The Challenge (TV series)

For the most recent season, see The Challenge: Free Agents.

The Challenge
Genre	Reality game show
Created by	Mary-Ellis Bunim Jonathan Murray
Presented by	T. J. Lavin (2005-present)
Starring	(Season-specific) the winners of a given season
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	25
Production
Running time	30 minutes (1998-2007); 1 hour (2008-present)
Production company	Bunim/Murray Productions
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	June 1, 1998 – present
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season
Release	for the latest season

The Challenge (originally known as Road Rules: All Stars, followed by Real World/Road Rules Challenge) is a reality game show on MTV that is spun off from and mostly cast-contestant dependent on the network's two flagship reality shows, The Real World and the now cancelled Road Rules. The Challenge is hosted by T. J. Lavin.

The series premiered on June 1, 1998. The title of the show was originally Road Rules: All Stars before it was renamed Real World/Road Rules Challenge by the show's 2nd season, then later abridged to simply The Challenge by the show's 19th season. 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). Later on, however, 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.

Since the 4th season, each season has supplied the show with a unique subtitle, such as "Rivals." Each season consists of a format and theme whereby the subtitle is derived. Of each season's format and theme, 7 have been repeated or revamped through sequel seasons with shared subtitles. In chronological order, these include: Battle of the Sexes (tied to Battle of the Sexes II, the show's first sequel season); The Inferno (tied to The Inferno II and The Inferno III, the show's first trilogy); The Gauntlet (tied to The Gauntlet II and The Gauntlet III); The Duel (tied to The Duel II); Fresh Meat (tied to Fresh Meat II); Battle of the Seasons (tied to the second Battle of the Seasons); and Rivals (tied to Rivals II).

The 25th season, entitled Free Agents, premiered on April 10, 2014. An upcoming 26th season is currently in production.

Structure

Overview

The Challenge casts are season specific as the cast varies from season to season. The casts can only be made up of A.) contestants originating from one of The Challenge's related TV programs or B.) contestants originating from one of the few Challenge seasons that have allowed previously unknown contestants. These shows and seasons are: The Challenge's two precursor programs, The Real World and Road Rules; The Challenge's spin-off television program, Spring Break Challenge; and The Challenge's own Fresh Meat seasons (only the seasons Fresh Meat, and Fresh Meat II have introduced new cast members that have never before appeared on The Real World, Road Rules, or Spring Break Challenge). Many of the seasons differ in terms of which of the six aforementioned series they've obtained contestants from. For example, some seasons have obtained contestants from different seasons of solely The Real World and Road Rules; some seasons have obtained contestants from different seasons of solely The Real World; some seasons have obtained contestants from all the above; etc.

A season's typical multitude of cast members are usually divided up into separate teams according to a certain criteria, which varies from season to season. The criteria that teams have been arranged by over the show's history have ranged all across the board, from gender of the contestants and original show of contestants to bad guy/good guy status of contestants 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. Following each mission, a team or a cast member is voted into an elimination round to take on the least successful team from the previous mission. In elimination rounds, they must compete against one another to determine which one is eliminated from the season. Each season has its own, very distinct 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 contestants playing the game dirty; 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: 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 (Road Rules: All Stars) ironically only included contestants from The Real World and consisted of a much smaller cast before the show was completely reconstructed by its second season. Except for season one, a monetary prize has always been the award for winning the final mission.

Theme and format by season title

Each distinct season title has indicated the general gameplay format used:

• Original Real World/Road Rules Challenge (including RW/RR Challenge 2000 and RW/RR Extreme Challenge): Real World vs. Road Rules groupings, six players per team, no eliminations, missions in vaumber of previous challenges (although the original Gauntlet was Real World vs. Road Rules). Teams vote their own players into elimination rounds, although the exact procedure has changed. Some challenges have used "life savers" that individual players can win to avoid going into a "Gauntlet" elimination round.
• Inferno: Two teams of "Bad Asses" and "Good Guys" (although the original Inferno was Real World vs. Road Rules). Teams nominate two of their own players for each elimination round and vote one of the opponents' two nominations into the "Inferno" round. The players going into the "Inferno" then have the opportunity to save themselves from going in by winning a "life saver" in the challenge before the "Inferno".
• Fresh Meat: These seasons introduce new people to Challenges without appearing on Real World or Road Rules. These new players are "drafted" by "alumni" (those who come from RW, RR, or previous 'FM', some of whom have not been on a Challenge before) to create pairings which are the teams for these Challenges. (To keep teams fair, male alumni draft female Fresh Meat and vice versa.) Each elimination round, called an "Exile", pits one team against another team.
• Duel: Promoted as "every man for himself" as there are no permanent teams (although some individual challenges require teams to be formed). All players compete individually, leading to just one female and male champion.
• Ruins: Two teams of "Challengers" and "Champions" based on whether players have won a previous season's final challenge. Prior to each challenge, each team nominates a group of three males and three females within the team for elimination; after that challenge, the winning team's nominated group picks the matchups for the "Ruins", which consist of a male Challenger against a male Champion, and a female Challenger against a female Champion.
• Cutthroat: Teams are not initially set. There is a race in the beginning, and while the top three players are announced, the bottom three are named as captains of the three teams; the three teams are then drafted by the captains (while maintaining equal numbers of females and males). Each challenge involves all three teams; the winning team is safe from the elimination round (called "Gulag") while the losing teams go against each other in the Gulag. Voting is done within one's own team by secret ballot to choose a male and female player to go into the Gulag.
• Rivals: Two-player teams of the same gender consist of players who are paired against their "worst enemies," whom they have engaged in bitter feuds, fights and rivalries with in previous Real World and/or Challenge seasons. The challenge winner is safe from elimination – "The Jungle," while the last-place finisher and a non-winning team of the same gender battle it out in "The Jungle."
• Battle of the Exes: Thirteen teams of ex couples compete in a challenge where the winner is safe from elimination and will be known as "The Power Couple", and they are responsible for choosing one team to go into the elimination round called "The Dome", along with the team that came in last-place in the challenge.
• Battle of the Seasons (2012): Each team consists of two men and two women from select seasons. After each challenge, there is a winning team and a losing team. The losing team is automatically sent to the Arena, and faces possible elimination. The winning team become the Power Team, and selects one team to battle against the last-place team in the Arena. The teams entering the Arena must select one player of each gender from their own team to compete in the elimination. If the teams entering the Arena cannot decide which players will compete in the elimination, the Power Team chooses for them. The winning pair in the elimination rounds return to their season and stay in the game, while the losing pair is eliminated, reducing their season to two players.
• Free Agents: Each challenge is declared as either an individual, pair, or team challenge. The winning team/pair/players are safe from elimination, and choose one player of each gender for elimination. The remaining non-winning players then participate in "The Draw," where the one player of each gender that draws a "kill card" faces the previously voted players in the elimination round.

For more details, see the articles for each individual season.

TV show's conception

During the filming of The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: Islands, 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 intensely competitive challenge brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce yet another spin-off series. After another face-off called AquaGames, hosted by Kit Hoover and Mark Long, between The Real World: Seattle and Road Rules: Down Under in 1997, a year followed until 1998, when the Challenge series was born with Road Rules: All Stars, and featured cast members from five different seasons of The Real World.

After All Stars, producers decided to include former castmembers 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, producers decided to add new elements to the series. In 2001, production began on Battle of the Seasons. This season, the first to depart from the previous six-member structure, brought in a large group of former cast members to compete in one location. During the filming of this season, it was heavily rumored that the Challenge would borrow heavily from the hugely popular reality television show, Survivor. Cast members were "voted off the island" and for a short time during production, it was rumored that the cast was sleeping outside in tents. (This later proved to be false as the cast stayed in a five-star resort.)

Beginning with the first Battle of the Seasons, MTV 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 switching to the "vote off" format, the series would alternate between "Battle" seasons, including two seasons of Battle of the Sexes and themed Challenges which included 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.

In 2005, Bunim-Murray Productions decided to invite new people to the Challenges who were never a part of either Real World or Road Rules and called them 'Fresh Meat'. This decision was forced, in part, because of the status of Road Rules at the time. While Road Rules had stopped production until further notice after its thirteenth season, Real World had just finished wrapping its sixteenth season in Austin, Texas. Road Rules had a fourteenth, and final, season in 2007. One additional 'Fresh Meat' season has followed with cast also being integrated in The Challenge from the 2010 Spring Break Challenge miniseries.

External episodes

While internal episodes are the usual and feature an original mission, voting process, elimination round, and surrounding social lives between the season's contestants, external episodes feature the season's contestants reviewing themselves in internal episodes and adding feedback. This is typically combined with video clips from the internal episodes in question. The Challenge has three types of these external episodes, one of which takes place in the form of a series throughout the entire season (The After Show) and two of which take place once the internal episodes have all aired and winners have all been named (The Reunion Special and The Sh#!t They Should Have Shown).

The Reunion Special Episode

Like its precursor The Real World, a custom of The Challenge is ending each season with an hour-long episode entitled The Reunion Special. Rearranged in airing order with The S#!t They Should Have Shown, The Reunion Special has been broadcast as the show's penultimate episode on some seasons, while on others, its season finale episode. This episode consists of all the winners of that season—along with the season's most controversial competitors, who were just short of winning—all seated before a small audience on a sofa. Across from them is usually a popular MTV host (such as Vanessa Minnillo; Susie Castillo; Carlos Santos; Lyndsey Rodrigues; Maria Menounos), conducting the session. The host interrogates each of the competitors on the most controversial choices they made over the season, leaving the Challenge members to give their reasoning behind those choices. The Reunion focuses on notable situations that took place, clearing up of any misconceptions, heated discussions, revealing of juicy moments that weren't shown on television, generally getting everything out in the open (such as backstabbing, gossip, and conspiracies unknown to certain Challenge members), and follow-up on cast members' current status to update on any new developments from the season. Coordinating The Challenge with its precursor The Real World, MTV alternates between airing seasons of The Real World and The Challenge; in this manner, a preview of the upcoming Real World season ends out each Challenge season's Reunion Special episode.

Returns as Reunion Special host

• After a seven-year-long absence from The Challenge, WWE superstar Mike "The Miz" Mizanin returned to the reality game show on April 4, 2012, as host of the 22nd season Reunion Special. Before returning, Mizanin had not appeared since the show's 10th season.

• After a seven-year-long absence from The Challenge, Jonny Moseley returned in the show's 23rd season on December 19, 2012, as host of that season's Reunion Special. Moseley had preceded T. J. Lavin as one of the show's earlier sporadic hosts. The last season hosted by Moseley was the show's 9th season.

The S#!t They Should Have Shown Episode

Like its precursor The Real World, a custom of The Challenge is ending each season with an hour-long episode entitled The S#!t They Should Have Shown. Rearranged in airing order with The Reunion Special, The S#!t They Should Have Shown has broadcast as the show's penultimate episode on some seasons, while on others, its season finale episode. The episode consists of portions of the season removed in the editing process and not included in the show's final, publicly released version. The deleted scenes are usually embarrassing and humiliating to the cast members as they capture them in foolish, gross, bizarre, raunchy, secret, unscrupulous, or wacky circumstances. Through private confessionals, reactions and feedback are provided from the cast members central to the incident being subjected to public exposure. In these private confessionals, the cast members in question often attempt to redeem themselves. Also, private confessionals of cast members loosely involved in the incident are included. These cast members often express derision and ridicule at the cast mates central to the incident.

The After Show Episodes

See also: The After Show

Following each internal episode of The Challenge is an external episode known as The After Show. In these episodes, topical contestants in the most recent internal episode explain their feelings, opinions, and reasons behind the role they played on that episode. Often, The After Show has featured two or more contestants who were all central in the series of events from the internal episode. Unlike The Reunion Special which only allows the season's last surviving contestants to have a say on matters that transpired over the season, The After Show is open to all the season's contestants; contestants who don't make it to the end are offered a platform from which to explain themselves and have a say. Given The After Show's focus on a specific episode as opposed to the full season like The Reunion Special, The After Show is able to expand on certain issues that The Reunion Special cannot. Further, unlike The Reunion Special or The S#!t They Should Have Shown, The After Show is an episode series as opposed to one episode. The After Show episodes are typically shown directly after internal episodes, usually on the show's website and sometimes television.

The Challenge lingo

Veterans and rookies

Two commonly used terms on the show are "veterans" (or vets) and "rookies." Veterans are particularly thought of as players that have won at least one Challenge season, but the term has also been applied to players who have appeared on several seasons of the show, or have appeared in the final stages of a Challenge. Rookies are thought of as players that have done none of the above. The most vulnerable rookies are those who have just recently completed their season on The Real World or Road Rules and are participating in the game for their very first time; often they are the first to be singled out and targeted by everyone else and end up being unsuccessful overall in the game. This was changed, however, in Rivals I, when Michael and Leroy made it to the finals.

Alliance

Another commonly used term on the show is "alliance." The term is used to refer to challengers working together in cahoots. These contestants have colluded together so as to increase their overall chances of winning the season game. But for safety in numbers offered by the collusion, the show's contestants would run the risk of victimization to the game's politics and popularity factors. Politics plays a role due to the show's formats in which options of who is thrown into elimination rounds and other determining factors are left up to challengers themselves. Alliances are typically formed through pacts and negotiations made among certain contestants early on in the game. Alliance operations can range from saving alliance members, throwing missions for the purposes of advancing the alliance, picking and choosing based upon alliance involvement as opposed to levels of performance, etc.

In early seasons of the show, alliances were heavily frowned upon by most of the contestants. As such, alliances used to be carried out with much more secrecy, craft, and deviousness. In fact, many of the earliest alliances on the show were formed to sabotage members of one's own team who were perceived as weak, such as in the Inferno when Veronica Portillo schemed together an alliance to rid her team of Katie Doyle, culminating in an altercation between the two. Once exposed, alliances typically came as offensive and shocking to those uninvolved. Since the later seasons, however, alliances have become a norm among the show's contestants, so much so that most contestants are expected to join an alliance upon beginning out a season. Despite its use among most, there are still a minority of contestants who elect to play the game straightforwardly, feeling as though alliance tactics are a sign of weakness and a lack of competitive ability. Those who reject alliances, however, are seen as not playing the game strategically. Although the widespread and overt practice of alliance construction has expelled its original devious reputation, its effectiveness and capacity to surprise attack has waned.

Drawbacks of an alliance include: treachery among alliance members, turning their backs on each other; conflicts among an alliance's many members unable to agree on what moves to take in the game, often causing the alliance to "self-destruct"; once the alliance has made it to the end, resolving who to target within the alliance; etc.

Kenny Santucci, Evan Starkman, and Johnny Devenanzio in particular are all seasoned veterans on the program, known in particular for their involvement in alliances as they've had a tendency to run and manipulate them with success.

As an example, one season with notable use of alliances occurred on Fresh Meat II. During this season, there were two alliances of six teams each, both formed by the second episode. Each of these alliances were led by arch rivals Kenny and Wes:

Kenny's Alliance	Wes' Alliance
Kenny & Laurel	Wes & Mandi
Paula & Jeff	Evelyn & Luke
Sarah & Vinny	Landon & Carley
Jillian & Peter	Danny & Sandy
Ryan & Theresa	CJ & Sydney
Jenn & Noor	Katelynn & Brandon

Even though at times these alliances altered slightly, Kenny's alliance would ultimately vanquish most of Wes' alliance overwhelmingly. Landon & Carley would go on to win and beat all of Kenny's remaining alliance mates.

Original contestants

Main articles: Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat, The Challenge: Fresh Meat II, and The Challenge: Cutthroat

Although the vast majority of the show's participants originally appeared on either The Real World or Road Rules, The Challenge itself has introduced original participants. Numerous cast members have made their first appearances on The Challenge, all of whom debuted on either: Fresh Meat, Fresh Meat II, or Cutthroat.

Spring Break Challenge

Main article: Spring Break Challenge

In March 2010, prior to the airing of the 19th season, MTV aired a special spring break spin-off of The Challenge in Acapulco, Mexico. Challenge alum coached teams of college-aged friends in various challenges of old and new, while Fresh Meat alumnus Evan Starkman and The Real World: Key West alumna Paula Meronek served as broadcasters, with T. J. Lavin as the host. Camila Nakagawa, a contestant of the winning team, went on to appear on future challenges, with her debut Challenge being Cutthroat.

Seasons

Order	Title	Year aired	Location of the residence	Winners
1	All Stars	1998	Road trip: Montreal→Lake Placid→Wellington →Auckland→Los Angeles	Cynthia, Eric N., Jon, Rachel C. and Sean
2	Real World vs. Road Rules	1999	Road trip: San Francisco→Los Angeles →Las Vegas→Los Angeles		Road Rules (Anne, Kalle, Kefla, Mark, Noah and Roni)
3	Challenge 2000	2000	Road trip: Las Vegas→Nashville→Miami		Road Rules (Dan S., Holly, Los, Piggy, Veronica and Yes)
4	Extreme Challenge	2001	Road trip: Portland, Maine→Montreal→Boston →London→Hamburg→Prague→London →New York City→Los Angeles		Real World (Dan R., Jamie M., Julie S., Kameelah, Rebecca and Syrus)
5	Battle of the Seasons	2002	Cabo San Lucas, Mexico		Real World (Mike M. & Coral, Sean & Elka, Danny R. & Kelley)
6	Battle of the Sexes	2003	Montego Bay, Jamaica		Guys (Mark, Colin, Jamie M.)
7	The Gauntlet	2003–2004	Telluride, Colorado		Road Rules (Adam L., Cara, Dave, Darrell, Rachel R., Roni, Sarah G., Theo V., and Veronica)
8	The Inferno	2004	Acapulco, Mexico		Road Rules (Abram, Christena, Darrell, Holly, Katie, Kendal, Timmy and Veronica)
9	Battle of the Sexes 2	2004–2005	Santa Fe, New Mexico		Guys (Dan S., Eric N., Theo V.)
10	The Inferno II	2005	Manzanillo, Mexico		Good Guys (Darrell, Jamie C., Landon and Mike M.)
11	The Gauntlet 2	2005–2006	Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago		Rookies (Alton, Ibis, Jamie M., Jodi, Kina, Landon, MJ, Randy and Susie)
12	Fresh Meat	2006	Myocum, Australia		Darrell & Aviv
13	The Duel	2006–2007	Armação dos Búzios, Brazil		Wes
					Jodi
14	The Inferno 3	2007	Somerset West, South Africa		Bad Asses (Abram, Derrick, Evelyn, Janelle, Kenny and Tonya)
15	The Gauntlet III	2008	Puerto Vallarta, Mexico		Rookies (Frank R., Jillian, Johanna, Nehemiah, Rachel M. and Tori)
16	The Island	2008	Colón Island, Panama		Red Boat (Derrick, Evelyn, Kenny, and Johnny)
17	The Duel II	2009	Queenstown, New Zealand		Rachel R.
					Evan
18	The Ruins	2009	Phuket, Thailand		Champions (Derrick, Evan, Johnny, Kenny and Susie)
19	Fresh Meat II	2010	Whistler, British Columbia, Canada		Landon & Carley
20	Cutthroat	2010	Prague, Czech Republic		Red Team (Brad, Dunbar, Tori and Tyler)
21	Rivals	2011	Dominical, Costa Rica→Buenos Aires→Bariloche, Argentina		Evelyn & Paula
					Johnny & Tyler
22	Battle of the Exes	2012	Sosúa, Dominican Republic→Reykjavík, Iceland		Johnny & Camila
23	Battle of the Seasons	2012	Bodrum, Turkey→Swakopmund, Namibia		Team San Diego (Ashley, Frank S., Sam and Zach)
24	Rivals II	2013	Phuket, Thailand		CT & Wes
					Emily & Paula
25	Free Agents	2014	Punta del Este, Uruguay→Pucón, Chile		Johnny "Bananas"
					Laurel
26	TBD	TBD	TBD

5 Timers Club

As of Free Agents
#	Cast member	Original season	Challenge seasons	Challenge seasons won	# challenge wins	Total Money Made
10	Aneesa Ferreira	RW: Chicago	Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Gauntlet 2, The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Duel II, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II, Free Agents		0	$23,571
10	Chris "CT" Tamburello	RW: Paris	The Inferno, The Inferno II, The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II, Free Agents	Rivals II	1	$136,500
10	Johnny Devenanzio	RW: Key West	The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Ruins, Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II, Free Agents	The Island, The Ruins, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Free Agents	5	$409,043
10	Paula Meronek	RW: Key West	The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Duel II, Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II	Rivals, Rivals II	2	$126,000
9	Derrick Kosinski	RR: X-Treme	Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, The Gauntlet 2, Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Island, The Ruins, Cutthroat	The Inferno 3, The Island, The Ruins	3	$176,293
9	Katie Doyle	RR: The Quest	The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Gauntlet 2, Fresh Meat, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, The Ruins, Cutthroat	The Inferno	1	$41,071 + 1 Car
9	Robin Hibbard	RW: San Diego	Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, The Gauntlet 2, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Duel II, Rivals, Battle of the Exes		0	$8,571
8	Abram Boise	RR: South Pacific	The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II,The Inferno 3, The Island, Cutthroat, Battle of the Exes	The Inferno, The Inferno 3	2	$102,500 + 1 Car
8	Brad Fiorenza	RW: San Diego	Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, The Gauntlet 2, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, The Ruins, Cutthroat	Cutthroat	1	$75,000
8	Kenny Santucci	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Ruins, Fresh Meat II, Rivals	The Inferno 3, The Island, The Ruins	3	$236,293
8	Tonya Cooley	RW: Chicago	Battle of the Sexes, The Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, Fresh Meat, The Inferno 3, The Island, The Ruins	The Inferno 3	1	$50,000
8	Veronica Portillo	RR: Semester at Sea	Challenge 2000, Battle of the Seasons (2002), Battle of the Sexes, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, The Ruins	Challenge 2000, The Gauntlet, The Inferno	3	$79,309 + 3 Cars
8	Wes Bergmann	RW: Austin	Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Ruins, Fresh Meat II, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Rivals II	The Duel, Rivals II	2	$248,000
7	Beth Stolarczyk	RW: Los Angeles	RW/RR Challenge, Battle of the Seasons (2002), Battle of the Sexes, The Inferno II, The Gauntlet 2, The Duel, The Gauntlet III		0	$2,206
7	Cara Maria Sorbello	Fresh Meat II	Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Rivals II, Free Agents		0	$63,500
7	Diem Brown	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, The Ruins, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II		0	$55,000
7	Evelyn Smith	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Ruins, Fresh Meat II, Rivals	The Inferno 3, The Island, Rivals	3	$167,000
7	Rachel Robinson	RR: Campus Crawl	Battle of the Sexes, The Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, The Island, The Duel 2, Battle of the Exes	The Gauntlet, The Duel II	2	$135,555 + 1 Car
7	Sarah Rice	RW: Brooklyn	The Ruins, Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Rivals II		0	$47,689
6	Adam King	RW: Paris	Battle of the Sexes 2, The Gauntlet 2, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, The Ruins, Rivals		0	$1,000
6	Camila Nakagawa	Spring Break Challenge	Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Rivals II, Free Agents	Battle of the Exes	1	$83,750
6	Coral Smith	RW: Back to New York	Battle of the Seasons (2002), The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Fresh Meat, The Gauntlet III	Battle of the Seasons (2002)	1	$72,000
6	Danny Jamieson	RW: Austin	Fresh Meat, The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Ruins, Fresh Meat II, Battle of the Seasons (2012)		0	$0
6	Darrell Taylor	RR: Campus Crawl	The Gauntlet, The Inferno, The Inferno II, Fresh Meat, The Ruins, Fresh Meat II	The Gauntlet, The Inferno, The Inferno II, Fresh Meat	4	$240,555 + 2 Cars
6	Dunbar Flinn	RW: Sydney	The Island, The Duel II, The Ruins, Cutthroat, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II	Cutthroat	1	$40,000
6	Eric Banks	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, Cutthroat, Battle of the Seasons (2012)		0	$0
6	Evan Starkman	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel II, The Ruins, Rivals	The Duel II, The Ruins	2	$151,293
6	Jenn Grijalva	RW: Denver	The Inferno 3, The Island, The Duel II, Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals		0	$20,000
6	Mark Long	RR: First Adventure	RW/RR Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Gauntlet 2, The Duel II, Battle of the Exes	The RW/RR Challenge, Battle of the Sexes	2	$80,184 + 1 Car
6	Tyrie Ballard	RW: Denver	The Inferno 3, The Gauntlet III, The Island, Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Rivals II		0	$0
5	Brandon Nelson	Fresh Meat II	Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Free Agents		0	$0
5	Jasmine Reynaud	RW: Cancun	Rivals, Battle of the Exes, Battle of the Seasons (2012), Rivals II, Free Agents		0	$500
5	Julie Stoffer	RW: New Orleans	Extreme Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, The Inferno, The Inferno II, The Gauntlet 2	Extreme Challenge	1	$27,904 + 1 Car
5	Mike Mizanin	RW: Back to New York	Battle of the Seasons), The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II	Battle of the Seasons, The Inferno II	2	$104,500
5	Ryan Kehoe	Fresh Meat	Fresh Meat, The Gauntlet III, The Island, The Duel II, Fresh Meat II		0	$0
5	Syrus Yarbrough	RW: Boston	Extreme Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, The Inferno, The Gauntlet 2, The Ruins	Extreme Challenge	1	$28,333 + 1 Car
5	Theresa González	Fresh Meat II	Fresh Meat II, Cutthroat, Rivals, Rivals II, Free Agents		0	$500
5	Tina Barta	RR: South Pacific	The Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno II, Fresh Meat, The Duel		0	$25,000
Note: Challenge names in bold indicate those that the cast member competed in the final challenge, but lost the final race.

Cast Members

Every cast member who has competed on The Challenge.
Cast Member		Original Season	Seasons
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
	Abram Boise	RR: South Pacific								WIN		FINAL				WIN						FINAL
	Ace Amerson	RW: Paris														FINAL
	Adam King	RW: Paris															FINAL
	Adam Larson	RR: The Quest							WIN
	Adam Royer	RW: Las Vegas (2011)
	Alex Smith	RW: Denver
	Alton Williams	RW: Las Vegas							FINAL				WIN			FINAL
	Amaya Brecher	RW: Hawaii
	Anastasia Miller	RW: Portland
	Aneesa Ferreira	RW: Chicago											FINAL						FINAL
	Angel Turlington	RR: Viewers' Revenge
	Angela Trimbur	RR: X-Treme
	Anne Wharton	RR: Northern Trail		WIN
	Antoine de Bouverie	RR: Europe
	Arissa Hill	RW: Las Vegas									FINAL
	Ashley Kelsey	RW: San Diego (2011)																							WIN
	Ashli Robson	RW: Sydney
	Aviv Melmed	Fresh Meat												WIN
	Ayanna Mackins	RR: Semester at Sea
	Ayiiia Elizarraras	RW: Cancun
	Becky Blasband	RW: New York
	Belou Den Tex	RR: Europe
	Beth Stolarcyk	RW: Los Angeles
	Blair Herter	RR: The Quest
	Brad Fiorenza	RW: San Diego													FINAL		FINAL		FINAL			WIN
	Brandon Nelson	Fresh Meat II
	Brandon Swift	RW: St. Thomas
	Brianna Taylor	RW: Hollywood
	Brittini Sherrod	RW: Hollywood																	FINAL
	Brooke LaBarbera	RW: Denver
	Cameran Eubanks	RW: San Diego
	Camila Nakagawa	Spring Break Challenge																						WIN		FINAL
	Cara Zavaleta	RR: South Pacific							WIN							FINAL
	Cara Maria Sorbello	Fresh Meat II																				FINAL	FINAL			FINAL
	Carley Johnson	Fresh Meat II																			WIN
	Carlos Jackson	RR: USA 1			WIN
	Casey Cooper	Fresh Meat												FINAL
	Chadwick Pelletier	RR: Down Under
	Chanda Sneed	Fresh Meat
	Chet Cannon	RW: Brooklyn																							FINAL
	Chris Graebe	RR: South Pacific
	Chris Melling	RR: Europe
	Chris "CT" Tamburello	RW: Paris								FINAL		FINAL					FINAL							FINAL		WIN
	Christian Breivik	RR: USA 2
	Christian "CJ" Koegel	RW: Cancun
	Christina Pazsitzky	RR: Down Under
	Christena Pyle	RR: South Pacific								WIN
	Cohutta Grindstaff	RW: Sydney
	Colie Edison	RW: Denver
	Colin Mortensen	RW: Hawaii						WIN
	Coral Smith	RW: Back to New York					WIN		FINAL	FINAL	FINAL
	Cynthia Roberts	RW: Miami	WIN
	Dan Renzi	RW: Miami				WIN
	Dan Setzler	RR: Northern Trail			WIN		FINAL				WIN
	Dan Walsh	RR: Viewers' Revenge
	Danny Dias	RR: X-Treme
	Danny Jamieson	RW: Austin
	Danny Roberts	RW: New Orleans					WIN
	Darrell Taylor	RR: Campus Crawl							WIN	WIN		WIN		WIN
	Dave Giuntoli	RR: South Pacific							WIN
	David 'Puck' Rainey	RW: San Francisco
	David Broom	RW: New Orleans
	David Burns	RW: Seattle											FINAL
	David Edwards	RW: Los Angeles
	David Malinosky	RW: Hollywood
	Davis Mallory	RW: Denver
	Derek Chavez	RW: Cancun
	Derek McCray	RR: Viewers' Revenge
	Derrick Kosinski	RR: X-Treme										FINAL				WIN		WIN		WIN
	Devyn Simone	RW: Brooklyn																							FINAL		FINAL
	Diem Brown	Fresh Meat															FINAL							FINAL
	Dunbar Flinn	RW: Sydney																				WIN
	Dustin Zito	RW: Las Vegas (2011)																							FINAL
	Elka Walker	RW: Boston					WIN
	Ellen Cho	RR: The Quest						FINAL
	Emilee Fitzpatrick	RW: Cancun
	Emily Baily	RR: USA 2					FINAL
	Emily Schromm	RW: DC																				FINAL		FINAL		WIN
	Eric Banks	Fresh Meat															FINAL
	Eric Jones	RR: Campus Crawl
	Eric Nies	RW: New York	WIN								WIN
	Evan Starkman	Fresh Meat															FINAL		WIN	WIN
	Evelyn Smith	Fresh Meat														WIN	FINAL	WIN					WIN
	Flora Alekseyeun	RW: Miami
	Frank Roessler	RW: Las Vegas															WIN
	Frank Sweeney	RW: San Diego (2011)																							WIN	FINAL
	Genesis Moss	RW: Boston
	Gladys Sanabria	RR: Latin America
	Heather Cooke	RW: Las Vegas (2011)																								FINAL
	Heather Gardner	RW: New York
	Heather Marter	RW: Las Vegas (2011)
	Holly Brentson	RR: Maximum Velocity Tour					FINAL
	Holly Shand	RR: Latin America			WIN					WIN
	Ibis Nieves	RR: X-Treme											WIN
	Irulan Wilson	RW: Las Vegas
	Isaac Stout	RW: Sydney
	Jacquese Smith	RW: San Diego
	Jake Bronstein	RR: Islands
	James Orlando	RR: Max Velocity Tour
	Jamie Chung	RW: San Diego										WIN
	Jamie Murray	RW: New Orleans				WIN		WIN					WIN
	Janelle Casanave	RW: Key West														WIN
	Janet Choi	RW: Seattle
	Jasmine Reynaud	RW: Cancun
	Jason Cornwell	RW:Boston
	JD Ordoñez	RW: Brooklyn																							FINAL
	Jeff Barr	Fresh Meat II
	Jemmye Carroll	RW: New Orleans (2010)																								FINAL
	Jenn Grijalva	RW: Denver																FINAL			FINAL	FINAL	FINAL
	Jeremy Blossom	RR: South Pacific
	Jesse Stark	Fresh Meat
	Jessica McCain	RW: Portland
	Jillian Zoboroski	RR: X-Treme															WIN				FINAL
	Jisela Delgado	RR: The Quest
	Jo Rhodes	RW: San Francisco
	Jodi Weatherton	RR: X-Treme											WIN		WIN
	Johanna Botta	RW: Austin															WIN
	Johnnie McBride	Fresh Meat
	Johnny Devenanzio	RW: Key West														FINAL		WIN		WIN			WIN	WIN		FINAL	WIN
	Johnny Reilly	RW: Portland																									FINAL
	Jon Brennan	RW: Los Angeles	WIN
	Jonna Mannion	RW: Cancun
	Jordan Wiseley	RW: Portland																								FINAL
	Josh Florence	RR: Latin America
	Julie Stoffer	RW: New Orleans				WIN							FINAL
	Kalle Dedolph	RR: Islands		WIN
	Kameelah Phillips	RW: Boston				WIN
	Karamo Brown	RW: Philadelphia
	Kat Ogden	RW: London			WIN
	Katie Doyle	RR: The Quest								WIN			FINAL
	Kefla Hare	RR: Down Under		WIN
	Kelley Limp	RW: New Orleans					WIN
	KellyAnne Judd	RW: Sydney																		FINAL
	Kendal Sheppard	RR: Campus Crawl								WIN
	Kenny Santucci	Fresh Meat												FINAL		WIN	FINAL	WIN		WIN	FINAL		FINAL
	Kimberly Alexander	RW: Hollywood
	Kina Dean	RR: X-Treme											WIN
	Lacey Buehler	RW: Austin
	Landon Lueck	RW: Philadelphia										WIN	WIN								WIN
	Latterian Wallace	RR: Maximum Velocity Tour
	LaToya Jackson	RW: St. Thomas
	Laura Waller	RW: St. Thomas
	Laurel Stucky	Fresh Meat II																			FINAL	FINAL	FINAL				WIN
	Leah Gillingwater	RW: Paris
	Leroy Garrett	RW: Las Vegas (2011)																					FINAL
	Lindsay Brien	RW: Seattle
	Linette Gallo	Fresh Meat
	Lori Trespicio	RW: Back to New York						FINAL
	Luke Wolfe	Fresh Meat II																				FINAL
	McKenzie Coburn	RW: New Orleans (2010)
	Mallory Snyder	RW: Paris
	Mandi Moyer	Fresh Meat II																					FINAL
	Marie Roda	RW: St. Thomas
	Mark Long	RR: USA 1		WIN				WIN					FINAL						FINAL
	Marlon Williams	RW: Portland																								FINAL
	Matt Smith	RW: New Orleans
	Melinda Stolp	RW: Austin
	Melissa Howard	RW: New Orleans
	Michael Ross	RW: Las Vegas (2011)																					FINAL
	Michelle Parma	RR: Europe
	Mike Johnson	RW: London
	Mike Lambert	RW: Miami
	Mike Mizanin	RW: Back to New York					WIN		FINAL	FINAL		WIN
	MJ Garrett	RW: Philadelphia											WIN
	Montana McGlynn	RW: Boston
	Naomi Defensor	RW: Las Vegas (2011)
	Nany González	RW: Las Vegas (2011)																									FINAL
	Nate Stodghill	RW: San Diego (2011)
	Nathan Blackburn	RW: Seattle							FINAL
	Nehemiah Clark	RW: Austin															WIN
	Neil Forrester	RW: London
	Nia Moore	RW: Portland
	Nick Brown	RW: Hollywood
	Nick Haggart	RR: X-Treme
	Noah Rickun	RR: Northern Trail		WIN
	Noor Jehangir	Fresh Meat II																			FINAL
	Norman Korpi	RW: New York							FINAL
	Paula Meronek	RW: Key West														FINAL	FINAL	FINAL					WIN			WIN
	Pete Connolly	Fresh Meat II																			FINAL
	Piggy Thomas	RR: Down Under			WIN
	Preston Roberson-Charles	RW: New Orleans (2010)
	Priscilla Mendez	RW: San Diego (2011)
	Rachel Braband	RW: Back to New York
	Rachel Campos	RW: San Francisco	WIN
	Rachel Moyal	RW: Austin															WIN
	Rachel Robinson	RR: Campus Crawl							WIN			FINAL							WIN
	Randy Barry	RW: San Diego											WIN
	Rebecca Lord	RW: Seattle				WIN
	Robb Schreiber	RW: St. Thomas
	Robin Hibbard	RW: San Diego											FINAL				FINAL	FINAL
	Roni Martin	RR: Northern Trail		WIN					WIN
	Ruthie Alcaide	RW: Hawaii						FINAL
	Ryan Kehoe	Fresh Meat																FINAL
	Ryan Knight	RW: New Orleans (2010)
	Sam McGinn	RW: San Diego (2011)																							WIN
	Sandy Kang	Fresh Meat II
	Sarah Greyson	RR: Campus Crawl							WIN
	Sarah Rice	RW: Brooklyn																		FINAL		FINAL			FINAL
	Sean Duffy	RW: Boston	WIN				WIN
	Shane Landrum	RR: Campus Crawl
	Sharon Gitau	RW: London
	Shauvon Torres	RW: Sydney
	Shavonda Bilingslea	RW: Philadelphia
	Shawn Sealy	RR: Semester at Sea
	Sophia Pasquis	RR: The Quest									FINAL
	Stephen Williams	RW: Seattle
	Steve Meinke	RR: The Quest
	Steven Hill	RW: Las Vegas
	Susie Meister	RR: Down Under											WIN			FINAL				WIN
	Svetlana Shusterman	RW: Key West													FINAL
	Sydney Walker	Fresh Meat II
	Syrus Yarbrough	RW: Boston				WIN				FINAL
	Tara McDaniel	RR: Northern Trail					FINAL
	Teck Holmes	RW: Hawaii
	Theo Gantt	RW: Chicago
	Theo Vonkurnatowski	RR: Maximum Velocity Tour					FINAL		WIN		WIN
	Theresa Gonzalez	Fresh Meat II
	Timmy Beggy	RR: USA 2					FINAL			WIN			FINAL
	Tina Barta	RR: South Pacific										FINAL		FINAL
	Tonya Cooley	RW: Chicago										FINAL				WIN
	Tori Fiorenza	RR: Viewers' Revenge															WIN					WIN
	Trey Weatherholtz	RW: St. Thomas
	Trishelle Cannatella	RW: Las Vegas																							FINAL
	Ty Ruff	RW: DC																						FINAL
	Tyler Duckworth	RW: Key West																				WIN	WIN
	Tyrie Ballard	RW: Denver
	Veronica Portillo	RR: Semester at Sea			WIN				WIN	WIN		FINAL
	Vinny Foti	Fresh Meat II
	Wes Bergmann	RW: Austin												FINAL	WIN								FINAL			WIN
	Yes Duffy	RR: Semester at Sea			WIN
	Zach Mann	RW: Key West
	Zach Nichols	RW: San Diego (2011)																							WIN		FINAL

Players with the most Final Challenge Prize Money

Note: This list includes players who have won a minimum of $100,000, and is updated as of Free Agents.

Place	Cast member		Original season	Challenge wins/# of Challenges	Total money made
1		Johnny Devenanzio	RW: Key West	5/10	$409,043
2		Wes Bergmann	RW: Austin	2/8	$248,000
3		Darrell Taylor	RR: Campus Crawl	4/6	$240,555
4		Kenny Santucci	Fresh Meat	3/8	$236,293
5		Laurel Stucky	Fresh Meat II	1/4	$201,000
6		Landon Lueck	RW: Philadelphia	3/4	$184,166
7		Jodi Weatherton	RR: X-Treme	2/3	$176,666
8		Derrick Kosinski	RR: X-Treme	3/9	$176,293
9		Evelyn Smith	Fresh Meat	3/7	$167,000
10		Evan Starkman	Fresh Meat	2/6	$151,293
11		Chris "CT" Tamburello	RW: Paris	1/10	$136,500
12		Rachel Robinson	RR: Campus Crawl	2/7	$135,555
13		Paula Meronek	RW: Key West	2/10	$126,000
14		Aviv Melmed	Fresh Meat	1/1	$125,000
15		Susie Meister	RR: Down Under	2/4	$106,840
16		Mike Mizanin	RW: Back to New York	2/5	$104,500
17		Emily Schromm	RW: DC	1/3	$104,000
18		Abram Boise	RR: South Pacific	2/8	$102,500
19		Carley Johnson	Fresh Meat II	1/1	$100,000

Challenge records

Note: All feats are updated as of Free Agents.

Feat	Male Cast Members	Record	Female Cast Members	Record
Most Season Appearances	Chris "CT" Tamburello	10	Aneesa Ferreira	10
	Johnny Devenanzio		Paula Meronek
Most Consecutive Seasons	Derrick Kosinski	6	Cara Maria Sorbello	7
			Sarah Rice
Most Seasons Between Challenges	Alton Williams	8	Trishelle Canatella	14
Most Seasons Won	Johnny Devenanzio	5	Evelyn Smith	3
			Veronica Portillo
Most Appearances in a Final	Kenny Santucci	7	Paula Meronek	5
	Johnny Devenanzio
Most Seasons in Challenge History Without Being Sent Home	Dan Setzler	3	Laurel Stucky	4
	Jamie Murray		Susie Meister
Most Elimination Rounds in a Single Season	Derrick Kosinski	5	Casey Cooper	5
	Wes Bergmann		Sarah Greyson
Most Elimination Wins in Challenge History	Wes Bergmann	11	Cara Maria Sorbello	9
Most Elimination Wins in Challenge History Without a Defeat	Frank Roessler	3	Laurel Stucky	8
	Frank Sweeney

Locations

The Challenge has been shot in many different countries around the world, as well as some taking place in the United States.
During seasons 1, 4, 21, 22, 23, and 25 the cast traveled between several different countries.

Continent/Region	Locations (Season number)
Africa	South Africa (14), Namibia (23)
Asia	Thailand (18, 24), Turkey (23)
Caribbean	Jamaica (6), Trinidad and Tobago (11), Dominican Republic (22)
Central America	Panama (16), Costa Rica (21)
Europe	United Kingdom (4), Germany (4), Czech Republic (4, 20), Iceland (22)
North America	Canada (1, 4 & 19), United States (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, & 9), Mexico (5, 8, 10, & 15)
Oceania	New Zealand (1 & 17), Australia (12)
South America	Brazil (13), Argentina (21), Uruguay (25), Chile (25)

Notes

External links

• Official site for Free Agents
• TV.com series reference page
• TVGuide.com series reference page
• Template:Tv.com show