‘The Challenge’ Godfather Mark Long Rallies Veteran Cast Members For An OG-Only Season

Mark Long, known as the Godfather of MTV’s The Challenge, has started a campaign online to bring an OG season to the network. Appearing on the first Road Rules and first Challenge seasons, Mark became one of the most well-recognized and respected cast members to ever play the game. The two-time champ has competed on six seasons, and seemingly retired in 2012 after losing on the first Battle of the Exes. Now he’s back.

Fans of The Challenge have been hoping and praying for more OG cast members to return to the show, and the desire has only grown over the past few years. While some veterans simply don’t want to return to reality television, there are some who would like to but just can’t budget the time in their busy lives.

Several of these OG cast members can’t leave their careers or families for two to three months out of the year, especially when it means traveling internationally. Mark is hoping to change all that. His campaign began on Twitter last week and has gained serious steam in the last 48 hours.

The plan is to film a whole season in the U.S. for a span of two weeks. This is the exact amount of filming time it took for the Champs vs. Stars and Champs vs. Pros spinoffs, meaning two weeks is entirely possible to deliver some serious competition, and maybe a little bit of drama, to longtime fans.

“How bout an ALL OLD SCHOOL #2week Challenge instead? No ‘Stars’ needed. Would y’all watch that? Me, Lando, Darrell, Rachel etc etc etc,” Mark wrote in response to a fan asking him to join a Champs vs. season.

Shortly after, he tweeted again to Bunim/Murray, the production company behind The Challenge, and asked the account to share his ideas with the executives at MTV.

Things really started to gain some steam when Mark began sharing screenshots of DMs he sent to fellow OGs. Several veterans are 100 percent on board to compete and agreed that they would be down to rejoin the shorter, more local season.

For now, Mark has received confirmations from Rachel Robinson, Veronica Portillo, Darrell Taylor, Susie Meister, Eric Nies, Syrus Yarbrough, Coral Smith, Ruthie Alcaide, Emily Schromm, and Landon Lueck.

Veteran fans of the show are freaking out, to say the least, especially with Mark confirmed that several of the OGs are in, and the list is only expected to grow.

At this time, MTV and Bunim/Murray have not responded to the request, but Mark won’t be going down without a fight. He noted he would keep the fans updated as information becomes available and as more cast members agree to get in on the fun.

For now, Mark is suggesting fans who want to see the OG season should send tweets to Bunim/Murray and let their voices be heard.