Phaedra Parks and Chris “CT” Tamburello aren’t keeping fans guessing anymore.
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star and “The Challenge” veteran stepped out together at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday, Sept. 5, marking their first red carpet appearance as a couple. The milestone came just one day after Parks publicly confirmed that she and her former “The Traitors” co-star had been dating.
Parks, 54, and Tamburello, 46, attended the first night of the Creative Arts Emmys at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Parks wore a black open-back gown with sparkling silver detailing, while Tamburello complemented her in a classic black-and-white tuxedo.
The pair posed together for photographers, turning a connection that viewers have been talking about for more than two years into an official red carpet moment.
Phaedra Parks Confirmed She and CT Tamburello Were Dating
The timing of the couple’s appearance made their red carpet debut even more notable.
During a Sept. 4 appearance on “Jeff Lewis Live,” Parks revealed that she had “been out” with Tamburello. When host Jeff Lewis pressed her for more details about how many dates they’d been on and the status of their relationship, however, Parks wasn’t ready to share everything.
“I can’t give this [information] to you,” she told Lewis. “I’ve got to save it for the world!”
She didn’t keep the world waiting very long.
Parks also hinted during the interview that Tamburello could accompany her to the Creative Arts Emmys that weekend. One day later, the two arrived together, giving fans their clearest confirmation yet that the relationship had moved well beyond the playful chemistry viewers first noticed on “The Traitors.”
Parks and Tamburello met while filming Season 2 of Peacock’s reality competition series, which premiered in January 2024. Their bond became a storyline both on and off the show, with viewers and even some of their fellow contestants wondering whether there could be something more between them.
Their “Traitors” co-star Peter Weber was among those openly rooting for the pair.
“I ship it,” Weber told Us Weekly in 2024. “I think they’re really cute together. They had some good chemistry. Who knows what the future holds with them?”
More than two years later, that speculation looks very different.
CT Tamburello Previously Downplayed Romance Speculation
Tamburello had previously pumped the brakes on suggestions that anything romantic happened between him and Parks while they were filming “The Traitors.”
“Nothing real happened, I’ll be honest with you,” he told Entertainment Weekly in March 2024. “It was fun. I loved her because she’s a cornball. She was great.”
Tamburello went on to explain that he didn’t want to turn their friendship into something it wasn’t simply because people enjoyed seeing them together.
“Honestly I have too much respect for her to try to turn it into something it’s not, just to try to be a flash in the pan,” he said at the time.
Whatever their relationship was then, Parks and Tamburello have clearly entered a new chapter since those comments.
Their romance also comes as Tamburello remains in the process of ending his marriage to Catalina White. White filed for divorce in Florida in January 2026 and reacted to news of Tamburello and Parks’ relationship on social media Saturday, writing, “Sign the papers 👏👏👏.”
Tamburello was previously married to Lilianet Solares, with whom he shares son C.J. Parks was previously married to Apollo Nida. The former couple, who divorced in 2017, share sons Ayden and Dylan.
For Parks and Tamburello, the Creative Arts Emmys offered a fitting place to take their relationship public in a much bigger way. What started as an unexpected friendship on “The Traitors” has now become one of reality TV’s newest romances, complete with its first official red carpet.
