The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies recently aired Episode 10, which featured some big changes to the season’s format, saw allies shifting around and new team strategies come into play.
It seemed there was enough interest in what would happen to rank the show in second place overall amongst all cable programs on the night it aired.
In addition to changes to the season format, there was also less competition amongst cable programs than in recent weeks, which may have helped The Challenge Season 37 ratings out a bit.
How did The Challenge Season 37, Episode 10 perform?
Based on data from Showbuzz Daily, The Challenge placed second overall for the Wednesday, October 13 cable lineup. The only show ahead of it was Bravo’s reality series, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
RHOBH had a 0.54 rating, while The Challenge Season 37, Episode 10, finished with a rating of 0.37 amongst the key 18-49 demographic. The Challenge rating consists of a 0.44 rating for the female 18-49 demographic and a 0.30 rating for the male 18-49 demo.
In terms of viewers, reportedly, a total of 666,000 watched the latest episode of MTV’s reality competition series as it aired. The Challenge numbers were slight improvements over the previous episode’s stats, which included a 0.33 rating and 546,000 viewers.
The show may have had also some lighter competition on that particular Wednesday night. AEW’s All Elite Wrestling program, which typically ranks above MTV’s show in ratings, did not air due to an NHL hockey doubleheader on TNT.
Episode 10 brought changes to the game
Some viewers may have disliked the format of the new season, but it got some major changes in Episode 10. At first, it included host TJ Lavin telling competitors they were no longer working in pairs.
They eventually formed three new teams during the daily challenge with Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Each team consisted of six members, and TJ informed them those were the teams from now on. However, a twist came later.
One of the other complaints about The Challenge Season 37 may have been the show had too many rookies to keep track of. However, the veteran alliance made sure to eliminate a lot of them through the first nine episodes.
As of Episode 10, there were only six with Priscilla Anyabu, Emy Alupei, Logan Sampedro, Emanuel Neagu, Ed Eason, and Bettina Buchanan. By the end of the episode, it was down to five rookies, thanks to Ashley Mitchell defeating Priscilla in the elimination.
The first big twist came when Priscilla got called down as The Agency’s vote to go into elimination, as TJ informed her she could choose her opponent, except for the females from the winning team. She called out Ashley based on their previous feud involving rookies and vets.
After Ashley’s win, TJ surprised everyone when he told her she could rejoin her original team or choose to take someone’s spot on any other team. She opted to return to her best friend Amanda Garcia on her original team.
Will this twist come into play in upcoming episodes? Based on the Episode 11 synopsis that arrived online, it appears a rookie will make a bold move, which may involve the new rules or twists. In addition, a classic elimination will return to the main show.
It should be interesting to see if the episode ratings and viewer numbers continue to improve as Episode 11 officially premieres on MTV on Wednesday, October 20.
The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.