The Challenge has been on the air for over a quarter of a century. It has a dedicated fan base, and occasionally, it can be fun to rewatch old seasons. In some cases, the second time around can be better than the season’s initial run.
This can be for numerous reasons. In some cases, episodes were split up awkwardly; in other instances, the cast has aged really well. If you’re interested in taking a trip down Challenge memory lane, you might walk away from these seasons with a different perspective than your first time viewing them.
The Inferno
This season can be a bit harder to find because it’s not on Paramount+, but it’s also one of the most captivating seasons. Every episode is packed with drama, funny moments, and competitions — but only half the episodes have eliminations. It’s shocking to see how much MTV used to accomplish in a 30-minute block, but watching this season is much better when you can watch the nomination episodes and Inferno episodes in one sitting.
Of course, this logic also applied to the Inferno 2 and Inferno 3, which are also worth a rewatch.
Cutthroat
After The Duel 2, The Ruins, and Fresh Meat 2, it felt like The Challenge was positioning itself for a change of pace, and Cutthroat was that change. This season is packed with rookies doing their first or second season, which was somewhat off-putting for viewers in 2010. But this was also the first season with a 3-team format, so every person on the cast felt like they were playing a new game. Cutthroat has a polarizing ending, and in retrospect, the winning team is still surprising. The Red Team had to navigate a tricky path to get to their victory, and many of the cast members this season (especially the women) would go on to become future Challenge champions.
Rivals 3
When this season first aired, viewers complained about its cast and pacing. While many of the competitors were very fresh, it ushered in a new generation of The Challenge with early appearances of mainstays by Ashley, Cory, Devin, Tony, Jenna, and Nelson. It also features a series of fun and quirky daily challenges like Laps of Judgment, Up All Night, and Bridging the Gap. These competitions feel like the type of games they played in the early days of The Challenge, and the season feels very different from modern Challenge seasons, but in a good way.
Final Reckoning
Final Reckoning has a stellar cast, though it wasn’t fully appreciated at the time because there was so much repetition from Dirty Thirty and Vendettas. It was also packed with drama, but viewers complained that this led to too many cliffhangers. Both of those complaints were valid, but rewatching Final Reckoning years later absolves those grievances. Just be prepared to find your own breaking points, because story lines pivot in the middle of episodes. Final Reckoning definitely would have benefited from having 16 90-minute episodes rather than 20 60-minute episodes, so rewatching it at your own pace is the best thing you can do.
Spies, Lies and Allies
Simply mentioning Spies, Lies and Allies is enough to summon a collective groan in the Challenge fandom, but the season hasn’t aged as poorly as you’d expect. It actually has drama, and many of the rookies have potential (though they were criminally underused by production). When the season first aired, many viewers didn’t give it a fair chance because they were underwhelmed by the cast. While Spies, Lies and Allies is not without its faults, it gets interesting when the Vacation Alliance starts to break up, and the veterans are forced to play more self-centered games.
Keep in mind, I’m not calling this a great season — I’m just saying it’s better when you can remove some of your preseason biases.
Stop Being Polite 