When it comes to The Challenge OGs, a familiar face from many of the old school seasons of MTV’s show is Julie Stoffer, who initially debuted on The Real World: New Orleans.
She appeared in five seasons of the competition series before seeming to vanish from people’s radars, much like many MTV OGs. However, she’s now returning to TV screens as part of a third season of The Real World Homecoming on Paramount Plus, where she’ll reunite with her RW castmates.
Curiously, the former Challenge winner wasn’t part of the cast of any of the All Stars spinoff seasons, which are also on Paramount Plus. Julie recently opened up about that during a podcast appearance, explaining she was “bummed” she couldn’t be in the spinoff but explained the reasons for it.
Julie Stoffer explains why she wasn’t in first All Stars cast
Last year, Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: All Stars officially arrived, bringing back a cast of popular reality TV stars from MTV’s The Real World, Road Rules, and Fresh Meat shows. Among them were Mark Long, Eric “Big Easy” Banks, Trishelle Cannatella, Katie Cooley, Darrell Taylor, and Aneesa Ferreira.
The cast had individuals missing that some fans may have hoped to see, including Real World star Julie Stoffer. While appearing on the Mike Lewis Podcast, she explained she originally received texts from castmate Mark Long which got her excited to return.
Julie said she was “really excited about TV stuff” for the first time in a long time, saying she was ready to participate in the first season, even undergoing intense three-hour gym sessions ahead of the show.
“I was going to the gym, and I was getting ready, and I signed my contract, and I was ready to go, and then at the last minute, they just changed their mind,” she said, adding she was initially upset but understands that it happens.
Julie said she knows they “want to make a good cast,” While she isn’t sure who took the spot over her, she mentioned it may have been Aneesa.
“It was probably someone better than me. Someone that had been on more Challenges,” she told Mike Lewis, adding, “But they did say, we’ll have you on the next one, don’t worry.”
Julie wanted to appear in The Challenge: All Stars 2 or 3 seasons
The first season of The Challenge: All Stars came and went without Julie in the cast, and it was revealed there would be a second season. This time around, Julie explained she couldn’t be in the cast due to the timing of filming.
She said that around the time of All Stars 2, she also started getting calls about The Real World Homecoming for her season.
“By now, I was excited to go on All Stars, so I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll go on Homecoming,'” Julie said about the project. “But I did say to them, ‘You know that I’d much rather go on the Challenge.'”
“Basically, I was gonna go on the next [All Stars], but then Homecoming was going to conflict. So they were like, ‘But don’t worry, there’s a third All-Stars,'” she explained.
Unfortunately, Julie says the big hurricane that hit New Orleans prevented her from appearing in the All Stars 3 season.
“I don’t know if you remember this, but there was this big hurricane, and because of that, the whole production got pushed, and you know, the end of this story, it got pushed during the filming of the third All Stars,” she said about Homecoming.
Julie said she doesn’t know if she’ll ever get to go on an All Stars spinoff season. Although she said she’s “bummed” about it, she gets it and feels “lucky” she got to go on any of The Challenge seasons, let alone appear in more of them than some people have.
Fans will get to see Julie’s return with the rest of her cast from The Real World: New Orleans on Homecoming, with many hoping that All Stars continues with more seasons and finally gets the MTV OG in the cast.
The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans premieres April 20 on Paramount Plus. The Challenge: All Stars 3 premieres on May 11 on Paramount Plus.