‘The Challenge’ alum Anika Rashaun dies at 34, seven months after marrying her ‘best friend’ on Valentine’s Day

Anika Rashaun, the MTV star, who previously starred on Real World Seattle: Bad Blood and competed on long-running reality competition The Challenge has died at the age of 34 earlier this month.

As per the reporting of Pagesix, she died on October 1. Her longtime friend Tiara Ramos announced the news in an October 5 Substack post titled, “Breast Friends Forever: RIP to my Sister,” invoking the name of their podcast, which they started when Rashaun was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer last year.

Her mother had breast cancer, although Anika’s “diagnosis was a shock” to Tiara because “she was never identified as high-risk or told by her doctors to prioritize mammograms,” she wrote. “That was one of the many failures she experienced within the medical system during her time battling cancer. But that is a story for another day,” Ramos continued.


“I spent more than 20 years of my life with Anika. She was always so unapologetically herself, so real in her stances, her convictions, her beliefs,” she later added. “Her ability to get what she wanted, to talk you into things, to convince you, was one of a kind. The way she showed up for her friends, fiercely loyal and loving to the end, was on a whole different level.”

Ramos shared a brave part from her life, as she “moved to Thailand without knowing a soul, appeared on reality TV not once but twice, went skydiving on a first date with a random guy ('do it for the plot'), and started creating her own businesses from the time she was a little girl.”

Rashaun, who is also a dating coach and matchmaker, married Kyle Walker-Rehn just seven months ago in San Marcos, California on Valentine’s Day. Rashaun also sold an ebook on modern fairy tales, according to her Instagram.

Rashaun and her 'best friend', Kyle, tied the knot in San Marcos, California on Valentine’s Day.

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“The day was literally a dream filled with the best moments,” Rashaun wrote on Instagram two weeks after the wedding, with photos from the weddings. “Kyle and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect day!”