Who Has CT Tamburello Dated? From Diem Brown to Phaedra Parks.
CT Tamburello's complete romantic resume — from Diem Brown to two marriages to Phaedra Parks, the woman who broke every rule in his pattern and whom he banished from a Scottish castle anyway. Reality TV is a miracle.
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. When Chris "CT" Tamburello and Phaedra Parks filmed The Traitors Season 2 together in 2024, we all watched that castle situation develop with one eyebrow raised. She called him her "Castle Daddy." He rescued her in a rushing river. The fans lost their entire minds on X, as fans do. And then — and this is the part that requires its own paragraph — he voted her out. Already banished, she wrote his name on the chalkboard on her way out the door. Not a strategy. A message. He won $208,100. She went home. They are now dating. We cannot make this up and we have tried.
On September 4, 2026, Phaedra Parks sat down on Jeff Lewis Live and, when asked point blank whether her upcoming Emmy date with CT was platonic, delivered what may be the most efficient hard launch in recent celebrity history: "It's not." Two words. Job done. The people went feral.
But before we get into the Phaedra situation — which is, frankly, delightful — a look at CT Tamburello's dating history explains just how unexpected this pairing really is. Because the man has had a journey. And the journey has receipts.
THE WOMEN OF CT — A Timeline. In Chronological Order. For Context.
To be clear: we are not here to catalog every situation, every fling, every post-elimination hotel bar encounter that may or may not have occurred over twenty-three seasons of competitive reality television. CT Tamburello is a grown man who has lived his life. We respect that. What we are here to discuss are his serious relationships — the ones that produced marriages, children, divorce proceedings, and in one case a chalkboard vote on the way out of a Scottish castle. The rest is between CT and whoever was in that hotel bar.
Diem Brown — The One That Defined Everything
If you know CT, you know Diem. Their relationship is arguably the most significant love story in The Challenge's entire history, which is saying something for a show that has been running since before some of its current cast members were in middle school.
They met on The Challenge: The Duel in 2006 and spent years in an on-again, off-again relationship that played out almost entirely on television — including an iconic moment where CT asked Diem to remove her wig on camera to reveal the hair loss from her first round of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. It was one of the rare instances where reality TV accidentally became real.
They appeared together as exes in Battle of the Exes in 2012 and reconciled. Diem was diagnosed a second time, then a third. She passed away in November 2014 at 32 years old. CT was reportedly by her side. There is no punchy punchline here. This one earned its place in reality TV history, and CT was never quite the same person after it. We respect it. Moving on.
Lilianet "Lili" Solares — The Marriage, The Baby, The Exit
After Diem, CT went notably quiet on the personal-life front — which, given how publicly he'd been living for a decade, made sense. He eventually started a relationship with Lilianet Solares, and the couple welcomed a son, Christopher Jr. (CJ), in 2016. They married in 2018. Reality TV fans held their breath. The man had grown up, gotten serious, had a child, was apparently doing the whole stable life thing.
It lasted until 2022, when CT filed for divorce. The proceedings dragged into 2023. Lili has since moved on. Quietly. With dignity. A choice we respect.
Catalina White — A Fourteen-Month Detour
This is where the timeline gets chaotic, and by a bit we mean completely. CT married OnlyFans personality Catalina White in October 2024 — roughly a year after his divorce from Lili was finalized. That is a quick turnaround, Christopher. They separated in January 2026 after just over a year of marriage, with Catalina filing for divorce on January 9. There were reports of a brief reconciliation. And then the Phaedra news broke, and Catalina had thoughts. Specifically: she told CT to "sign the [divorce] papers." Which: noted, and also fair, and also — the timeline on those papers is its own situation.
AND NOW: PHAEDRA PARKS — The Upgrade Nobody Predicted, Including Phaedra.
Here is what makes this pairing genuinely surprising beyond its pure entertainment value: Phaedra Parks is almost aggressively not CT's usual type. She is an attorney. An author. An activist. A businesswoman. A television personality with years of Housewives experience. She does not need a castle or a river rescue to assert herself in a room. She was previously married to Apollo Nida — nine years, finalized in divorce in 2017, two sons together — and Apollo was famously serving an eight-year federal sentence for bank fraud and identity theft during part of that marriage, which, as marriage plot twists go, is substantial. She also dated actor Medina Islam for three years before they split in 2021.
And here is the detail that makes the age conversation interesting: Phaedra told Bravo Fan Fest in November 2024 that she was dating someone "very early 30s" because she liked having fun. CT, at 46, is already a departure from that stated preference. But more to the point — Phaedra is older than CT. Which reverses every dynamic in his relationship history.
Six years. Phaedra is the older one. A reversal of CT's usual relationship dynamic and, frankly, a reversal of what Phaedra herself said she was into two years ago. Growth. Evolution. A man who apparently does his dishes and drives a van to pick you up from a SiriusXM studio, which — according to CT's own Instagram — is exactly what happened after her Jeff Lewis Live appearance. He posted himself in the van. Ready to collect her. We are not immune to this.
"Some came for the awards. I came with the prize."
— Phaedra Parks, Instagram caption, Emmy red carpet, September 5, 2026. Retired the concept of the hard launch.
CT and Phaedra at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, September 5, 2026.
An insider told Page Six that CT "made it clear to her he really, really liked her and he fell for her when they were on Traitors. He makes her really happy. They really do laugh together a lot." Which is devastatingly normal and sweet coming from two people who met on a show where the entire premise is lying to each other's faces.
THE PART WE CANNOT MOVE PAST — He Voted Her Out. And She Had Thoughts About That On Her Way Out The Door.
We need to stop here. Because what almost got buried under the Emmy carpet and the Instagram flirting is the single most important detail of this entire romance, and glossing over it would be a crime against recap journalism.
Season 2 of The Traitors. Phaedra Parks is a Traitor — a role she was playing, by all accounts, brilliantly. She has her "Castle Daddy" on her side. There is a whole partnership. A whole thing. And then CT, swayed by Trishelle and the crossbow incident — Phaedra shot Trishelle's glass pane during a challenge rather than protecting CT's, which he read as a sign she was a Traitor, though she may have simply hated Trishelle and expressed it via crossbow — voted to banish her at the roundtable.
He voted her out. Castle Daddy status: revoked. Loyalty to the woman he would later drive a van across Los Angeles to collect: temporarily misplaced.
Phaedra's exit line before writing her own chalkboard vote: "This isn't The Bachelor, and I don't have to kiss your ass for a rose." She then wrote CT's name. He survived. He went on to win the whole season, splitting $208,100 with Trishelle Cannatella. Phaedra went home.
He voted her out. Already banished, already walking out the door, she wrote his name on the chalkboard anyway. Not strategy. Just a message. He won $208,100. They are now dating. Reality TV is something else.
— The actual sequence of events.To be precise about what happened: Phaedra was not making a game move. The vote was called. She was already gone. Writing CT's name on that chalkboard on the way out was not strategy — it was a parting shot. A goodbye with teeth. The kind of thing you do when you are already leaving the castle and you want the man who voted you out to know exactly what you think of that. And then she left. And he won $208,100. And now they are together. We did not see this ending coming and we are delighted by it.
SO WILL HE VOTE HER OUT OF HIS LIFE TOO? — The Case For. The Case Against.
We are not here to be cynical. We want this to work. We are rooting for them the way you root for something that makes no logical sense on paper but feels somehow inevitable in practice. But we are also a reality TV commentary site and it is our professional obligation to present the data.
BOTTOM LINE — Castle Daddy Found His Match. She Was Right There in the Castle the Whole Time.
CT Tamburello has spent twenty-three years on reality television accumulating a love life that encompasses genuine grief, two marriages, at least one baffling fourteen-month detour, and now what appears to be a genuinely sweet romance with a woman who could defend him in court if the occasion arose. Which, given his history, is not the worst qualification for a partner to have. And in case you were wondering whether he is slowing down — he is not. CT is back on The Challenge Season 42: Cutthroat. The man does not stop.
Phaedra Parks — who once said she is not sure she wants to be married again because she is "very wealthy and can take care of herself," which is the most Phaedra thing anyone has ever said — seems to be approaching this with the right energy. She is having fun. She is not overthinking it. She showed up to the Emmys in a beautiful dress, posted one lethal caption, and let the people handle the rest. That is the correct approach.
Is this the forever thing? No idea. Is it extremely entertaining to watch a Challenge legend and an Atlanta attorney court each other via Instagram after he voted her out of a Scottish castle and she wrote his name on a chalkboard on her way out the door? Yes. That is why we are here. That is why we will always be here.
He voted her out. Already banished, she wrote his name on the chalkboard on her way out — not as a game move, just as a message. He won the money. She went home. And then two years later they walked the Emmy carpet together and she called him the prize. This is not a love story that could have been written in advance. It could only have happened on reality television, which is exactly why we cover it. We are rooting for them. We are also watching very carefully. 🍷
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