‘The Challenge’ star Nurys Mateo on why she ‘didn’t enjoy’ playing Season 40 with boyfriend Horacio Gutierrez

Sometimes two isn’t better than one.

Nurys Mateo and Horacio Gutierrez Jr. are both on “The Challenge” Season 40 , but Mateo admitted in her exclusive interview with The Post that she had a hard time competing with her boyfriend.

“I will say I really didn’t enjoy it too much, because now I’m not only playing for myself, I’m also playing for him,” the 29-year-old said.

“I’m, like, very protective of him,” she added.

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Mateo explained that Gutierrez Jr.’s presence on “Battle of the Eras” (premiering Wednesday) “hindered” her gameplay with the rest of the 40-person cast.

“I found myself not wanting to hang out with other people too much,” she said. “I wanted to be just with him. I’m a very social person, so I think that might have hindered me a bit in the game only because I rather hang out with my boo than hang out with a lot of other people.

“But normally if he wasn’t there, or if I was single, I definitely would have been more outgoing, talking to everybody more and maybe more present than I actually was,” Mateo added. “But, regardless, I’m not too upset about it.”

Mateo and Gutierrez Jr., 28, both made their “Challenge” debuts on Season 38: “Ride or Dies.” They started dating after Season 39: “Battle for a New Champion,” where Mateo finished as the runner-up.

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The “Are You the One?” alum noted that, based on their performances in their two recent “Challenge” seasons, she and Gutierrez Jr. were surefire targets on “Battle of the Eras.”

“Horacio is the competitor that he is. So regardless he was always going to have a big target on his back. He always has,” Mateo explained. “And then I had a good run on 39. And now we’re together.”

“We have a lot of eyes on us. A lot of people that want us out. A lot of targets are on our back right now, But I’m also really grateful that I did get to experience that with him on a different level.”

As for future seasons of the legendary MTV show , Mateo admitted that she’d rather compete by herself than with her boyfriend.

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“I think it would be easier to play my own game,” she said. “I think the social aspect of it too, just because I don’t want to only be with one person.

“But I will say, I feel like this time around it was a bit harder because he also does a different show and he was gone for so long, and then we went into 40 and instantly we’re like, ‘Well, we’ve spent the last four and a half months apart.’ So we were spending a lot of time together there trying to play catch up.”

Mateo also gave a positive update on her romance with Gutierrez Jr.

“The relationship is going great. We are going strong, almost officially a year now. Unofficially it’s a year, because we filmed 39 over a year ago now, but everything’s been really, really good,” she shared.

“The Challenge: Battle of the Eras” premieres Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.

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