” The scene continued with Paulie and Aidan making out on the reunion stage. Before Paulie left the reunion, however, Aidan made plans to see him again.
“So are we going to the Eiffel Tower?” Aidan asked Paulie, who responded, “You wanna go to Paris?” Aidan replied, “Let’s catch a flight,” to which Paulie said back, “Just text me.” “Anyone gonna tell Cara Marie 🥺,” a user comments on Vanderpump Villa‘s TikTok video of the clip. Another user wrote, “cara in the back just as shook as us!!” At the time of writing, both Paulie and Aidan still follow each other on Instagram.
Paulie and Cara met on The Challenge: Final Reckoning in 2018 while Paulie was still in a relationship with Bachelor Nation alum Danielle Maltby. The two split that same year when Cara learned that Paulie had been talking to both her and Danielle at the same time.
They reunited months later and went on to star on multiple Challenge seasons before their rumored breakup in 2025. As for when Paulie and Cara broke up, if the couple split, it likely happened in late 2024, given that they were still together when they filmed Vanderpump Villa Season 2. The season, according to star Stassi Schroeder, filmed in the summer of 2024.
