The Challenge USA Season 2 Predictions: Who Will Take Home The Title?

Dubbed "America's fifth major sport" by sportswriter Bill Simmons, "The Challenge: USA" premiered on August 10, at 10 p.m. EST for its second season on CBS. But to be clear, these contestants aren't competing for love of country — this is a game of glory and self-interest.

"The Challenge" premiered on MTV in 1999 under the moniker "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" and has since seen seven shows staggered across four countries and three networks — MTV, CBS, and Paramount+. This makes the series — and its spinoffs — America's best option for an all-season sport that also includes kissing, crying, backstabbing, and endless athletic challenges.

The game theory wizards that comprise the show's production team weren't messing around when they assembled this season's cast. The 24 athletes competing represent a pu pu platter of experience: included are 18 alumni from CBS's "Survivor," "The Amazing Race," and "Big Brother." Ten of the 18 are true rookies who have never competed on any version of "The Challenge." Rounding out the crew, we also have two "Challenge" veterans who previously competed in past MTV seasons, and four legends fresh off the most recent season of "The Challenge: World Championship."

With four "Challenge" champions already on the field, odds are stacked against the other competitors. But we do have a few predictions for who might emerge from the masses to clinch the title and take home their share of the $500,000 cash prize.

Let's start with what we know for sure: This season takes place in Croatia and the contestants will compete — at least for a little while — in self-selected teams. In Episode 1, we saw that "Big Brother's" Josh Martinez and "Survivor's" Cassidy Clark and Desi Williams were randomly pulled from the Hopper to pick the three teams. For the first time ever, CBS cast members outnumber MTV cast members, which has complicated the vets' usual strategy of trying to thin the herd by kicking the rookies off first. Good thing Wes Bergmann is here to try to strategize his way out of this season's newest hurdle.

We're already six episodes into this season and almost one-third of the competitors have gone home — including two of the "Challenge" legends. In an impressive display of unity, the rookies aligned early to target the veteran players, but as the "Big Brother" and "Survivor" casts start to clash, the old-school players are finding their footing and retaking control of the game.  

Gamblers who like to play it safe would do well to bet on old favorites: Johnny Bananas, Wes Bergmann, and Tori Deal are all previous "Challenge" champs and have the resumes to back up their gameplay. Jonna Mannion won two back-to-back seasons of "The Challenge: All Stars" and seemed like a strong contender — until she became the first legend eliminated when the rookies pitted her and Tori against one another. 

This season is also stacked with former finalists who got close enough to taste the money, but not close enough to take it home. Cory Wharton stands out as a nine-season competitor with four finals under his belt, but the ultimate win has eluded him over his eight-year career. Faysal Shafaat is a two-time finalist, and Desi Williams made the finals on the first season of "The Challenge: USA," but was disqualified when her partner quit.

If we had to put our money on one male and female challenger to take home this season's title and cash, we'd opt for the potent combination of experience and loss, making Cory Wharton and Desi Williams our personal frontrunners. But "The Challenge" has a way of subverting expectations, and we wouldn't be surprised if one of the rookies shocked everyone by walking away with the win. There's only one way to know for sure: Tune into "The Challenge: USA" on CBS on Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST and Sundays at 9 p.m. EST.