Making their comeback. Season 2 of The Challenge: All Stars is here — and some of its stars haven’t been on TV in over a decade.
Sophia Pasquis and Steve Meinke, both of whom made their reality TV debuts on Road Rules: The Quest in 2001, haven’t competed since Battle of the Sexes 2 in 2005 and The Gauntlet in 2004, respectively. Now, they’re back and ready to fight.
Although many Real World: Paris stars have made it big in The Challenge world — yes, we’re looking at you, C.T. Tamburello — Leah Gillingwater only appeared on one season of the competition series in 2004, one year after her Real World stint.
However, she’s in good company. Real World: Austin vet Melinda Collins is also returning for season 2 of All Stars after taking nine years off from The Challenge — and it wasn’t an easy task.
“I think for me mentally, the game is hard because you are put into this bubble where the game is the only thing that exists and matters, the people that you live with are only people that matter,” she said on Us Weekly‘s “Watch With Us” podcast on November 4, noting that it was difficult to balance both the physical and the mental aspects of the game. “It was tough. I mean, they did not take it easy on us just because we are, you know, 30 [years old] and above! They literally were just like, ‘Oh, you want to be on The Challenge?’”
She also felt that she already had one ally walking into the game with Real World: Austin‘s Nehemiah Clark. Nehemiah is one of the many competitors who appeared on season 1 of All Stars and is back for another round after being eliminated right before the finals.
Darrell Taylor, Jonna Mannion, Katie Doyle, Kendal Darnell, Laterrian Wallace and Teck Holmes are also all returning for a second chance at winning the $500,000 prize after they came up short during season 1.
In the first season of the Paramount+ series, Yes Duffy returned to the show for the first time since Battle of the Sexes in 2003 and told Us he was “completely horrified” to reenter the game — but he ultimately found a way to win.
“A lot of them knew each other, they were roommates and stuff for many years. I didn’t know many people. I was so worried. I was underprepared in so many ways,” he said on the “Watch With Us” podcast in May. “I tried to do my homework and learn who was winning what and did what, just so I could get in a conversation with people.”
In season 2, most members of the cast are looking for a second chance to show what they’ve got.
“Sometimes you wish you’d get a do-over. This feels like that,” one female competitor can be heard saying in the first promo for the season as host TJ Lavin notes, “This season, it’s one more fight to set things right.”
The Challenge: All Stars season 2 debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, November 11.
Scroll down to see how the cast has changed through the years:
Source: US MAGAZINE
