Which Classic Challenge Themes Should Be Revisited?

Some things never die in The Challenge world, and fans always like revisiting their favorite format. All Stars 5 incorporated the Rivals theme, and Mark Long recently toyed with the idea of an Exes reboot.

Will we actually see these old school Challenge themes return to the show? Well, it depends — some of them could be reintroduced while others are basically antiquated at this point. On this list, I am only going to look at Challenge formats that have appeared at least twice, so themes like Vendettas or Spies, Lies and Allies won’t be discussed… sorry to disappoint.

Real World vs. Road Rules

Seasons 2-4 featured a 6 vs. 6, Real World vs. Road Rules format. While The Gauntlet & The Inferno also put the two shows against each other, the second Inferno installment lost the balance between Real World and Road Rules players. Given the fact that we haven’t seen any new Road Rules contestants since 2007, I doubt a “Road Rules” team will ever be assembled again. If it was ever going to happen, it would have been on All Stars 1. Since it didn’t happen then, it won’t return in the future. I won’t say there’s a 0% chance of us seeing any type of Real World vs. Road Rules format, but if I was rounding the likelihood, I’d round down to 0%.

Battle of the Seasons

We’ve seen two Battle of the Seasons installments, one in 2002 and one in 2012. Both relied on making teams with people from the same origin seasons, but Road Rules has been gone since 2007 and The Real World stopped airing on MTV in 2017. Now, the Challenge will recruit people from any network and any country, so Battle of the Seasons wouldn’t fit The Challenge’s current direction.

I could see this format adapted to All Stars, as The Real World and Road Rules players comprise the majority of the cast members. However, this casting initiative seemingly changed on All Stars Rivals, so the window to get an All Stars Battle of the Seasons is closing.

Battle of the Sexes

Out of all the OG formats, I actually think this one has the best shot at reappearing in some capacity. I doubt we’ll ever see a score board again, but MTV could easily cast this season and Battle of the Sexes will always have a certain appeal to it.

This theme would come with a concern of imbalanced competitions, but based on All Stars Rivals, production isn’t trying to balance challenges for men and women. If the franchise assembled a Battle of the Sexes and tried to make competitions where either team stood a chance, it would likely be a big hit.

The Gauntlet

We’ve seen three editions of this two-team format, though I’d argue that The Ruins is the spiritual successor. As the first season with eliminations, it feels like MTV has moved away from naming seasons after their elimination arena and moved toward more descriptive subtitles. As such, I doubt MTV will go back to branding seasons as “The Gauntlet,” though the network might have another two-team format.

I could see All Stars adopting a “rookies vs. veterans” theme in the future, where the veterans have competed on two All Stars seasons. I’d call this unlikely, but not impossible.

The Inferno

We’ve seen this format three times, initially as Real World vs. Road Rules. That won’t be happening again, but the secondary format, Good Guys vs. Bad Asses, wouldn’t be an awful adaptation for All Stars. It was a fun way to divide the cast and it allows unexpected people to work together. Despite this, I don’t see The Inferno coming back. It’s a format that relied on a Life Shield, shorter episodes, and simpler games. The Challenge (even All Stars) has evolved to a point where The Inferno’s pacing wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Fresh Meat

I often see fans asking for another Fresh Meat installment, but the truth is, it’s not going to happen. There are thousands of former reality stars out there that would jump at the chance to do The Challenge, and MTV would rather cast a semi-known competitor than some random person sitting at home. War of the Worlds 1 and Spies, Lies and Allies are essentially the spiritual successors to Fresh Meat. Cara Maria said it best: If you wanna get on The Challenge, apply to do some random reality show in a different country, because MTV isn’t recruiting viewers from home.

The Duel

When The Duel debuted in 2006, it was cool because it was the first individual game we’d ever seen. Then, we got The Duel 2, which was essentially a partnered game with the Duel title. Over the past 10 years, individuals seasons haven’t been too uncommon, though they’ve shed the “Duel” subtitle — I’d even argue that Free Agents was a better sequel to The Duel than The Duel 2 was. So, I definitely think we’ll see another individual game in the future, but it will be called something other than The Duel. All Stars 1, 3, and 4 were all individual games, so the spinoff isn’t afraid to play an individual game either.

Rivals

Given the fact that we’re watching All Stars Rivals, we know this format hasn’t retired — but will we ever see another season with all same-sex pairings? I wouldn’t rule this out, because Rivals is a very buzzy format, and it’s been a while since the main series used the theme. I think it’s just a matter of time; MTV would be smart to pull the trigger when they have a couple of heated feuds they can cast as partnerships to continue story lines.

Battle of the Exes

Like Rivals, I think it’s just a matter of time before this format reappears. We have a lot of exes pairings that could be used, and production could really pack this season with great partnerships if they wanted. But, it’s a bit more complicated. I think many of the competitors would be hesitant to compete with an ex if they’re in a committed relationship: It could put unnecessary strain on their family life. Still, I think we have more than enough “exes” to make the season work, and much like Rivals, the Battle of the Exes tagline is always attention grabbing.

War of the Worlds

Serious question: Does anyone know what War of the Worlds 1 and 2 have in common other than the name? One season started with partners and turned individual while the other was two big teams. Then, the second installment only recruited people from the UK to join the cast. While I do think it’s possible that we’ll get another War of the Worlds season, I would think MTV would be hesitant to continue using this branding because there’s a bit of a dark cloud hanging over that era of The Challenge. Rather, we’ll see spiritual successors to the format; to be honest, Spies, Lies and Allies was closer to War of the Worlds 1 than War of the Worlds 2 was.