How to Win at The Challenge and Life, Sydney Bucksbaum
How to Win at The Challenge and Life, Sydney Bucksbaum
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

How to Win at The Challenge and Life
A Champion's Guide to Eliminating Obstacles, Winning Friends, and Making that Money

Author: Sydney Bucksbaum

Narrator: Cassandra Medcalf, Travis Tonn

Unabridged: 6 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/25/2022


Synopsis

You’ve seen the rivalries. You’ve witnessed the blood, sweat, and tears. You’ve celebrated the champions. But what does it really take to win MTV’s The Challenge? And what happens after the cameras stop rolling?

Since 1998, MTV’s The Challenge has tested competitors’ physical, mental, and emotional endurance. Some go on to become Challenge legends, going down in history as players who changed the game forever. But for each champion, there are dozens more who try and fail (over and over again) to earn the title.

In her time covering the show, pop culture journalist and Challenge superfan Sydney Bucksbaum has gotten to know many of the champs, gaining an insider’s knowl­edge of what goes into making a winning strategy—and how difficult it is to actually pull it off. Here, she profiles twenty-one of the most popular, successful, and infamous champions and reveals not only how they won The Chal­lenge but also how they applied the skills they learned from the experience to their personal lives and careers.

From seven-time winner Johnny “Bananas” Deve­nanzio, Challenge “Godfather” Mark Long, OG champ Veronica Portillo, elimination beast Emily Schromm to most-improved competitors Cara Maria Sorbello and Chris “C.T.” Tamburello, the best in the game look back at their decades of hard work, including the euphoric highs, devastating lows, and everything in between.

Eye-opening and inspiring, How to Win at The Challenge and Life is the must-have book for any and all fans looking to level up their own lives—and learn never-before-heard stories from the people who have dominated the show in every way.

About Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a writer at Entertainment Weekly covering all things pop culture and the cohost of SiriusXM’s Superhero Insider. Follow her on Twitter @SydneyBucksbaum. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mehva on October 26, 2022

Enjoyed this book about the Challenge. I have been watching the show for about 10 years so many I was familiar with but many others predated me. I missed some major players, Wes in particular who so influenced many seasons, Kaycee a more recent winner, Tori , Diem who showed up what courage grit wer......more

Goodreads review by Holly | Raise Your Words on August 19, 2024

-- 4/5 Stars -- ★★★★☆​ Trigger Warnings for How to Win at The Challenge and Life: Failure, cancer, humiliation, death How to Win at The Challenge and Life: A Champions Guide to Eliminating Obstacles, Winning Friends, and Making that Money is a nonfiction piece by Sydney Bucksbaum that has one of the l......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on January 10, 2023

This is a fun little read if you're a fan of MTV's The challenge (formally Real World Road Rules Challenge). It's just interviews with 21 former winners of the show and provides insight on what the show and winning meant to them. I loved the variety of winners we got, but was definitely missing a fe......more

Goodreads review by OutlawPoet on September 19, 2022

My kid and I are relatively recent Challenge watchers – I’ve seen maybe six or seven seasons (sprinkled out, not consecutive). She’s seen three, one regular, one All Stars and USA. We’re blown away by how honestly badass some of these competitors are and this book was a nice little intro into some of......more

Goodreads review by Sally on July 28, 2023

I love the challenge 5ever. I mean it’s my wifi password? I watched 25 seasons in like 4 months so slay me? This book warmed my lil heart because I LoVe this show but the writing was pretty repetitive and I wanted more of that behind the scenes dirt. I get it tho because author is a journalist and s......more