They were cold-casting at Spartan races before the pandemic, so I’m pretty sure they were trying to pull off a Fresh-Meat style season again.
I think the problem with casting the show, now, is that The Challenge has evolved into a pure GAME. The original appeal of the show when it started was that the cast were just people playing a game. Real World wasn’t about any competition and Road Rules was more about the traveling. Because of that, the players were just entertaining people playing a game. Now, though, they’re casting people because of how they play games. The vibe, and focus, has shifted. As a result, the interpersonal dynamics that made the Challenge interesting has fallen to the wayside. And, because casting is so scattershot now, the new people coming in have no connection to ANYONE. That means there are no stories to make them interesting.
The aspects of the first episode that worked were the Ravyn’s unrequited love for Johnny, which is an interesting relationship that can impact the game, and Turbo’s mere existence, which creates relationships that can impact the game. In general, that’s what is missing.
CT became a legend because of his relationship with Diem and how it softened him. Bananas became a legend because of how he burned every single person who trusted him. Cara became a legend because she went from easy lay-up to multi-time champion. They had multi-season arcs. Everyone else, even if they’ve been there multiple seasons, are just flat.