Brad reveals why “The Challenge ”season 40 showmance with Emily 'fizzled out'

"She said something about not really wanting a showmance but just keeping things casual or whatever," Brad Fiorenza tells Entertainment Weekly.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, season 40, episode 6, "My Real Friends Era."

What happened in Vietnam stayed in Vietnam for The Challenge champs Brad Fiorenza and Emily Schromm — at least when it comes to their hookup.

While their blossoming season 40 showmance was caught on camera — steamy bathroom and all — the relationship ended before both players were eliminated from the game (Emily lost to Tina Barta in last week's elimination, and Brad lost to Cory Wharton in a dodgeball-inspired elimination in this week's episode).

When speaking to Entertainment Weekly about his exit, Brad revealed that their showmance "fizzled out" long before Emily left.

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"I feel like the game was just so intense at that point, and I don't know how to explain this exactly, but I wasn't in a good position to really build a relationship," Brad tells EW. "Obviously we're from two different places, we met on the season, we started to build this amazing rapport over a couple of weeks, so it kind of just turned into something for a second. And then it just fizzled out on the show. We've spoken a few times after the show and we're great — I still enjoy her conversations the same as I did, but we're just not romantically involved anymore."

Brad adds that he and Emily are "still friends" now because of what inspired them to connect in the first place during filming.

"We were always the first ones up — I was doing a sunrise meditation... and what I realized very quickly is she was on the same program, ironically," he explains. "I'd wake up, everyone was still sleeping, I'd quietly slip off to the pool with my oolong tea and just sit by the water fountain and enjoy the sound of the flowing water and start my morning meditation. And every morning, Emily would end up in the same spot doing the same thing, and we never spoke about it at all, so we just kept seeing each other each morning."

Related: Horacio insists he actually won controversial The Challenge season 40 elimination against Derrick

After a couple weeks of their shared mornings, Brad finally took a chance to take their friendship to the next level. "We were out one night at the bar, and we were talking about how cool it is that we wake up in the morning and everything, and then out of curiosity, I was just like, 'Is this just a friendship or... ?'" he says. "I asked for some clarification, and she said something about not really wanting a showmance, but just keeping things casual or whatever. We just made out and whatever, I think just the one time."

While their romantic connection didn't last, Emily ended up having a major impact on his game — although not in a positive way. "I will say this, she's probably the reason I volunteered [for elimination]," Brad says. "I was dead set on not volunteering, and then after I watched her volunteer and it backfired, at that point, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, 'This feels like manning up. And now that it feels like manning up, I have to do it.'"

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When the format of the game was first announced and some cast members started self-nominating for eliminations, Brad thought it was a bad move and wasn't planning to do it himself.

"That's not good gameplay," he says. "After she volunteered herself, I remember telling her that I didn't think it was a good idea. And she said, 'Well, what do we train for? What do we come here for if we're not going to do this?' That conversation with her kind of put me in a position where I'm like, 'All right, just let's do this and get it out of the way.'"

As they both learned in quick succession, it was a mistake since they both lost their eliminations. "Her and I did speak of this after the season, and she said that was the wrong move," Brad says. "And I said, 'I told you.' [But] we had such a great experience."

The Challenge: Battle of the Eras airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.