| Genre: | Reality competition |
| Starring: | The Challenge contestants |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 40 |
| Num Episodes: | 545 |
| Network: | MTV |
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 a spin-off of two of the network's reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules. Premiering in 1998, it originally featured 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, siblings and friends, and from other non-MTV shows and competitions. 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 April 20, 1998.[3] The show was originally titled , and had 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, Battle for a New Champion, premiered on October 25, 2023.[4] The fortieth season, titled Battle of the Eras, premiered on August 14, 2024.[5]
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 including Survivor, The Amazing Race, Are You the One?, Big Brother, Ex on the Beach and Love Island.
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, rivals, countries, family members 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. The format of the competition varies by season. In elimination rounds, contestants or teams compete against one another to determine which one is eliminated from the season. Each season has its own, distinctive 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. 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 ones: 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 () 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.
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.[6]
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.[7] During the filming of and , 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 challenge brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce yet another spin-off series.[8] After another face-off called AquaGames, hosted by Kit Hoover and Mark Long, between and in 1998, the Challenge series was born in 1998 with , 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, 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 that added an additional layer of scheming and manipulation. Earlier season incorporated voting off by majority, but eventually that changed to sudden-death elimination competitions between cast members up for elimination.[7] [9] With this season MTV also 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 transitioning to the "vote-off" format, the series alternated between 'Battle' seasons. These included two seasons of Battle of the Sexes, as well as themed Challenges such as 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.
See main article: List of The Challenge (TV series) contestants. Contestants are various reality television cast members from different television shows. Originally the cast consisted of The Real World and Road Rules alumni, and cast who debuted directly on The Challenge, but eventually MTV expanded it to other alumni from other reality shows.[10] [11] [12]
| Order | Title | Host(s) | Format | Original Release | Location of the residence | Champion(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | nowrap | David "Puck" Rainey | 1 team of 5 | April 20, 1998 - May 18, 1998 | Road trip: Montreal → Lake Placid → Wellington → Auckland → Los Angeles | Cynthia Roberts, Eric Nies, Jon Brennan, Rachel Campos & Sean Duffy | |
| 2 | nowrap | 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 | nowrap | September 29, 2003 - January 26, 2004 | Telluride, Colorado | nowrap | 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 | nowrap | 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 | nowrap rowspan=2 | 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 | Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio | ||
| 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 | nowrap | 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 | Jennifer "Jenny" West | ||
| Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio | |||||||
| 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 | ||
| 38 | Ride or Dies | 17 pairs → 2 teams of 8 →7 pairs | October 12, 2022 – March 1, 2023 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Devin Walker-Molaghan & Tori Deal | ||
| 39 | Battle for a New Champion | Individual Pairs Teams | October 25, 2023 – March 6, 2024 | Pula, Croatia | Emanuel Neagu | ||
| 40 | 40: Battle of the Eras | 4 teams of 10 | August 14, 2024 – | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam | TBA |
The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars (originally known as The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros) is a special recurring mini-series of The Challenge.[13] In each multi-week event, alumni from The Challenge compete against celebrities to win money for charity.[14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
| 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 |
See main article: The Challenge: All Stars. In 2020, 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.[20] On February 24, 2021, the show was officially announced as .[21]
| Order | Title | Host | Format | Original Release | Location of the residence | Winner(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | All Stars | T. J. Lavin | Individual Pairs Teams | April 1 – May 27, 2021 | Andes Mountains, Argentina | Yes Duffy |
| 2 | All Stars 2 | Individual → 8 pairs | November 11, 2021 – January 13, 2022 | Cancún, Mexico | Jonna Mannion & MJ Garrett | |
| 3 | All Stars 3 | Individual Pairs | May 11, – July 6, 2022 | Panama City & San José Island, Panama | Wes Bergmann | |
| Jonna Mannion | ||||||
| 4 | All Stars 4 | Individual Pairs Teams | April 10, – June 19, 2024 | Cape Town, South Africa | Laurel Stucky |
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 , 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 , which features winners and notable players from the international adaptations and the main series of The Challenge competing for a grand prize.[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] 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.[28] 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.[29] [30] [31]
| Country | Title | Host(s) | Network | 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 | Pula, Croatia | Chris Underwood | ||||
| Desi Williams | ||||||||
| Australia | Australia | Brihony Dawson[32] | Network 10 | Individual Pairs | November 14 – December 13, 2022 | Buenos Aires & Pilar, Argentina | Kiki Morris | |
| Troy Cullen | ||||||||
| Argentina | Argentina: El Desafio | Marley[33] | Telefe | Individual Pairs | February 13 – March 7, 2023[34] | 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 | Pischa Strindstedt | TV4 | 8 pairs | August 12, 2024 – | Larnaca, Cyprus |
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.[35] The five-episode spin-off was titled Spring Break Challenge and aired from March 22-26 2010.[36] 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 alumna Paula Meronek served as broadcasters, with T. J. Lavin as the host.[37] [38] Camila Nakagawa, a contestant of the winning team, went on to appear on future challenges, with her debut season being Cutthroat.[39] [40] Nakagawa is the only player to appear on the main series.
The season was won by Team Susie, coached by alumna Susie Meister.
| Team leader | Original season | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | |||
| Runner-up | |||
| Third place | |||
| Episode 4 | |||
| Episode 3 | |||
| Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat | Episode 2 | ||
| Road Rules: Campus Crawl | Episode 1 |
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.[41] [42]
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.[43]
The Challenge: Home Turf is an eight-part Youtube and MTV.com 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.[44]