After nearly two decades on MTV’s ‘The Challenge,’ Cara Maria Sorbello has cemented her status as one of reality television’s most recognizable and resilient competitors. Now, she’s taking on a new challenge of her own in the upcoming psychological thriller ‘Squatter’s Rights.’
Cara Maria Sorbello Reveals ‘The Challenge’ Prepared Her for Acting
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Now, Sorbello reflected on her lasting reality TV legacy, her transition into acting, and how years of navigating the intense social dynamics of ‘The Challenge’ helped prepare her for scripted roles.
“‘The Challenge’ has changed my life in so many ways,” Sorbello said. “It’s prepared me for pretty much anything in this world at this point.”
The upcoming thriller stars Sorbello as Sloane Rooney, an influencer who returns from a social media detox to discover that squatters have taken over her home. According to the reality star, the role immediately caught her attention because of how realistic the premise felt.
“I was like, that’s an absolute nightmare,” she said. “And it’s something that can happen in real life.”
Even with action scenes and emotionally demanding moments in the film, Sorbello joked there is still one thing more intimidating than acting.
“I’ve done so much stuff on that show that there’s nothing that could scare me more than TJ with a podium,” she joked, referring to longtime ‘The Challenge’ host TJ Lavin.
Cara Maria Sorbello Talks Acting, Stunts, & Life Beyond ‘The Challenge’
While fans have watched Sorbello compete in countless eliminations, finals, and daily challenges, she said stepping into a scripted role offered something reality television never could: the chance to become someone else.
“It was just really fun to play different characters,” she said. “I even changed my hair color because I didn’t want anything to be like, ‘It’s Cara Maria.'”
Sorbello also embraced the action elements of the thriller, revealing that filming fight scenes was one of her favorite parts of the experience.
“I got to do some stunts, which was really cool. I got to do some fighting,” she said. Ironically, she found the emotional scenes more difficult than the physical ones.
“Any time that I have to cry or fear for my life when I’m acting is a lot harder than when I’m getting strung over a building and TJ is asking me trivia,” she joked.
While she has no plans to leave reality television behind, the four-time finalist said she’d love to continue pursuing more scripted roles, particularly action thrillers.
“I would love to do more thriller stuff because I really like the fight scenes,” she explained. “I’m definitely open because I love reality TV, but sometimes it’s nice to have a safer way of being wild.”
When asked which of her fellow Challengers she’d cast alongside her in a thriller, Sorbello didn’t hesitate.
“CT,” she said. “You ask me anything ‘Challenge’ related, I’m always gonna say CT.”
Cara Maria Sorbello on Fans, Social Media, & New Christmas Movie
Beyond further immersing her into the world of acting, Sorbello said ‘Squatter’s Rights’ also changed the way she approaches social media
“I’ve been really serious about my boundaries when it comes to fans,” she revealed. “You want to share, but you want to protect your safety and your peace as best you can.”
With an extensive fanbase and more than half a million followers on Instagram alone, Sorbello said one habit she’s adopted is avoiding sharing her location in real time.
“If I want to go enjoy something or a place or an event, I like to enjoy it and then post about it,” she explained.
While ‘Squatter’s Rights’ does not yet have a release date, Sorbello also revealed she’ll appear in the upcoming Christmas movie ‘Mistletoe Mansion,’ where she reunites with fellow reality star and ‘Big Brother’ winner Rachel Reilly.
For now, she’s simply excited for fans to see a different side of her.
“I’m just hoping people get to see me as something other than getting thrown off a cliff and eating bugs,” she joked.
