Is Tony Officially a Challenge Champion?

The Champs vs. Stars finale brought a first into the Challenge world. Tony, who has never won a formal season of The Challenge, won the spinoff series. This makes him a unique classification of “Champion.” He never won a real Challenge, won a spinoff, but already wore the title of “Champion” on the spinoff.

Whether or not Tony is a true Champion is open for debate. In the MTV universe, I am going to be he receives recognition as a champ. There are so few people who have earned this title and are still willing to compete that I think Tony’s victory is enough for him to hold the title in MTV’s eyes. Plus, it’s clear that Tony is one of the new stars of the series. MTV is going to give him the title.

As a long time Challenge fan, I have to admit, I recognize this as a real win.  Statistically, winning Champs vs. Stars is a bigger feat than many of the prior seasons. With 20 people on the cast and only two winner, there’s a 10% chance of victory. Compared to The Inferno that had a 40% chance of victory, The Island with a 20% chance of victory or Rivals 2 with a 12.5% chance of victory. While Dirty Thirty (6.7% chance of victory), Vendettas (3.1% chance), or even Rivals 3 (7.7% chance by design) are more challenging wins, Champs vs. Stars falls somewhere in the middle of the scale in terms of challenging victories. Further, this season was the longest spin off. With 9 daily challenges plus the final, the length of the season matches The Duel 2 and The Ruins while is is longer than Rivals or The Island.

Some people see a line between a win on The Challenge and the Spinoff series. While I can understand this to some degree, The Challenge is a series designed to have competitors compete in a variety of formats. More than anything, the Champs vs. Pros/Stars series is just a tactic to get MTV to spend more time airing The Challenge. After all, the first “real” season of the series is Road Rules: All Stars where there were zero losers.

What do you think? Is Champ vs. Stars worthy of being an official Challenge win?