Diem Brown

Diem Brown (June 12, 1982 – November 14, 2014) was a recurring cast member on MTV’s reality television series The Challenge and entertainment reporter. Brown was also the founder and creator of MedGift, a website that provides support pages to people going through any medical or health experience. They provide resources to support patients & their families: emotional, physically and financially. MedGift also created the first working gift registry for patients.

Since debuting on Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat in 2006, Brown competed in six additional challenges. In her debut challenge, she revealed she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer to the surprise of both the cast and the production company.

Fresh Meat was the twelfth season of Real World/Road Rules Challenge. Filmed in Australia, it featured two-player teams; each team had an alumnus of The Real World or Road Rules partnered with a newcomer to the Challenge (collectively known as “Fresh Meat”) who was never part of one of the two aforementioned series. Brown was partnered with Road Rules alumnus Derrick, and the pair finished in fourth place in the competition. Brown, who was just completing her treatment for cancer, went on to compete in The Duel. She took off her wig during one of the competitions and this has been viewed as one of the most memorable and touching challenge moments.

MedGift
Brown created the website MedGift, a patient gift registry, to help patients obtain help from family and friends while in treatment.

Personal life
Brown dated fellow Challenge castmember Chris “C.T.” Tamburello for over a year and a half after meeting on The Duel in 2006. Brown credited Tamburello for playing a role in her remission recovery and giving her confidence. The couple competed on the same team on The Gauntlet III and were featured on the MTV documentary show MADE. Following their split, Brown and Tamburello competed as a team on Battle of the Exes, where they were the runner-ups in the final.

In 2012, her ovarian cancer returned and she started her second battle against cancer with chemotherapy treatments. In 2013, after several months of treatment, Brown’s cancer went into remission.

After only two weeks out of her last chemotherapy, Brown went through her seventh Challenge season, Rivals II in 2013, because she was told by doctors during her second bout with cancer that “seeing 2013 was not that likely.” Her team finished in fourth place.

Death
In August 2014, Brown was filming her eighth Challenge competition in Panama when she collapsed on set. She was airlifted to New York and she announced to various media publications that her ovarian cancer had metastasized to her colon and stomach, and performed emergency surgery. Brown died on November 14, 2014, aged 32