Every Season of The Challenge, Ranked: #29 — Fresh Meat

Location: Myocum, Australia

Host: TJ Lavin

Aired: 2006

Champions: Darrell and Aviv

Overall Thoughts: While this is often cited as one of the most important seasons in the history of the show — as it was the first time people who hadn’t appeared on Real World or Road Rules were cast, and it was the rookie seasons for big-time players like Wes, Kenny, Evan, Evelyn, Diem and of course the legend Jesse Stark — this season has always been middle of the road for me.

Although the competition is solid and the cast is great on paper, it’s devoid of much drama. The season completely centers around Wes, for better and worse.

With him and Casey getting thrown into five exiles and the first half of the season being about the veterans trying to get rid of the Real World: Austin cast, they could have gotten away with calling this season Wes Meat (I realize how bad of a play on words this is, but fuck it I’m still leaving it in here).

It’s interesting that The Gauntlet and Fresh Meat ended up being back-to-back in my rankings, because both those seasons are essentially Sarah vs. The World and Wes/Casey vs. The World.