Inside MTV Reality: Welcome to The Challenge World Championship

BY DC CUEVA 

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Pic: Paramount+/MTV

Just two months out from something that, except for our grandparents who are lucky to be alive, most of us have never experienced in our lifetimes in the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, we have just witnessed the ascending to the throne of a new pair of Challenge champions. But instead of dwelling a bit on the crowning of Devin & Tori as the King and Queen of Ride or Dies, there is this to comprehend... and one-half of that duo isn't quite ready yet to take a break to relish in that win.

This is the fifth anniversary of The Challenge's expansion to a global game than just an American MTV invention, and we're a long way from Vendettas and when the first crop of overseas players taking aim at the establishment veteran group. We have seen a slew of competitors from the four corners of the world join in on the fun ever since, and to coincide with the launch of Paramount+ last year & the early part of this year have seen the show expand much more with the addition of four all-new incarnations of the series that came after the very first one of the All-Stars trilogy.

Those local versions of The Challenge at Paramount's corporate sisters in Argentina, Australia and the United Kingdom, together with its American network television debut on CBS last summer, have helped to bring the show outside of our borders while we have been watching Ride or Dies. And it offers the context for the next chapter in this franchise: a World Championship that sees top performers from the four versions of the show pair up with the main MTV show's greats... and it was as if the MVP's first times on here were just freshman outings compared to what they have to deal with this time: Challenge legends and staples of the show we love will now be their partners.

In the country that hosted a memorable World Cup tournament a baker's dozen years ago, The Challenge has come to the nation of South Africa -- itself host to a few Challenge seasons of many years past -- for this latest franchise spinoff... and after the break, our first look at The Challenge World Championship.