Every Season of The Challenge, Ranked: #2 — The Inferno

Location: Acapulco, Mexico

Host: Dave Mirra

Aired: 2004

Champions: Road Rules (Timmy, Abram, Darrell, Veronica, Holly, Christena, Kendal and Katie)

Overall Thoughts: While I’m a big fan of several of the “OG” seasons of The Challenge, no season makes me more nostalgic than The Inferno.

Only the second season with eliminations, the show was still trying to figure out the format in season eight. Some of the daily challenges were goofy, the eliminations were Fear Factor-esque, and it was still possible for men to face women in eliminations (although most of the eliminations didn’t give either gender a real advantage).

But the flaws of the season don’t matter to me at all.

I don’t think there’s a season in Challenge history that derives more joy from watching the cast and the game play out than The Inferno.

With an iconic cast and more memorable moments than almost any season, The Inferno is still a joy to watch nearly 20 years later.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Julie trying to kill Veronica in the opening Grope the Rope mission