The Challenge Stays Strong 40 Seasons In

MTV’s long-running reality competition series The Challenge is reaching a new milestone next month, with the debut of its 40th season on August 14. The Challenge 40: Battle of the Eras will feature 40 legendary competitors from the series’ 26-year history representing their “Challenge Era” as they battle it out to immortalize their names as Challenge 40 champions and earn their share of the $1 million prize.

“Each season, The Challenge delivers viewers guaranteed drama both on and off the field with compelling players they have watched over the years grow into the people they are today,” says Jon Murray, co-founder and executive consultant at producer Bunim/Murray Productions. “The Challenge is the only reality competition series that has done this, and it gives a depth to the storytelling that makes the series unique.”

Every season, the format and gameplay are reimagined, adds Julie Pizzi, president of Bunim/Murray. “The goal is always to keep the series unpredictable and task the players in a high-stakes competition format that allows them the opportunity to excel both athletically and socially. We also recognize that The Challenge at its core is a soap opera with a cast of hundreds that return season after season to continue to evolve their storylines and test their acumen to be a Challenge champion.”

The Challenge started in 1998 as Road Rules: All Stars, which featured six former Real World cast members on a road trip taking on challenges at each stop. “This was the first time a reality series brought back established reality stars to compete in a competitive format,” says Murray.

The next season, the series evolved into The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which had two teams of former cast members of each series competing against each other in challenges. The series eventually simplified its title to The Challenge and featured former cast members competing in challenges, sometimes as teams, with different themes—Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Seasons, Fresh Meat—determining how the teams would be split up. The cast has since grown to include people from other MTV series and other reality series in the larger reality universe of cable and broadcast television.

“The Challenge has stayed fresh by changing locations and evolving its format to keep it compelling while still bringing back familiar faces to add continuity and continue the season-to-season soap-opera aspect of the series,” Murray says.

Pizzi adds that the format is kept fresh by “offering the audience new characters, new gameplay, new destinations and new challenges and eliminations in every cycle of the series.”

Adaptations that have been made along the way include season five being the first to use one location for the entire challenge. Later, a second location, often a long airline flight away, was added for the finale competition. Twists to the format have been added over the years as well. Also in season five, the series introduced an element where the cast could vote weak players or players deemed a competitive threat off the series. Season seven introduced the elimination game, where players voted into it would compete to stay in the game and not go home.

“One of the major adaptations has been introducing new players into the game and using the format as a casting lens for each season,” Pizzi says. “The first time we introduced non-Real World or Road Rules players to the cast was with Fresh Meat, and then we began inviting other reality competition celebrities, as well as notable athletes. This allowed us to continue to build out a robust stable of players that are compelling personalities, competitive athletes and relevant reality characters.”

The show has spawned a number of spin-offs as well: The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars (MTV), The Challenge: USA (CBS), The Challenge: All Stars (Paramount+) and The Challenge: World Championship (Paramount+). “Each format has a unique casting lens and allows untraditional players to join the game,” says Pizzi. “The spin-offs have successfully broadened The Challenge’saudience and certainly fed the appetite of the amazing The Challenge fandom.”

According to Murray, the key to casting The Challenge is to bring to each season “a mix of familiar and new faces who are dedicated to winning the game. Another important aspect of the casting is to cast a mix of players the viewers will root for and root against. Players must have a humanity to them, with faults and strengths, but most importantly, they have to be someone you like enough to stay with for the full run of the series.”

“The Challenge has consistently cast extraordinary people,” Pizzi adds, “people with captivating stories, bold personalities, athletic and social prowess and a competitive spirit. The Challenge is the cast, and we design the show each season to bring out their complexities, charisma and desire to win.”