Are We Ready for Cutthroat 2?

The off season may be coming to an end. According to Gamer, season 42 will be announced soon.

If we get an announcement in the next week, this likely means the season will premiere in early summer, probably late June or early July. And in the television world, summer is usually the slow season. While this isn’t always the case for cable television, network TV has traditionally made summer a lower priority.

Assuming the rumors are true, and Cutthroat 2 is coming to Paramount+, this puts the show in a different position than it’s ever been in before.

In one regard, it seems like Paramount+ is trying to fill its “schedule.” While the streaming service doesn’t need to fill in primetime slots, it can’t survive without new content. Most of the programming on CBS makes its way to Paramount+ within 24 hours of its debut, so if there are fewer shows premiering in the summer, it could mean that The Challenge is intended to beef up the summer roster.

And while that’s likely the case, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. While networks have traditionally viewed the summer as a slow season, it’s also a fairy popular time for reality TV. Peacock has a summertime hit with Love Island, but CBS has always relied on Big Brother to capture viewers. So, it seems Paramount+ is trying to make itself a hub for competition reality shows this summer — and that’s not a terrible idea.

People will log onto Paramount+ to see the latest Big Brother episode, and then they will see a new Challenge season is also streaming; a season with a moderate number of Big Brother alumni. This creates an easy way for viewer to binge both shows.

If this is the scenario (again, this is just an assumption), it’s a fairly logical move. But as a longtime Challenge fan, it gives me some pause. The Challenge: USA always road Big Brother’s coattails. While it had lukewarm ratings, it only survived two seasons. Hopefully, the Big-Brother-to-Challenge pipeline isn’t the only source of promotion.

As a franchise with 25+ years of history, it will always feel uneasy when the show is making a major change. Moving to Paramount+ could be a good way to give the franchise new life, but if the move isn’t made correctly, it could turn into a way to quietly pull the plug on the series.