The Challenge Season 38 continues to roll along on MTV with low ratings and viewers, possibly signaling low interest in the show after several spinoffs aired in the previous months. There’s also plenty of competition from other programs.
MTV’s 38th season, known as Ride or Dies, features a group of returning veteran cast members, including former champions Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran, Laurel Stucky, Jordan Wiseley, and Johnny Bananas.
Other vets featured in the cast included Spies, Lies & Allies winner Kaycee Clark and finalists Devin Walker, Tori Deal, and Nany Gonzalez.
A new group of rookies also joined the show, two of which have seemingly impressed host TJ Lavin and castmates early in their Challenge debut.
However, it hasn’t been enough to generate much interest in the show for the first few episodes, compared to previous seasons of The Challenge.
This report will contain some spoilers for Episode 2 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies.
Low ratings continue for Ride or Dies season
According to Showbuzz Daily, the Wednesday, October 19 episode of MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies scored a 0.20 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was 0.02 lower than the premiere episode.
Season 38’s second episode had 422,000 viewers during its 8 p.m. Eastern Time slot, which was also slightly lower than the premiere episode.
MTV’s show ranked at No. 15 among cable telecasts for the evening. Major League Baseball took the top spot during the 8 p.m. ET slot. Game 1 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros aired at 7:30 p.m. ET but extended beyond The Challenge’s air time.
The MLB game pulled in nearly 5.5 million viewers and scored a rating of 1.34 in the 18-49 demographic. Coming in fifth for the evening was another reality TV program, Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, with a 0.43 rating and 1.43 million viewers.
As mentioned in a previous report about Ride or Dies’ premiere episode ratings, The Challenge is also airing opposite a new season of Survivor. The popular reality TV show airs on CBS in the same time slot as MTV’s The Challenge. Survivor had over 4.9 million viewers and a 0.42 rating for this past Wednesday’s episode.
Ride or Dies Episode 2 featured the first full episode featuring veterans Bananas and Nany, who won the daily challenge to seize power in the game.
There was also an impressive display during the daily by rookies Horacio Gutierrez and Olivia Kaiser. Later, the duo ousted Turbo and his teammate Tamara Alfonso from the game in the episode’s elimination.
The Challenge has more spinoffs on the way
A possible reason for Ride or Dies’ low ratings and viewers could be Challenge fatigue. While many viewers may be worn out from recent spinoff shows, The Challenge: All Stars 3 on Paramount+ and The Challenge: USA on CBS, more spinoff shows are on the way.
Monsters and Critics previously reported about The Challenge global tournament cast rumors, including which men and women will participate in the tournament to crown the first-ever world champions.
It’s already known that the winners of CBS’ Challenge spinoff, Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina, are in the tournament. Several former champions from MTV’s The Challenge and other international reality stars from different Challenge spinoffs are joining them.
Online rumors suggest that particular spinoff show begins filming in the coming months, which likely means the tournament episodes will hit Paramount Plus sometime in early 2023.
Along with that, Monsters and Critics also reported on The Challenge: All Stars 4 rumors. Several fan favorites appeared to get calls to appear in the spinoff show’s fourth season, which is expected to film in early 2023.
With that in mind, there won’t be any shortage of The Challenge for viewers, but one has to wonder if this will continue to hurt the main MTV show’s overall numbers.
The Challenge: Ride or Dies airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.