The Challenge has changed a lot throughout the years.
But one former cast member is looking for MTV to throw it all the way back.
Mark Long, who has appeared in the first Road Rules, as well as some of the earlier seasons of The Challenge, wants MTV to produce a season featuring original stars.
Long won the show two times and has a lot of fans.
After seemingly exiting the franchise in 2012, he has a pitch for a special season that would film a season in the U.S. across two weeks.
Currently, seasons film across two to three months and typically take the challengers to other parts of the world, something that might be difficult for some of the veteran cast members.
With families and careers, leaving everything behind for over two months is not something that everyone can agree to.
“How bout an ALL OLD SCHOOL #2week Challenge instead? No ‘Stars’ needed. Would y’all watch that? Me, Lando, Darrell, Rachel etc etc etc,” Mark shared after a fan asked him to join a season featuring other champions.
Mark followed that up by tweeting the production company behind the series, asking them to talk to the bigwigs at MTV about his pitch.
He then shared screenshots of conversations with some of the most popular players in franchise history, and they are seemingly on board for the concentrated season.
Rachel Robinson, Veronica Portillo, Darrell Taylor, Susie Meister, Eric Nies, Syrus Yarbrough, Coral Smith, Ruthie Alcaide, Emily Schromm, and Landon Lueck are some of the names who seem interested in returning to the show.
With several cast members all agreeing to return, it appears that it will all come down to whether MTV would order such a season.
The series is now considerably different from its earlier seasons, but having a season full of people from the early days could work out for the network.
Additionally, the next season of The Challenge is in doubt due to it supposedly filming outside the U.S.
Fans commented with their excitement that such a project could become a thing.
“I would definitely watch. Does MTV own the rights to anything affiliated with “the challenge”? I think it would be a lot better if you guys could get it on a streaming platform, like Netflix, Prime, YouTube, etc. Of the langue was uncensored it would be epic,” said one fan.
“Please….save 2020 with this,” added another.
Airing this season as an event could help draw in some solid viewership. The Challenge is currently MTV’s #2 show, with the series delivering stellar ratings in its Wednesdays at 8/7c slot.
The Challenge Season 35 airs Wednesdays at 8//7c.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.