Mark Long Shares His Opinion On The Challenge: USA - Exclusive

Mark Long has been a long-time contestant and fan favorite on "The Challenge." He first began competing on the MTV series in 1998 and has been on several seasons since. Recently, he took on a new role in "The Challenge" universe as not only a contestant but a producer. The Paramount+ spinoff series, "The Challenge: All Stars," was a big passion project for Long. He helped push to get it made, works as an executive producer on the series, and has competed in Seasons 1 and 3 of the show.

Since the success of "The Challenge: All Stars," some other spinoffs have come out, including the new CBS show, "The Challenge: USA." During an exclusive interview with The List, Long shared his thoughts on the series and how it stacks up to the MTV original. He also shared why he thinks "The Challenge: All Stars" may have influenced the new series.

Speaking to The List, Mark Long was happy to share his opinion on CBS's new spin-off "The Challenge: USA." The new show brings contestants in from other reality TV shows like "Big Brother," "Survivor," and "Love Island." Long said he's hoping to see the series succeed and continue for a long time. "I'm a big company man, I'm a big team player, and any type of success with 'The Challenge' is a success for me," he said. Long added that he loves seeing the show because he's met many of the people on it and gets to meet more people every year.

However, "The Challenge" star did admit that he prefers the original MTV series. "'I'm an OG, right? It's like asking someone which is better, the original '90210' or the remake in the 2000s. I always go for the original." However, even though he'd love to see more veterans from the MTV shows competing, he's always happy to see new faces as well.

Unlike "The Challenge: All Stars," Mark Long didn't do anything directly to create the CBS spinoff "The Challenge: USA." However, Long told The List that he still feels like he can take a little credit for getting "The Challenge: the USA" and other similar shows going. He pointed out that the CBS series uses the same format of bringing in fan-favorite contestants, even though it's drawing them from a different pool: "[That], to me, is a happy nod to 'All Stars.' I don't want to [take] full credit, but I feel like I started something, and it's really catching on," he said.

Long sees "All Stars" success as a catalyst for similar shows to get made and also become successful. "I guarantee you if we did 'All Stars' Season 1 and it was a flop, Paramount+ would probably be like, 'Maybe this ... isn't the best thing we should do,'" Long said. Iinstead, the show has been a huge commercial and critical hit. "Now, they're doing an Argentina version. They're going to do a universal championship," Long said. Although he'd never give himself all the credit for any of the shows, he said, "I feel like I got a little something in there that helped to push that forward."

All three seasons of "The Challenge: All Stars" are now streaming on Paramount+.