From ‘Traitors’ to romance: Phaedra Parks confirms relationship with Chris ‘CT’ Tamburello
TheGrio...
Parks revealed she and “The Challenge” star weren’t platonic dates ahead of Saturday’s Creative Arts Emmys ceremony, and Tamburello has already referred to Parks as “bae” on social media.
Phaedra Parks is off the market, in a way few could predict unless you’re a big-time reality television fan.
The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star confirmed she was dating Chris “CT” Tamburello of MTV’s “The Challenge” fame during an interview on Jeff Lewis’ SiriusXM show “Jeff Lewis Live” on Friday. Ahead of the Creative Arts Emmys, which take place on Saturday, Parks not only revealed she had a date to the ceremony, but it wasn’t just a friend.
“Is this a platonic thing?” Lewis asked Parks.
“It’s not,” Parks responded.
Tamburello is slated to present at the ceremony, but he and Parks first got to know each other on season 2 of the reality TV show “Traitors” in 2024, striking up an unlikely friendship that has now turned into an unlikely romance.
Parks also revealed to Lewis that she and Tamburello had gone out before, and Tamburello has made a point of claiming Parks as “bae,” posting a video of her appearance on Lewis’ show on his Instagram Stories and a photo of him in his van about to pick Parks up.
The pair showed chemistry on “Traitors,” but nothing came of their romance then. Since the show, however, Parks and Tamburello have shared flirty responses to each other on social media, with Tamburello asking for a date to the Emmys for his plus one as a way to get Parks’ attention. Parks responded, “Baby, I’m already yours.”
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2024, Tamburello said he admired Parks but was focused on playing the “Traitors” game with the same mentality he’s shown on “The Challenge.”
“It was fun,” he said at the time. “I loved her because she’s a cornball. She was great. I would say there was a sense of sincerity, for sure. But it was also playing a game, you know?”
The romance for Tamburello is relatively fresh. His wife, Catalina White, filed for divorce on January 9 after a little over a year of marriage. He was previously married to Lilianet “Lili” Solares, whom he married in 2018 but filed for divorce from in 2022. The couple have a son, C.J., who was born in 2016. Parks was famously married to Apollo Nida for nine years before the couple finalized their divorce in 2017. They share two sons.