Extreme Challenge is the fourth season of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge. It premiered on January 9, 2001, and concluded with the reunion special on May 22, 2001.
Extreme Challenge is the first season that adorned the show with a subtitle, the series having begun a new trend of titling each season based on its format and theme. To date, it's also the only season in which the season title alters the show title, through the insertion of "Extreme" between "Real World/Road Rules" and "Challenge."
Extreme Challenge consisted of the third and final six-on-six Challenge. The casts were split up into two different six-person teams, one representing The Real World and the other representing Road Rules. The teams traveled via tour bus in the eastern U.S. and Europe competing in different individual challenges. Each time a team won an individual challenge, money would be added to a Monster.com team bank account. The last mission would be for the right to keep the money collected in the pot, an additional cash prize, and a car.
Real World won the final challenge, winning brand new Toyota Celicas. They earned $110,000 with each team member receiving $18,333. For winning the "Human Foosball" mini-challenge, Dan, Julie, and Rebecca received an additional $1,000 for a total of $19,333.
Road Rules lost the final challenge, therefore losing their entire bank. For winning the "Human Foosball" mini-challenge, Christian, Emily, and James received an additional $1,000.
