T. J. Lavin Would Love The Challenge To Feature Some Skateboarding And BMX Stars

In an interview with Parade, long-time "The Challenge" host and former BMX all-star T.J. Lavin talked about crossovers with the long-running show. In 2022, the popular MTV series expanded and spun off into a new show called "The Challenge: USA." The new show jumped off of cable and onto network TV to be the franchise's first CBS series. Instead of featuring competitors from MTV programming, the show starred former cast members from "Survivor," "Big Brother," "The Amazing Race," and "Love Island." The cast of "The Challenge: USA" will be crossing over and facing the casts of "The Challenge: U.K.," "The Challenge: Australia," and "The Challenge: Argentina," taking "The Challenge" global with its CBS partnership with the Paramount+ show "The Challenge: World Championship." Lavin said, "The franchise seems to be expanding instead of getting smaller."

When asked what crossovers he'd like to see Lavin said he'd like to merge his two worlds together recalling his BMX past. Lavin said, "I think it would be really cool to mix up my old life with my new one. Bring in a bunch of action sports stars to go against some of the favorites of the world. There are really awesome men and women in the world of BMX and skateboarding."

Lavin even named one of the stars he'd like to see in "The Challenge" someday. "You have guys like Jamie Toohey that are so great," he said. "So to have them come to my world now and deal with people like CT [Tamburello] and [Johnny] Bananas would be my dream. I think that would be awesome."

T.J. Lavin admitted that he'd love to see a crossover with the cast from "The Challenge: USA" and the cast from MTV's "The Challenge," having hosted both shows. He was surprised to see these competitors from other reality shows coming hard on the CBS show when playing the games. Comparing the two different types of casts, he said, "The CBS people are sweeter ... They're way more compliant and easy to work with ... But they lack a bit of the grit that the MTV cast. The MTV cast is 'punch you in the stomach' tough." Nevertheless, he'd love to see what the two casts would do in the ring together.

Since 2005, BMX legend Lavin has hosted MTV's long-running, popular series "The Challenge." What began as a competition show for MTV stars in "The Real World/Road Rules Challenge" morphed into an entity all its own. When the show originally began, it featured cast members from both MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules" and featured a slew of different hosts, but it eventually expanded to feature competitors who were not featured in either of those shows and competitors who came from other MTV reality programs.

By Season 19, the show officially rebranded to just be called "The Challenge." Lavin was the host who saw the transition go down, as he had been hosting since Season 11. He still hosts the series, and several of its own spin-offs, to this day. Lavin said of the show's long-term appeal, "There's no way I'm supposed to do all these interviews and all this stuff. I'm just a BMX dude from Vegas. And now it's still going. It's insane."