Anika Rashaun, who found fame on MTV’s Real World Seattle: Bad Blood and went on to compete on The Challenge, has died at the age of 34. She died on October 1, 2026, more than a year after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Her death became widely known this week.
Real World and The Challenge
Rashaun was one of the original roommates on Real World Seattle: Bad Blood, the 2016 season built around a twist in which each cast member was later joined by someone from their past. Her arrival was her ex-boyfriend, Will Groomes. She then competed as a rookie on The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions in 2017.
After reality television she worked as a professional matchmaker and founded ASKANIKA, a brand focused on relationships, lifestyle and entertainment. She married her husband, Kyle, on Valentine’s Day in February 2026.
A podcast about her diagnosis
After her diagnosis in the summer of 2025, Rashaun and her lifelong friend Tiara Ramos started a podcast, Breast Friends Forever. Ramos announced her death in an October 5 post titled “Breast Friends Forever: RIP to my Sister”, writing that although Rashaun’s mother had had breast cancer, she had never been identified as high-risk or told to prioritise mammograms. Her former Real World castmate Theo King-Bradley also paid tribute.
“I spent more than 20 years of my life with Anika,” Ramos wrote. “She was always so unapologetically herself, so real in her stances, her convictions, her beliefs. The way she showed up for her friends, fiercely loyal and loving to the end, was on a whole different level.”