The Challenge (TV series)

The Challenge's cast varies from season to season. Contestants used to originate from either The Real World or Road Rules. Casting for The Challenge has expanded over the years to include contestants who debuted on The Challenge itself, and other MTV franchises. Starting in 2018, new contestants were chosen outside of the MTV network programming.^[6] Many recent alumni come from various reality shows including Survivor, The Amazing Race, Are You the One?, Big Brother, Ex on the Beach, Vanderpump Rules and Love Island as well as non-reality entertainment and sports programs.^[7][8]

A season's typical multitude of cast members are usually divided up into separate teams or pairs according to a certain criterion, 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 or villainous status, rivalries, countries, family members and ex-romantic partners. The format of the competition varies by season. In elimination rounds, contestants or teams compete against each other to determine who is eliminated from the season. Each season has its own, distinctive elimination round.

Some seasons, however, have used entirely different formats from the typical ones: The Island in particular 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) 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 awarded for winning the final mission.

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 eleventh season.^[9]

Over time, a playful rivalry developed between the cast of Road Rules and The Real World, with the former occasionally attempting to prank the latter while it was in production.^[10] 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 episode brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce the spin-off series.^[11] The series started airing in April 1998 as Road Rules: All Stars, and featured cast members from five seasons of The Real World. Another face-off called AquaGames, hosted by Kit Hoover and Mark Long, was between The Real World: Seattle and Road Rules: Down Under and aired as part of those shows later in 1998.

After Road Rules: 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.^[12] Following the successful boom of reality television in the new millennium, from shows like Survivor, producers decided to add new elements to the series. 2002's Battle of the Seasons was the first season to depart from the previous six-member structure and brought in a large group of former cast members to compete in one location. The show added in eliminations, with earlier season incorporated voting off by majority, that eventually changed to elimination competitions between cast members.^[10][13]

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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.^[14] In each multi-week event, alumni from The Challenge compete against celebrities to win money for charity.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20]}

More information Order, Title ...

Order	Title	Host	Format	Original Release	Location	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

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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.^[21] On February 24, 2021, the show was officially announced as The Challenge: All Stars.^[22]

More information Season, Subtitle ...

Season	Subtitle	Format	Contestants	Location	Episodes		Originally released			Champion(s)
							First released	Last released	Network
1	—N/a	Individual (Pairs/Teams)	22	Andes Mountains, Argentina	9		April 1, 2021 (2021-04-01)	May 27, 2021 (2021-05-27)	Paramount+	Yes Duffy
2		Individual → 8 pairs	24	Cancún, Mexico	10		November 11, 2021 (2021-11-11)	January 13, 2022 (2022-01-13)		Jonna Mannion & MJ Garrett
3		Individual (Pairs)	25	Panama City & San José Island, Panama	10		May 11, 2022 (2022-05-11)	July 6, 2022 (2022-07-06)		Wes Bergmann and Jonna Mannion
4		Individual (Pairs/Teams)		Cape Town, South Africa	12		April 10, 2024 (2024-04-10)	June 19, 2024 (2024-06-19)		Laurel Stucky
5	Rivals	13 pairs	26	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	12		January 29, 2025 (2025-01-29)	April 16, 2025 (2025-04-16)	MTV	Adam Larson & Steve Meinke

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The Challenge: World Championship & International versions

See also: The Challenge: World Championship and The Challenge: USA

In February 2022, different series of The Challenge were announced, this included three international adaptations for Australia, Argentina, the UK, as well as The Challenge: USA, another American series which aired on CBS with CBS reality show alumni. All editions of the series aired locally on a Paramount-affiliated network and were available globally to stream on Paramount+. These four series were followed by The Challenge: World Championship, which features winners and notable players from the international adaptations and the main series of The Challenge competing for a grand prize.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28]} On May 22, 2023, following the conclusion of World Championship, CBS announced that a second season of The Challenge: USA would premiere on August 10, 2023.^[29] On June 27, 2024, it was announced that a Swedish version of The Challenge would be airing on TV4 starting on August 12, 2024, marking the first series in the franchise to be produced outside of Bunim/Murray Productions.^[30][31][32] A second Swedish season is set to air in 2026.^[33]

Versions

More information Country, Title ...

Country	Title[25]	Host(s)	Network[27]	Format	Original Release	Location	Winner(s)
United States	USA	T. J. Lavin	CBS	Individual Pairs	July 6 – September 14, 2022	Buenos Aires & Patagonia, Argentina	Danny McCray
							Sarah Lacina
	USA 2			3 teams of 8 →Individual	August 10 – October 19, 2023[29]	Pula, Croatia	Chris Underwood
							Desi Williams
Australia	Australia	Brihony Dawson[34]	Network 10	Individual Pairs	November 14 – December 13, 2022	Buenos Aires & Pilar, Argentina	Kiki Morris
							Troy Cullen
Argentina	Argentina: El Desafio	Marley[35]	Telefe	Individual Pairs	February 13 – March 7, 2023[36]	Buenos Aires & Pilar, Argentina	Sol Pérez
United Kingdom	UK	Mark Wright	Channel 5	Individual Pairs	February 20 – 24, 2023	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Kaz Crossley
							Tristan Phipps
Global	World Championship	Brihony Dawson Marley Mark Wright T. J. Lavin	Paramount+	14 pairs	March 8 – May 17, 2023	Cape Town, South Africa	Team UK (Jordan Wiseley & Kaz Crossley)
Sweden	Sverige (season 1)	Pischa Strindstedt	TV4	Pairs	August 12 – October 10, 2024	Larnaca, Cyprus	Jens Rönnqvist & Sandra Cucarano
	Sverige (season 2)	Ahmed Berhan		4 teams	2026	Furillen, Sweden

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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 filmed at the Playa Suites Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico.^[37] The five-episode spin-off was titled Spring Break Challenge and aired from March 22–26, 2010.^[38] The season featured seven Challenge alum who coached teams of college-aged friends through various challenges and elimination rounds in an attempt to win $50,000 in cash and prizes. Fresh Meat alumnus Evan Starkman and The Real World: Key West alumna Paula Meronek served as broadcasters, with T. J. Lavin as the host.^[39][40] Camila Nakagawa, a contestant of the winning team, went on to appear on future challenges, with her debut season being Cutthroat.^[41][42] Nakagawa is the only player to appear on the main series.

More information Coach, Original season ...

Coach	Original season	Finish
Susie Meister	Road Rules: Down Under	Winner
Kenny Santucci	Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat	Runner-up
Wes Bergmann	The Real World: Austin	Third place
Darrell Taylor	Road Rules: Campus Crawl	Episode 4
Landon Lueck	The Real World: Philadelphia	Episode 3
Evelyn Smith	Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat	Episode 2
Rachel Robinson	Road Rules: Campus Crawl	Episode 1

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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.^[43][44]

The Challenge: Untold History

The Challenge: Untold History is a six-part documentary about The Challenge. It featured over 30 former competitors and several celebrity fans, discussing the show and telling behind the scenes stories. It premiered on September 21, 2022, on MTV. A sneak preview was shown during the Unscripted portion of the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards.^[45]

The Challenge: Home Turf

The Challenge: Home Turf is a YouTube docuseries which premiered on January 29, 2024. The docuseries focuses on eight cast members visiting their hometown and sharing stories about their career and upbringing.^[46]