‘The Challenge: USA’: Why TJ Lavin Thinks ‘Survivor’ Players Have the Best Chance to Win
The Challenge: USA is a spinoff of MTV’s long-running reality competition series The Challenge. Only former personalities and fan favorites from the CBS network will compete for the $500,000 grand prize and the opportunity to face off against the champs from the Australia, UK, and Argentina-based Challenges in the ultimate Global Championship. The prize for winning the Global Championship hasn’t been announced yet. In preparation for the show, premiering July 6 after Big Brother, host TJ Lavin revealed why he thinks Survivor players have the best shot at winning and named who he considered “the one to beat.”
Host TJ Lavin thinks ‘Survivor’ players have the best chance of winning
Before the inaugural season of The Challenge: USA kicked off, host TJ Lavin shared his thoughts on the CBS reality personalities who are competing.
In a YouTube video introducing the contestants known from their time on Survivor, he explained that to win the long-running competition series, players must “outwit, outplay, and outlast.”
As players must do the same to win The Challenge, TJ thinks they might perform better than contestants representing other reality shows.
He then pointed out Survivor: Blood vs. Water champ Tyson Apostol, noting he had his “eye” on him, considering the 43-year-old pickleball influencer as “the one to beat.”
Lavin named Tyson Apostol and Ben Driebergen as frontrunners for the competition
TJ thinks Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers winner Ben Driebergen is a “close second” and named Survivor 41 player Danny McCray as he’s a former NFL player.
Because he believes the Survivor players will compete, the host claimed, “I don’t think any guys from any other shows have a chance.”
In another video introducing the contestants representing Big Brother, he admitted he didn’t know how they would stack up against other players.
Pointing out that they don’t do much physically on their original show, he isn’t sure how they’ll perform. However, he did name track star Angela Rummans and collegiate soccer player Alyssa Lopez as possibilities.
‘The Challenge: USA’ cast includes ‘Big Brother,’ ‘Love Island,’ and ‘Survivor’ favorites
Enzo Palumbo (Big Brother 12, season 22 runner-up)
Angela Rummans (Big Brother 20)
David Alexander (Big Brother 21, 22)
Alyssa Lopez (Big Brother 23)
Azah Awasum (Big Brother 23)
Derek Xiao (Big Brother 23)
Kyland Young (Big Brother 23)
Tiffany Mitchell (Big Brother 23)
Xavier Prather (Big Brother 23 winner)
Cashel Barnett (Love Island 1)
Kyra Green (Love Island USA 1)
Cely Vazquez (Love Island USA 2 runner-up)
Justine Ndiba (Love Island 2 winner)
Cashay Proudfoot (Love Island 3)
Shannon St. Clair (Love Island 3)
Cinco Holland Jr. (Love Island 3)
Javonny Vega (Love Island 3)
Tyson Apostol (Survivor 18, 20, 40, season 27 winner)
Sarah Lacina (Survivor 28, 40, season 34 winner)
Tasha Fox (Survivor 28, season 31 runner-up)
Ben Driebergen (Survivor 35 winner, season 40)
Desi Williams (Survivor 35)
Domenick Abbate (Survivor 36 runner-up)
Danny McCray (Survivor 41)
Shantel Smith (Survivor 41)
Leo Temory (Amazing Race 23)
James Wallington (Amazing Race 32 winner)
Cayla Lee (Amazing Race 33 runner-up)
The Challenge: USA premieres July 6 on CBS.
