Mark Long has done it all when it comes to television, especially on MTV.
The OG of the OGs was on Road Rules, he won early seasons of The Challenge, he’s hosted, produced and traveled the world.
And now he’s participating on The Challenge: All-Stars, in which 21 other former cast members are jumping back into a season airing on Paramount Plus.
Mark spoke to For The Win about the new season, how it all came together because of a tweet he sent and an idea of how to pit the OGs against the cast members of the current Challenge series (this has been edited and condensed).
How did this all come together?
I had this idea for a few years now, during the quarantine, I asked on Twitter, how would you feel about an all-OGs season with a limited shoot schedule because a lot of us now are moms and dads or have full-on careers that they can’t leave. It got picked up and went viral. I reached out to cast members and one call led to 78 cast members, with OGs reaching out to me and the fan response was crazy. I think there’s an audience for it. One of the big reasons for that is everyone loves nostalgia. When I was late teenager and running home and watching The Real World: New York. I thought it was so amazing.
Have you watched The Challenge lately?
I haven’t watched every season but I’ve checked into seasons. I’ve caught a few of the recent Double Agents episodes. I’m close with Johnny Bananas, so I’ve watched a lot of the ones he did. It’s awesome to see the evolution of that franchise, not just the challenges, but the editing and style of the shows. I have kept in the loop. I get a random tweet saying, “I wish you would go against Fessy in a Hall Brawl.” I’m welcome to it.
Do I see years down the line with an epic new school versus OGs challenge where we could put our money where our mouth is? Of course. That would be like the Super Bowl of Challenges.
Amazing. Looking at new challenges, did you say, oh yeah I could do that, or the other OGs say that?
We all went down on this one thinking they’ll go lighter on us. It’s like they got that memo and went the exact opposite way. We had some conversations about The Challenge now and do we think we could compete? Of course, a lot of us do. I’ve always been competitive, involved in athletics. The good thing about the OGs coming back and not having an easy ride is it lets them know, you can be any age — a mother or father of three — but you can still put on the Speedo and shoes when you need and go in and kick some butt.
No one reached out to me after to say, I’m upset we did that. Everyone was the opposite, even those who got voted off.
Did you reach out to someone like Bananas to get advice for this season?
No! Bananas calls me up for advice! No, I didn’t reach out to anyone. I knew it wasn’t going to be a tug of war every day. I knew I had to be physically, mentally, socially and intellectually strong because — you’ll see — there are alliances, friendships that are tested. As far as reality competition shows go, we deliver.
How did you go from being producer to competitor?
I was initially a figurehead who could host. One of the conversations we had was: MTV and Paramount kind of see you in house rather than not in the house. Once I had that conversation, I saw their point of view. Although it would have been amazing to host, any type of competitive advantage went out the door. I didn’t know the final cast, I didn’t know when we were leaving. I showed up to each challenge not knowing what we were going to do.
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What can you tell me about this season?
You’re going to be surprised by some cast members. Everyone had been working out every day. Jisela would admit she wasn’t the most physically fit, but wow she surprised us by how feisty she is, her heart is huge. I think the best thing that’ll come out of it: the fans won’t tune in and see old folks wheeling around kicking soccer balls. We had to step up and we all delivered.
Teck from Real World: Hawaii is the comic relief man. He’s so funny and I’m so glad he came back. People said, well he didn’t do many Challenge seasons. That’s beside the point. You’re going to love him.
So you see this continuing beyond this season.
I keep my finger on the pulse of the fans. I think the thing that will separate us moving forward that I’m going to establish is: there’s an audience for it. But I see a season 2, 3, 4, 5 and some sort of epic conclusion to it in the end. I would like to try to keep it as Real World, Road Rules cast members as long as possible. I know the new series takes from other shows, but let them do that.
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