The Challenge (TV series)
reality game show

The Challenge (originally known as Road Rules: All Stars, followed by Real World/Road Rules Challenge) is a reality competition show that is a spin-off of two of the network's reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules. The series premiered on MTV on April 20, 1998 and moved to Paramount+ for its forty-second season. The series showcases contestants competing against one another in various challenges to avoid elimination, with the winners typically sharing a cash prize. The Challenge is currently hosted by T. J. Lavin.
The show was originally titled Road Rules: All Stars, and had notable Real World alumni participated in a Road Rules style road-trip. It was renamed Real World/Road Rules Challenge for its second season, then later abridged to simply The Challenge by the show's nineteenth season. Since the fourth season, each season has supplied the show with a unique subtitle, such as Rivals.
The show's forty-second season, titled Cutthroat, premiered on August 5, 2026.
Overview
The Challenge's cast varies from season to season. Contestants used to originate from either The Real World or Road Rules.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q902421. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998 and 2026.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Challenge (TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.