The 10 Most Underrated Seasons of ‘The Challenge,’ Ranked

The Big Picture

• The Challenge has had underrated seasons, with intense competition and explosive moments.
• Battle of the Seasons, Gauntlet III, and Exes II stand out as memorable and unique seasons.
• The Challenge continues to evolve with new twists, diverse casts, and breakout competitors like Big T and Amber.

39 seasons of The Challenge. There have been some all-time greats alongside some pretty sad duds. But in between, the flagship program has had some incredibly underrated seasons. These seasons featured some great casts, explosive moments, and intense competition. From the first Battle of the Seasons to Double Agents, The Gauntlet to Inferno III, these seasons and more deserve a second chance for your attention!

Way back in 1998, six icons from The Real World were put in an RV to give them the Road Rules experience. From there, the two shows competed against one another. And the rest is history. Whether billed as Real World/Road Rules Challenge or The Challenge, the flagship program has been appointment television for 39 seasons, with a trio of spin-offs to its name. Within the 39 seasons, these 10 are the most underrated.

10 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet III

Season 15

In the first generation of The Challenge, there were two trilogies; The Gauntlet and The Inferno. They both had their own unique formats, but always fulfilled the need for some high-stakes drama. To conclude the third part of The Gauntlet trilogy, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet III brought together former cast members from The Real World, Road Rules, and the first edition of Fresh Meat as the Veterans team was pitted against the Rookies. The Veterans team dominated the season, knocking out the Rookies in nearly every elimination challenge. This also marked the moment where the tides of allegiances were shifting as perennial staples like Coral Smith no longer had the power as the new kids of Fresh Meat, Evan Starkman and Kenny Santucci, controlled the game. Unfortunately for them, they made a major mistake by keeping their friend Eric “Big Easy” Banks safe. With the final challenge being a team challenge, which ever team finishes completely as a team would win. Big Easy gassed out. His eyes rolled back into his head. They were literally dragging him. Some people thought he might have died. They believed that they would just unchain him and leave him behind. While the Veterans may have finished first, they didn’t finish as a team, giving the remaining Rookies, Frank Roessler, Jillian Zoboroski, Johanna Botta, Nehemiah Clark, Rachel Moyal, and Tori Hall their first victory.

9 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet

Season 7

No one knew that when the first iteration of Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet would kick off a revolution. Battling it out in Telluride, Colorado, 28 of The Real World and Road Rules finest competed to see which show would reign supreme. Hosted by Jonny Mosley, the season showcased just how strong the Road Rules alumni were. But they also happened to be a bit diabolical. With determination to remove the perceived weak links from the team, the Road Rules team continued to sacrifice Sarah Greyson from Road Rules: Campus Crawl, tossing her into five Gauntlets. Like a great underdog story, Sarah continued to win and helped Team Road Rules win in the end. This season did help to continue to establish the arcs of some fan favorite players, including Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Coral Smith, and Veronica Portillo.

8 The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II

Season 26

Like any juicy reality television program, bad break-ups and steamy hookups in the house may have lingering affects. In the second edition of this theme, The Challenge: Battle of the Exes II was quite exciting. Thirteen pairs of exes were brought together to settle their differences in hopes of their share of $350,000. The biggest twist of the season featured the Battle of the EX-iled, where eliminated teams had an opportunity to re-enter the game where the newly eliminated team battled against the previous Battle of the EX-iled winner. The season featured cast members from The Real World, Road Rules, Fresh Meat, and Are You the One?, who had a range of relationships that fans witnessed occur through the various appearances on their respective shows. While the season did have a major knock against it with Nia Moore being expelled for her verbal harassment toward her former The Real World: Portland roommate Jordan Wiseley, the season also marked the final appearances from Diem Brown and Ryan Knight, both passed away prior to the season airing. Due to their short-lived romantic alliance, Jordan and Sarah Rice were able to work exceptionally well as a team, winning the season in the end.

7 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3

Season 14

The third chapter in The Inferno trilogy was quite spicy. Filmed in the beautiful locale of Cape Town, South Africa, once again, the cast was divided up into “Good Guys” and “Bad Asses.” While the second edition of this trilogy can easily be considered one of the best in the franchise, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3 had big shoes to fill. The biggest low point of the season will forever be CT Tamburello‘s sucker punch on poor Davis Mallory, but after he was removed from the house, the game was on. The Good Guys just could not physically stack up with the Bad Ass team. The men and women were just so much stronger. While it wasn’t a full-on demolition, the result was obvious. This season was filled with a cast that continued to establish their placements in the franchise. Though this was likely the very last time anyone would ever call Johnny Bananas a “good guy.” The Challenge truly did change that man!

6 The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons (2012)

Season 23

It’s always such a thrill when fans get to see their favorites reunite, but it’s even better when the former cast mates get to play together as a team. Inspired by the theme that helped catapult the entire flagship series, The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons brought together 8 teams of 4 of (mostly) previous roommates from The Real World as they battled for a piece of the $250,000 grand prize. Team Austin reunited Danny Jamieson, Lacey Buehler, Melinda Stolp, and Wes Bergmann. Team Brooklyn reunited Chet Channon, Devyn Simon, JD Ordoñez, and Sarah Rice. Team Cancun reunited CJ Koegel, Derek Chavez, Jasmine Reynaud, and Jonna Mannion. Team New Orleans reunited Jemmye Carroll, Ryan Knight, McKenzie Coburn, and Preston Roberson-Charles. Team San Diego reunited Ashley Kelsy, Frank Sweeney, Sam McGinn, and Zach Nicols.

Team St. Thomas reunited Laura Waller, Maire Roda, Robb Schrieber, and Trey Weatherholtz. Of course, there were two caveat teams. Team Las Vegas brought together Alton Williams and Trishelle Cannatella from the first edition of The Real World: Las Vegas with Dustin Zito and Nany Gonzalez from the second edition of The Real World: Las Vegas. Team Fresh Meat was compiled as a replacement team when Team Sydney was unable to compete. Team Fresh Meat featured Brandon Nelson, Camila Nakagawa, Cara Maria Sorbello, and Eric “Big Easy” Banks. Needless to say, this season was a celebration of the show that helped make The Challenge what it is today. This season marked the return of Trishelle, creating the second chapter in her reality television career. Additionally, this was also a transitional period with new faces beginning their rise to the top.

5 The Challenge: Double Agents

Season 36

The Challenge has proven that no two seasons will ever be the same, not only because of the cast make-up, but also because the twists and turns continue to change. For The Challenge: Double Agents, it was another spy-themed season. The lingo and terminology was campy, especially when the players had to use the words in a serious manner. Regardless, the twist of the Infiltration was a welcome addition. This mechanic of Infilitration allowed the winner of the elimination challenge to select any player of the opposite gender, aside from the Double Agents, to become their new partner. This kept things spicy, forcing players to play on their toes. Now that The Challenge has invited individuals from around the world and from a smattering of different series, many of the new faces continue to find it hard to find their footing. For those who did, they became the new faces of the franchise.Tula “Big T” Fazakerley had a breakout season, establishing herself as a Challenge superstar. But it was the rookie victory from former Big Brother star Amber Borzotra, alongside legend CT Tamburello, that helped define just how unpredictable this game can be. The season was also able to prevail as it was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. That deserves praise in itself.

4 The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines

Season 27

Throughout its 39 seasons, The Challenge was determined to expand The Challenge family and bring in new blood. With Road Rules over and The Real World slowing down, the show tasked their stars to bring in their blood to battle in The Challenge‘s bloody brawls. The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines welcomes fifteen Challenge vets and their bloodlines to bring some family drama into the house. While none of the bloodlines truly broke out into too many future appearances, their time on the show provided some fabulous moments. It was a season of lots of cousins, but leave it to cousins Jenna Compono and Briana Julig to bring family drama into the Challenge house with such a petty fight. After eight tries, Cara Maria Sorbello finally got her first Challenge victory. This season was a lot of fun and refreshing having a new theme to play off. As The Challenge journeys into the next decade, this would be a welcome theme to reintroduce.

3 The Challenge: Cutthroat

Season 20

Filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, The Challenge: Cutthroat was a completely different vibe. It had a much darker theme, with the Gulag being the location where eliminations took place. This season was quite refreshing as, rather than the typical team or solo format the game had previously used, The Challenge: Cutthroat featured a three-team format that began with a draft. In each daily challenge, the winning team would be safe, and the two losing teams would be forced to send in one player from their team to compete in the Gulag. In the end, the Red Team won, with Brad Fiorenza finally earning his first Challenge on his eighth appearance on the show. The final challenge was exciting as it did see the Blue Team have two incredibly strong women, Emily Schromm from The Real World: DC and Jenn Grijalva from The Real World: Denver, as their last two competitors kept up with the other teams. What this season will forever be remembered for is the Gulag with the Heavy Hitters, CT Tamburello and Tina Barta, being brought in to face off against Johnny Bananas and Theresa Gonzalez respectfully. CT literally picked up Bananas like a banana, walking him across the dirt.

2 The Challenge: Fresh Meat II

Season 19

After the success of the first go around of Real World/Road Rules: Fresh Meat, the flagship franchise brought it back. This time with The Challenge moniker. Just like the first one, Challenge vets drafted their Fresh Meat partner following their participation in the combine.The Challenge: Fresh Meat even included a trio of former Fresh Meat, Evelyn Smith, Kenny Santucci, and Ryan Kehoe, taking on the veteran role this time around. It was a grueling season with some legendary political games coming from Kenny and Wes Bergmann. Many seasons are disregarded for occasional repetitive story lines, but this season was the origin story for two of The Challenge’s biggest names today: Cara Maria Sorbello and Laurel Stucky. While Laurel did place second with her partner Kenny, Cara only lasted a single episode. Despite being selected first in the draft by Darrell Taylor, the pair were eliminated first. Thankfully, the show took a second chance on Cara, as she was brought. And as they say, the rest is history!

1 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons (2002)

Season 5

Finding this season to re-watch may be a bit difficult, but if you do, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons was a game changer. This season completely set the bar for how The Challenge would forever be played. No longer was the show using the old format of a six on six Real World versus Road Rules challenge. The shows would be competing against one another, but with a massive twist. Now, there was a theme as sixteen pairs of two from The Real World and Road Rules battled it out for their share of a $300,000 prize. The alumni were put in teams, but the two shows competed internally to be a part of the Inner Circle. The season utilized a point system, and let’s just say, it was quite controversial! This season truly had everything. Mark Long and Eric Nies hosted. Beth Stolarczyk began her journey as a disliked player by other Challengers, and received an unfortunate nickname in the process.

There was a hurricane in Mexico that almost shut down production, but led to one of the best parties in the history of the show. Road Rules: Europe‘s Belou Den Tex BROUGHT HER BABY TO THE CHALLENGE! The Real World team made a monetary pact with the Road Rules team to split the prize at the end. Only Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour‘s Holly Brenston passed on it and walked away with nothing. But most importantly, this season gave us the budding friendship of the former The Real World: Back to New York roommates Mike Mizanin and Coral Smith. This season introduced new game play in terms of forming alliances. It established a strong sense of competitiveness. This season is essential viewing to truly understand the show that is today.

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