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A 30-minute nervous breakdown caused by an extreme ketchup phobia – just one of the many unbelievable highlights from the latest season of MTV’s prolific hatewatch series, The Challenge.
For those unfamiliar with The Challenge, the premise is fairly straightforward: MTV picks anywhere between 20 and 36 of the most volatile people, puts them on to teams and has them compete in physical and "intellectual" challenges (the most difficult of which made competitors use the Pythagorean theorem, so...) to win enough prize money to cover a year of Northwestern tuition. Part adventure show, part social experiment, this series has enough drunken hookups, fights and emotional breakdowns to make any Friday night fraternity party look tame.
On this season of The Challenge, named Rivals II, pairs of two were put together based upon rivalries from past shows. Though this setup may just sound like a way to ensure there is as much fighting and chaos as possible – which it is to some extent – it also comes with another, surprising effect: an investment in the human relationships on the show.
In a more perfect execution of The Challenge than most previous seasons, Rivals II blends typical MTV-style drunken debauchery with elements of genuine human connection, encouraging viewers to find and appreciate the humanity of the cast. Yes, there is a lot of camera time dedicated to showing drunken hook-ups, people punching walls for no reason and even ketchup-induced breakdowns. However, there is also a good portion of the show dedicated to allowing the viewers to see some of the honest personal struggles and triumphs of the cast members.
Take their very personal view of the relationship between contestant Diem – recently in remission from her second bout with ovarian cancer – and resident bad boy CT, an ex-boyfriend who had helped her through her first round of treatment. Throughout the season, the two attempt to figure out their romantic feelings for one another as they compete for the prize money and Diem works to regain her confidence after losing her hair in chemo.
Thanks to stories like this and the many other personal relationships that develop during this season, an actual bond develops between the audience and competitors that serves as a marked improvement over the "viewers watching caged animals participating in a violent mating ritual" dynamic that defines many past seasons of The Challenge.
Further, either through luck or through careful behind-the-scenes manipulation of outcomes, this season of The Challenge also provided a sense of justice to the viewer. With (minor spoiler alert) the strongest teams being able to continuously win in the face of traditional reality show fighting and manipulation, the audience begins to trust that the best teams will be able to win, and that trust is rewarded. By the end of the season, only the best teams remain and the audience has to at least respect every finalist’s right to be there, which is a lot more than can be said about most seasons of The Challenge.
MTV didn’t reinvent the wheel with Rivals II, nor did it completely breakaway from the reality show mold, but it did manage to capture some genuine human experiences alongside the type of drunken freak-outs that only MTV can produce, making it one of the best seasons of The Challenge in recent memory and a reality TV show that’s definitely worth watching.