The Challenge has become a staple show in the reality television industry. The iconic franchise has been airing as part of the MTV lineup for decades, and is rapidly approaching the 41st season. Thhe show has taken a unique approach to casting, by selecting constants from many other reality television shows, including The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother, Amazing Race, Love Island, Too Hot to Handle, and more. Utilizing other series has help drive fanbases and traffic to the MTV show, which is now also available on Paramount+. Let’s take a look at what to expect from the upcoming 41st season.
The Challenge 41 Features Vets Taking On New Threats
Unlike some of those other reality competition shows, The Challenge focuses pretty heavily on, as the name implies, physical challenge competition. Strategy matters, but in the end if you are a challenge beast, you can win with the entire cast hating you. That being said, historically rookies have struggled on the show, thanks to vets commonly aligning to take out as many rookies as they can early. In a way, it is seen as a bit of an “initiation”. Having half the cast of 41 being newbies, though, could set this season up to change that narrative, if they can hold their own in challenges against legends of the game.
As the name implies, the massive 32 player cast for Season 41 will be split exactly in half, with 16 Challenge veterans taking on 16 new Challenge contestants from a variety of other shows. This will be the first season of The Challenge to fully air in 2025, after Season 40 wrapped up on January 8th. It is possible that each player will be competing individually, but many seasons past have also chosen to pair players up. The official format has yet to be revealed, but it would be interesting to see a duo set-up where every vet was paired with a newbie, as it would complete change the expected strategy of targeting new players.
Of course, the cast of veterans include some of the most popular The Challenge contestents of all time, including Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, CT Tamburello, Cara Maria Sorbello, and Nany González. Not all of the veterans are longtime players, however, as Michaela Bradshaw (2 seasons), Aviv Melmed (2 seasons), Rogan O’Connor (3 seasons), and Olivia Kaiser (3 seasons) are among veterans who have played under 5 times previously. As shared by Entertainment Weekly, some of the rookie highlights include Survivor 45 winner Dee Valladares, Love Island USA villain Leonardo Dionicio, and Big Brother 25 housemates Blue Kim and America Lopez.
The Challenge 41 Full Cast List
You can check out the entire 32 player cast below. The Challenge Season 41: Vets and New Threats is set to air Wednesday, July 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. The network also has a “Day Zero” special that will release the week before on Wednesday, July 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, also on MTV. Episodes will also become available on Paramount+.
Vets:
Michaela Bradshaw (2 seasons)
Theo Campbell (4 seasons)
Derek Chavez (6 seasons)
Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio (24 seasons, 7 wins)
Aneesa Ferreira (19 seasons)
Leroy Garrett (15 seasons)
Nany González (13 seasons)
Olivia Kaiser (3 seasons)
Derrick Kosinski (14 seasons, 3 wins)
Aviv Melmed (2 seasons, 1 win)
Ashley Mitchell (10 seasons, 2 wins)
Nia Moore (5 seasons)
Rogan O’Connor (3 seasons, 1 win)
Cara Maria Sorbello (16 seasons, 2 wins)
CT Tamburello (20 seasons, 5 wins)
Turabi “Turbo” Çamkıran (4 seasons, 1 win)
New Threats:
Jake Cornish (Love Island: All Stars)
Ben Davis (Boxer)
Leonardo Dionicio (Love Island USA)
Izzy Fairthorne (Too Hot Too Handle)
Will Gagnon (Are You The One)
Justin Hinsley (Cheer)
Cedric Hodges (Big Brother 26)
Yeremi Hykel (The Amazing Race 35)
Blue Kim (Big Brother 25)
America Lopez (Big Brother 25)
Adrienne Naylor (Married at First Sight UK)
Sydney Segal (Survivor 41)
Leka Sodade (Canada’s Ultimate Challenge)
Dee Valladares (Survivor 45)
Gabe Wai (Former WWE)
Tay Wilcoxson (Big Brother Australia 15)
