MTV’s The Challenge: Untold History hasn’t been a smash hit with viewers, despite featuring a guest list of greats appearing in the episodes and riveting subject matter.
They’ve included former finalists and champions such as Johnny Bananas, Darrell Taylor, Kam Williams, Tori Deal, Laurel Stucky, Wes Bergmann, Mark Long, and Chris “CT” Tamburello.
There have also been appearances from various sports stars and Challenge superfans, including Kim Kardashian and Vernon Davis.
The six-episode documentary series premiered its third and fourth episodes on Wednesday, September 28, focusing on the show’s underdog stories and the all-time greats in Challenge history.
Many past and present cast members have been hyping up their appearances in the docuseries on social media. Some online drama also arrived after a sneak peek video dropped online for The GOATS episode.
Despite the online chatter and interesting topics in the newest episodes, the documentary series ratings and viewership plummeted significantly.
Untold History ratings and viewers plummet
With the arrival of a new episode of The Challenge: Untold History in the 8 p.m. Eastern Time slot on Wednesday, September 28, MTV saw its docuseries land at No. 107 among the top 150 cable telecasts for the evening.
According to Showbuzz Daily, the episode achieved a 0.07 rating in the time slot, with only 152,000 viewers watching on MTV.
Last week, the premiere episode ratings had the show at the No. 30 spot with a 0.11 rating and 218,000 viewers.
Episode 3 of the docuseries was called Against all Odds and focused on underdog stories and cast members who climbed “personal mountains” or overcame challenging circumstances. The competitors featured included Jordan Wiseley, Devyn Simone, Derrick Kosinski, and Diem Brown (below).
In Episode 4, they examined the show’s greats, including multi-time champions and those on the verge of becoming champions. The cast members discussed as “greats” in the episode included Kam, Laurel, Bananas, CT, Wes, Darrell, and Cara Maria Sorbello.
Drama erupted online before episode’s arrival on MTV
Before Episode 4 even hit MTV, a sneak peek video arrived on The Challenge’s social media, which showed cast members listing off names of the show’s all-time greats.
Part of the video had Paulie Calafiore on-screen for a quick interview comment where he said “Laurel” as one of the greats.
That prompted Jemmye Carroll, among the interviewed cast members in the docuseries, to tweet her reactions to the sneak peek online. In her tweets, she suggested “Cara had to be hurt” by Paulie getting asked to participate in the filming of the documentary episodes and then seeing him say that.
However, Cara responded to the online chatter, indicating it was the way production edited things for the segment and promotional sneak peek to get people talking. She also defended Paulie’s inclusion in the documentary series and called out former castmates for seeming to have her back now.
That got fans talking on various social media about the online drama, but it didn’t seem to translate into more people watching the documentary series episode on MTV.
There are other ways to watch The Challenge: Untold History episodes after they’re released on MTV, including cable and satellite subscribers accessing MTV.com and related apps to see them online. Additionally, they’re available to purchase via digital video online.
The final two episodes arrive on Wednesday, October 5, with MTV’s The Challenge: Ride or Dies season premiere coming one week after.
The Challenge: Untold History airs Wednesday, October 5, at 8/7c on MTV. The Challenge: Ride or Dies premieres Wednesday, October 12, at 8/7c on MTV.
Episodes of The Challenge are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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