The Challenge needs a reboot of The Real World and fast. When The Challenge first began, it was known as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, with the cast consisting of MTV reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules. Eventually, those two shows were canceled while The Challenge continued utilizing other shows such as Are You The One?, Big Brother, and Survivor with diminishing results. While The Real World was canceled in 2019, murmurs of a reboot have persisted, and it couldn’t happen fast enough for The Challenge.
The issue The Challenge is having is building interesting storylines with a variety of cast members. When contestants come from several different shows and even international shows Americans don’t have access to, there’s no backstory to latch onto for viewers. Recent The Challenge formats, like Ride Or Dies, have allowed veteran cast members to pick off rookies with ease ending numerous storylines before they even begin, while other storylines have become overdone. The Real World reboot would provide a proper feeder show for The Challenge again, where storylines can be cultivated, making it easier for viewers to get invested in rookie characters.
The Real World Would Be A Breeding Ground For Drama For The Challenge
When MTV still had The Real World and The Challenge on the air, casting was simple as they had a large pool of former alumni to choose from, each with their own drama and relationships within the franchise. Iconic The Challenge cast members such as Mike Mizanin and Coral Smith, who teased a The Challenge return soon, became so popular because viewers had already seen them go from enemies to friends on The Real World: Back to New York and were invested in their friendship. There is also the imagination of viewers wondering how alumni would interact with one another, which came to fruition when Puck Rainey and David Edwards, who had both been kicked off their respective Real World seasons, met and subsequently fought before the first challenge even began.
MTV Likely Won’t Reboot The Real World
Unfortunately, MTV has squandered any interest viewers may have had for a Real World reboot, thanks to the misguided decision to focus on binge-drinking in later seasons and turning its channel into a continuous marathon of Ridiculousness. The Challenge 38 continues to lose viewers with no other show to feed off of in the MTV lineup. It seems the former illustrious network has lost any goodwill it had built up from its golden generation of the 80s and 90s, so a reboot of one of its most successful shows may still fail.
An easy solution would be to put The Real World reboot on Paramount+, where The Real World Homecoming already succeeded. With increased interest in nostalgia, a reboot is viable in the right direction. Regardless of whether a Real World reboot will happen or not, it’s clear that changes need to be made to how The Challenge casts its future seasons, or it could end up canceled with the rest of MTV’s reality TV shows.