The Challenge: USA

And I am here for it! As a long time survivor, and challenge fan I'm excited for what devilish ideas TJ has up his sleeve. Going to be some great, low stress, and fun content to watch this summer.

Can a show be more boring. The first episode I did not care who won or how. Seemed all they cared about was socializing. Unbelievably stupid show. And the host is supposed to be a genius? He is a genius at somehow keeping this awful show on TV. Watched because I love Survivor. Take some lessons from that show, please. Will not be watching another episode.

Season one was sort of clear cut and enjoyable to watch, but the finale and it's rules were horrendous. How can one person get to "time out" of a challenge puzzle and then get to move on after 30 minutes, but another person on a different puzzle must solve their puzzle? And to throw a random puzzle that most people don't know how to play into an ATHLETIC challenge was just rigged.

Season 2 is very confusing. I watched about 30 minutes of drama and chat and about 7 minutes of actual "Challenge" type action. The rest was commercials. For some reason just because you were on Big Brother, now makes you a Challenge type athlete. It's hard to watch.

I have never seen the original "Challenge" but I was drawn to the "Challenge: USA" spin-off mainly because of the participation of several "Survivor" players. The show seems to be a chaotic blend of social, strategic, and physical elements from other game / reality shows such as "Survivor" (duh), "Big Brother", and "Fear Factor". To be honest, strategically it doesn't measure up to "Survivor" and the challenges, although enjoyable, are not as outrageous as those of "Fear Factor", but the show is fun anyway, and because soooooo many factors go into lasting long and ultimately winning, from skills to social play to pre-game bonds to just pure luck, it is very unpredictable. There are also some clever editing tricks. Beware that it does spoil many previous "Challenge" seasons, though, so if you want to get into that show from the beginning, this is not a good starting point by any means; if you are more of a "Survivor" fan looking to expand your horizons, it is. 7/10.

I tuned in because I love Survivor. I will not be tuning in again. Tyson - and maybe Danny - are the only contestants saving this show from becoming unwatchable. Big Brother and Love Island are notorious for casting people that are vapid and fickle. The lowbrow drama they bring to the episodes seems forced, and the quality of the shows is rather cheap and amateurish overall.