The Challenge in the Media: "The road to [fame] is straight and narrow."

[Lantern7]

Ringer writer tries to connect CT with the phenomena of "dead strength." Still waiting for Bill Simmons to get over Johnny and get back to basics with the Bostonian.

[Juliegirlj]

The above linked article says CT may have Dad strength, but Tony is a Dad too- however Dad strength is physical strength + experience+ maturity, and no way Tony has that equation going on....

[yogi2014L]

I absolutely cannot hate on Johnny managing to make a career out of going on vacation, doing fun shit and exercising. He is living the dream as far as I am concerned. He will be fine assuming he doesn't turn into some sort of washed out addict or something after his time is up on the Challenge. 

I would 100% do what he did if I had the opportunity. 

Also, not a leghumper-I don't really like him as a competitor and love seeing him lose, but I can not hate on him not being a cube slave like me. One life to live people!!!

Edited March 2, 2017 by yogi2014L

[MVFrostsMyPie]

It pains me greatly to see my Giants associated in anyway with the trash that is the Challenge, and especially Bananas and Camilla. I hope the latter got humiliated somehow. 

[Lantern7]

Shit, I typed "dead" when I meant "dad." And I wonder why the writer didn't bring up Darrell and his two kids.

[Juliegirlj]

Heard Evan Starkman got married this past November which may have been in the middle of filming the Challenge. Any cast members good friends with Evan? Johnny or CT may have been- wonder if they had to miss the nuptials?! 

[Unclejosh]

Johnny is friends with Evan but CT does not get along with Evan. I heard out of all the JEK, the one he disliked the most was Evan and was cool with Kenny and Johnny overall especially outside the show.

[Lantern7]

SBP posts speculation on S30 cast. I will set up a thread on that soon. In the meantime . . . no real delightful surprises, I'm afraid. Just a lot of has-beens. assholes, and idiots from other shows I'm not interested in watching.

[scrb]

Bill Simmons said on his latest podcast that he exchanged texts with Bananas about the elimination battle against Darrell.

Bananas claimed to Simmons that they really went about 10 rounds and the show edited it down to 3 rounds.  It was neck and neck but in one of the later rounds, he suffered a head injury which made him vulnerable and he couldn't wrap Darrell up and allowed him to score.

Talked about regrets and such.

it sounds like Simmons believes him.

[Unclejosh]

Cara Maria confirmed it was actually 10 rounds and edited down to 3 for the show.

[Lantern7]

The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros coming to MTV after IOTC for six weeks. One: Would this count as Season 30? I might have to start a CvP thread up just for that. Two: The "Champs" would get stomped, right? I mean, there will be an endgame format, but there's the "Pros" are more disciplined to get sucked into the drama and alcohol.

[OnceSane]

CM Punk?  Oh I am IN.

[luckyroll3]

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros coming to MTV after IOTC for six weeks. One: Would this count as Season 30? I might have to start a CvP thread up just for that. Two: The "Champs" would get stomped, right? I mean, there will be an endgame format, but there's the "Pros" are more disciplined to get sucked into the drama and alcohol.

They all certainly look like they could have been in the BMP-verse at one point or another.  I only know 2 of them, Shawne Merriman and Lolo Jones.  

I wonder if they'll be added into the roration afterwards.

And the BMP-ers giving up their wins for charity....yeah right.

[Lantern7]

Writer for The Ringer ranks the Champs. He wins me over for placing Johnny seventh. Also: YouTube links of Veronica facing Death By Julie ("I got a Mormon killer on my hands"), and Wes vs. CT uncensored. How does one get that without the bleeping?

[Tatum]

8 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Writer for The Ringer ranks the Champs. He wins me over for placing Johnny seventh. Also: YouTube links of Veronica facing Death By Julie ("I got a Mormon killer on my hands"), and Wes vs. CT uncensored. How does one get that without the bleeping?

Hmmph. Ashley K and Cara Maria are ranked a little high for my tastes.

[scrb]

My DVR isn't scheduled to report a new Champs vs. Pros episode tonight.

The program guide shows "MTV Programming" at 9 PM, after running a special compilation "14 Times Our Challengers Lost Their S#%$t" show at 8 PM.

May want to double check your DVRs for tonight.

[Lantern7]

According to MTV.com, we'll have a special at 8, followed by "Watch Out For The Wolfpack" at 9:01.

[Craphole Island]

I'm having trouble posting a link right now but apparently Danny Dias from Road Rules X-Treme (Derrick and Kina's season) and the Gauntlet 2 was found dead of possible drugs and/or suicide. He was 34.

 

Very sad. Rest In Peace.

[DucksFlyTogether]

1 hour ago, Craphole Island said:

I'm having trouble posting a link right now but apparently Danny Dias from Road Rules X-Treme (Derrick and Kina's season) and the Gauntlet 2 was found dead of possible drugs and/or suicide. He was 34.

 

Very sad. Rest In Peace.

His face looked familiar but I could not remember him at all.  He was just a baby on his season if he was still only 34.  

(It annoys me so much that MTV doesn't have all the seasons up for streaming.  There are so many seasons and cast members that I don't remember existing.)

[Lantern7]

Try this. I didn't have fond memories of Danny. In fact, when going over Alton's early Challenge career on my blog, I suggested that Danny was still in therapy from his defeat, and that he was "a little punk." I'll stand by that, but I kinda feel like an asshole for writing that.

[Lantern7]

Challenge XXX to up the ante on cash prizes. Even if it turns out that seven figures will get split among the top players, that's still way too much money most of these people deserve to compete for. And by "most of these people," I mean "Johnny."

[lilabennet]

Season 30 Trailer

[Lantern7]

Hey, Dario hits something!!

[Lantern7]

From MTV.com: Whom do we blame if Veronica starts being a pain in the ass on Dirty 30? In one word: Shane. Also: I'm tickled that MTV is using full names for contestants.

ETA: Facebook friend of mine goes over hookup history of everybody in Dirty XXX.

[Lantern7]

In the aftermath of the shitstorm over on Bachelor In Paradise, Susie Meister weighs in with her experiences. I know, she was shysty in Challenges, and she was basically besties with three pieces of crap and another that was easier to flush (The Ruins) . . . but isn't she nicer than a lot of the people that have come after her? And she met her husband on the show! I wonder how he took her "SM+TB 4EVA" tattoo. Just kidding . ..  but I wouldn't be that shocked.

Does anybody listen to her and Sarah on their podcast? I keep meaning to visit, especially when they interviewed Judd.

[Jlevski]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for it, but I fell down an internet rabbit hole today and found Evan's wedding video: https://player.vimeo.com/video/205115199

 

Lots of Kenny, no Bananas. 

[Lantern7]

Yeah, I ain't watching that.

Funny what you can find on Facebook. Turns out CT is starring in a movie. Here's the trailer:

He's listed as "The Man" on the movie's IMDB page, so I'm guessing he's the bad guy. Lets be honest, the first few versions of CT would qualify as unkillable movie monsters. Also starring: Brittany from AYTO and BOTE2 and Sabrina from RW: Go Big Or Go Home. It would've been nice to see her on a Challenge, but she's not that "dirty."

[BK1978]

I wonder why they had a big gap between Rivals III and Invasion of the Champions.  Yet now they are showing back-to-back-to-back seasons in the span of a couple of months.  Yes I know the Pros season was not an official season but it played out like a season.  They probably should have held off showing season XXX until like October or November. 

[Lantern7]

Don't know where else to post . ..  there's going to be "The Ultimate Fan Experience" with Challengers in New York City on Monday. Bascially, if you ever wanted to work out with those folks, now is your chance. I registered for the screening . . . I'm assuming it's for the Dirty 30 premiere. It's not like I have to get a headstart, but I'd like to experience it, possibly with Challengers close by. One note: I'm an avoider, in the sense that I never started shit with people I didn't like at TARCon, so I would put as much distance between myself and Johnny.

[Lantern7]

Marky Mark is still ready to go. I know, he's old, and I started disliking him in BOTS2, but he's probably fitter than many of the male Challengers. Still holding his giving Eric Fucking Nies $60,000 against him.

[Lantern7]

Got this link from MTV. That's where I punked out. Minimum, I would've been in a group with Johnny, Darrell and (I believe) Marie. Could not do it . . . it's a mix of anxiety, lack of social skills, and not wanting to get anywhere near Johnny. I figured that y'all should check out less neurotic people having fun. Also, if you go to the Inner Circle thread (not the podcast), you'll see I posted pics from that day and evening.

[Tatum]

On 7/18/2017 at 11:48 PM, Lantern7 said:

Marky Mark is still ready to go. I know, he's old, and I started disliking him in BOTS2, but he's probably fitter than many of the male Challengers. Still holding his giving Eric Fucking Nies $60,000 against him.

Ugh. I can't believe I used to like him. The fact that he still watches this show and gets competitive with the cast, combined with him saying Tony Raines is a cool guy, tells me all I need to know about him

[Lantern7]

Analysis of Smashley's departure, with info you might not know about. Apparently, this wasn't an official quit, so TJ doesn't feel compelled to drag her name through the mud.

[Rebecca]

On 7/31/2017 at 3:20 PM, Sonoma said:

https://twitter.com/MTVBananas/status/892108944906215424/photo/1

Johnny will be on American Dad tonight. 

I didn't know he would be on there and it annoyed me because he doesn't need any more attention. I don't know who else it really could've been from The Challenge but ugh, why? No one I was with watching the AD episode even knew who he was.

[scrb]

He really didn't have many speaking lines.  And he was part of a team labeled famewhores.

But his voice was high-pitched like he was trying to do some kind of affect.

[Lantern7]

I posted the clip from Robot Chicken with him and Sarah in January 2016 on this thread. I don't know if they did the work before or after Rivals III.

I got a backlog of American Dad on DVR. Probably the best thing conceived by Seth MacFarlane these days, even if Rodger is the absolute worst. Of course he'd be Johnny's partner.

ETA: Here's a recap of the latest episode from a Facebook friend of mine. Apparently, he was three years old when Veronica did Road Rules: Semester at Sea. I don't think her as "sad" for coming back even with her resume of being a bitch, but 1999 seems like an eternity ago.

[Lantern7]

From SBP: Production for the next BMP/Sports Stars edition is underway. This might be "All-Stars vs. Pros" because a lot of names involved haven't won a Challenge. Usual suspects, as well as Cultvivor McFitty. She'll be cool as long as she doesn't have access to melted chocolate.Three pros are named; I only recognize the one.

ETA: Crap, I forgot the link. In other news, here's the Challenge auction on eBay. Right now, a game-worn jersey signed by Jemmye is going for over $400. Huh?

[mojoween]

Ohhh is this about a Jenna who was on RW with Kailah and Ammo?  Which I didn't watch?

I was thinking you were talking about nice Jenna and I was like wait what?

[jenrising]

4 hours ago, Sonoma said:

 

You can go from there, but you really have to watch the episodes to get the full effects of her awfulness.  I never condone fighting but if I'd been CeeJai, I'm ashamed to admit I may have broken down and also clocked that asshole.

Whew. I got heated just reliving it. CeeJay was a saint to put up with that racist pile of garbage as long as she did. I knew from the first day it was going to be pointless but she really did try to be open-minded to Jenna and went through hell because of it. 

[Lantern7]

Man, the bids are getting hot and heavy. I'm not bidding for the Reunion. Maybe there will be a chance that fans of all ages can attend. And maybe I wouldn't wuss out of saying his to a few of them. Hey, at least I'm not talking nonstop about laying out Johnny, right?

Looks like the CvP2 cast is set . I don't think we got S30 spoilers; I feel that not all of the BMPers are champions, unless there's more than one winner per gender this season. I would advise that you trend carefully. Also, the "Pros" aren't all athletes. And hey, a Bachelor mainstay! Yippee!!! Seriously . . . if they're going to bring in MTV folks, why not friends of Rob Dyrdek? Imagine a rap battle between Tori and Chanel. On the plus side? Kim Glass . . . . wooooooooooooooowwwww. Of course, she'll probably turn out to be a Camila-level nutjob.

[Peper81]

On ‎8‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 0:37 PM, Lantern7 said:

From SBP: Production for the next BMP/Sports Stars edition is underway. This might be "All-Stars vs. Pros" because a lot of names involved haven't won a Challenge. Usual suspects, as well as Cultvivor McFitty. She'll be cool as long as she doesn't have access to melted chocolate.Three pros are named; I only recognize the one.

ETA: Crap, I forgot the link. In other news, here's the Challenge auction on eBay. Right now, a game-worn jersey signed by Jemmye is going for over $400. Huh?

I am confused.  Why are there rappers and comedians if this is supposed to be All-Stars vs. Pros? Or is this supposed to encompass all BMP shows not just The Challenge?  I recognized only 2 of the pro athletes.  

20 hours ago, Sonoma said:

Sorry, I'm one of those people who does not feel one iota of sympathy for Jenna. Good for Chris for outing her nasty true self. Her 100% racist and hateful behavior should have been protected? She was no innocent sheltered babe. She's one of those pieces of work who knows the stuff coming out of her mouth is racist and likes to hide behind the "that's what it's like where I'm from" bullshit. I cackled with glee when she was outed. The only part I didn't agree with was Ammo letting someone else take the fall.

The bolded part I agree so much with.  I lost a lot of respect for him when he was content to let Kaliah take the fall for what he did.  That is cowardly in my opinion.  I am surprised there isn't any left over resentment on Kaliah's part.  

[scrb]

Wow those people must hang out with each other a lot.

Brad hasn't been on a Challenge in a long time so how would he know KA?

Wonder if they hang out in hopes of getting back on.  Maybe some have to suck up to Johnny who seems to have some pull with the producers.  Then of course, they're beholden to him in the game itself since he could tell them he got them on.

Why would the producers choose to bring back Derrick for instance instead of someone who's been on the recent seasons?  Or as horrible as the AYTO kids are, they may be more likely to attract the younger viewers whom MTV covets.

[scrb]

Ugh, what a messed up world where people will pay to see Johnny in person.

[MaggieG]

On 8/8/2017 at 1:37 PM, Lantern7 said:

From SBP: Production for the next BMP/Sports Stars edition is underway. This might be "All-Stars vs. Pros" because a lot of names involved haven't won a Challenge. Usual suspects, as well as Cultvivor McFitty. She'll be cool as long as she doesn't have access to melted chocolate.Three pros are named; I only recognize the one.

ETA: Crap, I forgot the link. In other news, here's the Challenge auction on eBay. Right now, a game-worn jersey signed by Jemmye is going for over $400. Huh?

In what world is Riff Raff an Allstar athlete?! Terrel Owens, yes. Shawn Johnson, definitely, but Riff Raff?! 

[neenyah]

On 8/21/2017 at 10:18 PM, Sonoma said:

 

The show has a new HBIC and one of the things she wanted to do was cast more familiar faces to balance the new AYTO faces. She also wanted to bring back more challenges and concepts where sheer brute force or olympic-level athleticism isn't a factor to win after Justin Booth turned it into a friggen elite athletic contest where only Crossfitters could win. So far I've been really enjoying her changes.

I have too. While they still require some level of athleticism, these challenges/eliminations are not preset winners. I'm happy to see that back. 

[Jillibean]

On 8/21/2017 at 9:21 PM, Sonoma said:

I feel kinda sorta ashamed (not really) but quite a few people private message me about Brad and Tori and this is public now anyway so wanted to drop some tea...

Today they had a very public disagreement on Twitter over Brad putting Tony on blast for "disrespecting" Cara Maria. Tori basically called him a hypocrite, and anyone wondering whether or not they'll get back together should pretty much have their question answered. Not sure if he's still seeing KellyAnne, but KA is still on the outs with Susie for outing them on Brain Candy after KA confided in her about her relationship with Brad.

I can't believe I'm getting sucked back into this, but isn't it well known that Susie and Tori are very close? Seems like a strange person for KA to confide in. At any rate--I assume they're still coparenting. Taking arguments to twitter seems like a poor choice. 

[luckyroll3]

In case anyone is interested, 2 friends and I started a podcast. Although the first episode focuses on the debate between the two upcoming post-slavery shows being proposed by HBO and Amazon, we spend a good chunk of the podcast talking about how much we loved the messiness of Champs vs Pros and hate Johnny.  Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ambitious-snark/id1276240961

After getting completely derailed by our Challenge discussion, we decided to do a Challenge rewatch podcast, starting from the very beginning (especially since one of my friends has never seen an episode).  More on that coming soon.

Edited August 30, 2017 by luckyroll3

[UniqBlue69]

WWE Superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin Hosts the Second Installment of MTV's "The Challenge" Special "Champs vs. Stars" Premiering November 21

I only recognize three of the "stars" and MTV must have a different definition of champ than I do.

[Lantern7]

Reality Blurred does overview on S31.

[Lantern7]

Bill Simmons does a mailbag; comparisons to Challengers and NBA stars are made.