Since CBS’ The Challenge: USA arrived as a spinoff of MTV’s competition show, debates have started about the show’s difficulty compared to other reality TV competition shows.
A hot take arrived last week courtesy of former Survivor winner Tyson Apostol, saying his daughter asked whether Survivor or The Challenge was harder, and he told her it was the CBS show.
While he wasn’t necessarily responding to Tyson’s comments, Wes Bergmann has some thoughts about that, providing his hot take while talking with his friend and castmate, Devin Walker.
Wes, a two-time Challenge winner and recent All Stars 3 champion, appeared as a guest on the debut of Devin’s new podcast with Vegas Insider called Bet on Devin.
During the podcast’s premiere episode, Wes talked about several topics related to their reality TV show, including him naming his four all-time worst Challenge competitors in the show’s history. Funny enough, he put Devin on his “Mount Crapmore.”
He also brought up the comparisons between Survivor and The Challenge, even mentioning there have been former Survivor stars on MTV’s show, and none have made the final yet.
Wes comments on The Challenge vs. Survivor difficulty
While on Devin’s podcast recently, Wes spoke about his viral tweet about The Challenge: USA stars complaining about the living conditions on the show. He elaborated about what he meant with that, saying it came about after seeing some comments from a guy named Leo on Reddit or elsewhere.
Wes went on to say his tweet wasn’t directed at anyone from Survivor, as he wasn’t comparing them being starved on a beach or living outside to what the living conditions are like on The Challenge. However, he gave his hot take that MTV’s show is the tougher of the two.
“The overall difficulty of The Challenge is definitely more difficult than Survivor,” Wes stated in his comments, adding, “I get that their living condition is harder and getting starved is very challenging.”
“When you add in how much harder our games are- and it’s not like the living conditions inside of [The Challenge] house are good. We’re in prison,” he said regarding the show.
Wes also joked that some cast members on The Challenge had been in prison before, and even they said the show “is much harder than prison.”
He mentioned that there have been Survivor people on MTV’s show, and “they haven’t lasted very long” and “haven’t even experienced the final yet.”
Wes said of the Survivor stars that have done MTV’s The Challenge, many say, “Ok, I kinda get it. This is harder.”
He brought up another good point regarding the “living conditions” on MTV’s show: the cast members are experienced at making things “miserable” for others in the game mentally.
Devin added that he didn’t necessarily consider it “bullying” as much as a “mental warfare” tactic some cast members use in the game.
MTV’s The Challenge began featuring Survivor stars several seasons ago, including Jay Starrett on Total Madness, Natalie Anderson on Double Agents, and then Michaela Bradshaw, Tommy Sheehan, and Michelle Fitzgerald on the Spies, Lies & Allies season.
Of those competitors, none have reached the final, with early exits due to eliminations or, in the case of Natalie, an unforeseen medical situation as she discovered she was pregnant while competing in the show’s early episodes.
It’s been entirely different with The Challenge: USA, as the spinoff featured stars from Amazing Race, Big Brother, Love Island, and Survivor, with the island survival show’s stars running the game due to their strong alliance.
Wes wants The Challenge to feature the best competitors
In further elaborating on his viral tweet regarding living conditions, Wes said he wouldn’t mind The Challenge production improving the overall living conditions. However, he wants to ensure he’s surrounded by other cast members who love the game and aren’t there for money and fame.
“I would rather be there with all people that are there to play the coolest game in the world hard rather than people that are there for the wrong reasons,” he told Devin.
“If making the living conditions harder is what filters out the wrong people, then I’m all for it,” Wes said, explaining if the show had extravagant living conditions, there would be too many people there just trying to get famous by being on TV.
He went on to say that The Challenge can make people wealthy and be a “springboard” to other opportunities beyond the show, but said it needs to be “one tool of many in your belt.”
As many viewers saw with Paramount Plus’ The Challenge: All Stars 3, Wes was among some of the best all-time in the show’s history. The spinoff’s third season featured only former finalists and included multi-time champions Mark Long, Darrell Taylor, Derrick Kosinski, Jordan Wiseley, and Veronica Portillo.
Wes became one of the spinoff season’s two winners, alongside Jonna Mannion, with them splitting $500,000 at the end of the final.
Check out the full episode of Bet on Devin below, as Wes speaks about other topics related to The Challenge, his business, and sports.
The Challenge Season 38 is TBA for MTV. The Challenge: USA finale airs Wednesday, September 14, at 9/8c on CBS.