If you’ve seen the Battle of the Eras cast, you’ll likely recognize a majority of the contenders. The show does a good job of casting familiar faces, many of whom have Challenge careers spanning 2+ decades.
The season reaches way back in Challenge history to construct its teams, but the season continues an ongoing trend: The cast is getting older. By design, this season is going to need a number of competitors who are on the older side, but even the youngest people on the season are pushing thirty.
As The Challenge enters into its 40s, is it time to start refreshing future casts with younger faces?
In the early days of the show, very few people were older than 30. The Challenge recruited people from The Real World and Road Rules, and those shows mostly cast people ages 18-25 (later 21-25). So, most competitors made their Challenge debuts before they were 26.
Take a look at an earlier season like The Duel, for example. Beth was the oldest competitor at age 37, however, she was an outlier. The second-oldest competitor was Robin, and she was only 26 — meaning 95% of the cast was 26 or younger.
By contrast, nobody is younger than 26 on Battle for a New Champion. The average age of a Challenger on this season is 37.5 years old (as of premiere day, August 14, 2024).
Era 1
By nature, this era features older competitors. Everyone is over the age of 40, and the average age is 43.9. The team even includes Mark, who is the first competitor in his 50s to compete on the main series.
Era 2
Similar to the first era, these competitors are going to be older because some of them debuted on The Challenge nearly two decades ago. The average age on this team is 38.9, with four people being in their 40s.
Era 3
Everyone on this team is in their 30s, with the oldest, Leroy, being 39 and the youngest, Tori, being 31. The average age is 34.3.
Era 4
Only two people on this team are in their 20s. Nurys is 29 and Horacio turns 28 in early August. The average age of the competitors is 32.7.
Is age a problem?
Inherently, there’s no issue casting older folks on The Challenge. People like Mark, Bananas, and Rachel are still in great physical shape. While they’re not invincible, they stand a chance against people who are 20 years younger than them.
However, there are two complications that arise with the current casting dynamics.
Firstly, we currently have the flagship series and All Stars in production. With the All Stars 5 cast, the division between the franchise’s two pillars is blurrier than ever. Nobody really knows why someone would be on All Stars and not the MTV series. For a TV show that has so many installment, it’s a bit concerning that the franchise is electing to make the casting so confusing. However, if the final products are good, fans are likely to overlook the confusing casting.
The bigger issue: Cast members can’t compete forever. While Mark, Bananas, and Rachel may still be strong, many of their peers aren’t. And we can’t really rely on these people to do every season, especially of production wants to crank out multiple installments each year.
The Challenge hasn’t done a good job replacing their mainstays — the people who comprise Eras 1, 2, and 3. We saw this on Battle for a New Champion, but this issue will likely get worst as time progresses. Eventually, cast members from earlier eras will get burnt out from the show, and production won’t have a group of people who can support the franchise.
I think during season 41-45, we will see younger people debut on the show. Hopefully, these are reality stars that Challenge fans recognize from other shows (likely Paramount programs like Survivor, Big Brother, or The Amazing Race). They can help sustain the show and build a reputation as the number of OGs dwindles once again.
I do, however, anticipate that the rookies will continue to be older. We’ll see some newbies on the show in their 30s, and I doubt we’ll ever see anyone younger than 21 on the franchise again.
Battle of the Eras will be a milestone season, but after that, production ought to seek a happy medium. We don’t need to go to the extreme that Battle for a New Champion went to, but future seasons need introduce a modest rookie class and allow newcomers to develop on the franchise.
Stop Being Polite 