The Challenge (TV series)

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For the most recent season, see The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies.
The Challenge
The Challenge.png
GenreReality competition
Created by
  • Mary-Ellis Bunim
  • Jonathan Murray
Presented by
  • David "Puck" Rainey
  • David Edwards
  • Gladys Sanabria
  • Eric Nies
  • Mark Long
  • Jonny Moseley
  • Dave Mirra
  • T. J. Lavin
StarringThe Challenge contestants
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons37
No. of episodes505
Production
Executive producers
  • Justin Booth
  • Scott Freeman
  • Gil Goldschein
  • Emer Harkin
  • Julie Pizzi
  • Danny Wascou
Running time
  • 30 minutes (1998–2007)
  • 60 minutes (2008–2019)
  • 90 minutes (2019–present)
Production companyBunim/Murray Productions
DistributorViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks
Release
Original networkMTV
Original releaseJune 1, 1998 (1998-06-01) –
present
Chronology
Preceded byThe Real World
Road Rules
External links
Website
Production website

The Challenge (originally known as Road Rules: All Stars, followed by Real World/Road Rules Challenge) is a reality competition show on MTV that is spun off from two of the network's reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules. Originally featuring alumni from these two shows, casting for The Challenge has slowly expanded to include contestants who debuted on The Challenge itself, alumni from other MTV franchises including Are You the One?, Ex on the Beach (Brazil, UK and US), Geordie Shore and from other non-MTV shows. The contestants compete against one another in various extreme challenges to avoid elimination. The winners of the final challenge win the competition and typically share a large cash prize.[1][2] The Challenge is currently hosted by T. J. Lavin.

The series premiered on June 1, 1998. The show was originally titled Road Rules: All Stars (in which notable Real World alumni participated in a Road Rules style road-trip). It was renamed Real World/Road Rules Challenge for the 2nd season, then later abridged to simply The Challenge by the show's 19th season. Since the fourth season, each season has supplied the show with a unique subtitle, such as Rivals. Each season consists of a format and theme from which the subtitle is derived.

The show's most recent season, Spies, Lies & Allies, premiered on August 11, 2021, and concluded its run on December 22, 2021.[3] The second season of The Challenge: All Stars premiered on Paramount+ on November 11, 2021[4] and concluded its run on January 13, 2022.

Structure[]

Overview[]

The Challenge casts are season specific as the cast varies from season to season. The casts are made up of contestants originating from one of The Challenge's related TV programs and, in a few seasons, previously unknown contestants. The cast usually contains both "veterans" (or vets) and "rookies". Veterans are thought of as players that have won at least one Challenge season or have appeared on several seasons of the show; Rookies refer to newer players. Many recent alumni come from various reality shows such as Big Brother, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Ex on the Beach, and Geordie Shore.

A season's typical multitude of cast members are usually divided up into separate teams or pairs according to a certain criteria, which varies from season to season. The criteria that teams have been arranged by over the show's history have ranged from gender, the contestants' original show, heroic/villainous status and ex-romantic partners of contestants. Each of the opposing teams compete in numerous missions in order to win prizes and advance in the overall game. Following each mission, a team or a cast member is voted into an elimination round to take on the least successful team from the previous mission, or the winning team gets to choose a team for elimination to face off against another team determined by different circumstances. In elimination rounds, they must compete against one another to determine which one is eliminated from the season. Each season has its own, very distinct elimination round, distinguished from those of other seasons in title, design, and general atmosphere. Determining which two teams or two cast members are sent into the episode's elimination round frequently leads to drama and dirty gameplay; this is due to the show's contestants being in charge of who is thrown into elimination rounds.[5] Like that of The Real World, sporadically throughout the course of each episode, various contestants are seen privately expressing themselves through reality TV confessionals about the events taking place on the show.

Some seasons, however, have used entirely different formats from the typical: The Island is one Challenge in particular that adopted many features atypical to Real World/Road Rules Challenge, instead taking concepts like that of another reality television game show Survivor; as another example, the first season (Road Rules: All Stars) ironically only included contestants from The Real World and consisted of a much smaller cast before the show was completely restructured in its second season. Except for season one, a monetary prize has always been the award for winning the final mission.

Hosts[]

The series initially used no hosts but instead a former cast member who had been kicked off his or her season, providing assignments as "Mr." or "Ms. Big" (David "Puck" Rainey, David Edwards, and Gladys Sanabria served this role). After one season without anyone in this role, the series began using hosts: Eric Nies and Mark Long co-hosted a season, and Jonny Moseley and Dave Mirra hosted various seasons before T. J. Lavin became the show's regular host by the 11th season.

TV show's conception[]

During the filming of The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: Islands, the two casts met while the Real World cast was vacationing in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Producers set up a face-off where both teams would compete for a cash prize. The intensely competitive challenge brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce yet another spin-off series. After another face-off called AquaGames, hosted by Kit Hoover and Mark Long, between The Real World: Seattle and Road Rules: Down Under in 1998, the Challenge series was born in 1998 with Road Rules: All Stars, and featured cast members from five seasons of The Real World.

After All Stars, producers decided to include former cast members of Road Rules in the series as well. In the next season, two six-member teams were sent around the world in a competition to see which show could best the other in head-to-head competition. The series followed the format for three years and brought in hugely successful ratings.

Following the hugely successful boom of reality television in the new millennium, producers decided to add new elements to the series. In 2001, production began on Battle of the Seasons. This season, the first to depart from the previous six-member structure, brought in a large group of former cast members to compete in one location. Beginning with the first Battle of the Seasons, MTV added a fantasy challenge game to their website. Players "draft" cast members, a la fantasy baseball and cast members are given points for performing certain tasks, such as cursing or "hooking up."

After switching to the "vote off" format, the series would alternate between "Battle" seasons, including two seasons of Battle of the Sexes and themed Challenges which included the Gauntlet and Inferno seasons. Both the Gauntlet and Inferno seasons contained "showdown" matches between members of the two opposing teams. The cast member who lost the showdown would be sent home. The Gauntlet seasons featured an intra-cast dynamic as teams were forced to vote off cast members within their own groups into the showdown, while the Inferno seasons featured an inter-cast dynamic as teams were forced to vote off cast members from the other group into the showdown.

Seasons[]

Order Title Host Format Original Release Location of the residence Winner(s)
1 Road Rules: All Stars David "Puck" Rainey 1 team of 5 June 1, 1998 -
June 29, 1998 		Road trip: Montreal → Lake Placid
→ Wellington → Auckland → Los Angeles 		Cynthia Roberts, Eric Nies, Jon Brennan, Rachel Campos & Sean Duffy
2 Real World vs. Road Rules David Edwards 2 teams of 6 November 9, 1999 -
December 14, 1999 		Road trip: San Francisco → Los Angeles
→ Las Vegas → Los Angeles 		  Road Rules
(Anne Wharton, Kalle Dedolph, Kefla Hare, Mark Long, Noah Rickun & Roni Martin)
3 Challenge 2000 Gladys Sanabria 2 teams of 6 January 17, 2000 -
April 3, 2000 		Road trip: Las Vegas → Nashville → Miami   Road Rules
(Carlos "Los" Jackson, Dan Setzler, Holly Shand, Piggy Thomas, Veronica Portillo & Yes Duffy)
4 Extreme Challenge none 2 teams of 6 January 9, 2001 -
May 22, 2001 		Road trip: Portland, ME → Montreal
→ Boston → London → Hamburg → Prague
→ London → New York → Los Angeles 		  Real World
(Dan Renzi, Jamie Murray, Julie Stoffer, Kameelah Phillips, Rebecca Lord & Syrus Yarbrough)
5 Battle of the Seasons Eric Nies & Mark Long 2 teams of
8 pairs 		January 28, 2002 -
May 27, 2002 		Cabo San Lucas, Mexico   Real World
(Danny Roberts & Kelley Limp, Mike Mizanin & Coral Smith, Sean Duffy & Elka Walker)
6 Battle of the Sexes Jonny Moseley 2 teams of 18 December 30, 2002 -
May 12, 2003 		Montego Bay, Jamaica   Guys
(Colin Mortensen, Jamie Murray & Mark Long)
7 The Gauntlet 2 teams of 14 September 29, 2003 -
January 26, 2004 		Telluride, Colorado   Road Rules
(Adam Larson, Cara Zavaleta, Darrell Taylor, Dave Giuntoli, Rachel Robinson,
Roni Martin, Sarah Greyson, Theo Vonkurnatowski & Veronica Portillo)
8 The Inferno Dave Mirra 2 teams of 10 February 2, 2004 -
May 31, 2004 		Acapulco, Mexico   Road Rules
(Abram Boise, Christena Pyle, Darrell Taylor, Holly Shand,
Katie Doyle, Kendal Sheppard, Timmy Beggy & Veronica Portillo)
9 Battle of the Sexes 2 Jonny Moseley 2 teams of 18 October 4, 2004 -
January 31, 2005 		Santa Fe, New Mexico   Guys
(Dan Setzler, Eric Nies & Theo Vonkurnatowski)
10 The Inferno II Dave Mirra 2 teams of 10 March 7, 2005 -
June 20, 2005 		Manzanillo, Mexico   Good Guys
(Darrell Taylor, Jamie Chung, Landon Lueck & Mike Mizanin)
11 The Gauntlet 2 T.J. Lavin 2 teams of 16 December 5, 2005 -
March 27, 2006 		Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago   Rookies
(Alton Williams, Ibis Nieves, Jamie Murray, Jodi Weatherton,
Kina Dean, Landon Lueck, MJ Garrett, Randy Barry & Susie Meister)
12 Fresh Meat 12 pairs May 29, 2006 -
September 11, 2006 		Myocum, Australia   Darrell Taylor & Aviv Melmed
13 The Duel Individual October 12, 2006 -
January 18, 2007 		Armação dos Búzios, Brazil   Wes Bergmann
  Jodi Weatherton
14 The Inferno 3 2 teams of 10 April 10, 2007 -
July 3, 2007 		Somerset West, South Africa   Bad Asses
(Abram Boise, Derrick Kosinski, Evelyn Smith, Janelle Casanave, Kenny Santucci & Tonya Cooley)
15 The Gauntlet III 2 teams of 16 January 23, 2008 -
March 26, 2008 		Puerto Vallarta, Mexico   Rookies
(Frank Roessler, Jillian Zoboroski, Johanna Botta, Nehemiah Clark, Rachel Moyal & Tori Hall)
16 The Island Individual
→2 teams of 4 		September 10, 2008 -
October 29, 2008 		Colón Island, Panama   Red Boat
(Derrick Kosinski, Evelyn Smith, Johnny Devenanzio & Kenny Santucci)
17 The Duel II Individual April 8, 2009 -
June 17, 2009 		Queenstown, New Zealand   Evan Starkman
  Rachel Robinson
18 The Ruins 2 teams of 14 September 30, 2009 -
December 23, 2009 		Phuket, Thailand   Champions
(Derrick Kosinski, Evan Starkman, Johnny Devenanzio, Kenny Santucci & Susie Meister)
19 Fresh Meat II 13 pairs April 7, 2010 -
June 9, 2010 		Whistler, British Columbia, Canada   Landon Lueck & Carley Johnson
20 Cutthroat 3 teams of 10 October 6, 2010 -
December 22, 2010 		Prague, Czech Republic   Red Team
(Brad Fiorenza, Dunbar Merrill, Tori Hall & Tyler Duckworth)
21 Rivals 14 pairs June 22, 2011 -
September 7, 2011 		Dominical, Costa Rica
→ Buenos Aires & Bariloche, Argentina 		  Johnny Devenanzio & Tyler Duckworth
  Evelyn Smith & Paula Meronek
22 Battle of the Exes 13 pairs January 25, 2012 -
April 4, 2012 		Sosúa, Dominican Republic
→ Reykjavík, Iceland 		  Johnny Devenanzio & Camila Nakagawa
23 Battle of the Seasons 8 teams of 4 September 19, 2012 -
December 19, 2012 		Bodrum, Turkey
→ Swakopmund & Windhoek, Namibia 		  Team San Diego
(Ashley Kelsey, Frank Sweeney, Sam McGinn & Zach Nichols)
24 Rivals II 16 pairs July 10, 2013 -
September 25, 2013 		Phuket, Thailand   Chris "CT" Tamburello & Wes Bergmann
  Emily Schromm & Paula Meronek
25 Free Agents Individual
Pairs
Teams 		April 10, 2014 -
June 26, 2014 		Punta del Este, Uruguay
→ Pucón, Chile 		 03  Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio
 24  Laurel Stucky
26 Battle of the Exes II 13 pairs January 6, 2015 -
March 24, 2015 		Pedasí, Panama
→ Ørsta, Norway 		  Jordan Wiseley & Sarah Rice
27 Battle of the Bloodlines 14 pairs
→ 2 teams of 12
→ 5 pairs 		December 2, 2015 -
February 17, 2016 		Bodrum, Turkey
→Berlin, Germany 		  Cara Maria Sorbello & Jamie Banks
28 Rivals III 13 pairs May 4, 2016 -
August 3, 2016 		Huatulco, Mexico
→ Mendoza, Argentina 		  Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio & Sarah Rice
29 Invasion of the Champions Individual
→ 2 teams
→ Individual 		February 7, 2017 -
May 16, 2017 		Krabi, Thailand   Chris "CT" Tamburello
  Ashley Mitchell
30 XXX: Dirty 30 Individual
Pairs
Teams 		July 18, 2017 -
November 28, 2017 		Cartagena, Colombia
→ Salta, Argentina 		  Jordan Wiseley
  Camila Nakagawa
31 Vendettas Individual
Teams 		January 2, 2018 -
April 17, 2018 		Gibraltar, BOT & Marbella, Spain
→ Prague, Czech Republic 		  Cara Maria Sorbello
32 Final Reckoning 17 pairs July 10, 2018 -
December 4, 2018 		Hermanus, South Africa   Ashley Mitchell & Hunter Barfield
33 War of the Worlds 16 Pairs
→ Individual 		February 6, 2019 -
May 29, 2019 		Swakopmund, Namibia   Turabi "Turbo" Çamkıran
34 War of the Worlds 2 2 Teams of 16 August 28, 2019 –
December 18, 2019 		Chiang Mai and Phuket, Thailand   Team UK
(Chris "CT" Tamburello, Dee Nguyen, Jordan Wiseley & Rogan O'Connor)
35 Total Madness Individual
Pairs
Teams 		April 1, 2020 –
July 29, 2020 		Prague, Czech Republic
→ Central Eastern Alps, Austria 		  Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio
  Jennifer "Jenny" West
36 Double Agents 15 Pairs December 9, 2020 –
April 21, 2021 		Reykjavík, Iceland   Amber Borzotra & Chris "CT" Tamburello
37 Spies, Lies & Allies 17 Pairs
→ 3 teams of 6
→ Individual
→ 3 pairs 		August 11, 2021 –
December 22, 2021 		Vrsar, Croatia   Chris "CT" Tamburello & Kaycee Clark

Specials[]

Spring Break Challenge[]

Main article: Spring Break Challenge

In March 2010, prior to the airing of the 19th season, MTV aired a special spring break spin-off of The Challenge in Acapulco, Mexico.[6] Challenge alum coached teams of college-aged friends in various challenges of old and new, while Fresh Meat alumnus Evan Starkman and The Real World: Key West alumna Paula Meronek served as broadcasters, with T. J. Lavin as the host. Camila Nakagawa, a contestant of the winning team, went on to appear on future challenges, with her debut Challenge being Cutthroat. To date, Camila is the only player to appear on the challenges.

The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars[]

The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars (originally known as The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros) is a special recurring mini-series of The Challenge.[7] In each multi-week event, alumni from The Challenge compete against celebrities to win money for charity.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

Order Title Host Format Original Release Location of the residence Winner(s)
1 Champs vs. Pros Victor Cruz 2 teams of 10
→ 3 pairs 		May 16 –
June 20, 2017 		Los Angeles, California   Cara Maria Sorbello & Darrell Taylor
2 Champs vs. Stars I Mike "The Miz" Mizanin 2 teams of 10 November 21, 2017 –
January 9, 2018 		  Champs
(Chris "CT" Tamburello, Emily Schromm & Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio)
3 Champs vs. Stars II 2 teams of 10
→ 7 pairs 		April 17 –
June 26, 2018 		  Chris "CT" Tamburello & Tony Raines

The Challenge: CT's Getting Married[]

The Challenge: CT's Getting Married is a two-part special revolving around the wedding of Challenge star Chris "CT" Tamburello and Lilianet Solares. MTV released the trailer and premiere date on November 20, 2018. The two-week special premiered on December 11, 2018 and concluded on December 18, 2018.[14][15]

The Challenge: All Stars[]

Main article: The Challenge: All Stars

In 2020, Road Rules: USA – The First Adventure alumnus Mark Long started asking his social media followers if they'd be interested in seeing former cast members of The Challenge coming together for a new version of the series. The movement was titled "We Want OGs". After his idea went viral, he announced a partnership with Bunim/Murray Productions to further develop his project and began gauging interest from potential former cast members.[16] By February 2021, the project had been confirmed, and several former cast members for the show were revealed. On February 24, 2021, the show was officially announced as The Challenge: All Stars, and premiered on the Paramount+ streaming service on April 1, 2021.[17] On October 13, 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on November 11, 2021.[18]

Order Title Host Format Original Release Location of the residence Winner(s)
1 All Stars T.J. Lavin Individual
Pairs
Teams 		April 1, 2021 –
June 3, 2021 		Andes Mountains, Argentina   Yes Duffy
2 All Stars 2 Individual
Pairs
Teams
→ 8 pairs 		November 11, 2021 –
January 13, 2022 		Cancún, Mexico   Jonna Mannion & MJ Garrett

Cast members[]

Main article: List of The Challenge (TV series) contestants

Locations[]

The Challenge has been shot in many countries across the world. During seasons 1, 4, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31 and 35, the cast traveled between several countries.

Rank Location Seasons visited[a]
1
 United States 6 (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9)
2
 Mexico 5 (5, 8, 10, 15, 28)
3
 Czech Republic 4 (4, 20, 31, 35)
 Thailand 4 (18, 24, 29, 34)
5
 Canada 3 (1, 4, 19)
 Argentina 3 (21, 28, 30)
7
 New Zealand 2 (1, 17)
 Panama 2 (16, 26)
 Turkey 2 (23, 27)
 Germany 2 (4, 27)
 South Africa 2 (14, 32)
 Namibia 2 (23, 33)
 Iceland 2 (22, 36)
14
 United Kingdom[b] 1 (4)
 Jamaica 1 (6)
 Trinidad and Tobago 1 (11)
 Australia 1 (12)
 Brazil 1 (13)
 Costa Rica 1 (21)
 Dominican Republic 1 (22)
 Uruguay 1 (25)
 Chile 1 (25)
 Norway 1 (26)
 Colombia 1 (30)
 Spain 1 (31)
 Gibraltar 1 (31)
 Austria 1 (35)
 Croatia 1 (37)
  1. ^ This only includes countries that fielded daily challenges, eliminations or a final challenge. The locations of reunions, after-shows and spinoff seasons are not included in this section.
  2. ^ Includes the constituent country of England (4). Excludes the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar (31), which is listed separately in the section.

References[]

  1. ^ MTV. "The Challenge: Battle of the Exes 2 (TV Series) | MTV". Challenge.mtv.com. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  2. ^ Remodeling TV Talent: Participation and Performance in MTV's Real World ... – Hugh Phillips Curnutt – Google Books. ISBN 9780549747185. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
  3. ^ Sydney Bucksbaum. "MTV announces The Challenge season 37 cast list, theme, and premiere date". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  4. ^ Bucksbaum, Sydney (November 11, 2021). "The Challenge: All Stars 2 premiere recap: The OGs are back — but T.J.'s disappointed". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  5. ^ "Real World/Road Rules: The Island – TJ Lavin is Developing an Attitude Problem" (blog). wordpress. October 2, 2008.
  6. ^ "MTV Spring Break 2010". Mtv.com. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  7. ^ "MTV's The Challenge Cast: Josh Murray, Shawn Johnson to Compete". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  8. ^ "Daniel Booby Gibson And Hennessy Carolina Competing In MTV's The Challenge Champs Vs Stars – VH1 News". Vh1.com. November 17, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  9. ^ "Preview of MTV series The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros". espn.com. April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  10. ^ "Champs vs Pros: Beloved Challenge Victors Set to Battle Top Athletes". Mtv.com. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  11. ^ Russian, Ale (October 11, 2017). "Cast Revealed! Josh Murray, Shawn Johnson and More Stars to Compete in MTV's The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  12. ^ "Champs vs Stars filming". February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  13. ^ Longeretta, Emily (March 29, 2018). "'The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars' 2018 Cast and Promo Revealed". Us Weekly. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  14. ^ "MTV Releases First Trailer & Premiere Date for CT Tamburello's Wedding Special: Get Ready for "The Challenge: CT's Getting Married!"". The Ashley's Reality Roundup. November 21, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  15. ^ "MTV's "The Challenge: CT's Getting Married" Premieres December 11th". The Futon Critic. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  16. ^ Longeretta, Emily (August 27, 2020). "'Challenge' Vet Mark Long Partners With Bunim/Murray to Develop OG Project". Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  17. ^ Longretta, Emily. "'The Challenge: All Stars' Teaser Reveals OGs Returning for New Paramount+ Series: Trishelle Cannatella, Beth Stolarczyk and More". US Weekly. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  18. ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (October 13, 2021). "MTV And Paramount+ Renew 'The Challenge: All Stars' For Season 2, Unveils Cast & Premiere Date". Deadline Hollywood.

External links[]

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