‘The Challenge’: War of the Worlds 2′: Do Contestants Get Paid for Going on the Show?
The Challenge is an MTV staple. No matter how old you are, you can probably remember certain seasons of the show being the background to your formative years. The show has gone through many iterations, from Vendettas to Battle of the Sexes to Battle of the Exes. No matter what the premise of the season is, one thing remains true. The drama never stops.
There will always be hookups, backstabbing, and all-around treachery. People are basically willing to do whatever they have to to win the money in the end.
What is this season about?
Season 34 of The Challenge is called War of the Worlds 2. This season pits stars from the US against stars from the UK in order to win the grand prize. This iteration is the first in years that has consisted of two teams playing against one another. But that’s not the only thing that makes this season different from others.
Alcohol is limited
When the show first started over a decade ago, the cast was allowed to drink as much alcohol as they wanted. But over the years, showrunner Justin Booth started limiting the cast’s choices to beer, white wine, or vodka. All of the alcohol is now dyed so that production can tell when contestants are drinking.
“When I first started some 15 years ago, the cast was allowed to drink as much as they wanted,” Booth told Entertainment Weekly. “But after one too many fights, we did away with tequila shots, and brown liquor was eradicated.”
“I’m probably one of the main reasons we can’t have whiskey in the house,” Chris ‘CT’ Tamburello told the outlet. “The Challenge in the past was more about a party. Now, it’s evolved to an action movie. You can’t screw around or someone could get seriously hurt.”
In a previous interview with Rolling Stone, he also revealed that players get fined for showing up intoxicated to challenges.
“You get fined if you show up to a challenge drunk,” he said. “You’ll probably get kicked off the show because that’s a liability. We do these crazy stunts where we’re hanging above a tall building on harnesses. You can’t be doing that if you’re drunk.”
This season is eco-friendly
As people are starting to be more conscious of the environment, the show has started to follow suit. With War of the Worlds 2, Booth wanted both the cast and crew to go greener. As a result, everyone now uses Under Armour water bottles instead of plastic bottles.
“I’m trying to get the message out that that stuff is possible and people can do it,” Booth told EW. “Everyone embraced it. The hotel where we were staying even wrote me a letter saying that they were inspired by it.”
Everyone gets paid
Unlike some reality competitions, everyone on The Challenge gets paid. How much depends on how popular the star is.
According to Us Weekly, certain players can make around $80,000 for the season. Less popular veterans make around $3,000 to $5,000 per week that they survive on the show and rookies can make about $1,000 a week.
“It’s a tiered system where people who’ve been on [before] are paid more money than people who are just starting the franchise, but everybody receives a weekly stipend,” Booth told EW.
And all of this money is in addition to their share of the prize money at the end should they win.
