The Challenge - The One Thing Contestants Would Rather Do Than Party In The House
While MTV's "The Challenge" is primarily a competition show determining its winners through tough physical contests, its participants also reside together in a shared house, injecting the life of its castmates with a certain "Big Brother" element. While its competitors enjoy having a good time together at their shared home, more popular than partying is spending time at the gym. This is ultimately unsurprising considering that physical fitness is paramount to coming out on top of their competition.
Producer Dan Caster discussed the importance of the gym to the "Challenge" house in an interview with E! News. "It's just such a strong device for them to go and work out and to become physically fit so they can continue to compete and win," he said. "They help each other with whatever areas they want to grow in."
The fact that the gym takes precedence over any other space in the house doesn't mean that competitors don't enjoy letting loose, but simply that winning seems to be the priority for most cast members. That said, there are certain limits on just how wild contestants can get as long as they're actively appearing on TV.
Access to alcohol is limited
Perhaps likewise contributing to the fact that contestants on "The Challenge" would apparently rather lift weights than play drinking games is a limit of sorts on alcohol consumption. Cara Maria Sorbello revealed the extent to which competitors can drink in an interview with Us Weekly after competing on multiple seasons, some of which she won.
"It's distributed conservatively," Sorbello said after revealing that castmates can only drink beer, wine, and vodka per producers' discretion. In fact, the vodka is colored blue to prevent anyone from sneaking it into another receptacle and claiming that it's water. The producers, Sorbello explained, don't want anyone to become belligerent after drinking too much. On nights outside the house these same rules still apply, and alcohol from bars or clubs comes at its purchaser's own expense.
Sorbello also mentioned that those who tend to drink on nights before competing don't typically make it to the notoriously gnarly finales. This tidbit helps explain the popularity of the gym at the "Challenge" house — the further along a season progresses, the fewer partiers remain, whereas fitness-inclined competitors are more likely to stick around for the long haul.