The 34th season of MTV’s The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 is underway and is shaping up to be a top-tier season so far — perhaps even better than its predecessor, which was considered amazing already.

It seems The Challenge has hits its stride again, finally, and we’re in a new Golden Age. The expanded casting pool since Exes 2 (but especially since Vendettas) has paid dividends, with the newest and brightest stars coming from TV shows that did not initially supply alumni for The Challenge — and some that don’t even belong to MTV. These standouts are:

Kam +Tori from Are You the One

Paulie from Big Brother US— with more alumni coming next season!

Kyle from Geordie Shore

Georgia + Theo from Love Island UK

Bear + Rogan from Ex on the Beach UK

And of course, many others , including different franchises, channels, and countries — Natalie, Da’Vonne, Joss, Kayleigh, Dee, Mattie (Party Down South), Ninja (American Ninja Warrior), Turbo (Survivor Turkey), etc.

In contrast, the “newest star” from Real World or Road Rules — the original feeder shows — is Kailah . But she premiered 5 seasons ago and hasn’t appeared since episode 1 of season 32, roughly a year and a half ago. The times are a-changin’, and as of yet, nobody from the Real World reboot is expected to make Season 35’s cast.

But anygay, my side job is as a trivia host (like Sarah Rice!), so I came up with these for y’all:

Fun factoids about War of the Worlds 2