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Aviv Melmed returned to The Challenge 40 on August 14, 2024, after an 18-year absence, setting the record for the longest gap between seasons. She first appeared in 2006 on Fresh Meat, where she won as a rookie with Darrell Taylor, but hasn't been seen on the show since.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on August 13, 2024, Aviv explained why she was not seen in any of the future seasons after her rookie season win. She revealed that she did once get an availability call, but there were no calls for some time.
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Aviv said that she was approached in 2021 for All-Stars via Facebook Messenger. Since she doesn't check Facebook Messenger regularly, she wasn't expecting the producer to contact her through that platform. After not hearing from the show for a year, she decided to move on with her life and focus on her career.
"After a couple of years of not hearing and knowing that some of my fellow cast members had been returning, I just went on with life because I was like, "Well, I have to work and I have to make money and I have a college degree and a master's and I should be doing life." So that's mostly the reason why I didn't come back," she said.
Aviv Melmed on her The Challenge 40 return
When asked what season she received her first availability call for, Aviv Melmed said that it might have been for The Ruins, the next season after hers. However, she said that it was just an availability call and things did not go any far, so she acknowledged her The Challenge appearance as a fun part of her life.
Aviv went on to be busy with her life and was stuck in the corporate world. She wasn't happy with the type of work she was doing and wanted to do something that she liked.
She got the chance to return to The Challenge 40: Battle of Eras at age 40. She was surprised by how perfectly timed the opportunity was. Aviv used this return to show she wasn’t the “boring” contestant people saw on Fresh Meat in 2006.
Aviv Melmed on not being called back for The Challenge
In the Entertainment Weekly interview, Aviv Melmed said that her run in The Challenge changed her slightly. She was going to go to med school after her season and was worried about how her appearance in the final edit would look and if it would harm her life.
Aviv was a quiet rookie among the loud alumni who already knew each other. Her partner, Darrell, took care of that aspect, and she just had to focus on her performance.
After her win on Fresh Meat, she was upset that she wasn't called after such a good performance. She later realized that she appeared "boring" on her season and that her "cool and fun" side did not make the final edit. She believes that when she was on the show, people did not focus on the contestants with "athleticism or puzzle smarts" but on the ones who made better TV.
Aviv Melmed never thought she would be called back to the show at the age of 40. But because she had stayed in physical fitness all these years, it was no problem for her to get back into action when she received a call.
The Challenge 40 premiered on August 14, 2024, on MTV.
