ChallengeFacts
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« on: December 23, 2010, 07:38:45 pm » |
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So I started writing and wrote a brief history of the challenges for the wiki, if anyone has any info the should be included shoot it here, I wouldnt want a carbon copy of the actual wiki pedia entries.
The origins of the Challenge can be traced back to many crossover episodes between Real World and Road Rules, where both casts would meet up and one point or another do a prank or steal from the other. For example the second Road Rules cast was tasked with stealing the 8-ball from the Real World:Miami pool table. It all came to ahead during the Road Rules: Islands and Real World: Boston seasons when they met up in Puerto Rico and had the first ever Real World vs Road Rules games, a precursor to the first challenge Road Rules: All-Stars that would air a year later and start the Challenge series. The first official Challenge was titled Road Rules: All-Stars, on this challenge five Real World alumni from different seasons got to experience what Road Rulers usually did when they got put into an RV and traveled around the country and even New Zealand. The prize for this Challenge was a trip to Puerto Rico. It was an experiment in some ways to see how fans would react to a third show and its success led to the first actual Real World vs Road Rules show a year later. This time 12 cast members were chosen, 6 from each show and they competed for prizes and to see who could spend more time in the "money machine" that contained $150,000.00 in cash. The 6 vs 6 concept was kept for the next two challenges, Challenge 2000 and Extreme Challenge, and with Battle of the Seasons the game changed forever. With Battle of the Seasons, the set team of 6 per show was gone, also eliminations came into effect. The show started with 16 teams of 2 people (each team representing a Real World or Road Rules season) , and each week 2 teams one from each show was eliminated by the inner circle (made up of the top 3 teams of each show). The eliminations caused drama, but they would be tame compared to future seasons. On Battle of the Sexes 1, the concept stayed relatively the same, instead of teams it was guys against girls and the inner circle was made up of the top 3 guys and top 3 girls. The final also consisted of 3 vs 3, instead of 6 vs 6. The following challenge, The Gauntlet, included another game changer with the elimination rounds. Now instead of just getting voted off, cast members who got the votes could fight for their survival and send a member of the other team home. This also caused for the firs time uneven teams heading into the final. The elimination rounds have stayed in the challenges except for Battle of the Sexes 2, and Islands which were both via votes once again. The Inferno, which followed The Gauntlet was more or a less a sequel to many of the grudges and storylines formed on the Gauntlet, and followed the same format. Battle of the Sexes 2, was the first sequel in the series, and it was the first to start the "rookies" go first trend something that became part of the overall storyline. The eliminations went back to basics with vote offs, but the inner circle was different in that if the team won, the 3 team leaders of that specific mission would vote someone off, but if the team lost the rest of the group would vote one of the leaders off. This Challenge also eliminated the point system used in previous vote off challenges. Behind the scenes Road Rules was in trouble the already aired Road Rules:X-Treme seemed liked the last one, but the Challenges were at the peak of their popularity. MTV needed to scramble to see how they could fill up the cast with Road Rules on hold. For the time being the did sequels for Inferno and Gauntlet, but changed how the cast was divided. For Inferno 2 they divided the cast between Good Guys and Bad Asses, while on Gauntlet 2 it was Rookies (cast members who had done 2 or less Challenges) and Veterans (cast members who had done 3, including Gauntlet 2, or more challenges). Then it hit the fan, the core group of cast members that MTV could rely on for Challenges even in the death of Road Rules wanted to move on or take a break. MTV decided to invite a bunch of Real World and Road Rules rejects (Not meant in a derogatory way, they usually were finalists) onto the next challenge which would be called Fresh Meat. Twelve alumni (Real World or Road Rules) would team up with an opposite sex partner from the 12 Fresh Meat cast and battle it out for $150,000.00 grand prize. The new concept received a lot of criticism from fans who didn't want these new kids ruining their show but the trigger was pulled and MTV went on with it. With a now bigger casting pool, from Real World, some of the late Road Rulers and the Fresh Meat, a new concept was created with the Duel. Instead of the team based Challenges of the past, the Duel was an individual challenge with only 2 winners in the end, one male and one female. The Duel was considered a success as it was different from all the other Challenges but for the next two MTV decided to re-do Inferno and Gauntlet. Gauntlet 3, was a ratings success something they needed as it was the last one in the contract. Gauntlet 3 also brought change to the formating of the show as it was extended to one hour instead of the usual 30 minutes. With the contract re-newed, the Challenges continued and newer concepts were created. The first Challenge on the new contract was The Island, taking a page from Survivor the cast members became cast aways in Panama, and they had to live on minimal food and survive to the bitter end without killing each other. The elimination rounds for the Island went back to votes, as the 3 people competed per mission the winner won a key (or later on could take a key from a previous winner) while the other two had to plead their case before the rest of the cast, whoever got the most votes was gone. Duel 2 followed, and while the same basic premise was of the original was kept the missions were a bit too much partner oriented than the first one. With the hour format, and less episodes 2 people were eliminated per episode instead of 1 per episode like before. The Challenges that followed could be classified as a part 1 and part 2 of an over all storyline between Wes and Kenny. The Ruins pitted the Champions (cast members who had won a previous Challenge) versus the Challengers (cast members who had never won), this Challenge brought the return of old cast members one of which was Wes. Who immediately caused a stir on the Champions team by saying he would throw Challenges unless things were done his way, the first episode dealt with how the Champions tried to undermine him, wich they eventually did. Many fans considered the first few episodes the strongest episodes in a long time, plus with such a deep cast it got fans excited, but once Wes left and the Champions dominated the entire season fans left disappointed. Part 2 was the return of the Fresh Meat concept, with 12 new faces yet again that had never been on Real World. The hype leading up to the Challenge was Wes vs Kenny, stemming from the drama on the Ruins but in the end it was just hype. By episode 6 Wes was gone and he never went head to head with Kenny. The last challenge to air, which was number 20 was called Cutthroat which yet again introduced a new concept to the challenges. This time the cast of 30 was divided into 3 teams of ten, chosen by "Captains" in the very first episode. The style of voting was different as well, in previous challenges the teams chose the manner in which they wanted to vote themselves, on Cutthroat the losing two teams would vote in secret 2 members (one male, one female) of their own team to send into the elimination rounds. One elimination round brought a new twist to the game, as two former cast members who weren't participating in this Challenge came to participate in the elimination round as "heavy hitters". Another addition, was the inclusion of Camila who was neither a Real Worlder, Road Ruler or Fresh Meat, instead she was one of the contestants on the Spring Break Challenge held during MTV's 2010 Spring Break.
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