The Challenge

What do you do on a day off, or a good weekend? Probably pick a show to binge watch and order pizza or your go-to take out meal, and snack on everything in sight. Or at least, that’s what most people do. Especially during this time of a panorama, I mean pandemic. I really hate saying that word. A month from now, we would have been in this “pizzeria” for a year now.

Time flew by, but it also slowed down as well. Countless days have gone by, and I’ve been good at reaching out to friends daily and the question of the day has been “what are you up to?” Or “seen anything good lately?’ My answer is always…no. To tell you the truth, I don’t watch tv. I don’t binge at all. Something about sitting down for hours, watching the same show, just makes me anxious. I’m an anxious person already. I can’t sit still for more than an hour. Even with the tv on, I’m getting up and re-enacting the scene, as its going on, despite watching it for the first time.

So I don’t binge. But remember the days before streaming? Remember television, weekly shows that included commercials? I miss those days. Where you sit with your family, or call your friend and talk about what was going on. Remember when MTV had reality shows? Shows like Next, Room Raiders, and Real World.

Real World Road Rules challenge was my favorite show to watch. I remember being 15 years old and thinking, yes this is what 21+ year old adults do. They travel, go on competitions to win money, and deal with a whole lot of DRAMA. That was the highlight for me. The drama that occurred over something simple. “Beth, I’m upset that you picked me to go into the final duel!!” But..that’s the whole point of the show..to compete. A ridiculous show, with drama, and money on the line. I was addicted. Every week, I looked forward to seeing who would go home after the competitions. I also found it inspiring. I would go outside and reenact some of the challenges with my brother. He also watched the show with me, and we would bet on who would go home.

Well, after months of not binging, I finally turned on my tv. Netflix is my default streaming app. I click it, and hear the DUN-DUN. I like the feature of newly added shows. And what is the first show that pops up?…THE CHALLENGE(they shortened the title but its definitely Real World/Road Rules challenge.) But not only is the show on, my favorite season is showing: Inferno. Inferno was my favorite season because I had a crush on one of the challengers, CT. CT was this tough guy, that always went crazy with rage, always yelling at someone, but I loved his competitive nature. He won a few of the challenges and even won a different season of THE CHALLENGE. But during the Inferno season, he developed a relationship with another competitor, Diem. Diem was recently diagnosed with cancer. She was competing in the challenge to win money to provide medical care. Witnessing their relationship blossom each episode gave me life. I’m a hopeless romantic. They were the only couple to have met and help compete during the show. I was rooting for them both every episode. (RIP to Diem. She did pass away due to her fight against cancer. :(

Now having seen this show already 10 years ago, I knew how it would end already. But being able to binge watch without waiting, or sitting through commercials helped the intensity of the show. I watched the entire season in a few hours and loved every minute of it. It gave me that dose of Nostalgia. I felt like I was 15 again. 15 years old without too many responsibilities. 15 years old without the anxiety. 15 Years old not living in a “paparazzi.” And I realize the impact of binge watching. It’s about being lazy or bored and just finding something to do. It actually feels like an escape. An escape from the current time, and craziness. So now I binge watch. I’ve picked up on shows that I stopped watching months ago. I encourage everyone to binge. Wether it's a show you’ve see a million times, or something entirely new. Binge Binge Binge.