When reality shows are on for a long time, they have to keep reinventing themselves to stay relevant. We’ve seen this with Bravo’s The Real Housewives series phasing out some of the older, tenured women. Vanderpump Rules is doing the same thing this season. The Challenge also did that a few years ago when they dipped into the ‘Are You The One’ pond. Then they went globally pulling from a variety shows internationally. The ‘Are You The One’ idea didn’t work as well as I think they hoped but the international idea couldn’t have worked out better. Not to mention, they’ve leveraged established shows like ‘Big Brother’ and ‘Survivor’ to add to their star list. This means we have new characters, and last week, we found out our new bad boys of The Challenge. Rogan and Bear. Both had different reasons for being a bad boy.

NOTE: We did not see anyone eliminated last week but it is to be assumed that Jay either – broke his arm, will get beat by Rogan, or cannot compete further. If I’m wrong about this, it will be my ultimate downfall.

TOP CONTENDERS

1. Jordan (LW: 1)
2. Rogan (LW: 2)
3. Jenny (LW 3)
4. Wes (LW: 4)
5. Johnny Bananas (LW:5)

Thoughts: For the first time in a while, this list hasn’t changed. Rogan may move ahead of Jordan if he gets the red skull. Jordan is also crumbling with the competition. The rivalry with Wes does not help him or Tori. Jordan overreacted to turf leading to a heated argument. Rogan is right there ready to take another Challenge crown. Jenny continues to be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition.

CONTENDERS WITH A FLAW

6. Tori (LW:6)
7. Nany (LW:7)
8. Fessy (LW 8)
9. Bear (LW 15)
10: Mattie (LW 10)
11. Kaliah (LW 12)
12. Cory (LW 8)
13. Dee (LW 13)
14. Swaggy C (LW: 18)

Thoughts: Now, you might ask yourself is Bear a top 10 contender to win The Challenge? Probably not. But is he a Top 10 character right now for this season of The Challenge? Yes. Bear deserves to be up there right now. He is an electric personality and a person you can expect to see on most Challenges moving forward. Swaggy C moves into the second tier. The dude is good. He is smart and can handle physical challenges. I’m not going to dog him for whimpering out on The Purgatory or blocking me on Twitter.

COULD CONTEND IF THINGS GO PERFECTLY

15. Kaycee (LW: 16)
16. Kyle (LW 17)
17. Bayleigh (LW: 19)
18. Jenna (LW 14)
19. Aneesa (LW 20)
20. Nelson (LW 21)

Thoughts: Nelson makes a move back up after falling off a cliff in the last few weeks. He had a good challenge and didn’t burn any bridges. Don’t sleep on Kaycee. I realize she is mute and not talking much yet she’s talented. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s thrown in tonight and she comes out victorious. Jenna is not a contender at all. She might be worth even the 18 spot, and I should move her down to the ‘Not a threat to contend.’ It is amazing she cannot do this without Zach.

NOT A THREAT TO CONTEND

21. Josh (LW 22)
22. Big T (LW: 23)
23. Melissa (LW: 24)

Thoughts: This is thinning out so I might have to move some people down here next week. What’s interesting is we have not seen one of these people get eliminated. In the last three weeks, we’ve seen two top contenders and a contender with a flaw. A part of this season that worries me is that they’re losing all their good competitors.

Charlie.