The Challenge: Untold History - Limited Series Documentary

The Challenge: Untold History - A limited 6 episode series detailing how The Challenge started and evolved over the years. 
This limited series aired over 3 weeks, 2 one hour episodes before The Challenge 38 premiere.


Season 1 Episode 1 - Dawn of an Empire - September 21, 2022
Shows the history and of the Challenge, the episode has a timeline and subtly shows what is happening in the world during the times the seasons are filmed.

Seeing younger versions of the cast is a bit mind boggling. There are interviews with lots of the cast and producers from over the years. Veronica is a good interviewer and listening to her explain how the game strategy evolved in interesting. 


Season 1 Episode 2 - Evolution of the Empire - September 21, 2022
First part covers TJ's crash at the DEW BMX competition in Las Vegas. The man was hurt and they show him learning how to walk again, how to count money, how to tie a shoelace. They showed TJ returning as the host of the Challenge but you could see that he still had trouble walking and talking.

Then the episode shows the evolution of the competition side of the show, going from a team format and no voting out, to teams voting out members. The original show was based on teams from The Real World and Road Rules but once those shows stopped filming how to you keep it fresh? You get Fresh Meat and later folks from Are You The One? Interesting notes from the producers that initially the cast hated it, or the fans hated it. The evolution of the game format from teams to pairs based on the cast relationships such as rivals or exs to the cast and location based on the theme of the season like Dirty 30 or War of the Worlds. What I like was that we are getting comments from the cast, producers, set designers, writers and some superfans.

They got an interview from Landon Lueck. I did not recognize him at all. He is 43 yrs old and he looks totally different.


Season 1 Episode 3 - Against All Odds - September 28, 2022
A list of the underdogs with interviews and clips includes Sarah Greyson, Derrick K, Cara Maria, Devyn Simone and others. The behind the scenes with Devyn climbing the volcano was very interesting as was the interview with Sarah Greyson. There was a bit about Leroy and how his loyalty to Bananas always interfered with his game. I never thought Leroy was any kind of a competitor because I never saw him make any game moves to benefit his game. Most times Leroy was on I honestly forget he was on the season as he basically was Bananas friend and did what ever Bananas wanted which is one reason I always laughed at his confessions saying he was a good competitor. Really? Aren't you just Bananas sacrificial lamb?


Season 1 Episode 4 - The GOATS - September 28, 2022
The Greatest of All Time - includes CT, Bananas, Aneesa, Cara Maria. Interesting that Cara Maria made both "Against All Odds" and "The GOATS". The ending scenes were between CT and Bananas. Most poignant was seeing Bananas taking the money from Sarah Rice to CT and Kaycee sharing their million dollars with the other teams. 


Season 1 Episode 5 - Love Is Not A Game - October 05, 2022
There were big segments with Jemmye and Knight and Diem and CT. I always felt Knight was a douche and did not treat Jemmye well. I was not surprised he died from all the drinking and drugs he was doing. There was Johnny Bananas and Casey. The Miz had a romance on all five of the seasons he was on. Leroy and Kam ended the episode. I did like that they went deeper and behind the scenes on their relationship. Leroy admits that when he came on to the show all he wanted to do was "bang as many girls as possible". Kam said that was the problem with their relationship is that Leroy wanted to be with her but also act as if he was single and going out and hooking up with other women. It wasn't until Kam started flirting with Theo that Leroy realized how much he really like Kam and that was more then being with other women. The episode ended with a photo of Leroy and Kam's son, Kingston. 


Season 1 Episode 6 - Expect The Unexpected - October 05, 2022
Showing moments like Jordan flipping all the cards and sending himself into elimination against Bananas. The Wes and Bananas rivalry and friendship. Luv CT's comment that this was a show and those two knew it and knew how to give a show. I would like to see Wes and Bananas in a final but that is unlikely.
There was a segment with Amanda and Zach, per Amanda the minute Amanda started hanging out with Ashley Zach became the foul mouthed person we all detest. I hate it when folks throw away their game for friendship, in this case Bananas and Tony and Hunter and Ashley for being stubborn/pride. For my game I would not want a 7 time winner in the finale with me. Lets face it Bananas would have thrown in Amanda and Zach without blinking an eye. 

The last segment was the Hunter/Ashley winning the final and Ashley taking the money. TJ commented that Bananas taking the money from Sarah Rice was "disgusting", but Ashley taking the money from Hunter was "crazy". When Ashley accuses Hunter of calling her a slut and saying he will go after her and her family Hunter denied he called her a slut but he never denied he would have gone after her or her family. I don't blame Ashley for taking the money but was fun was seeing all the other cast in saying that it was something she would do. Ashley commented that she was sure that Hunter would have taken the money from her that is why she took it from him.