'Major cold sore outbreak' on reality show The Challenge stopped many of the contestants hooking up

‘Major cold sore outbreak’ on reality show The Challenge stopped many of the contestants hooking up – after Megan Marx and Konrad Bien-Stephen enjoyed a steamy spa romp

By Bridie Pearson-jones For Daily Mail Australia

The Challenge produced a steamy spa romp between Megan Marx and Konrad Bien-Stephen.

But a major cold sore outbreak stopped many of the other contestants from hooking up on the reality show, a cast member has claimed.

Speaking anonymously on the So dramatic! podcast, one of the participants said the cast were encouraged to keep it platonic in fear of picking up a nasty mouth blister.

A ‘Major cold sore outbreak’ on reality show The Challenge stopped many of the contestants hooking up after Megan Marx and Konrad Bien-Stephen enjoyed a steamy spa romp on the show

Speaking anonymously on the So dramatic! podcast, one of the participants said the cast were encouraged to keep it platonic in fear of picking up a nasty mouth blister

‘There actually weren’t that many hookups among the cast, apart from Megan [Marx] and Konrad [Bien-Stephen], because everyone had cold sores,’ the insider said.

‘Everyone just broke out in them during filming, so there was no hooking up. Strangely enough, Megan and Konrad didn’t get cold sores but everyone else did,’ they added.

‘They weren’t spread, they must have just been from stress and weirdly, everyone got them except the people hooking up’.

Cold sores are small blisters that develop around the mouth, while genital herpes causes painful blisters on the genital area. They are both caused by the herpes simplex virus.

Both conditions are spread through direct personal contact – typically kissing in the case of cold sores or sexual contact for genital herpes.

Megan and Konrad are the only two stars confirmed to have hooked up on the show.

What is a cold sore?

Cold sores are small blisters that develop around the mouth, while genital herpes causes painful blisters on the intimate area.

They are both caused by the herpes simplex virus.

Both conditions are spread through direct personal contact – typically kissing in the case of cold sores or sexual contact for genital herpes.

The virus tends to lie dormant until triggered to cause an outbreak.

Cold sore triggers include sunlight, fatigue and women’s menstruation. Genital herpes’ triggers are less clear.

How often they appear varies between people, with some carrying the virus but never suffering an outbreak.

Symptoms differ between the conditions, with cold sores often starting with a tingling, burning or itching sensation followed by a small fluid-filled sore.

As well as blisters, genital herpes can also cause abnormal vaginal discharge, pain when passing urine and general flu-like symptoms.

Treatment also differs, with cold sores generally clearing up without intervention within 10 days. Antiviral creams can be used to speed up healing.

If somebody has genital herpes for the first time, antiviral tablets may be prescribed to prevent the virus from multiplying, but do not clear the infection.

Recurrent genital herpes’ treatment focuses on managing symptoms by keeping the affected area clean and reducing inflammation.

Leaked footage emerged of Megan and Konrad enjoying a racy spa romp on the series.

Konrad, who was previously in a relationship with fellow Bachelor star Abbie Chatfield, and Megan struck up a romance soon after arriving in Buenos Aires to film The Challenge.

Two separate sources confirmed the pair’s tryst, with one revealing: ‘Oh, my gosh! The drama is insane. Konrad is sleeping with Megan [Marx].

‘Konrad said he was single and his relationship with Abbie was over because she broke up with him.’

At the time the story broke, it wasn’t public knowledge that Konrad had split from his 27-year-old girlfriend Abbie.

She later confirmed they’d called it quits several weeks before he flew to Argentina.

Before their break-up, Abbie revealed she and Konrad would only see each other a few times a week, and that her ‘kink’ was letting him sleep with other women.

Emily Seebohm revealed she’s ‘in love’ with Ryan Gallagher but said they didn’t get together until after they stopped filming. Both pictured

Elsewhere, Emily recently revealed she’s ‘in love’ with Ryan but said they didn’t get together until after they stopped filming.

The Olympic swimmer and Married at First Sight star, who met on the show, announced their romance on their respective Instagram accounts on Monday.

Ryan, 34, shared an image in which the pair were cuddled up together, captioned with a love heart eyes emoji. The Olympic swimmer, 30, also shared a photo of the couple, in which they stood close together on a balcony.

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