Ok, so my last review was several years old and my feelings have changed so let’s get into it: Pros: Scott has a great voice and is made for podcasts, voice acting and radio stuff. He is articulate and well versed on all things pop culture. He has a natural ease with the guests.A lot of the time he is correcting or fact checking Derek, which is needed from time to time. The podcast really is one of the original challenge related podcasts and does a great job staying active and up to date with seasons that are currently airing. Scott and Derek’s dedication to the show and the live shows is just great to see. Ok, let me get into what’s changed for me: and no, not the obvious negative of Derek being a bit obnoxious and interrupting (yes, that is all still there). Cons: The show used to be really good about interviewing vets, people who hadnt seen in a while, people that weren’t necessarily active on the current shows. It seems like now they only want to bring back people who are on current seasons (which I absolutely get for obvious reasons), but seemingly have neglected bringing back people that we havent heard from in awhile. Cons 2: I love Scott and stand by my praise, but in the last year or so he has become a bit obnoxious in his interviews. Dare i say on a level similar to Derek 😭 i just listened to Rachel Robinson’s Era final podcast and the amount of times Scott cuts her off is so grating. And then you mix in Derek and it’s like trying to listen to a podcast that is ADD. Sometimes i wanna chill and listen and then you have 3 people trying to make a point or tell a story. Chill, my dudes. Let your guest answer their questions and then chime in. Maybe have a layout before you go in to the podcast. Overall there just needs to be more listening. We get it Scott, you know your stuff and you like to play devil’s advocate but sometimes your rants can go on so long that i forget you are interviewing someone. Will always listen but found myself going to other challenge related podcasts to get a more chill vibe and also get those old school interviews.

i have been listening since the stitcher radio era, sub to the patreon, etc, but have never left a review - this podcast has been getting better and better. i want to give a shout out to scott, whose commentary has been so good recently. it’s never been better than this week’s episode with wes. wes and scott were both at the top of their podcast game: they go from show commentary to social commentary with ease; blend recaps and behind the scenes tidbits seamlessly. 10/10 no notes.

How can you be ok with 20+ minutes of ads before content?! Wild.

I have been a two decade challenge fan and love Derek, (which is the reason I’m leaving four stars). I listen to about 16 hours of podcasts a day while working, and nothing compares to the advertisements on this one. Scott finds a way to make the episode an hour long plug for different ways he can make money off these people. I know you have to get your coin, but it’s legitimately 20 mins in before you get any actual information of the podcast title and then it becomes a short introduction and your set up for another set of multiple ads. I don’t mind supporting patreons to get less ads, but based on the content given I’m not inspired to pay for more.

Enjoyable challenge info and insight. Compared to other podcasts it seems amateurish though. There’s a lot of weird random music as if going to a break covering them talking and then just silence and immediately back to finishing the same sentence.. just odd stuff

They should be embarrassed for even posting the NYC live “show”. No show. Just weird frat boy, wish-we-were-wrestlers-but-we’re-not nonsense. Really terrible. Lots of ads though, at least in the first 20 minutes I managed to FF through. The absolute worst that society has to offer.

We don’t care about your personal responsibilities as a “stay at home dad”. Either do the pod or don’t. I’m sure you have more free time than most of us. Don’t need to sob story.

The first five to ten minutes is Scott blathering on about the website and live shows. You get 10-15 minutes of free content and then they plug the website again. I’m not paying 15 a month to listen to Scott act as if he is the star of the show. By the time the full episode is available, I’ve already listened to three other podcasts about the same episode.

The Podcast is so much better on the Patreon. Either way this is THE CHALLENGE podcast to listen to for the Real inside “stew” lol. IYKYK

This has gone downhill. Every episode you have to go to their website to pay for now

I love the content of the show but Derricks constant stuttering is killing me. He adds so much value but relax a little and think before speaking and maybe it will be a little less.

This show would be so much better if Scott learned to shut up and let the actual guests talk. This guy thinks people care what he has to say. We’re all listening to hear the actual contestants from the challenge. Ask the questions Scott and let people speak. You also don’t need to re explain things 20 times. The listeners aren’t idiots.

Why are they yelling throughout the show?

Why doesn’t anyone ever mention why we can’t watch seasons 33-35? These episodes are not available on any platform..Why is that? You can’t even try to purchase these episodes..what’s going on here?

Love the podcast but the episode breakdowns just aren’t breakdowns for the free pod. I get you want people to pay and I’m sure most people would if it wasn’t 15 bucks which is crazy. They spend most of the free episode talking about the live shows coming up or pretty much everything except the actual episode

If you enjoy when your couple friends start fighting in front of you about their hypothetical wedding do over or when one member of the couple googles something just to prove the other one wrong if they dare to use a metaphor incorrectly - this is the pod for you. This show is basically a husband and wife who have exited the honeymoon phase long ago, but have decent takes about Survivor. My favorite is when the wife keeps trying to make a point but the husband completely ignores her and moves on to the next Twitter comment after letting her finish without acknowledging her point whatsoever. It’s a sad strange peek into a relationship that should probably not be broadcasted weekly but I like Survivor enough to keep listening.

Why does Derrick yell every single thing he says? Can he not speak in a normal volume/tone? It’s excruciating to my ears!

Bananas is the Hulk Hogan of the Challenge but you guys are The WWE. You guys are consistently great while Johnny is the GOAT. I can’t pick a favorite cause both shows are so freakin good. This show is a must listen every week.

Why is Scott always on top of Landon’s hot dog. Nobody wants Landon back. Nobody cares if he comes back..:.he wasn’t even good tv! I don’t get why Scott is obsessed with him.

This isn’t a podcast, it’s a really long commercial for premium content. Super lame.

I loved this podcast. I was a day one listener and day one Patreon subscriber. I couldn’t get enough of this podcast, and now I’ve unsubscribed and canceled my Patreon membership. Scott likes the sound of his own voice too much and sometimes it seems like he’s just talking to himself during the interviews. Two star rating is only because I’m a Derrick fan.

Derrick and Scott-I don’t think Olivia’s choice of not choosing to save Nurys was just about her for fans (from what I have seen online) but also about HORACIO because Nurys would have then saved him and of course Horacio would’ve save Kyland. Remember Horacio and Olivia both got taken out of the game last time due to a horrible accident. He has basically been her “ride or die” and wanted to run this final with her. He has said that in an interview, so he was really, really hurt by her choice. Listen, I don’t know what it’s like to play this game for all of you, but this is just my humble opinion… for those of you that do have friends in the game and outside relationships and friendships. May be a good choice to establish upfront that if you are playing for each other, then do so and stick with each other and ride it out or at least be upfront and say look we are friends outside of this game, in real life, where it counts, but inside the game I have to do what I have to do for myself because everybody has goals and dreams and aspirations and would like to win the money or just the title of knowing that they can do this and win in the end. I get that. It’s a learning curve for Olivia and I’m Horacio both.

I just finished listening to episode 13 of season 39. This use to be one of my favorite podcasts. This episode was mostly talking about events that already happened. Barely anything about the current episode. If you want people to only listen on paitron just move the show there. I love the Challenge, I would love to go see the mania show. What I don’t love is a description saying it’s a review of the episode, then it’s not. It’s gotten worse and worse. If it doesn’t improve, you’ll lose listeners. Maybe you only want people to pay to listen. Maybe do that before you make the rest of your listeners rate your podcast.

Big Challenge fan. Love Derrick & appreciate Scott’s enthusiasm & knowledge of The Challenge world. However, thought Scott’s comments about her were distasteful & inadvertently racist. Calling an Asian woman “small”, non threatening, & that’d she’d be better suited as a “tour guide” were very socially unaware. Lol wow! Having a nice demeanor can actually be more threatening because you’re disarming your opponent perception of you. Scott clearly has never been a physical competitor before to understand that. Would love to see Kaz meet Scott one day & kick his butt!

I would have liked to give this five stars but Scott, please stop talking sooooooo much. The other day I tried to skip through one of your questions and hit fast forward four times and Scott was STILL asking his question. I understand these long form interviews need to be conversational but the audience is here to listen to the guest.

Great pod. My only gripes are the long intros promoting the live shows, patreon, etc. Love D, but he is a terrible communicator. Questions are constantly extremely long-winded and end up being 3 questions in one long tangent. Tighten up those few things and you have a top notch pod.

I like Scott he does a great job and I also like Derrick but maybe he should take some communications/ interviewing classes. His constant interruptions and talking over people are awful. Every commercial break is at least 3 1/2 minutes. Finally, instead of getting full hour long interviews, they are now about 20 minutes because the rest of the time Scott and Derrick are talking about some other B.S. while telling you to go to their pay Patreon to hear the rest of the interview. PLENTY of other podcasts do this for free, so I’m sorry but you’re done.

Love the variety in guests, the easy dialogue and of course…hearing anything from my fav challenger D!!!!

It’s already been obvious that Derrick has been losing it for a while but NOW it’s starting to become annoying…I understand that people go through things but STOP coming on the podcast and ruining the content for us. Most of the episode is filled with Derrick running around in circles with his words and dragging out NOTHING. It’s not only affecting his image but it’s making me not want to listen anymore

Any of these taped live events make me less likely to ever attend one. It’s just Scott taking up all the air in the room and never letting anyone say anything potentially interesting or meaningful. I swear he just gets hard at the sound of his own voice. He’s an annoying host and has no Challenge or Survivor knowledge. What exactly does he bring to the table?

When talking about Devin in that spot, I disagree, is there any other puzzle elimination contestant other than CT that you wouldn’t want to see than Devin? Just ask Johnny bananas. It’s almost like both men and women champs, they are all of a certain flavor when it comes to their main elimination strengths, no? Great podcast guys, keep it up!

D and Scott have been doing this for awhile and only get better. Great content and guests, derricks energy and insight is top notch, and scotts always got the best questions.

At first i liked the podcast, over time now i can’t stand it. Scott is too long winded. Scott constantly spoils the other shows. Like the winner of bb24 he talked about the next day on a survivor edition of the podcast. Also spoiled an eviction of bb25 on a challenge edition podcast. See he talks about big brother on podcast that aren’t even about big brother. And now i just got spoiled on the next exit In challenge usa season 2 with the title “exit interview: w/ paulie calafiore. It could have just said exit interview.

I’ve been following the challenge since day one

I do love the podcast but recently there’s been an emphasis on how bad cancel culture is for reality tv stars , having people with different viewpoints etc. people are allowed to grow and change but they don’t have to have a national platform in order to do that and Scott constantly bringing it up as a bummer is an even bigger bummer when he-a middle class , cis white man living in one of the most expensive cities in the world—will never be the target for people’s racist, classist, homo and transphobic views.

Scott and Derrick have the best pod out there about what has become my favorite show on television. Revisit all your old favorite seasons and follow along with all the new challenge seasons. They also have amazing interviews with all your favorite challengers. Check it out!

and way, way too much Yager. It is starting to feel like Derrick is an occasional guest rather than the star of the podcast.

The fact that Scott constantly talks about the outcome of Survivor 44 without spoiler warnings on non survivor podcasts is baffling

Scott says something and then feels the need to reiterate that comment 4 times in 4 different ways without letting anyone else talk. We got it the first time dude shut up. The Susie episode was absolutely brutal to listen to.

Holy moly! Scott - let the guests get a thought out! I’m trying to listen to the episode with Susie and all I hear is Scott talking. He isn’t letting Susie (or even Derrick) speak and when she does, he just talked right over her. This is painful.

I love all of Scott’s questions and discussions. I feel like I just become confused more than half of the time Derrick speaks. I love Derrick on the Challenge though.

Can get same content for free with other podcasters

Scott take the advice you gave to the Challenge “less is more”. Get rid of all these other lame shows that have nothing to do with the Challenge. No more lame wrestling or Survivor or whatever this abortion you did today. Never forget we came for D!!!

Scott is an idiot.

katrina charlie bananas tovah alex camila

Love the challenge and this podcast has good guest. I like how the want to get history on players. But they are too wordy, talking over each other constantly!

Show is dicey!! Stop talking over each other-it gets old quick. Also, Scott’s way of asking a question is painting a 5 minute picture. Just ask the freaking question. Difficult to listen to sometimes. EDIT- if it weren’t for appearances from challengers..I would not be able to listen. Derrick rambles way too long. 2nd EDIT- yeah I can’t listen anymore. Scott can ask a simple question. Cringe to listen to.

I tried giving it chance after chance. But it seems to just be getting worse. Tons of ads with weird loud outgoing music signaling the ads are coming for like a minute before the ad actually plays! Also the beginning is basically rambling with lots of ads. You can usually skip the first 10 minutes and not miss anything. Scott tries but he asks long rambling questions where he basically tries to voice his opinion on the subject and asks if the guests if they agree with him. He usually asks like 5 questions all the once and confuses the guests. Derrick is even worse. I don’t think he even tries. He has been getting bad ratings and feedback since the beginning but he has not improved at all. Shows that he doesn’t really care about listeners’ opinions and thinks he’s doing great. He rambles on so much and his thoughts aren’t even linked. He usually starts with something tangentially related to what was said, but then he rambles on for so long that he gets lost halfway through. After 5 minutes of him rambling straight, I find myself asking what point he even made in that time. Sometimes I skip whenever he talks because he does not contribute anything. Just detracts. He should try to limit himself to 3 sentences every time he talks. That might help. Also, even if you did not subscribe for non challenge content, be prepared for random podcasts about survivor, wrestling, Disney trips (??) and random thoughts from Scott no one asked for.

check it out! some really good guests and interviews

The people they have on this podcast is great HOWEVER THE SOUND QUALITY IS HORRIBLE