Things were not going well between Bowie and Raj right now.
After the eliminations of Scary Girl and Wayne, Julia felt she needed to do something to break up Bowie's alliance/relationship with Raj so that her rival would not have the advantage over her. So during the final team challenge, she took a page from Heather and Alejandro's books and started being more flirty towards Bowie when they were fighting, which Raj definitely noticed and was getting jealous of.
After Chase's elimination, Bowie had confronted Julia on her coming onto him lately and once Julia saw that Raj was coming, she immediately pounced and kissed Bowie, whilst also making it look like Bowie was kissing her when Raj was in eyeline of it.
Raj was so crushed that he broke it off with Bowie almost instantly and Bowie grew even more hatred for the influencer but Julia didn't care.
Once the teams merged, Bowie and Julia were major targets for the contestants, though they weren't the only ones since MK and Axel weren't exactly saints themselves. Views were mixed on whether people believed Bowie when he said that Julia forced herself on him or not. People like Emma and Damien were one hundred percent willing to believe Bowie since they doubted even he would fake being gay, while those like Ripper and Priya had their doubts about it. Ripper wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the drawer, and Priya was still salty at what Bowie did to her and Millie, who Damien had been teasing her about due to how romantic they acted around each other.
It didn't matter either way, because Axel ended up getting eliminated once Julia won invincibility and the faith in Bowie won out.
"Ugh, I can't believe this!" Raj cried out after Axel was booted, "None of you seem to care about the fact that Bowie played me like a fiddle!"
"Yes, because the gay guy TOTALLY kissed another woman." MK scoffed with a roll of her eyes.
"He did lie when he said he fought fair y'know." Priya sent a glare at the prom king/queen, now was not the time for her grudges.
"Raj, please. The kiss with Julia wasn't what you think. I didn't kiss her, she forced it on me." Bowie went to Raj and began pleading with him.
"Oh I don't know Bowie, you seemed to be starstruck by it." Julia smirked at her rival but Bowie just growled furiously at her, causing her to shrink back.
"Wh-Why should I believe you? You have a history of lying, as seen with Millie and Priya." Raj sniffed sadly.
Bowie couldn't argue with that, but lucky for him, someone else did and that was Emma.
"Because he does care about you. Back in the first season, Bowie talked about how much he cared about you to me and once the cameras were off in your elimination, he was freaking out, hoping there was no permanent damage. I had to calm him down from that." Emma said angrily in Bowie's defense.
"R-Really?" Raj began softening up which gave Bowie hope that their relationship wasn't totally doomed.
"Oh please. What proof do we have of this?" Ripper scoffed indignantly.
Bowie knew exactly how to prove it, so he reached into his pocket and took out a mouth guard.
"It's the mouth guard from last season?! You kept it?!" Raj asked in shock.
"I did. I'll never wear it without washing it, but it reminded me of you so I kept it." Bowie smiled reassuringly at the hockey jock.
After that, even Ripper started to feel emotionally invested by this ordeal and Priya looked at her left wrist to see a scrunched up friendship bracelet on it, her lip started to quiver.
"Raj, I'm sorry I let my rivalry with Julia come to this point. I may do a lot of dirty things to help advance my game but hurting you is something I'd never forgive myself for. I-I'm in love with you!" Bowie said, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.
The contestants witnessing this immediately broke into a mix of reactions.
Damien and Ripper immediately started crying, although the latter was clearly trying to deny it while Julia was noticeably becoming infuriated by how they were beginning to make up and Emma was smiling at how sweet Bowie was being.
"You love me… but you told me you weren't ready for that." Raj said in shock.
"Well after losing you, I was so heartbroken that I think it made me realize how much I cared about you. Of course I'm gonna say it." Bowie chuckled sheepishly.
Priya's eyes widened when she heard this, what Bowie just said… it reminded her about how horrible she felt when she lost Millie as a friend. She felt hurt, betrayed, but also like a piece of her heart was destroyed in front of her.
"Priya? You feel okay?" Damien asked curiously.
"Uh… I'm fine." Priya blushed nervously but secretly smiled at her friendship bracelet.
"I forgive you! I'm sorry I didn't believe you!" Raj smiled back tearfully before pulling Bowie into a kiss which he gleefully reciprocated.
"WHAT?! H-He cheated on you with me! A GIRL! How are you-" Julia began ranting before a fist to her face knocked her out.
"Oh give it a rest." Emma rolled her eyes angrily.
"Glad that's over." Ripper admitted before cringing, "Ugh, are they using TONGUE?!"
"Let's give them some privacy. Emma, carry Julia." Damien informed them all.
"Fine." Emma sighed before they all began filing out of the campfire with Emma struggling to carry Julia.
What they didn't see was MK hiding in the bushes with her phone out and recording the kissing couple, "I'm gonna get so rich from this footage. Nyahahahahahahahaha."
"NOW! MK." Priya commanded angrily, dragging the thief away by the ear.
"Aw come on. Can't a girl have a LITTLE fun." MK groaned as Priya pulled her away.
Once Raj and Bowie parted from their kiss, Raj spoke, "Hey Bowie?"
"Yeah Raj?" Bowie asked happily.
"I love you too." Raj said with a grin.