(Photo Manipulation by Ari Segal)
Yes, “The Challenge” is still airing. The 39-season MTV reality competition show debuted in 1998 as “Road Rules: All Stars,” where former “Road Rules” contestants returned to compete for a cash prize. Over the years, the show evolved its player base to include returning competitors from popular reality shows across the globe, eliminating one another in the hopes of becoming the next champion.
What makes “The Challenge” different from other reality competition shows like “Survivor” or “Big Brother” is that returning players comprise most of the show, with a few new competitors joining each season. While the recurring personalities made the show more fun — storylines built up over the course of multiple seasons, making it more rewarding to be a dedicated viewer. As of late, the veteran cast has led to more stagnant gameplay. It often seems like nobody wants to direct a ruthless strategic stab toward a tough competitor because they know they might have to work with that same player in a future season. Instead of playing to win their current season, most challengers end up competing to save their spot on future shows.
“The Challenge’s” newest season, “Battle for a New Champion,” released on Oct. 25, is a welcome change of pace. Although the cast is made up of all returning players, it’s only composed of those who have never before achieved the title of a champion. Instead of the same rotation of “The Challenge” legends dominating the screen time, “Battle for a New Champion” gives the cast an opportunity to breathe life into a repetitive formula.
After one episode, the 39th season seems to deliver on the promise of introducing fresh characters into the mix. However, while “Battle for a New Champion” is a hopeful sign for the future of “The Challenge,” numerous problems still riddle the production. For starters, only one winner will be crowned in “Battle for a New Champion,” meaning the men and the women will be competing in the same pool, while typical seasons have one male and one female champion.
By starting the season with the promise of only one player winning, the show’s producers immediately put female competitors at a disadvantage, since the final challenge usually consists of mostly strength and endurance-based tasks. For example, the season 33 final challenge included a 50-mile run through the desert, where the top 3 finishers were all male. Only having one winner is an unfair setup for a season that should be leveling the playing field for lesser-known competitors.
“The Challenge” also has an identity problem. “Battle for a New Champion” is the 10th season to be released since the beginning of 2022. Those 10 competitions have been spread across multiple television networks and the streaming service Paramount+ and have had various degrees of overlap with one another. Four of the seasons were specific to a single country — the United States, England, Australia and Argentina. One was a competition between the best from the aforementioned four shows and legends from the flagship show, and some featured “All Stars” that had not been on the show in years.
If you think that sounds like a lot to keep track of, you’re absolutely right. There’s just too much to watch in the televisual world of “The Challenge,” and it makes the show feel like homework. For example, if you were to watch the newest season of the flagship “The Challenge” series, you would need to watch all four global spinoffs of the show and “World Championship” just to be familiarized with each cast member. It’s simply too much.
The show needs to narrow down its focus. Instead of trying to produce five half-baked seasons per year, the series’ producers should work to put together one or two great seasons. It comes down to the classic dilemma of quality versus quantity.
In the case of “The Challenge,” the answer is clear: let “Battle for a New Champion” be an inflection point for the show. Use it as a reset. Find out which challengers make good T.V. and which don’t belong. Then, for the next season, go all out. Bring the standouts from season 40 on to compete with the esteemed legends of the show, and instead of outputting numerous and confusing spin-offs in a short period of time, make sure season 40 is the best it can possibly be.
If the producers of “The Challenge” fix those problems, they can breathe new life into the franchise. I may even be perfectly content the day season 80 rolls around.
Alex Gerson (he/him) (27C) is from Bethesda, Maryland. Outside of the Wheel, he's a member of eTV and hosts "Discography Discoveries" on WMRE. In his free time, Alex is probably watching TV and movies, listening to music or following the Washington Nationals.
