MTV's The Challenge is back for another season with its latest iteration, Ride or Dies. From the season premiere alone, fans knew they were in for another season where they must fight through their least favorite tropes, cliches, and all other pet peeves that come with the show and its challengers.
Redditors discovered they aren’t alone in their pet peeves as they shared their perspective on watching the show with each other, and many actually had the same issues with The Challenge.
Everyone Wants The Money
A big draw toward The Challenge is not only its acclaim as a competition show but the prize money offered to the winners. Everyone has their own reasons for competing and knows what they’d like to do with the money should they win the final.
Reddit Cmurphy gets annoyed "when people talk about how bad they need the money, and how that should somehow influence voting or strategy." They explained, "Somebody's bank should not be taken into for the game.” It’s uncomfortable to compare the reasons each competitor needs money. Targeting previous winners simply for the amount of money they’ve won, instead of the threat they pose as a competitor shouldn’t be taken into in voting.
Show The Entire Elimination
With a major focus of the series being eliminations, whether it’s about who will compete or how people are trying to avoid going in, it feels weird as an audience member to miss what seems like so much of the elimination itself. This is especially true when The Challenge eliminations are difficult to watch.
NattyB believes one of the most frustrating parts of watching The Challenge is the “jump cut edits during eliminations." The Redditor added, "They could at least put the unedited eliminations up online.” Showing fans what they were missing from the CT and Jay elimination shed light on everything they’re missing out on in a typical episode.
“Underestimated” Players Never Want To Compete
Not every The Challenge player defies expectations and wins a season, so when some consider themselves “underestimated” despite never seeming to disprove people’s assumptions, it feels like they didn’t earn the title.
ICareAboutThings25 writes about this because they’re frustrated when “weak” players call themselves greatly underestimated but are “clearly terrified at the notion of going into elimination. If you’re such a great contestant, why are you so terrified of eliminations? Is it because you aren’t underestimated.” If some of these players just proved themselves in a challenge or elimination, they wouldn’t be in this position.
Helping And Cheering Are Different
One major point of contention among The Challenge’s audience is whether competitors should be allowed to help someone in an elimination from the sideline. This is especially an issue when it comes to puzzle-based eliminations.
KerryUSA points to this as their major pet peeve with the show when players are “helping vs. cheering during eliminations from the sideline.” Most anyone agrees that cheering for a competitor is completely fair game. However, some think helping is an unfair advantage when an elimination should be solely a competitor vs. a competitor, ensuring the best player that night wins.
Stop Cutting Final Checkpoints
While some finals seem grueling and are easily some of The Challenge's most difficult finals because of how much is shown to the audience, not all finals are televised the same. With each season building toward a final and all the work the crew and competitors go through to complete a final, the audience wants to see everything they can.
SarahKelper discusses this saying they didn’t understand why some finals seemed so easy compared to previous ones until “it came out that they just didn't televise certain portions of the final, and THAT’S why it looked so much easier.”
Everyone Is There For Themselves
One thing some audience can’t get over is expertly described by Careful_Swan3830 as they write, “When someone accuses another competitor of ‘being out for themselves.’ Like, who are they supposed to be out for? It’s a competition. You’re all trying to win the big prize.”
At the end of the day, not everyone can be Nelson who’s willing to jeopardize his own game by going into elimination to save his best friend. Everyone has to look out for themselves, so using one player prioritizing their best interest as a reason to target them seems unfair.
Playing A “Scared Game”
Of all the phrases that seem to return season after season, some competitors never seem to avoid the claims they’re playing a “scared game” by trying to avoid elimination. This especially comes to a head in seasons where to make a final, a player must qualify through eliminations.
Annoyed by this, s best players for avoiding eliminations and winning seasons, it feels hypocritical for others to be attacked for the same strategy.
There Can’t Be This Many Snakes
While The Challenge may have had some of the best villains on The Challenge throughout its seasons, Redditors can’t help but think that the term “snake” is wildly overused. Especially after Dirty 30 where every player had been known to be “snakey” or conniving when it comes to the game.
Kittenghosts was the first to mention this saying, “I hate the overuse of ‘snake’ and contestants getting butthurt because other contestants are playing the game.” Not only is snake overused, but some feel like any kind of secretive dealings that benefit one player’s game is just a part of The Challenge, making it hard to be upset by these actions.
Layups Think They’re Perfect Strategists
Silliestpuddy spoke their truth regarding their pet peeve, saying it’s easily “when layups think they’re there because they have a great social game.” Although there are rare exceptions to this rule, like the self-aware Devin, overall, this applies consistently throughout each Challenge.
While layups may be determined by which show someone is originally from or physical size, typically, a single layup player is selected to be carried through the series for an easy elimination later on. However, Redditors can't stand it when layups can’t see this is why they’re still in the game and give themselves more credit than they deserve.
Some Things Just Shouldn’t Be A Surprise
One of the most obnoxious moments on The Challenge is when a newer player is surprised by certain types of challenges. Most often, they’re shocked by a heights over water challenge or puzzles, which have been around for nearly the entire series.
Glitterandvinegar commented, “Honestly, it’s the general not knowing how the show works. You’re afraid of heights AND water??" The Redditor added, "Same goes for the people who still somehow don’t know what tangrams are. Just get an app or something dude.” Players will never be able to train for twists in the game, but heights, swimming, eating, and puzzles can be expected every season.
