Update: More Former Survivors To Compete On MTV’s The Challenge

More Survivors ready to take on The Challenge.

Photo: CBS

MTV’s The Challenge has become somewhat of a melting pot of reality-tv crossovers, and that doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon as more past Survivors look to take part in the next season.

According to long-time trusted spoiler source, GamerVev, the potential cast for the upcoming 37th season of The Challenge entered into quarantine on Sunday—and it includes several ex-Survivor castaways.

In that group is one Survivor player already familiar with the popular MTV show, that being Millennial vs. Gen-X‘s Jay Starrett, who has competed on The Challenge twice previously, in Total Madness and the most recent Double Agents season. But that’s not all.

UPDATE 04/12/21: According to GamerVev, Jay has now been cut and will not appear on the season.

The Challenge is said to be inviting even more former castaways to possibly take part in the upcoming season, including three past Survivor champions. Kaoh Rong winner and Winners At War second runner-up Michele Fitzgerald, Ghost Island champ Wendell Holland, and Island of the Idols victor Tommy Sheehan are among the rumored names.

UPDATE 04/24/21: Wendell has now stated that he was never in the casting process for The Challenge.

Another popular Survivor castaway who is apparently getting in on the action is Michaela Bradshaw. She first appeared alongside Jay in Millennials vs. Gen-X (with Jay playing a significant part in her elimination) and returned the very next season for Game Changers, where she made it to seventh place.

The other rumored name is someone perhaps more unexpected, though she also has ties to Jay and Michaela. According to GamerVev, Millennials vs. Gen-X’s resident dragon queen (and former Inside Survivor Power Ranker!) Michelle Schubert is also in quarantine for The Challenge 37.

Jay and Michelle
Photo: CBS

Michelle, a Missionary Recruiter from Yakima, Washington, made it to the merge in Millennials vs. Gen-X before being voted out on day 23. She also competed on the eleventh season of American Ninja Warrior in 2019, where she fell out on the second obstacle.

UPDATE 04/22/21: According to GamerVev, Michelle Schubert has now been cut and will not appear on the season. That leaves the Survivor US representatives as Michele Fitzgerald, Michaela Bradshaw, and Tommy Sheehan.

And it’s not just Survivor US alumni in the mix, as Survivor Romania‘s Emy Alupei and Emanuel Neagu are also rumored to be involved.

While all of these players are in quarantine, they are not all guaranteed to make the final cast as there will be alternates quarantining with the main cast in the event of a positive COVID-19 test. Filming is expected to begin in Croatia later this month.


Written by

Martin Holmes

Martin is a freelance writer from England. He’s represented by Berlin Associates for comedy writing and writes about TV and entertainment, currently for TV Insider and Vulture, previously Digital Spy, ET Canada, and Yahoo. A finalist for the Shortlist Sitcom Search in 2012 for “Siblings,” Martin received his BA in English with Creative Writing from The University of Hull. Martin is the owner and editor-in-chief of Insider Survivor.


4 responses to “Update: More Former Survivors To Compete On MTV’s The Challenge”

  1. Oh please let Natalie be one that is coming back. This is the first season I have watched, and it was only because of Natalie. But I am kinda hooked on it now. I would love to see her kick some veteran ass. They seem rather dismissive of the newbies, and to do so with Natalie would be at their own peril.

  2. I’m super excited to see Michaela Bradshaw! But I’m baffled as to why Brooke Jowett hasn’t been called, she was a beast on Australian Survivor and she would be a beast on the Challenge

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