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

[luckyroll3]

There's basically a kid version of The Challenge on HBO Max called Karma.  I've only watched the first episode, but it reminds a bit of that Discovery Kids show from the early 2000's hosted by JD Roth, Endurance (Jonna, one of Zach's ex-girlfriends, won the first season).  

[mojoween]

Mark Long is bouncing all over Twitter trying to round up old schoolers to do a two week Challenge.

I am ALL IN, even if Coral expressed interest.  I didn’t see everyone he tweeted at because I was so excited to see Cyrus say he was in I stopped paying attention.

[peachmangosteen]

I saw his initial tweet but I didn't know he was actually contacting people and getting a pitch ready for MTV. He's serious lol. I hope it happens!

[Sister Havana]

I would be SO UP FOR THIS. There are several people who’ve told him they’re interested whom I would love to see again: Ruthie! Dan from RR: Northern Trail! Eric Nies! Teck! Jamie from the first RW: New Orleans! All these people whom I haven’t see on my TV in forever.

[peachmangosteen]

27 minutes ago, Sister Havana said:

Dan from RR: Northern Trail! 

He's like my original reality tv crush lol.

[Lantern7]

5 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

He's like my original reality tv crush lol.

I hate to say it, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. BMP believes in absolute values, meaning guys as awful as Bear or whiny like Josh are more important that a mentally-balanced guy who kicked ass in missions.

I like the guy. I couldn’t hold a grudge over that business on BOTS2.

[Jillibean]

18 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

He's like my original reality tv crush lol.

Oh my god, me too. He was DREAMY. Yay for nice guys! Remember when he Initially wouldn’t answer whether he and Tara had sex even though it was part of the final question answering mission? Imagine ANY of the guys taking that road now. 

[peachmangosteen]

3 minutes ago, Jillibean said:

Oh my god, me too. He was DREAMY. Yay for nice guys! Remember when he Initially wouldn’t answer whether he and Tara had sex even though it was part of the final question answering mission? Imagine ANY of the guys taking that road now. 

OMG yes! The men these days would've already answered that even if it wasn't asked lol.

I really wish they'd put Road Rules and old Challenge seasons (like from the RW/RR Challenge days) on some streaming platform. I wanna rewatch the old stuff so badly!

[peachmangosteen]

Or, better yet, do an every season ever marathon on MTV itself. When they did that for the 10th (I think?) seasons of Real World/Road Rules I remember watching it all day, every day. And then they had that special show where they had all the potential cast for Real World and Road Rules live together for a week or something before they picked the final cast. Man, memories!

[scrb]

Old schoolers must be all over 40 at least?

MTV probably don't want old cast members.  Seems like they've been trying to inject cast members in their early 20s repeatedly in the last few seasons.

I'd like to see some of them but if they're still available to film a reality TV show for several weeks, despite their age, it might be kinda sad.

[peachmangosteen]

Just now, scrb said:

I'd like to see some of them but if they're still available to film a reality TV show for several weeks, despite their age, it might be kinda sad.

This is why Mark Long wants it to be only 2 weeks, like Champs vs. Stars. 

[mojoween]

There is an article about TJ in Entertainment Weekly (which I cannot get the link to work on my phone) that’s not too groundbreaking, says he hates quitters and he no longer works from a script but what boggled my mind is that he has been the host since 2005 and that is NOT possible.

I remember Jonny Moseley and Dave Mirra (sniffle) and whoever was before them, that I cannot think of right now, but how could I have watched this godforsaken enterprise for this long?

[peachmangosteen]

The Challenge's Nelson Thomas on His Moving Decision to Protect Cory Wharton: 'I Don't Regret It'

[AEJ79]

On 7/1/2020 at 6:50 PM, peachmangosteen said:

OMG yes! The men these days would've already answered that even if it wasn't asked lol.

I really wish they'd put Road Rules and old Challenge seasons (like from the RW/RR Challenge days) on some streaming platform. I wanna rewatch the old stuff so badly!

Pluto TV has a channel that plays old seasons 24/7. It's an app on my Roku so I'm not sure if you can get it anywhere else?

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, AEJ79 said:

Pluto TV has a channel that plays old seasons 24/7. 

They don't play any older than Rivals and I wanna see seasons older than that, dammit!

‘The Challenge’ Renewed For Season 36 By MTV Amid Ratings Surge For Long-Running Reality Franchise I'm confused because I thought it had already been renewed. Weren't they supposed to start shooting in March?

The Challenge's Camila Nakagawa Welcomes Son Kai Aiden: 'The Love of My Life'

[falltime]

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/the-challenge-greats-where-are-they-now/amp/

[scrb]

1 hour ago, falltime said:

https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/the-challenge-greats-where-are-they-now/amp/

So most of them moved on with their lives, have actual careers.

Or maybe they were unable to sustain any kind of income between seasons like Bananas and a few others.

Even with the million dollar prizes of recent seasons, it's not enough for most competitors to keep going, unless they split it say 4 ways , maybe $250k each or something like that.

And then also make it worth other players to compete, maybe make say $50k a season whether they win or not.  That is what people have speculated about Bananas, that MTV loves him and is willing to pay him to appear on each season.

Not sure the ratings are high enough to generate the ad money it would take to say pay 10 of the most popular players that kind of money.

But they really don't have to, since there are so many feeder shows and people who want to try to ride the reality show train as long as they can after their one and done seasons on BB, AYTO, etc.

So many willing players and if MTV covers their travel expenses, and their food and drink for a month or 6 weeks, it's okay for enough of them to keep it going the way they have.

 

 

[peachmangosteen]

I'm interested lol.

[AntFTW]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

I'm interested lol.

I'd watch it! Although I would cut the "middle school" team off at around season 25 or 26.

[Eolivet]

That was the Vevmo rumor for next season. Also: Dee is still there, oops.

[scrb]

Going to be a long time before they film another season right?  Unless they filmed back in January. 

[Eolivet]

Someone on Vevmo (but not the main spoiler source) posted filming starts "the 2nd to 3rd week of August." I can find no record of that anywhere else, but I find it laughable, as I cannot see any country that would take any Americans at this point. They're going to face the same problems as Survivor, in my opinion: quarantining the cast is hard enough. Quarantining that many crew members to produce an overseas show will be nigh-on impossible.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Eolivet

[ImpinAintEasy]

They could film in the US and only include American contestants, I suppose. Find a remote area with a lot of land to build challenges. Have perhaps an old West theme. Allow the contestants to have more parties at the Challenge House and don’t go out to bars.
 

To be honest, I’m surprised Survivor didn’t attempt to film in the US. 

[Lantern7]

I wrote another piece for Saniac; this time about the failure of the Skulls system. Some of it is stuff I posted here from week to week, but I feel it's a unique and enjoyable read.

[IndyMischa]

12 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I wrote another piece for Saniac; this time about the failure of the Skulls system. Some of it is stuff I posted here from week to week, but I feel it's a unique and enjoyable read.

Great piece, Lantern. Plus bonus points for calling Josh "vacant." 😂 😂 

[Lantern7]

Article from EW. I keep meaning to read it. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[scrb]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Article from EW. I keep meaning to read it. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Showrunner says he joined the show in 2008 when he was in Queenstown, New Zealand.

I don't recall them being there.  Even TAR hasn't been I don't think.

Oh and that's the reality show that deserves the Emmy awards.

[xhoipolloix]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

Showrunner says he joined the show in 2008 when he was in Queenstown, New Zealand.

I don't recall them being there.  Even TAR hasn't been I don't think.

Oh and that's the reality show that deserves the Emmy awards.

Duel 2 was filmed in New Zealand in 2008.

[Eolivet]

We're getting ready to head to location for season 36 imminently.

There are 14 countries in the world currently accepting American travelers? I continue to doubt this is as "imminent" as they say. But we're filming Big Brother in the middle of a pandemic, so ...

[scrb]

29 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

 

 

There are 14 countries in the world currently accepting American travelers? I continue to doubt this is as "imminent" as they say. But we're filming Big Brother in the middle of a pandemic, so ...

Filming in the US would be fine.

The last few seasons, they stopped identifying the location on air so it's not like the location gives viewers a sense of how challenging the conditions might be.

 

[Eolivet]

From the interview. Not sure if this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek:

This is our moment to be recognized for the contributions that we've made both historically and in recent times, since we've been widely regarded as America's fifth sport."

I think the showrunner perceives the show very differently than the public. As a newer viewer, I always thought The Challenge was ... well ... trashy. A Big Brother-type show where challenges were a backdrop to people hooking up. As Kyle said on the reunion: when do we move into the mansion? I don't know if if that's MTV, or who they cast, but my very first Challenge episode ever on season 33, Cara Maria and Paulie were listing all the places they were going to have sex. That's not going to win you any Emmy nominations.

If The Challenge wants to change its perception with the public, this season was a good start. They need to cast people in existing relationships or those there more for the competition than the hook-ups (note: that doesn't mean they should shy away from contestants who bring drama, just not romantic drama). More bunkers, fewer mansions (more Survivor, less Big Brother). Dee's self-destruction may have saved the season in a sense, because they were forced away from the romantic drama. They have fifteen-whatever years of history with these contestants, and when they were forced to mine that, it produced their most compelling stories.

But as someone who loves reality competitions with a psychological element, I never dreamed of watching The Challenge until recently because my perception was that it's MTV stars hooking up in a mansion, now with competitions. Not saying that's accurate, but if I thought that, I couldn't have been the only one.

[Michichick]

On 7/1/2020 at 6:50 PM, peachmangosteen said:

OMG yes! The men these days would've already answered that even if it wasn't asked lol.

I really wish they'd put Road Rules and old Challenge seasons (like from the RW/RR Challenge days) on some streaming platform. I wanna rewatch the old stuff so badly!

CBS All Access appears to now have The Challenge starting with season 11. Not sure if that is going back as far as you’d like, but it’s something!

[scrb]

Fifth sport my ass.

No transparency or consistency of rules.  Most events we’re simply told who won.  We really don’t see it, even in timed events.

No drug testing of any kind.

[ImpinAintEasy]

I’m pretty sure the whole “America’s fifth sport” stuff is tongue in cheek. Bill Simmons started jokingly calling it that nearly a decade ago. 

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, Michichick said:

CBS All Access appears to now have The Challenge starting with season 11. Not sure if that is going back as far as you’d like, but it’s something!

I just saw that today! I wish it had all of them, but this will do nicely!

[BK1978]

In news that is kind of sort of Challenge related.  MTV OnDemand has the entire first season of The Real World up.  I watched the first episode, having never watched it since it originally aired, it was a little boring and very dated but still interesting to see for nostalgia purposes. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by BK1978

[scrb]

10 hours ago, ImpinAintEasy said:

I’m pretty sure the whole “America’s fifth sport” stuff is tongue in cheek. Bill Simmons started jokingly calling it that nearly a decade ago. 

Sure joke about it a few times.

But when Johnny sat down with Simmons recently, he was talking about it semi-seriously.

Sure he wants to hype up the Challenge, not just his past winnings but probably to keep the show popular or raise its popularity.

Edited July 31, 2020 by scrb

[RedbirdNelly]

On 7/20/2020 at 9:23 PM, Lantern7 said:

I wrote another piece for Saniac; this time about the failure of the Skulls system. Some of it is stuff I posted here from week to week, but I feel it's a unique and enjoyable read.

well done. This was my first season to watch in a long time--I watched due to pandemic boredom and the ads made it sound like there were some seriously impressive challenges. Turns out the challenges were mostly boring and I agree the skull set up was not done in a way that promoted interesting strategy. 
Among other things, there should have been some upside to getting multiple skulls. 

[Disfan5]

In CBS All Access, Season 14 is missing.  Did something happen that they can't show now?  

[Zima]

On 8/7/2020 at 9:42 AM, Disfan5 said:

In CBS All Access, Season 14 is missing.  Did something happen that they can't show now?  

CT punches Davis in the face and is sent home in the first ep. Other than that...no. From what I can see, nobody really knows why it isn't available. People think it may be that the season is "boring" and didn't do well ratings-wise when it first aired; so much so that the show was almost cancelled? But idk if that's true. 

[Lantern7]

11 hours ago, Zima said:

CT punches Davis in the face and is sent home in the first ep. Other than that...no. From what I can see, nobody really knows why it isn't available. People think it may be that the season is "boring" and didn't do well ratings-wise when it first aired; so much so that the show was almost cancelled? But idk if that's true. 

My theory: this is the only season where Tonya was on the winning side, and the people who determine what gets aired hated that she accussed Evan and Kenny of raping her during The Ruins. That led to those two unoffically getting banned form further seasons after Rivals.

There are probably a dozen better reasons for the exclusion of Inferno 3. In general, I just tend to skew towards the uglier choices. I don't remember much from that season. Most of my memories center on how Timmy beat Abram in the Inferno, but wound up getting disqualified for breaking a rule. He damaged his legs so badly, he basically called it a "career" right then and there. And unlike a lot of his contemporaries that "retire," he actually stuck with it.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Lantern7

[lasu]

12 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

this is the only season where Tonya was on the winning side, and the people who determine what gets aired hated that she accused reported Evan and Kenny of raping her during The Ruins.

Fixed that for you 🙂  I give them NO benefit of the doubt.

[Lantern7]

3 hours ago, lasu said:Fixed that for you 🙂  I give them NO benefit of the doubt.

I believe her as well. And I can believe Inferno 3 could be withheld out of a vendetta.

I forgot that Derrick got his first win that season. Someone in a Challenge group posted a pic of him and CT. I comment about Derrick thanking CT for getting kicked off before the game began, making Derrick’s arrival possible. And he liked my comment.

[Eolivet]

Vevmo and MTV's official account is reporting Challenge 36 quarantine starting August 23. Reportedly going to Iceland (well, they certainly have controlled COVID-19). Google "Vevmo" and "Challenge 36" and you can see all the rumored cast.

I mean, we're letting 200,000 people die, why not film a reality show with international travel? Fiddling as Rome burns.

[Lantern7]

2 hours ago, Eolivet said:

Vevmo and MTV's official account is reporting Challenge 36 quarantine starting August 23. Reportedly going to Iceland (well, they certainly have controlled COVID-19). Google "Vevmo" and "Challenge 36" and you can see all the rumored cast.

I mean, we're letting 200,000 people die, why not film a reality show with international travel? Fiddling as Rome burns.

I just started a Casting Speculation thread.

While I'm thinking about it . . . does anyone know if Mark Long's "O.G." edition will be produced by BMP? That seems more and more interesting over time, especially with some of the names reportedly interested.

ETA: Here is the "We Want OGs" Instagram. Lots of interested parties . . . including one I'd never expect to see on TV again. And I agree with @Eolivet about a new season in the time of COVID. There might be a chance we'd get another Bunker situation . . . and the kids wouldn't be allowed out of there except for missions.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Lantern7

[Lantern7]

Mark, BMP ready to go with the "O.G." edition.

[peachmangosteen]

Well damn lol.

[snarts]

Sylvia popped up as the realtor on House Hunters last night based on Kansas City. (s195 ep 4). 

[Racj82]

On 8/18/2020 at 12:10 PM, Zima said:

CT punches Davis in the face and is sent home in the first ep. Other than that...no. From what I can see, nobody really knows why it isn't available. People think it may be that the season is "boring" and didn't do well ratings-wise when it first aired; so much so that the show was almost cancelled? But idk if that's true. 

I just binged all the seasons available on cbs all access from season 15 to battle of the exes. The season where  CT hit Adam is up in full.... except for the first episode which is the one where the fight happens. If you go to the second episode of the season and so on, it's there.

[Zima]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:31 AM, Racj82 said:

I just binged all the seasons available on cbs all access from season 15 to battle of the exes. The season where  CT hit Adam is up in full.... except for the first episode which is the one where the fight happens. If you go to the second episode of the season and so on, it's there.

Yes, Duel II, the season where CT punches ADAM, is up in full except for the 1st episode. However, the season where he punches DAVIS in the first episode (which is Inferno 3) is not on there, unless they've changed it since about a month ago?