What’s the Right Ratio of Rookies on The Challenge?

Filming for the Challenge 41 has wrapped, and if you’ve seen the cast, 50% of the Challengers are new to the franchise. This feels like a big cohort, but it might not be so bad after Battle of the Eras.

In recent years, the show seems to have flip-flopped with its number of rookies. Seasons like War of the Worlds and Spies, Lies and Allies seemed to bring in large rookie classes, while seasons like Battle of the Eras seemed to make them feel unnecessary. After this, many Challenge fans feel the show has an issue balancing its format and number of newbies.

Let’s take a look at every season since Dirty Thirty. What percentage of the cast was rookies? (I’m exclusively looking at first-time competitors, not using a Gauntlet definition here.)

Dirty Thirty: 4/31= 13%
Vendettas: 10/30= 33%
Final Reckoning: 6/34= 18%
War of the Worlds: 18/34= 53%
War of the Worlds 2: 6/32= 19%
Total Madness: 7/28 = 25%
Double Agents: 10/30= 33%
Spies, Lies and Allies: 20/36= 56%
Ride or Dies: 16/34= 47%
Battle for a New Champion: 0/24= 0% (just looking at MTV debuts: 7/24= 29%)
Battle of the Era: 0/40= 0%

Most of these seasons felt very heavy on the rookies, but some of them felt light. Obviously, Battle of the Eras was devoid of rookies, but it allowed viewers to catch their breath after many rookie-heavy seasons. Dirty Thirty and Final Reckoning probably could have found space for another rookie or two, because at that time in the franchise, viewers were complaining that we were seeing the same faces over and over.

Due to this complaint, the War of the Worlds cast felt fairly fresh, but that season had a lot of rookies. By the time we saw another huge rookie class (Spies, Lies and Allies), viewers were fatigued.

Out of all of the Era 4 seasons, the one that seemed to have the best balance was Total Madness. The cast was 25% rookies, and it felt like there were new people, but we weren’t overwhelmed by them. However, there was one unique thing about that crop of rookies: four of them came from Big Brother 20. This allowed them to enter with pre-existing relationships, and it was reminiscent of Real World casts debuting on seasons like The Inferno, The Duel, or Rivals 2.

It’s a common complaint to hear Challenge fans say they have no idea who the current cast members are, and without The Real World, this is unavoidable to some degree. But, the show could also give viewers a chance to learn who the rookies are, and it could do that by making them less disposable.

After season 41, production would be wise to lower the number of rookies it brings into new seasons. It’s OK if they want the cast to be half new(ish) faces, but this should be a mix of debuts, second appearances, and third appearances. The Challenge will need new veterans if it wants to continue, and if the show can’t find a solid balance of rookies, we’ll never get new veterans.