Hey y’all! Welcome to the show !! 🎉

The 34th season of MTV’s The Challenge — dubbed War of the Worlds 2 (but originally titled Bloody Hell, resulting in repetitive and humorous voice-dubbing whenever TJ mentions the season)— is currently underway, and it is LIT! 🔥

We’ve had back-to-back shocking eliminations and many people calling the past 2 episodes the best in literal years — helped along by them having 90 minute eps this season. Both #TheChallenge and #(name of the eliminated competitor) were trending worldwide on Twitter after the episode, at 2 and 3. That is POWER. You love to see it.

And the viewership numbers are up too: the #3 show for the premiere and the #2 for last week’s ep (on Sept 11). The subreddit I moderate has been poppin’ too — with 32,500 members (and rising every single day) and 1000+ active users all day yesterday.

All this means that MTV is (finally?) succeeding and The Challenge is getting new viewers — and/or maybe older fans tuning back in. But since it’s in the 34th season, there is a LOT of history and lore to know, to enjoy the show to the fullest. So here is an intro guide for new viewers. It’s long but worth it (that’s what he said).

HERSTORY OF THE SHOW

The Challenge began a LONG time ago, in June 1998, and looked a lot different than it does today. It started as a silly competition with alumni from Real World and Road Rules, with a light-hearted “summer camp” feel, no eliminations, and small prizes.

Season 5 (Battle of the Seasons, 2002) was the first to have eliminations, but only by vote-off. Elimination rounds (typically one-on-one physical competitions, sometimes puzzles or endurance) began in S7 (The Gauntlet 1, 2004). This is one reason that that separates The Challenge from other reality TV competitions like Big Brother and Survivor.

Casting originally expanded on S12 (Fresh Meat I, 2006), with people (the titular Meat) who had not been on reality TV before. This happened again on:

S19 (Fresh Meat II, 2010) with the same idea

S26 (Battle of the Exes II, 2015) with alumni from Are You the One?

S27 (Battle of the Bloodlines, 2016) with siblings/cousins of alumni from RR, RW AYTO, FM, and Spring Break Challenge

S31 (Vendettas, 2018), with alumni from Big Brother US and MTV UK shows Geordie Shore and Ex on the Beach

S32 (Final Reckoning, 2018), with alumni from Bad Girls Club and Vanderpump Rules both of whom were on Ex on the Beach US

And then Season 33 (War of the Worlds, 2019) exploded the casting pool, having 18 competitors debut from an enormous variety of shows: BBUS, EotB UK, AYTO Brazil, Survivor Turkey, Geordie Shore, Party Down South, The Bachelor Canada, The Bachelorette US, BB Over the Top, American Ninja Warrior, Love Island UK, Floribama Shore, and even a telenovela.

This was to create a new trilogy with international competitors. The US 🇺🇸 and UK 🇬🇧 were obviously represented, along with Canada 🇨🇦 Turkey 🇹🇷 Australia 🇦🇺 Mexico 🇲🇽 and Brazil 🇧🇷

The brightest stars (besides Mattie) returned for the current season (War of the Worlds 2, 2019), which added further new franchises: Shipwrecked UK, Survival of the Fittest UK, and even a YouTube channel (BKChat London).

Previously, it was easy to watch these people’s previous shows to get to know who/how they are — when it was only RW and RR — but now it’s pretty much impossible, and The Challenge has become a Battle Royale of reality TV stars (plus some randoms). The show was flagging for a while, but the UK and BB competitors gave it the booster shot it needed — and now we might be in a new Golden Age 🤞🏽

All along the way, throughout these 34 seasons + 4 spin-offs, The Challenge has gotten harder, less friendly, more extreme, and more Cutthroat— with innovative formats / themes, experimental (and controversial) twists, fewer winners, and a much larger prize purse.

Gone are the carefree days where people would volunteer to go into elimination and cast members had access to phones and email, as well as days off to relax, go bike riding (looking at you, Trishelle), or whatever. Now they have less freedom and the Double Cross and steal-your-money twists and the option to change allegiances and Mercenaries who can take your spot in the game, with everyone clawing and backstabbing their way to get their share of $1,000,000+.

As I said before: it’s lit 💥

SO, WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN?

..to dive into this 20+ year old franchise with so much background and mythos? Well, ~let me tell you.~

The What Season Should You Watch 1.0 thread on reddit can guide you and answer some questions, and I’ve tried to make it as useful as r/Survivor’s version. It’s not yet there, but it is only the 1.0 version, so chill. Check it out anyway.

The biggest difference between The Challenge and other popular reality TV competitions like Survivor, Big Brother, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and maybe The Amazing Race (idk I don’t know her) is that cast members come back season after season.

Of course, there are returning players on those shows too, but the luckiest on RPDR and BB have only had 3 chances, and before S39/40, Survivor only had 4 people who played 4 times.

But on The Challenge, Johnny “Bananas” has been on 19 seasons + 2 spin-offs; CT on 16 + 3 spin-offs; Cara Maria on 14 + 2 spin-offs; and Wes on 12 + 4 spin-offs. Yeah, it’s a lot.

(Some would argue that’s way too much, but I digress…)

But the ability for these characters to return season after season is what makes The Challenge so great! You see this long-form storytelling, with alliances forming and falling apart; how actions in one season affect future ones; relationships starting, progressing, and ending (including multiple weddings and divorces between cast members); multi-season story arcs; people growing/glowing up and going from hopeless underdogs to multiple champions; and how 3 players who were eliminated first on their debut season may actually have become the Greatest of All Time. It’s fascinating and makes for compelling television. There’s no other show like it!

Because of this, though, it means there is always history and past events that will enrich your viewing experience when watching a season — the background and context of relationships between players. But as a new fan, it might seem daunting and difficult to plunge into this world. So I’ll help you out.