T.J. Lavin Previews a "Risky" Approach to 'The Challenge: USA' Season 2

When we spoke with host T.J. Lavin last June about the first season of The Challenge: USA, it felt like a different time. We were just kicking off a yearlong experiment for the veteran MTV series, with spinoffs across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Argentina, culminating in a World Championship that aired earlier this year. And we certainly had no idea about the way the kickoff season would end, with perhaps its most controversial finish as Danny McCray and Sarah Lacina were declared winners by default after every other finalist had either quit or been disqualified. In the moment, it looked like Lavin wouldn't be showing his face on CBS again.

But, as per usual with The Challenge, surprises are abound. The Challenge: USA returns for a second season, premiering on Thursday, August 10, with the first of two weekly episodes through the month of August. Once again, we'll see a group of reality alum compete in grueling physical daily challenges and eliminations. Ten of them are veterans of Survivor, Big Brother, and The Amazing Race, completely new to what The Challenge might bring. Eight of them are CBS alum who have previously competed on a Challenge season, whether on MTV or as part of last year's season.

And in the biggest twist, the streams of synergy are crossing. Six Challenge legends who made their debuts on MTV will appear for the first time on CBS. They will help lead teams of CBS natives as they try to do what they do best: Make their way to the final and compete for a chance at the $500,000 prize. Will experience prevail, adding another bullet point to their Challenge resume, or will the CBS faction take advantage of the numbers as they're wont to do and prove whose show it truly is?

Check out our interview with T.J. Lavin below for his reaction to MTV mainstays being brought over, the structure of the season, who he'd like to see cross over to the main show, and more. The Challenge: USA Season 2 kicks off with a two-part premiere on Thursday, August 10 at 10:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 13 at 9:00 p.m. on CBS.

Related: Everything to Know About The Challenge: USA Season 2

It seems like you film so many Challenge seasons over the course of a year. So how does it feel to step into a time machine and look back on a filming that probably went by in a blip?
Yes, it's crazy. Everything is very hit-or-miss, man. Because sometimes somebody says whatever they ask me, and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, I just filmed that two seconds ago." But it really wasn't; it was eight months ago, six months ago, or whatever. I don't even know what country we're talking about sometimes. Like, "Was that South Africa?" [Laughs.]

Well, you'd definitely remember the country you filmed this season in, considering it's your favorite filming location: Croatia. What was it like to return there?
Oh, I love it. Croatia is amazing. I lived in the best apartment in Rovinj. I had everybody from the ice cream people to the to the waiters and waitresses at my favorite restaurants and stuff. It was just amazing. It was so fun.

Let's get into this season of The Challenge: USA. This whole idea got brought about with the four spinoff series leading into the World Championship. So were you surprised to find out it would be returning after the World Championship finished?
No, no. I was not even surprised at all. Because the show is a mixture of the best of everybody else's shows. It's the best possible show that you could put together. We have everybody from CBS, and then all of a sudden, we bring in MTV people now to join them, [which] is even crazier. I mean, when you have Michele Fitzgerald and Chris Underwood, the winners in Survivor, joining forces and going against some of the people from Big Brother like Josh, Tyler, Tiffany, it's a different deal. And then you mix all that together with the MTV people that we have, like Tori and Bananas, and those are all heavy hitters as well. So when I brought them in, in the first episode--you'll see it; I just posted it on my Instagram--everybody's faces were like, "Ooh, this is gonna be a little more difficult than we thought."

What was your reaction to finding out that these legends you just mentioned from the MTV version would be crossing over to CBS?
I was like, "You better get ready, because these are some real players." And they know how to play the game, both on and off the court. The most important thing is the politicking. So you've got to know how to hold them and know how to fold 'em, and they do.

What's interesting is that they're only six out of the 24 cast members. So theoretically the others could have the numbers to get rid of them. But there's also that experience that is valuable to keep around, especially in a team format.
Yes, exactly what you just said. It's how much do we value what they've been through and how they do it, and how they play the game and their knowledge. And then how much do we fear them as well? Because we're going after the same thing.

Another interesting faction are the people who got their start on CBS and then made their way onto The Challenge on MTV, people like Josh, Faysal, Paulie, Michele, and Michaela. What can you tell us about the position they're in, seemingly right in the middle of the CBS-only and MTV-only factions?
It was it was pretty cool. Because the Joshs and the Faysals are trying to play both sides of the coin. But at the same time, you have very smart players that are trying to sneak in there and say, "Hey, Faysal, you and I are boys, right? Josh, you and I are tight, right? You're gonna hook me up and help me out with these other people from the other shows, because we've never dealt with them." And, athletically, everyone is pretty close. Everyone's really good and the games have a lot of equalizers, which are puzzles and things like that to make sure that your brain works. That way, everybody has a shot, and it's anybody's game.

Well that's really interesting. Because arguably the biggest thing people remember from The Challenge: USA season 1 was that final, where the structure led to a slew of disqualifications and an ending where everyone quit the last task except for our winners. Based on how that finished, did you notice a different approach to the show between seasons?
I think that bringing the MTV people at all is huge difference. And that's because the CBS people are so sweet, and they're so nice.They're cool people, really nice individuals. And MTV people are very gritty, and they are good at the game. They know what they're doing. And it's a whole different level of Challenge when you have people that have been there for years, and they know what they have to do and what alliances to make and who's good at what. It's an interesting dichotomy to bring in somebody from there, and then somebody from there, and then put them all together and see what happens.

Let's get into some of the new stuff happening this season. I know the MTV show likes to bring in themes every season. And it seems like this season has a loose theme of taking risks. The premiere is even titled "The Riskiest Season Yet." How did this theme come about?
It was concocted by the producers. They were trying to figure out some way to push them into a realm that they're not very comfortable with, and trying to make them realize that they're in a position that a lot of people in the world want to be in. So use it!

One big shake-up to the format is something we've seen for brief portions of time in recent MTV seasons, but we haven't seen to start in a season in a long time: Big teams. What was your reaction to finding out that this season would primarily be in these three teams rather than pairs or individuals, and that they would be drafting said teams?
Well, I mean, I really don't love when we have the picking thing, because then somebody gets left out. And when you're last pick, it's just so disheartening. It kills me every time because I was pretty much the last pick every time anyway. I would be like, "Damn, dude." And then I became a BMX guy and did really well. But we're all adults. So it's different. But it's hard to swallow. When I see somebody get picked last, I don't love that part of it. But you gotta pick teams somehow. And it's got to be all luck. You can't just choose the teams and then send it. It's if you do it at random, that's great. Randomly selecting teams is cool. But also, when you pick teams, then it's kind of on you. You have to figure it out, and you have to know what everyone's good at. So I love that they mixed it up. And I love that they all got to pick who they wanted to from the MTV crew. So it's pretty cool.

Did you notice any major difference in gameplay from playing on big teams as opposed to in pairs or individually?
Well, if you're relying on yourself, it's like BMX or UFC fighting, you're on your own. Cage closed, it's just you and that other person going against each other. Or you're on the BMX, they call your name, you're by yourself on the course, and you're showing off to the best of your ability. But if you're on a basketball team or you're on a football team, it's not all on you if you win or lose. And that's the thing that's kind of comforting. Because if you lose, it's everyone's fault. If you win, it's everyone's fault. It's awesome. It's the only upside to having a big team because it's like, "Alright, we lost, whatever. It's okay; we're gonna be fine. We lose as a team." But when we're all celebrating together,  it's cool. But when you're an individual, the pot gets a lot bigger. And so you take the grand pot, that's all yours. But at the same time, the losses are so devastating.

And we know that only one man and one woman are going to win at the end of the season. So it'll be interesting to see when the game turns individual, and how that will change the gameplay going into the final.
That's true. I mean, I don't know how you're going to bring it all the way down and break it down to one man and one woman if you have teams of eight.

From what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like the Algorithm is returning. But I did see what looks like a giant bingo machine. Talk to me about that.
Yes, the Hopper! The Hopper is sick. I like it. It really twists things around. And I didn't love the algorithm. That "perfect algorithm" was far from perfect. It was a pain in the ass. But the Hopper is something that I love. I love the Hopper. Because when, when you're in there, and you're in it, you're trying to see what's what, but you don't know what's going to happen. Because it's all chance. It's really is chance. Whose ball is going to come out? Who's playing? Who knows?

I know last time we spoke, I asked you which CBS alumni you would want to see make the jump over to the MTV version. Now we have a whole new group of newbies. Is there anyone from this crop you'd like to see make the transition?
Yes. I still think Alyssa [Lopez] is somebody that could come over for sure. Tyler is somebody that could probably come; he's real good as well. There's a few people that I was like, "That's somebody that can hack it." But those two in particular, right out of the gate, I think they're the first ones I think of.

From the reverse perspective, did getting to see these MTV vets interact with people from the CBS shows make you want to see them make the jump to primetime? A Johnny Bananas on Survivor or Wes on Big Brother?
100%. I would love that. I would love to see all of them and all the shows, I think it'd be great for Bananas to go check it out and see what he can do. And he is a survivor. I mean, he's done some pretty gnarly things. And he's a jack of all trades and a master of one, really, because he's the master of The Challenge. The guy kills it. So I think he would be really good. He knows how to dig deep and knows how to get the job done. So I would love to see him on other shows for sure.

Lastly, we are creeping ever closer to The Challenge season 40. Last time we spoke, you said you wanted a season that brought in BMX and other pro athletes. Now that it's been a year since we spoke, do you have any other ideas for the big milestone season?
Well, I would really love to bring some actual sports guys into it as well. But I also would love to bring some of the action sports into it. They really have to try to learn skateboarding or they had to learn BMX and try and jump BMX bikes and get hooked and caught on the BMX. This is the best sport in the world, because it's in the Olympics now too. And we have women's rounds as well. So it would be great to have women trying to drive BMX and really trying to get it done. And then they could see how difficult the sport is as well. And then maybe we have a BMX race, and we have everybody race. And the action sports kids would love it, so let's do it.

I don't think anything can make you more joyful on The Challenge than trivia. But having the players learn how to ride BMX may put that to shame.
100%. And I will even start the show off with the backflip. Maybe I'll just flip and then land and then be like, "Alright, here we go. We're ready to party. Let's do this.

Next, check out the full cast of The Challenge: USA season 2.