Meet the Makers: The Challenge
In celebration of Season 40 of MTV’s “The Challenge,” Emily Longeretta moderated a panel with Julie Pizzi, president & CEO, Bunim/Murray Productions and 51 Minds Entertainment, showrunner and executive producer Justin Booth and cast members Leroy Garrett, Aneesa Ferreira, CT Tamburello and Rachel Robinson.
“One of the things we really focused on was the cast and what we considered ‘Challenge‘ royalty,” said Pizzi on the milestone season. Booth added, “I think the Season 40 of it all was just about having 40 kids and making games bigger and making games bigger and better than before.”
Robinson, who has been part of “The Challenge” franchise since 2002, noted that despite not playing for 10 years and being a mother of three, she couldn’t say no to the opportunity to be part of Season 40. And, she was one of three winners, two of which were women. “The reason I signed on is because I definitely felt the monumental moment of this season and I wanted to have my name a part of it,” she said. Robinson added that she was very proud that the controversial karma vote, which awarded those who treated others respectfully throughout the season, was part of her win.
“It was really special because all of the kids, all my kids, all of my friends’ kids, they talked about it: ‘You won because you’re a good person,’” she said. “I thought that was, overall, a great message for kids to see these days.”
Meet the Makers: RuPaul’s Drag Race
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 17 winning queen Onya Nurve knew her father was supportive of her doing drag, but she didn’t know to what extent.
During the makeover challenge episode, the queens were tasked with giving a drag makeover to their parents. Onya Nurve expected that parent to be her mother. “When they said my dad’s name, it was shocking because I knew he supported me just like not that much. I was like, overwhelmed with emotion,” she told Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay.
Fellow panelist and runner-up Jewels Sparkles talked about the power of audiences seeing a Latino and Black dad on TV during that episode. “That is so beautiful, especially in our time in politics, where it’s so crazy for all of these communities.” She was met with applause when she talked about what that could mean for audiences tuning in at home. “It’s eye-opening for so many people, parents and kids alike, to know that there are men who will come and support their kids in such a huge way.”
The panelists later discussed the importance of a show like “Drag Race.” Casting director Goloka Bolte talked about the representation the show offers. “The top four, the whole cast could not have come from more different backgrounds. Getting to have all these queer people from such different backgrounds, be able to say, ‘This is who I am, and this is what we all have in common,’ we all have gone through so much in such different ways, but drag is what, kind of, saved us all.”
Meet the Makers: The Traitors
“The Traitors” Season 3 cast members “Boston” Rob Mariano, Dolores Catania, Dylan Efron and Bob the Drag Queen reflected on their time on the Peacock reality competition series, each admitting it was tougher than they thought. Mariano, who has competed on six seasons of “Survivor,” two seasons of “The Amazing Race” and “Deal or No Deal Island,” is known as one of the best competitors on TV.
“Surprisingly, I actually did turn down the first and the second season of ‘Traitors,’” he said on the panel. “I think the reason why I’ve been doing reality for so long is that I am specific about what shows I actually do. I had to watch the first and second season, and then decided, ok I’ll do it — after it did really good — but we all know the third one did the best.”
He noted that “It’s not as physical as some of the other shows, but strategically, it was by far the most difficult show I’ve ever done.”
Efron added that he’d definitely play again: “What’s more fun? An experience like that — it’s like a sleepover on steroids.” As for Mariano, possibly already strategizing, he responded, “Maybe. Never say never. It’s so hard. ‘Traitors’ really is difficult!”
