Recently, Wes came onto The Right Reality podcast to answer a question that many fans have: is the Challenge rigged?
Wes claims many cast members aren’t smart enough to articulate an answer correctly, but it’s a no. MTV has nothing to gain by rigging the show. In his opinion, production gains nothing from rigging the show. If a fan favorite wins, then it’s great because a lot of viewers will be happy. If a fan favorite loses, then it’s an opportunity for a new person to become a prominent figure.
Take a look at Spies, Lies and Allies. Kaycee won, and now she’s a badass in the game. Meanwhile, fan-favorite CT came into the show as the only male champion, and surprise he won again. It’s kind of boring.
He does acknowledge that production isn’t the smartest, and sometimes they make mistakes. The competition isn’t entirely fair, but it’s more of a game show than a sport. He’s felt the brunt of them, but he’s not the target of production manipulation. They’re just not that smart.
With very few exceptions, MTV hasn’t transformed its cast members into bigger stars. A few people, like Bananas, have moved onto other shows. But MTV hasn’t set up Challengers to have their own spinoff shows; they’re not trying to expand one person into a major reality personality.
By most accounts, I think Wes is telling the truth. Also, I’m a skeptic and I’m one of the people who would entertain the thought of The Challenge being rigged. Saying “no, the show is not rigged” is not that hard. Why does Wes feel people are incapable of saying this? But ultimately, I don’t think whole seasons are rigged. I do feel there may have been times when producers wanted a certain person to win an elimination and keep them around for a bigger moment. Would they have wanted Kenny & Wes to lose to Davis & Tyrie on Rivals? No, of course not, they wanted them to face CT or orchestrate his demise. I’m not saying that elimination is rigged, but that’s the type of scenario where production would want to skew the odds.
Stop Being Polite 