The Challenge’s Audrey & Cyrell On The ‘Angry WOC’ Trope

Drama doesn't even begin to describe what's about to go down on new reality TV show, The Challenge Australia. Promos of the Channel 10 program have already shown several female contestants such as Brittany Hockley and Cyrell Paule speaking up when they've disagreed with something, which we can't applaud enough in a genre that can often misrepresent or victimise women on screen.

But what happens when women of colour are perceived as angry and outspoken, while white women are deemed confident and assertive, when they express themselves in moments of conflict? The trope of the 'angry Black woman' is nothing new to reality TV or the celebrity world. Former US Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay has previously claimed she was labelled "an angry black female" for the way she behaved on the show, while Meghan Markle and Issa Rae just recently discussed the trope on the Archetypes podcast last month.

The Challenge Australia contestant Audrey Kanongara says she's all too familiar with being perceived as an angry Black woman when she's spoken her mind, both on and off TV.

"I hold my own and stand my ground, and I've always been like that," the former Love Island Australia star tells Refinery29 Australia.

The Zimbabwe-born 22-year-old says women in general are often perceived as aggressive compared to men when they speak up, and it's then "harder for women of colour" who are outspoken. She's reached a point where she's developed resilience against racial stereotyping, and rather than shying away from speaking up, if anything, she'll now express her opinion more.

"I know how to handle myself and I know how to clap back," she says. "I'm always ending up in situations where people think I have to be the bigger person because I'm a woman of colour, but I don't care if you call me a bitch, or loud and crazy, I'm always going to stand up for myself.

"I think as long as I continue to carry that into things like The Challenge and other shows, or just my life in general, I think I'll be good."

The Challenge features 22 contestants from an array of other reality TV shows, where challenges and time spent together in a house will test physical strength as well as relationships. If there was one person Kanongara was apprehensive about seeing on set, it was former Married At First Sight star Cyrell Paule, who Kanongara says is another woman of colour not afraid to speak her mind.

"The only person I was thinking to myself, 'Oh my god, I hope I don't clash with' was Cyrell because I think we're very, very similar," says Kanongara. "We will speak our mind, we will hold our ground and we won't take crap from anyone."

As a Filipino Australian woman, Paule says she believes she's been perceived as the 'angry woman of colour' in the past, comparing the public's reaction to when Martha Kalifatidis poured a glass of wine on her on MAFS, to when Paule later threw wine on co-star Jessika Power at the reunion.

"I hate to bring it up, but when Martha threw the wine... well, the moment I threw the wine at Jessika, do you know what reaction I was getting? 'You should be in jail, you animal,'" she explains to Refinery29 Australia. "I was like, 'OK, so it's fine when a white woman does it, but when a woman of colour does it, she needs to go to prison because it's too aggressive?"

Paule was nicknamed 'Cyclone Cyrell' on MAFS, and while she's since decided to own the label, she says the constant public discourse about her 'anger' doesn't go unnoticed. Promos of The Challenge have already shown Paule in confrontations and disagreements with co-stars.

"I hear, 'There goes Cyrell, she's losing it again. She's such a firecracker,'" says Paule. "It really does affect me, I really hate it."

The mother-of-one from western Sydney — the city's hub of multiculturalism — also hears additional comments from the public that have racial connotations. "She's so ghetto in the way she acts," is an example that she shares.

"I just feel that in this day and age, really? Can't it just be that it's got nothing to do with the colour of my skin, and that I just happen to be a strong, independent woman that wants to speak her mind and doesn't hesitate? Can't it just be that?"

Paule and Kanongara are two of 22 contestants on The Challenge this year, which marks Australia's first season of the popular international MTV/Paramount+ series. Hosted by Brihony Dawson, The Challenge stars some of the biggest personalities from our favourite dating, talent and competition shows such as Married At First Sight, The Bachelor, Big Brother, Survivor, Love Island and MasterChef Australia.

An algorithm will randomly pair contestants to compete in a series of gruelling physical contests, where strategies and relationships will be put to the test. The goal is to win daily challenges and avoid being eliminated by their opponents, with an ultimate $200,000 money prize up for grabs.

The cast of The Challenge includes: The Bachelor's Brittany Hockley, Australia's Got Talent's Jack Vidgen, MAFS Season 6 star Cyrell Paule, MAFS Season 5 contestant Ryan Gallagher, The Bachelorette's Brooke Blurton, ex Bachelorette contestant Ciarran Stott, Australian Survivor stars Brooke Jowett and Johnny Eastoe, swimmer and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Emily Seebohm, I'm A Celeb star David Subritzky, The Bachelorette's Konrad Bien-Stephen, pro boxer Billy Dib, actor and influencer Suzan Mutesi, Ninja Warrior's Troy Cullen, pro boxer Sugar Neekz Johnson, Big Brother's Marley Biyendolo, The Bachelor's Megan Marx, Jessica Brody and Kiki Morris, MasterChef Australia star Conor Curran, and Love Island's Audrey Kanongara and Grant Crapp.