Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome Back Again to The Challenge All-Stars -- and Something Twisty

BY DC CUEVA 

Greetings to all in the blogosphere... and if we have not spoken on here as of yet, a belated Happy New Year to you and we hope you are safe and sound after a holiday break that we hope was nice and merry. As you can imagine, things have been light on the blog as new priorities have taken precedent as is my new passion of doing video work including the new DC Vegas XIII series on YouTube... but this one hasn't forgotten about DCBLOG as we enter our site's fourteenth year of serving all of you on here.

As we return to this site, let's sort out where things are in the world of competitive athletics: we know now it's yet another rematch in the Super Bowl that's just to come with the Chiefs and Eagles set to renew acquaintances for the second time in twenty-four months. It's exactly half of that time's length that separates me from another 19-day binge-watch of the Olympics as the 2026 Winter Games in Italy approach... and the week after the Big Game comes a new format coming to the NBA All-Star Game taking place in my Bay Area neck of the woods, among other things. And then, there's this.

Photos: MTV/Jonne Roriz
A tweet by our longtime friend and a fellow colleague on this beat of covering this little thing we have covered for well over a decade, Brian Cohen, brings up an interesting statistic that makes us scratch our heads and wonder how time has flown by. When rare holiday weeks off are tossed aside, MTV's The Challenge and its various spinoff iterations have been on our TV's and our streaming devices for almost three consecutive years... or 151 of the 191 weeks since August of 2021. And after everything that transpired in a milestone 40th season over the fall and winter, the party goes on after the crowning of a now five-time winner and an unprecedented tie for the gold for the women on Battle of the Eras.

Both Mr. Bus Drivers Route, myself and everyone else in this community have been through a lot watching the fifth major pro sport... and it has also given reason for a lot of us to subscribe to the Paramount+ service. And while this one here stays loyal to all the streamers I'm part of when others decide it's not enough to stay on, it also gave us a mouth-watering addition to the Challenge franchise when All-Stars debuted with its rebrand from CBS All-Access also back four years ago. There, we were mystified by seeing competitors we haven't seen on the show in years compete once again... and it made an instant impact to the point where a lot of fans like you would forget to think it's a spinoff.

The fourth and most recent installment of All-Stars was actually taped in the spring of 2023, but because of the standoff that shut down Hollywood it wasn't until almost a year later that we saw another stacked group take to South Africa and saw a deserved champion in the end. But this time around, the focus shifts drastically like night and day to something totally different: for the first time, an element of the flagship will be thrust upon this series as this time it's a themed installment... but one that we are all familiar with from the '10s -- and it's one format that Brian made his podcast debut a dozen years ago.

With another crop of familiar and fresh faces... and with so many interesting dynamics, once again the question is this: Who can overcome the past for the sake of winning the cash? Welcome back, Challenge Nation... as we at DCBLOG offer our first look at the fifth edition of our main subject's longest-running spinoff: The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals before it premieres tonight.


   WHAT TO EXPECT &   
 MEET THE ALL-STARS 

A decade & a half ago, The Challenge was reignited by the addition of a new generation of competitors who have helped to redefine the show... starting with when the second generation of Fresh Meat took to Vancouver followed by the tri-team Gauntlet in Prague. But we weren't prepared for what happened when the page turned to the next twenty Challenges that laid ahead of us, starting with when animosity among some of the biggest names singlehandedly forged an entire season to remember.

Season 21 in 2011 gave us the first iteration of Rivals which became the most fierce of the seasons in the '10s, followed two years later in 2013 by its sequel that saw the start of the turnaround of CT from an also-ran into an all-time great. And though not as eventful as the first two versions of the format right up to the very end, Rivals III in 2016 capped off the trilogy with the show's most-infamous moment ever in the Bananas steal... not to mention an interesting wrinkle in the trajectory of MTV's resident baby daddy.

When we wrote about the original Rivals season nine years ago, it was something else: three-fourth's of that winners' club in Argentina was comprised of one legendary cast that survived a hurricane, while one-half of the duo who lost that last elimination in semifinal week to the 7-time champ would never be heard from again. His partner would then take his talents to just about every other reality show out there afterwards beyond the MTV scope... and there were so many other dynamics that it only takes seeing that post above to really appreciate how legendary that summer of 2011 really was.

All-Stars has certainly brought us all the goods since it debuted, and after accomplishing so much in those four seasons along with the World Championship series as well... what's next? That was certainly on the mind of all of those who were planning this season behind that fourth wall... and what we have now might be a bit different -- and a lot of old-school fans may throw up about it, but also definitely similar to what we've had in the three Rivals iterations and, to a degree, both Vendettas and Final Reckoning during that post-Dirty 30 trilogy. That's something more than half of our winter's contingent know about... but for this fifth All-Stars edition, you don't have to subscribe to Paramount+ (although I always keep my streamers for things like the UEFA Champions League): MTV is home to that this time.

What hasn't really changed between this and the four past All-Stars seasons is that this year's cast has something for everyone, despite newer faces being swapped into this crop in for the vets whether purists like it or not. For what in essence is a Rivals IV, there are ten competitors who competed during the Rivals trilogy... plus a few more from that Season 32 of seven years ago. There are a combined 100+ appearances between our competitors going to Vietnam with fifteen total wins, and many rookies to count -- though two of them come in as the headliners. But just as it was on a couple versions of this twist, there's at least one pair of vendettas that didn't form inside the house itself.

⭐ ADAM LARSON & STEVE MEINKE - Last year (actually, two due to the actions in Hollywood), these two mates of the Road Rules Quest RV suddenly found themselves on opposite ends when Steve stole Adam's star on All-Stars IV, depriving a finals berth in the process... and things haven't been the same since. But things can turn a 180... and now they have to work together again.

⭐ AMBER BORZOTRA & FEYSAL SHAFFFAT - Our first Big Brother representatives on CAS in this show's first former houseguest to take the crown and one of the poster boys of this movement began their vendetta back on Double Agents... but it was a blindside by Fessy that brought them here.

⭐ ANEESA FERREIRA & ASHLEY MITCHELL - Ashley Millionaire can lay claim to being the lead female All-Stars rookie here, but things have not always been smooth sailing in defending those two title rings. Aneesa has been on so many seasons of this trying to gain that elusive crown, and like her she has always been that emotional firecracker... proof: just watch Spies, Lies & Allies.

⭐ ASHLEY KELSEY & DARIO MEDRANO - Back during Invasion and then on Dirty 30, they emerged as the latest in the slew of Challenge power couples. But as it was for her other big televised relationship with the lone San Diegan titlist who's podcasting now, it wasn't meant to be for #Ashrio... and they come in as the one pair here who also double as exes.

⭐ BIG T & COREY LAY - For the lone pair who comes to us from totally outside the Paramount realm, we have to rewind just over a year ago to Battle for a New Champion to see where it all began for Big T and Corey: there were romantically linked in that Season 39 house.

⭐ BETH STOLARCZYK & JONNA MANNION - The queen of All-Stars has multiple wins here, but she didn't earn her titles the hard way... and one of the reasons just happens to be the all time Queen B's in stirring things up. Remember when Beth tried to accuse Jonna of cuddling up to MJ? That's why...

⭐ DA'VONNE ROGERS & SHANE LANDRUM - If your memories still remember that Reckoning in 2018, then you know why Mama Day made quite a mark there in South Africa. One memorable component to that rookie go: her going at it a bit with the leading male rookie here in Shane.

⭐ DEVIN WALKER & LEROY GARRETT - There is only one member of this Challenge cast who now lays claim to being on all four Rivals iterations: Roylee was with Vegas vendetta Adam on 1, Ty on 2 and Averey on 3. And what brought him to Rivals All-Stars: puppet-master Devin on Double Agents... and after not being on the same side in Asia, they make the return trip here once again.

⭐ FRANK FOX & SAM McGINN - When I began watching The Challenge regularly in the fall of 2012, it's likely you threw an object at the TV once the Battle of the Seasons final reached its climax. And en route to the top of that Namibian desert hill, you probably saw Frank berate Sam not just as they hiked to the money... but also in the mini final earlier in the season.

⭐ KATIE COOLEY & VERONICA PORTILLO - Twenty-one years ago saw one of the most memorable Challenge moments ever: the blow-up on The Inferno that took place late at night with these two Road Rules icons... no further explanation of how legendary they are in Challenge Nation.

⭐ KELLYANNE JUDD & SYLVIA ELSRODE - On All-Stars III, there was some bad blood that took place with these two... and things didn't improve when they returned last year on Season IV. But will third time's be the charm or not?

⭐ MELISSA REEVES & NICOLE ZANATTA - Last we saw Mel, it was voluntarily exiting the Total Madness final prior to gaining a consolation prize: a new baby. But when we first saw her, this original Brit hooked up with the Staten Islander... well, the exes story here isn't all lonely.

⭐ NANY GONZALEZ & TURBO CAMKIRAN - And lastly, she has made some news in the past 48 hours to say the least... but Nany returns once again, this time with her War of the Worlds partner (and the one who won it all)... but they were Ride or Dies no more last time out. Will things turn around?


And below, our first look... and whoever comes away victorious gets part of the $300,000 jackpot. Enjoy tonight, Challenge Nation... and we plan to be along during this season for our own view of this All-Star Challenge and the stories behind it all.









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