The Challenge: USA

I tuned in because I love Survivor. I will not be tuning in again. Tyson - and maybe Danny - are the only contestants saving this show from becoming unwatchable. Big Brother and Love Island are notorious for casting people that are vapid and fickle. The lowbrow drama they bring to the episodes seems forced, and the quality of the shows is rather cheap and amateurish overall.

Season one was sort of clear cut and enjoyable to watch, but the finale and it's rules were horrendous. How can one person get to "time out" of a challenge puzzle and then get to move on after 30 minutes, but another person on a different puzzle must solve their puzzle? And to throw a random puzzle that most people don't know how to play into an ATHLETIC challenge was just rigged.

Season 2 is very confusing. I watched about 30 minutes of drama and chat and about 7 minutes of actual "Challenge" type action. The rest was commercials. For some reason just because you were on Big Brother, now makes you a Challenge type athlete. It's hard to watch.

Happy to see the focus on the challenges. Some of the showmances were annoying and distracting from the show and other relationships that were centered around the competition, The screaming at each other and petty jealousy seemed so planned. Bringing people back for multiple seasons is fine, but it seems to add to the make believe arguments. The competition component brings out rivalries, but they seem more genuine than past seasons. Having competitors from other shows definitely adds to the fun and watching them interact with each other is fun for those of us who watch the other programs. (Survivor, Big Brother, etc). Keep it up, CBS!

And I am here for it! As a long time survivor, and challenge fan I'm excited for what devilish ideas TJ has up his sleeve. Going to be some great, low stress, and fun content to watch this summer.

I have never seen the original "Challenge" but I was drawn to the "Challenge: USA" spin-off mainly because of the participation of several "Survivor" players. The show seems to be a chaotic blend of social, strategic, and physical elements from other game / reality shows such as "Survivor" (duh), "Big Brother", and "Fear Factor". To be honest, strategically it doesn't measure up to "Survivor" and the challenges, although enjoyable, are not as outrageous as those of "Fear Factor", but the show is fun anyway, and because soooooo many factors go into lasting long and ultimately winning, from skills to social play to pre-game bonds to just pure luck, it is very unpredictable. There are also some clever editing tricks. Beware that it does spoil many previous "Challenge" seasons, though, so if you want to get into that show from the beginning, this is not a good starting point by any means; if you are more of a "Survivor" fan looking to expand your horizons, it is. 7/10.