Challenge USA vs. THE Challenge: The Comparison Thread

[Lantern7]

Basic premise: comparing CBS's Challenge USA to the long-running "flagship" series that's been airing on MTV for decades.

Personally, I think the franchise has been floundering in general. The "regular" series offers promising premises each season, but they tend to go downhill quickly. The closest thing to a hero the show has is Chris "CT" Tamburello. If you never saw him on MTV, he's basically a Masshole. "Boston Rob's" gruffer cousin, if you will. The guy had a checkered past, but he's settled down into normalcy, save for an asshole moment or two.

The most celebrated champion has to be John Devenanzio, better known to the world as "Johnny Bananas." Johnny has seven titles to his name, making a name for himself as a bit of a dick. He's the type of guy that loves rubbing salt in fresh wounds as he wins, screwing with people's heads in the process. Casual cruelty is his brand; his bravura performance came in Rivals III, when he was paired with Sarah Rice. A few seasons prior in Battle of the Exes 2, Sarah (along with partner Jordan) elected to send Johnny and his partner (Nany) to the final elimination of the season, ensuring that a weaker team (Jay & Jenna) would go to the final. Johnny & Nany lost, Johnny held a grudge . . . and after he and Sarah wound Rivals III, he was asked whether he'd split the prize money with Sarah or keep it for himself, he went with the latter. I believe he coined the phrase "All's fair in love, war and Challenges."

Since I don't watch Big Brother or Love Island, I can't see any obvious parallels between the batch we're seeing on CBS and the regulars. I've heard good things about those who appeared on Big Brother last year, which means they're probably not obnoxious like Paulie. Or a dick like Fessy. Or an overall mess like Josh. I think Tyson would be considered the biggest asshole on the show right now.

Sorry if I'm rambling. I just figured this thread could be dedicated to comparing anyone from this particular Challenge to "legends" like Darrell, Wes, Leroy (aka Roy-Lee), Devin (the biggest Bananas wannabe you'll find), Cara Maria (who's gotten with Paulie, and that's only part of what makes her odd) and Ashley "Millionaire" Mitchell (the only player who won a seven-figure prize on the show, mainly by screwing her partner like Johnny did to his).

[bunnyface]

Before I watched the 2nd episode, I think, I happened to have some older episodes of The Challenge running on the tv while I was doing some other things.  And then when watching the CBS show, I thought "This is a watered down version of the original."  It's a shadow almost.  I don't know if the difference is being on network tv instead of cable, or just the players are different.  But it's a very much weaker version.  But honestly, All-Stars was weaker also.  It's almost like a progression.  Regular Challenge to All-Stars to CBS.  It just gets weaker as it goes.

I never watched The Challenge at all until about a year ago and I've been catching up.  So maybe there's been a slow progression all along and I'm only seeing it now because of the mass quantity I've watched.

[DEL901]

I thing one of the challenges is that the mothership has a mix of vets and newbies and The Challenge USA is all newbies who are still figuring thing out.  

There are a lot of Challenge vets from Survivor and Big Brother but I guess they thought including them would give an unfair advantage.  

[millennium]

The Challenge has always been a reality shitshow masquerading as a competition show.   That's why we love it.    It's not Hall Brawl or Pole Wrestle that makes me watch and rewatch the different seasons on Paramount, it's Wes, Johnny, CT, Jordan ... it's Evelyn, Sarah, Ashley, the Camilinator, Aneesa, etc.  The OTT personalities and drama have always come first.   The function of the challenges and eliminations has always been, respectively, 1) to promote/foment drama and feuds, and 2) to resolve drama and feuds. 

In Challenge USA, there are no personalities.   There are no feuds.   What passes for drama is "But I'm an Amazing Racer, how can you vote against me?"  As was said in last week's episode thread, nobody's throwing noodles.   There's no one we want to know more about or see more of.   Challenge USA is B-O-R-I-N-G.

Unfortunately, Challenge USA is, IMO, an amplified version of current missteps in The Challenge.   The Challenge show runners seem to have forgotten the order I cited above -- personalities first, competitions second.   Not only are they apparently attempting to make The Challenge more competition-oriented, but they have been importing players from countries where English is a second language.   It's outside their wheelhouse to behave like ugly Americans, and often they seem hesitant when expressing themselves in English.   Result: no chest-beating, no tantrums, no diarrhea of the mouth as we have become so accustomed to on The Challenge (well, except for Turbo). 

Furthermore, the show stopped treating the players to club nights, substituting instead lame themed parties at the Challenge House.   Club nights furnished multiple opportunities for drunken confrontations, ugly scenes on the bus ride back, and explosive arguments at the House.

Consequently, The Challenge itself is starting to become boring.   The last two seasons were the worst ever, IMO.   I know Covid probably plays a part in this but at the same time I feel like the show is making unwise creative/casting choices.

In short, The Challenge USA is what I fear The Challenge may soon become.

Edited July 22, 2022 by millennium

[AntFTW]

21 hours ago, millennium said:

Result: no chest-beating, no tantrums, no diarrhea of the mouth as we have become so accustomed to on The Challenge (well, except for Turbo). 

And Emmy.

FOR MY MOTHER! FOR MY GRANDMOTHER! FOR ROMANIA!

[millennium]

I think 37 was the worst season ever.   Emmy and Huey are two of the many reasons why.

[AntFTW]

4 hours ago, millennium said:

I think 37 was the worst season ever.   Emmy and Huey are two of the many reasons why.

I thought Hughie was hilarious. Hughie is the definition of drama and mess.

I liked season 37 up until maybe the halfway point because the rookies that would start the drama were gone. The batch of rookies they brought for S37 I thought were good TV personalities for the drama, but those were rookies from English speaking countries. Then, Ashley left for mysterious reasons and then Amanda and Kyle were the last of the pot-stirrers.

Edited July 24, 2022 by AntFTW

[jsm1125]

17 hours ago, millennium said:

I think 37 was the worst season ever.   Emmy and Huey are two of the many reasons why.

I’m still wondering why most of the house disliked Bettina

[Badlands]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:16 PM, millennium said:

The Challenge has always been a reality shitshow masquerading as a competition show.   That's why we love it.    It's not Hall Brawl or Pole Wrestle that makes me watch and rewatch the different seasons on Paramount, it's Wes, Johnny, CT, Jordan ... it's Evelyn, Sarah, Ashley, the Camilinator, Aneesa, etc.  The OTT personalities and drama have always come first.   The function of the challenges and eliminations has always been, respectively, 1) to promote/foment drama and feuds, and 2) to resolve drama and feuds. 

In Challenge USA, there are no personalities.   There are no feuds.   What passes for drama is "But I'm an Amazing Racer, how can you vote against me?"  As was said in last week's episode thread, nobody's throwing noodles.   There's no one we want to know more about or see more of.   Challenge USA is B-O-R-I-N-G.

I guess I'm in the opposite camp on a lot of this. I find a majority of the feuds and drama on the original Challenge to be tedious and boring. I tune out or skip through a lot of it. There are just too many over the top dramatic cast members and I prefer people with a little more sanity.  I'm more a fan of the strategy and the actual challenges (other than anything requiring eating).

Edited July 28, 2022 by Badlands

[AntFTW]

On 7/24/2022 at 12:49 PM, jsm1125 said:

I’m still wondering why most of the house disliked Bettina

I thought people disliked her as a competitor, but liked her personally.

[EVS]

I think Challenge USA should have had the contestants in smaller bedrooms, like in most seasons of The Challenge. It could have created more drama/interesting dynamics as long as contestants didn’t end up grouped by what show they came from. 
 

ETA:  I know they are in some kind of warehouse this season, but I was thinking they could have created some separate bedroom spaces. 

Edited August 22, 2022 by EVS

[DEL901]

49 minutes ago, EVS said:

I think Challenge USA should have had the contestants in smaller bedrooms, like in most seasons of The Challenge. It could have created more drama/interesting dynamics as long as contestants didn’t end up grouped by what show they came from. 
 

ETA:  I know they are in some kind of warehouse this season, but I was thinking they could have created some separate bedroom spaces. 

Since The Challenge 38 also filmed in Argentina, I wonder if they will be in the same accommodation?

[lilabennet]

I'm watching the trivia challenge episode from Free Agents and the difference between that and the trivia challenge on USA was so obvious and stark because TJ has known most of the challengers for so long that it makes sense when he teases them about getting questions wrong.  I wonder if the feeling on Challenge USA will improve in later seasons (if it doesn't get cancelled) once TJ gets to know the players more.

[Lantern7]

Reality Blurred takes Challenge USA behind the woodshed. Lots of valid points.