‘The Challenge: USA’ Cast Includes 6 Former CBS Champions
The Challenge franchise is expanding again this summer with the new CBS series The Challenge: USA. But for the first time since the show’s debut, the cast is filled with competitors who have never played the game before.
However, fans of Survivor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and Love Island will still be very familiar with most players because the cast list includes six former CBS champions.
‘The Challenge: USA’ will have a new kind of cast that fans have never seen before
For the first time in his career hosting The Challenge, TJ Lavin had to deal with an entire cast who had never played the game before. He says that watching the players blossom and figure things out was “awesome.”
In addition to being Challenge rookies, most of the contestants are a bit older than fans are used to seeing on the MTV flagship. And Lavin found that “very interesting to watch.”
“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,” Lavin told Parade Magazine.
“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.”
The new spinoff includes 6 former CBS champions
Joining Lavin this summer for The Challenge: USA is a star-studded cast of 28 contestants that includes six former CBS champions from Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother, and Love Island.
- Xavier Prather, Winner — Big Brother Season 23
- Tyson Apostol, Winner — Survivor Season 27
- Ben Driebergen, Winner — Survivor Season 35
- Sarah Lacina, Winner — Survivor Season 34
- Justine Ndiba, Winner — Love Island Season 2
- James Wallington, Winner — The Amazing Race Season 32
The rest of the cast includes former Survivor castaways Domenick Abbate, Tasha Fox, Danny McCray, Shan Smith and Desi Williams. Former Big Brother houseguests David Alexander, Azah Awasum, Alyssa Lopez, Tiffany Mitchell, Enzo Palumbo, Angela Rummans, Derek Xiao and Kyland Young are also competing.
Amazing Race alums Cayla Platt and Leo Temory will be in the cast. Along with Love Island stars Cashel Barnett, Kyra Green, Melvin “Cinco” Holland Jr., Cashay Proudfoot, Javonny Vega, Shannon St. Clair and Cely Vazquez.
TJ Lavin says ‘Survivor’ contestants are ‘best equipped’ to handle ‘The Challenge: USA’
With none of the contestants having any experience on The Challenge, Lavin said it was interesting to see which CBS reality stars were “best equipped” to handle the tough competition. After watching it all play out, Lavin believes that Survivor contestants are the ones who can handle it best “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,” Lavin noted.
“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.”
The Challenge: USA premieres July 6 on CBS.
