The Challenge (TV series)

The Challenge
Created by	Jonathan Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	30 minutes (including commercials)
Original release
Network	MTV
Release	1998 – present

The Real World/Road Rules Challenge is a reality television series on MTV, a spin-off of that network's two flagship reality series, The Real World and Road Rules. The Challenge pits cast members from past seasons of the two shows against each other, usually dividing them into two separate teams according to different criteria, such as by gender, which of the two shows they first appeared on, etc. The two teams must complete challenges in order to win prizes and advance in the game. Recent seasons have taken a cue from other reality shows by adopting the system of eliminating contestants based on performance, or having a team vote a member into an elimination round, in which they must compete against a member from the other team to determine which one goes home.

History

During the filming of The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: Islands, the two casts met while the Real World cast was vacationing in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Producers set up a face-off where both teams would compete for a cash prize. The intensely competitive challenge brought in high ratings and this set ideas in motion to produce yet another spin-off series. In 1998, the Challenge series was born with Road Rules: All Stars.

After All Stars, producers decided to include former castmembers of Real World in as well. In the next season, two six-member teams were sent around the world in a competition to see which show could best the other in head-to-head competition. The series followed the format for three years and brought in hugely successful ratings.

Following the hugely successful boom of reality television in the new millennium, producers decided to add new elements to the series. In 2001, production began on Battle of the Seasons. This season, the first to depart from the previous six-member structure, brought in a large group of former castmembers to compete in one location. During the filming of this season, it was heavily rumored that the Challenge would borrow heavily from the hugely popular reality television show, Survivor. Castmembers were "voted off the island" and for a short time during production, it was rumored that the cast were sleeping outside in tents. (This later proved to be false as the casts stayed in a five-star resort.)

Beginning with the Battle of the Seasons, MTV added a fantasy challenge game to their website. Players "draft" cast members, a la fantasy baseball and cast members are given points for performing certain tasks, such as cursing or "hooking up."

After switching to the "vote off" format, the series would alternate between "Battle" seasons, including two seasons of Battle of the Sexes and themed Challenges which included the Gauntlet and Inferno seasons. Both the Gauntlet and Inferno seasons contained "showdown" matches between members of the two opposing teams. The castmember who lost the showdown would be sent home. The Gauntlet seasons featured an intracast dynamic as teams were forced to vote off castmembers within their own groups into the showdown, while the Inferno seasons featured an intercast dynamic as teams were forced to vote off castmembers from the other group into the showdown.

In 2005, Bunim-Murray Productions decided to invite new people to the Challenges who were never a part of either Real World or Road Rules. This decision was forced, in part, because of the status of Road Rules at the time. While Road Rules had stopped production until further notice after its thirteenth season, Real World had just finished wrapping its sixteenth season in Austin, Texas. This created an imbalance between the casts, as newer castmembers were invited to participate in the Challenges more often than older castmembers.

Seasons

1. Road Rules: All-Stars (1997)
2. Challenge (1998)
3. Challenge 2000 (2000)
4. Extreme Challenge (2000)
5. Battle of the Seasons (2002)
6. Battle of the Sexes (2003)
7. The Gauntlet (2003)
8. The Inferno (2004)
9. Battle of the Sexes 2 (2004)
10. The Inferno II (2005)
11. The Gauntlet 2 (2005)
12. Fresh Meat (2006)
13. The Duel (2006)
14. The Inferno III (2007)

Cast members appearing on the most Challenges

As of season 13, The Duel

# of seasons	Cast member	Original season	Challenge seasons
7 seasons	Veronica Portillo	Road Rules: Semester at Sea	Challenge 2000, Battle of the Seasons, Battle of the Sexes, Gauntlet, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II
6 seasons	Beth Stolarczyk	The Real World: Los Angeles	Challenge, Battle of the Seasons, Battle of the Sexes, Inferno II, Gauntlet 2, The Duel
5 seasons	Coral Smith	The Real World: Back to New York	Battle of the Seasons, Gauntlet, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Fresh Meat
	Derrick Kosinski	Road Rules: X-Treme	Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II, Gauntlet 2, Fresh Meat, The Duel, he basically sucks at the game, hes been on five of these and hasnt won one, or even made it to a final. He should just give up.
	Julie Stoffer	The Real World: New Orleans	Extreme Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, Inferno, Inferno II, Gauntlet 2
	Katie Doyle	Road Rules: The Quest	Gauntlet, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Gauntlet 2, Fresh Meat
	Mike Mizanin	The Real World: Back to New York	Battle of the Seasons, Gauntlet, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II
	Tina Barta	Road Rules: South Pacific	Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II, Fresh Meat, The Duel
	Tonya Cooley	The Real World: Chicago	Battle of the Sexes, Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II, Fresh Meat
4 seasons	Abram Boise	Road Rules: South Pacific	Gauntlet, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II
	Aneesa Ferreira	The Real World: Chicago	Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2, Gauntlet 2, The Duel
	Brad Fiorenza	The Real World: San Diego	Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II, Gauntlet 2, The Duel
	Darrell Taylor	Road Rules: Campus Crawl	Gauntlet, Inferno, Inferno II, Fresh Meat
	Mark Long	Road Rules: USA - The First Adventure (1995)	Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, Battle of the Sexes 2, Gauntlet 2
	Rachel Robinson	Road Rules: Campus Crawl	Battle of the Sexes, Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II
	Robin Hibbard	The Real World: San Diego	Battle of the Sexes 2, Inferno II, Gauntlet 2, The Duel
	Shane Landrum	Road Rules: Campus Crawl	Battle of the Sexes, Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, Fresh Meat
	Syrus Yarbrough	The Real World: Boston	Extreme Challenge, Battle of the Sexes, Inferno, Gauntlet 2
	Theo Vonkurnatowski	Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour	Battle of the Seasons, Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, Fresh Meat