Five Years Later: What Was War of the Worlds 2?

In the summer of 2019, Challenge fans were getting ready to say bloody hell… the British formally invaded the show.

Season 34 of The Challenge debuted on Aug. 28, 2019, and it was a bit of a transitional period for the series. For the first time ever, episodes were 90 minutes long, and the show was doubling down on the value of its international players.

Five years later, this season seems to have emerged as one of (if not the) most popular seasons from the 30s. Many fans have taken a liking to War of the World 2, but production doesn’t seem to share the fondness because the season has been removed from streaming services.

The Good

When you look at Team US, this season is absolutely stacked with strong players. However, the “big returns” were Jordan and Laurel, who had only been absent from the show for about two years, so there really wasn’t a huge effort to shock viewers with casting. Regardless, all the big names from the time were on the season. In addition to the two previously mentioned competitors, we had Bananas, CT, Wes, Cara Maria, Ashley, and rising stars Tori and Kam.

Given the fact that the US competitors (plus CT) were so seasoned, the idea of being a “Challenge veteran” held little weight on the team. Quickly, this team started to implode and alliances drove wedges between cast members. Competitors wasted no time trying to eliminate threats, and this made the political game interesting throughout the whole season.

Team UK was also plagued by alliances, but most of the competitors on that side were fairly fresh. Despite this, viewers did have some fondness for new-ish players like Kayleigh, Bear, Georgia, Kyle, Theo, and Joss. In retrospect, production was doing a good job developing these names into Challenge staples… until they became too problematic.

For the most part, every episode was packed with drama. There were some memorable daily challenges, but it felt like the physical competition was secondary to the social game. While this was fairly standard for the era, the season feels like a relic of a bygone era because most seasons don’t rely on drama as much anymore.

The fact that this season was so interesting can be attributed to the people on the show. The format was quite easy to follow, and production didn’t overly rely on theatrics or over-the-top competitions. Instead, entertainment was created by bold competitors like Laurel who was willing to take an early strike against Wes, Cara Maria who shifted her strategy and rallied an alliance, or Jordan who won multiple eliminations and became a “turncoat.”

The Bad

Immediately, the casting made this season appear a bit underwhelming. Yes, Team USA was stacked, but Team UK only had a few recognizable names, and no one was established enough to pose a serious threat to the crop of veterans on the US team. We also had the reinforcements, which was an OK twist, but it made no sense to add CT and Ninja into that mix.

Likely, production hoped more people on Team US would take advantage of the turncoat twist. The game was utterly predictable in the beginning, but the US competitors managed to solve this problem once they started arguing with each other, and once Team UK “trimmed the fat,” they became a decent threat.

The bigger problem, and perhaps the reason the season is no longer on streaming, was that Team UK was filled with wildcards. While they brought drama and entertainment to the show, they weren’t afraid to push boundaries. This proved to be too much for MTV, and many of these competitors have stopped appearing on the show for a magnitude of reasons.

But, these controversial UK kids weren’t in bad company. The US competitors were also making the game scandalous. While we had people like Bananas throwing challenges and Laurel’s infamous elimination loss, Cara Maria received the brunt of the backlash. In retrospect, we can see how well her alliance did this season, but as the season was airing, people were upset with her dominance and apathetic decision-making.

It felt like this season painted Jordan as a hero — which does make sense to some degree. He would inevitably win and take advantage of the turncoat twist, plus he gave viewers the memorable post-elimination engagement. So production probably wanted to edit the season to show him as a fighter and underdog, but this was at the expense of other people’s reputations (mostly Cara Maria, Paulie, and Turbo).

The season culminated with a fairly run-of-the-mill final. Team UK won, though only one winner was actually British. However, there were some controversies following the final because of how the weight distribution impacted Team US and the injuries people sustained during the running portion.

What’s War of the World 2’s Legacy?

War of the Worlds 2 hints at a direction MTV wanted to take The Challenge in, but it never came to fruition. It could have been a global competition, but one that had a home on MTV US and MTV UK. But, after facing controversies and a pandemic, The Challenge had to pivot in a different direction and UK competitors became less prominent.

Originally, Total Madness was filmed to follow a similar blueprint to War of the Worlds 2, but midway through its airing, MTV edited the season and portrayed it in a different light. War of the Worlds 2 is the last season to get the pre-COVID treatment, start to finish.

Some elements from War of the Worlds 2 season carried into future Challenges: specifically, the 90-minute format and the influx of international competitors. Other elements have dramatically changed. MTV now shies away from any cast member that’s semi-controversial and episodes are more focused on competition drama than anything else.

War of the Worlds 2 might be the best example of 90-minute episodes done well. Sure, the season was messy at times, and many cast members hurt their reputations, but they were entertaining. The Modern Challenge (post-Total Madness) is a competition reality show that emphasizes the competition aspect. War of the Worlds 2 cast competitors who wanted to put on a show, not compete on “America’s Fifth Sport.”

It’s a shame that MTV is trying to bury this season, but it’s a great season to rewatch. Sadly, it feels like it’s part of an era that we’ll never see again on MTV.