Now he’s here to usher in an entire cast of new faces to the show, as alumni from Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and Love Island compete in a series of physically and mentally grueling competitions and eliminations in the hopes of coming out on top with not only a cash prize and the title of Challenge Champion, but also a spot on an upcoming global showdown with the winners from the British, Australian, and Argentinian versions of the same game. Read on for our interview with T.J. Lavin, currently filming the 38th season of The Challenge in Argentina. He previews the differences between the CBS and MTV versions of the show, who he’d like to see cross over to the main series, his ideal theme for the upcoming season 40 of The Challenge, and more. The Challenge: USA premieres with a special 90-minute episode on Wednesday, July 6 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. After that, it will settle into its normal time slot of 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me! I know you’re up to your neck in The Challenge at this point between All-Stars 3 airing its finale next week and The Challenge: USA starting on the same day. Yeah, this CBS thing is amazing. I love The Challenge: USA and how we did it.We actually filmed it here in Argentina as well. So I’ve been here since March. I’m still living here as we speak; we’re filming season 38. So it’s going really well. And it’s just the franchise seems to be expanding instead of getting smaller. Most series chill and tend to go a little bit more relaxed. And this one just cranks the volume. It’s crazy. What was your first reaction when you found out about this show? The Challenge is no stranger to having people from CBS reality on it. But this still feels like a different beast than what we see on MTV. Well, I really didn’t have any idea that it was as big as it is. I really didn’t, I swear. I didn’t even realize it during the first week of shooting. The first time I realized it was really big was when I came out and saw them for the first time. And I saw the cast, and I was like, “These people are real stars.” They all look fashionable. These are some very beautiful people! (Laughs.) On the MTV show, we get into crashes, and we’ve got scars on our faces, and we do our thing. But these people took me aback. I was like, “Alright, we got a party going on!” What’s interesting is we’re not going to see any CBS alumni who were on the MTV show cross over to The Challenge: USA. For the first time since the very first season, we’re dealing with a cast that has never played the game before. What was it like watching them try to figure things out as they went? It was awesome to see them blossom. Some of them come from really hard shows. Survivor for instance, is a difficult situation, I think. I don’t know; I’ve never been on it. But I do know that they have to survive, and they have to do certain things. I don’t think their challenges are quite up to our level. But it’s definitely difficult to survive, right. And so that is a show I have a lot of respect for. I feel like there are a lot of difficult situations that they’re in on that show. And so, I felt they wouldn’t have the best chance at crossing over quickly. But surprisingly, they all did really well. Love Island was actually coming correct! (Laughs.) All they had to do was go on a show and fall in love. On Big Brother, they just had to deal with each other in a house, which is a very big key to this show as well. Not only are you competing, but there’s a lot of politics that you have to be good at. Those are the kinds of things I paid attention to. So that being said, which of the four shows do you think is best equipped for a game like The Challenge?Survivor. I would say just because of the grit. When you get down and dirty, it’s going to be a miserable time. That’s what it takes to be in a final. All the challenges throughout the entire season are tough. But the final challenge will take you beyond yourself and beyond what you think is possible for you to survive. And Survivor players are most equipped to do that. A fair amount of these contestants are also a bit older than the ones we typically see on The Challenge proper. And we’ve been seeing on All-Stars how much age can affect how you view the game. What has been your thought on seeing contestants with so much life experience play the game compared to younger players? I actually love it when older players are in there because they usually do really well. They take up the father role, but they’re manipulating the situation behind the scenes. It’s like CT or Bananas, heavy hitters on our show. They usually take up the situation and use the politics and emotional stuff to their benefit because they’ve been there before. It’s something very interesting to watch. The skill level of some of these older dudes is next level. Their agility and balance, and cardio. You start taking yourself a little more seriously at 40. You start taking care of your body and start running and start doing things to try and keep your health up. In your 20s and 30s, you’re just born with it, and you’re lucky, and you’re young, and who cares. But when you’re older, you start taking care of yourself a little better. Now, while these are brand new players to The Challenge, it’s not to say they don’t come in with some relationships from their own shows. Did those end up bearing out in the game, or was it a different beast entirely? Mostly, it was “new day, new game.” No one really brought in any vendettas. There was a little bit of something, a little bit of somebody stealing somebody’s boyfriend or something happened. And I think that might have played a little bit out in the house. But nothing else really showed up in the challenges. Did that surprise you at all? Yeah! (Laughs.) I mean, they were all like deer in headlights at the first challenge. They were all taken aback, like, “Oh my God, what did we sign ourselves up for?” What would you say was the main difference between filming these CBS and MTV versions? Well, I would say as a whole, the CBS people are sweeter. They’re nicer; they’re cooler. They’re way more compliant and easy to work with. They are just so kind and so nice. But they lack a bit of the grit that the MTV cast. The MTV cast is “punch you in the stomach” tough. They are really, really tough. Of course, there are exceptions. A few of the people on the CBS side were really tough as well. There is your Sarah [Lacina] of the world, and she’s really tough and really great. Some of the people you see in the CBS show are very beautiful, but they’re also very tough. But the MTV side is just a little bit tougher and a little bit more gritty. On that note, was there anyone from the CBS version that you would like to see cross over to eventually be on the MTV version? Yes, there were a few that I would love to see. I really loved Sarah; I thought she was awesome. Ben was really cool. Alyssa would be great. She’s a real challenger. Se gets in there and does it. Tyson was awesome. There are some really great players. Wat did you think about the general concept of a world championship of The Challenge happening? It’s insane. It really is. There’s something that I could have never expected in a million years. And I can’t believe I’m even sitting here talking to you now. It really is a dream. There’s no way I’m supposed to do all these interviews and all this stuff. I’m just a BMX dude from Vegas. And now it’s still going. It’s insane. Well, speaking of what comes next, it won’t be long before we’ve reached season 40 of The Challenge proper. Is there a theme you would want to do if you had the keys to the kingdom for such a milestone season? I think it would be really cool to mix up my old life with my new one. Bring in a bunch of action sports stars to go against some of the favorites of the world. There are really awesome men and women in the world of BMX and skateboarding. You have guys like Jamie Toohey that are so great. So to have them come to my world now and deal with people like CT and Bananas would be my dream. I think that would be awesome. Next, here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Big Brother 24.
