June 1, 1998. What started as a spin-off from the stable Real World and Road Rules shows has turned into a legendary, longstanding and (for some) lifechanging show: The Challenge. 21 years later we are now in the middle of the 35th season, with no signs of stopping.

The very first season, which only had 5 Real World members on it

Through these times we’ve seen different era’s, different generations of competitors and different groups of dominating alliances. We went from the first 4 seasons having no elimations, to then having a couple of season where competitors got voted off, to finally get to the point where the players can save their lives in an elimination. The very first challenge to have eliminations was The Gauntlet. In this seventh season the show was still based around being Real World vs Road Rules, being a 2-team challenge.

Up till The Gauntlet 3 the team challenges were the standard format for the challenges. We had only seen two challenges with a different format, namely Fresh Meat and The Duel. Some will argue that Fresh Meat was the ending of the OG seasons, moving onto a more serious and more competitive reality show. That season also brought some competitors who would change the game, like Kenny and Evan, who formed the JEK(D) alliance, and Evelyn, who turned out to be the only other female 3-time champ, next to Veronica.

Evan’s first appearance on the show. Evan moved on to be a 2-time champion, and leader of the famous JEK alliance.

But the challenges still weren’t as gruelling as we know them today. The finals weren’t cakewalks, or even rotiwalks (looking at you, Gauntlet 2), but they were a lot easier back then. Multiple day finals were unheard of.

This all changed on Rivals 1. This season might have just saved this show from being shut down. After a couple seasons that all felt okay, but not that special, this show needed Rivals 1. The season where multi-year feuds got used to decide the partners for the whole season. This was also the first season that had a two-day final. After this season the producers kept coming up with harder finals, newer formats and bigger twists.

One of the better casts to date.

Now we are in a whole new era of The Challenge, the era of trilogies. It started with Dirty 30, what was supposed to be the biggest and best challenge till that point. They liked the idea of dirtyness so much, that they made a whole trilogy out of it, a trilogy that got worse every next season. Then came WotW1, which saved the Challenge after two horrible seasons. They liked the idea of war so much, that they made a whole trilogy out of it, a trilogy that got wo-, wait i already said that. Only this current trilogy is already a lot better and more promising. WotW2 had a good ending and Total Madness is looking like a great season up until now. I’m just hoping that they stop with the trilogies for now. Maybe finish up a 2-time format like Exes and give it a third season, or do something different, like a Ruins 2? ;-)

So what better time than now, or in the upcoming years, to have a challenge based around these generations? If you paid attention, i’ve talked about 4 generations:

The OG generation: All stars (1998) — Gauntlet 2 (2005/06)

The second generation: Fresh Meat 1 (2006) — Cutthroat (2010)

The third generation: Rivals 1 (2011) — Invasion (2017)

The current generation: Dirty 30 (2017) — Total Madness (2020)

I want this season to have 4 teams, divided in these 4 generations. The competing players will be placed in these teams, decided by which season was their first season as a competitor. So, for example, CT would be in the OG generation, even though he still competes to this day.

There are probably better names for these generations, but i don’t want to call any generation the golden generation, or the JEK era of whatever. Tell me some good names for these generations and teams! :-)

But holy shit, that’s a lot of teams, you might think. Yea it is. But a season like this deserves a big cast. The teams will be made out of 5 male and 5 female competitors, to get the cast up to 40 (41 counting TJ). This might be a bit much, but it will shrink quite fast, just wait.

Let’s go over the teams first, starting with team OG.

For the males we actually have some good choices. CT has been a mainstay for a while, Derrick, Darrel, Brad and Shane have recently competed, and people like Mark, Abram and Alton have mentioned wanting to compete again.

For the females it will be a bit harder. Veronica and Aneesa seem doable. Kendal wants to compete, so why not allow her to? (i also had a big crush on her during Inferno 1, so YES PLEASE!) Then we still need 2. Coral almost competed on Dirty 30, and i think she’d wanna compete if she knows she doesn’t have to compete with the new kids, but she gets her chance to fuck them up. As the last female i’d love to have Rachel back. Her last challenge was in 2012, but she is still super fit. We’d also have a good story with the Veronica/Aneesa/Rachel love triangle. As back-ups we might be able to get a Jodi, Jillian or Cara Z on the show?

Team OG:

- CT/Darrell/Brad/Derrick/Mark(mr. Challenge himself)

- Veronica/Aneesa/Rachel/Kendal/Coral

Honestly, as an OG fan, i’m fucking drooling over a team like this. Kendal would probably be a bit of an outsider on this team, but she did do her RR season with Rachel and Darrell, so that might be in her favor.