Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno

"The Inferno" is the eighth season of the "Real World/Road Rules Challenge". It aired in 2004 on MTV, composed of twenty cast members, and took place in Acapulco, Mexico. In this challenge, the winning teams would receive a prize at the end of each mission. They would then nominate two players from their team to the Inferno elimination challenge. Unlike on the Gauntlet, there would be another challenge with an immunity life-saver up for grabs before the Inferno. Each team then selected one of the two nominees from the opposing team to go into the Inferno.

Cast

Host: Dave Mirra

Game summary

: "Real World" won the challenge.: "Road Rules" won the challenge.: The contestant was saved by another contestant with a Life Saver: The contestant won the Life Saver and saved themselves.: The contestant won the Life Saver and put themselves in the Inferno.: The contestant was placed in the Inferno by the Life Saver winner.

Final results

The final "Real World" team consisted of Coral, CT, Mike, and Syrus. The final "Road Rules" team consisted of Abram, Darrell, Katie, Holly, Timmy, Christena, Kendal, and Veronica.The "Road Rules" team won the final mission.

Memorable moments

* Piggy from "" arrived to compete in "The Inferno" and can be seen in both footage and photos from the cast's arrival. Soon after arriving, she left to go home and was consequently never mentioned. Christena was flown in to replace her. The title credits reflect this, as they were filmed when Piggy was there and Christena's scenes were shot later. The official reason for her departure has been cited as "family reasons".
* Katie went into two Infernos and won both, eliminating a male player (David) in the process. She crowned herself "Inferno Queen". Katie was also in the selections for the Inferno all 4 times and was never picked by the "Real World" team to go in.
* Katie had a huge fight with Veronica, in which Katie called Veronica a bitch and a "short, scrawny, acne faced f***in slut and you can go f*** yourself!!!" In an aside moment, Katie said about Veronica "screw a few more castmembers, slut!"
* During a challenge in which competitors were suspended high atop two skyscrapers, Julie and Veronica were paired up against each other. Julie needed to pull Veronica off her rope to disqualify her in the hopes that the Real World team would win the mission. (Both competitors were held up by safety harnesses.) Julie tried to grab Veronica by one of her leg extensions to her safety harness, but Veronica wiggled away, saying, "Stop molesting my vagina, you fucking Mormon." Julie, desperate and angry at the slight, tried harder to knock Veronica off the rope. Veronica said, "What? You wanna punch me? You wanna punch me? Come on! Punch me!" Probably because of this, Julie got angry at Veronica and grabbed Veronica by the back of her safety harness and appeared to be either holding on to it to try to pull Veronica off or trying to undo the harness from behind. (There are conflicting stories about exactly what Julie was doing.) Veronica was terrified, screaming, "What the fuck are you doing? I fucking hate you! What are you doing?" After time expired and both competitors were disqualified, Veronica nudged Julie away and yelled, "Are you crazy? You are fucking crazy!" Julie said, "You are not going to die. Stop crying." When both competitors were safely back on the ledge, Julie insisted to Veronica that she was not trying to kill her and could not undo the harness if she wanted to. Veronica, still shaken and angry, told her to "shut the fuck up." Veronica then took the elevator to the ground, crying to herself. In an aside moment, Julie insisted that she was not trying to kill Veronica and "if I really wanted to kill her I would have taken out a knife and stabbed her in the heart." Despite this dangerous incident, Julie was neither penalized nor punished for this tactic.
* Julie Stoffer got into an argument with Coral Smith, with Julie at one point telling Coral to "shut her fucking mouth". Coral yelled at Julie, telling her to "back the fuck off". When Julie refused, Coral left the room in a huff, telling Veronica that she hoped that her team would send Julie home. Coral then said, "I gave her a freebie. Next time I make her pay, and I don't take credit cards!" Julie took offense to Coral's attitude, and challenged her to a wrestling match to settle the matter. Coral dismissed her, saying, "I don't wrestle, I fing beat bitches up!" and, "Do you know how crazy you look right now, bitch?" When the argument ended and Julie was in another room, Coral continued to berate Julie, saying, "She'll go home in a gurney, and I'll go home in handcuffs!" When Julie was subsequently sent home, Coral openly gloated and laughed.
* When Coral was to go into the final women's Inferno, she wanted to go against Katie rather than Veronica. The team voted against her, believing Katie to be a weak member of the "Road Rules" team and therefore an asset for them. (This was an agreed-upon practice by the "Real World" team.) Coral objected to this, saying that she would retaliate against her teammates for this. The point was moot, however, because Coral won the final life-saver and sent in David in her place.
* CT used his life-saver to save his friend David, then sent Shane home in the Inferno.
* This season marked the beginning of the tactic of "throwing the mission" in which the "Road Rules" team would sabotage their own performance in order to ensure that the life-shield would go to their hand-picked recipient.
** The first time it was attempted was when Christena was voted into the Inferno against Mallory and in an endurance challenge the "Road Rules" team was going to let Christena win the life-saver to send Katie in, however Katie lasted in the endurance challenge longer than Christena did, foiling the "Road Rules" team's plan.
** The second time it worked and Katie was sent to the Inferno, but Katie beat Julie.
** The third time the team used the tactic, they failed to tell team member Kendal, who ended up winning the lifesaver. Wracked with guilt, Kendal threw herself into the Inferno so that stronger male Timmy would not have to risk himself. Her then-boyfriend Mike was so angry by her own team's manipulation and use of her guilt that during the Inferno, he drunkenly shouted profanities and insults. At the same time, the "Real World" team had used the "Road Rules" tactic and threw Leah into the Inferno. CT, the proponent of the plan, was arguing with Leah during the Inferno as well, as if to break her concentration. In the end, Kendal won.
* Leah had to be taken to a hospital because she hyperventilated during a mission.
* David and Katie ended up dating after this show.
* To date, this was the last of the challenges that pitted alumni of "Real World" against "Road Rules".
* The "Road Rules" team won every female Inferno and all five females made it to the final.

External links

* [http://www.mtv.com/onair/realworld/ MTV's official "Real World" website]
* [http://roadrules.mtv.com MTV's official "Road Rules" website]