Each Challenge pits numerous cast members from past seasons of reality shows against each other, dividing them into two separate teams according to different criteria, such as gender, which show they first appeared on, whether or not they're veterans or rookies on the show, etc. The two teams compete in numerous missions in order to win prizes and advance in the overall game.
First aired
20 Apr 1998
Episode length
42 min
Also known as
Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Road Rules All Stars, The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, The Challenge: Vets and New Threats
The Duel is the 13th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is directly subsequent to Fresh Meat.
The Duel took place in Búzios, Brazil, with former cast members from MTV series The Real World and Road Rules competing, along with several cast members from the previous Challenge, Fresh Meat. The host of The Duel was T. J. Lavin.
The season differed from previous Challenge seasons in that no teams were assigned, as it was every man and woman for themselves. The surviving male and female cast member would win $150,000 each. The season was watched by a total of 83 million viewers. The Duel premiered on October 12, 2006, and concluded on January 18, 2007.
This is the first edition of The Duel series, with The Duel II following in 2009.
The Inferno 3 is the 14th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is directly subsequent to The Duel.
The Inferno 3 marked the show's first trilogy, the third of the Inferno series, continuing on from The Inferno and The Inferno II. Filming took place in Cape Town, South Africa, with cast members from The Real World, Road Rules and the Fresh Meat challenge competing. The teams were in the format of The Inferno II, "Good Guys" versus "Bad Asses." Contrary to the previous Inferno shows, the Lifesaver competitions have been limited to gender only winners, as for the male Inferno days, only males will be able to win it and vice versa. The season premiered on Tuesday April 10, 2007 on MTV.
There were $400,000 in prizes.
The Gauntlet III is the 15th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is directly subsequent to The Inferno 3.
Being the third in The Gauntlet series, The Gauntlet III marked the show's 2nd trilogy, continuing on from The Gauntlet and The Gauntlet 2. The season was filmed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with former cast members from The Real World and Road Rules competing, along with several cast members from the Fresh Meat challenge. This season was in the format of two teams: Veterans vs. Rookies, with a format similar to The Gauntlet 2. The contestants on the Veterans team had been on at least two prior seasons of the Challenge, and the contestants on the Rookies team had been on fewer than two prior seasons.
The Island is the 16th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is directly subsequent to The Gauntlet III.
Like previous seasons of The Challenge, The Island featured cast members from various past seasons of The Real World and Road Rules, of which The Challenge was a spun off from, competing along with several cast members from the Fresh Meat challenge. This season featured the contestants "stranded" on an island off the coast of Panama, where the cast competed for a buried treasure chest filled with $300,000 USD in gold. Unlike in previous Challenges, the cast was not housed in a luxurious dwelling, but was "forced" to improvise and "work" for the basic necessities of food and shelter, as on the TV series Survivor. Unlike previous seasons of The Challenge, there were no predetermined teams. Instead, the cast members had to forge their own alliances. Of the twenty cast members, there were only four winners. The Island premiered on September 10, 2008, and concluded on October 29, 2008.
The Duel II is the 17th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is directly subsequent to The Island. The Duel II is the sequel to the show's 13th season, The Duel, and succeeds The Island season. It took place in Queenstown, New Zealand, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World and Road Rules competing along with several cast members from the Fresh Meat challenge. The cast departed for Queenstown, New Zealand on October 27, 2008 and filming ran through early December. This season premiered on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 and concluded on June 17, 2009 with the reunion show.
Real World Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins is the eighteenth season of the MTV reality television game show, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, and follows The Duel II. The Ruins took place in Phuket, Thailand, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World and Road Rules competing along with several cast members from the Fresh Meat challenge. This season was played in the format of two teams: Champions and Challengers. Players on the Champions team had won at least one previous challenge, while players on the Challengers team had never won a challenge.
This is the last season to use Real World/Road Rules in the on-screen title, before being shortened to The Challenge in the 19th season.
The season premiered on September 30, 2009 and concluded with the "S#!t They Should Have Shown" special on December 23, 2009.
The Challenge: Cutthroat is the 20th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge.
Filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, Cutthroat features a first-ever three-team format with cast members from The Real World, Road Rules, and The Challenge. The season premiered on Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Challenge: Rivals is the 21st season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. Rivals takes place in Costa Rica, Argentina, and Patagonia. The season used former cast members from The Real World and The Challenge.
Rivals marked the first season of The Challenge to not include any cast members from cancelled series Road Rules. The season featured an incendiary format in which players were teamed with their arch enemies from past seasons of The Real World and The Challenge. The season premiered on June 22, 2011
The Challenge: Battle of the Exes is the 22nd season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. It takes place in the Dominican Republic and Iceland, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World, Road Rules, and The Challenge competing. The season premiered on January 25, 2012, and concluded on April 4, 2012, with the Reunion special.
The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons is the 23rd season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. Although sharing the same name as the show's 5th season, Battle of the Seasons, unlike other sequel seasons is not distinguished as part "II" as the Season has a completely different format as well as different rules. The season took place in Bodrum, Turkey and Swakopmund, Namibia.
The Challenge: Rivals II is the 24th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season take places in Phuket, Thailand, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World and The Challenge competing. The season followed the same format as the original Rivals challenge, with players paired up with arch enemies from past seasons of The Real World and The Challenge.
The Challenge: Free Agents is the 25th season of the MTV reality game show, The Challenge. The season is located in Uruguay and Chile, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World and The Challenge competing. This season marks the first since season 12 that does not include any cast members from The Real World: Austin or the first Fresh Meat challenge. The season follows a new format, featuring each contestant competing in either teams, pairs or for themselves, for a share of $350,000 in prize money.
The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II is the 26th season of MTV's reality game show, The Challenge, and the sequel to the show's 22nd season, Battle of the Exes. Filming occurred in Pedasí, Panama and Ørsta, Norway in August and September 2014, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World, The Challenge, and Are You the One? competing
This season just got VERY personal. We've seen rivals, exes, veterans, rookies, and even free agents earn their victories on The Challenge. Now, fourteen players from MTV series will travel to Bodrum, Turkey to join the people who know their toughest strengths, crippling weaknesses, and deepest fears better than anyone -- their own flesh and blood. In this unprecedented format, competitors will battle it out WITH and AGAINST their bloodlines, turning family into foe. This shake-up gets even more twisted when players learn that their fates are combined with their bloodlines'. It's anyone's game when family still means everything, because despite strong performances, competitors could still go home if their relatives fall short. With $350,000 on the line and family honor to defend, there will be blood.
They’ve been pissed off. They’ve been wronged. They’ve been betrayed. And now they want vengeance! Rivals is back and the stakes couldn’t be higher! Twenty-six fan-favorites from The Challenge, The Real World, and Are You The One will head to exotic Mexico and be paired up with their biggest enemy! However...this time around the game has a shocking twist – players will be paired up with their rival – of the opposite sex! These guys and girls must figure out a way get over their bad blood as they compete in a series of heart-pounding challenges in order to earn a share of the massive $350,000 prize! Tempers will rise, passions will flare, and pride will be on the line in the most shocking season of The Challenge yet!
In Season 29, Invasion of the Champions, 18 Underdogs battle across a series of contests for the chance to move out of squalor and into typical Challenge luxury, The Oasis! Just when the lucky ones get comfortable, they’ll find the game is far from over. The final crop of Underdogs will have to face down eight proven Champions for their share at the $350,000 prize. With devastating elimination rounds, truly baffling hookups and the first-ever three-day final on the way, Season 29 may just prove to be the most unpredictable and gripping yet!
To celebrate the 30th season of The Challenge, MTV is bringing back the dirtiest and most unpredictable players in The Challenge history for the biggest prize ever - $1 MILLION DOLLARS! This devious bunch will stop at nothing to win the game and compete against each other on The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30. Fifteen men and fifteen women will have to fight their way through some of the craziest, most daring challenges yet. And with this devious assortment of players, the backstabbing and masterminding will be just as intense off the field as on the field. Trust. No. One.
Twenty-eight players including stars from MTV UK’s Ex on the Beach and Geordie Shore along with contestants from Big Brother join The Challenge fan favorites as they travel to Spain to pursue their personal vendettas against one another. And this season, for the very first time, every player is out solely for themselves not their team.
The thirty-second season features alumni from Real World, Road Rules, The Challenge, Are You the One?, the U.S. version of Big Brother, and the U.K. television shows Ex on the Beach and Geordie Shore, competing along with, for the first time, alumni from Bad Girls Club and Vanderpump Rules who appeared on the U.S. version of Ex on the Beach.
In season 33, War of the Worlds, America's best will be taking on competitors from around the globe. Legendary Challenge Veterans will team up with Rookies from “The Bachelor,” “Big Brother” and other reality shows to compete for $1 million in the most grueling, physical and mental challenges ever devised. Who will survive?
Set in the middle of the jungle, “The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2” returns to a classic team format; 14 Brits will battle it out against 14 Americans for their share of the $1 million-dollar prize.
Season 36 returns to a partner format with 19 (!) espionage thriller-themed episodes shot in Iceland, pitting 30 returning and new competitors against each other "in a game of secrets, spies, and lies" for their share of the million-dollar prize.
Set in the picturesque Mediterranean coast of Croatia, elite U.S. Agents join forces with an assortment of International Operatives, all armed with killer competitive instincts,” reads the official description. “With the assignment constantly evolving, these agents will be tested both mentally and physically to win their share of $1M in this epic new chapter of The Challenge spy games.
In season 38 — Ride or Dies — players are paired with best friends, exes or partners for the first time ever as they navigate the weekly mental and physical warfare together for their share of one million dollars.
Mental and physical limits will be pushed further than ever before as contenders must face off against rotating vets in surprise eliminations. With the stakes higher than ever, this new era of competitors must beat the best to be the best. In the end, who will solidify their legacy and emerge as a first-time champion?
