Speaker 1: So yeah, it's Master's weekend, and for those of you
Speaker 1: that don't know what that is, it's an important weekend
Speaker 1: for Dad's All Across America golf tournament in Georgia. Everything's
Speaker 1: green there, and that's what I've been doing. I've been
Speaker 1: watching that because your boy is starting to trend towards Dad.
Speaker 1: I'm not a dad, I'm a dog dad. But like
Speaker 1: I always thought of myself was like the cool young
Speaker 1: hip hips the radio DJ, going to all the shows,
Speaker 1: drinking and smoking and being cool. And now I'm like,
Speaker 1: I gotta watch the Masters guys, a tradition unlike any
Speaker 1: other or whatever. It's kind of fun speaking of masters.
Speaker 1: Do we have one on the show today. Let's get
Speaker 1: this thing go and run it. This is the Wells
Speaker 1: Cast with Wells, Adams and I Heart Radio podcast. The
Speaker 1: show is kind of like a tradition like any other
Speaker 1: to be honest with then, you know, no one ever
Speaker 1: thought to interview people about their past groundbreaking stuff. Wells.
Speaker 1: You truly are a visionary, a trailblazer if you will.
Speaker 1: Now this is this is a show that's been done before.
Speaker 1: It'll be done again long after I'm gone, which actually
Speaker 1: be pretty soon. Considering I'm in uh dad bud Master's mode,
Speaker 1: so I'm about three minutes away from the earlier birds
Speaker 1: special at the Golden Corral dementia and a smooth transition
Speaker 1: into cold, hard death. How's dark whatever? It's been a
Speaker 1: year man. You've boys got the vaccine though, so that
Speaker 1: ain't gonna kill him. Got the Madern, which I will say,
Speaker 1: uh second show. The Madern put me on my ass.
Speaker 1: I was being so arrogant to the vaccine. Gods are like, you,
Speaker 1: stupid bitch, We shall get you. I got mine at
Speaker 1: like ten in the morning. You've been hearing like all
Speaker 1: these just kind of horror stories, and I was like,
Speaker 1: how do I feel? What's going on? Around ten pm,
Speaker 1: So twelve hours after I have the shot, I was like,
Speaker 1: I think I'm in the clear, guys. I think that
Speaker 1: my amazing immune system is totally gonna just float by
Speaker 1: this thing and I am not gonna feel anything. Took
Speaker 1: a mellowtone, went in bed, knocked it out, and then
Speaker 1: about three in the morning, you boys started getting the fever, dreams,
Speaker 1: the flop sweat. Oh, and then I just felt like
Speaker 1: hot death for about twelve more hours. But I feel fine,
Speaker 1: and you know what's exciting about that? Yet, Yes, like
Speaker 1: it was a day of just achiness and it's not
Speaker 1: feeling great, but you know that, like meme of Leonardo
Speaker 1: DiCaprio walking on the beach being like here we go.
Speaker 1: I feel like that now I can walk through the
Speaker 1: world like that. I'm still gonna wear a math I'm sumy,
Speaker 1: smart and stuff, and I'm still gonna wash my hands
Speaker 1: a lot because you should anyway, because you stn't be gross.
Speaker 1: But it's like a new world, Oh new world. Super
Speaker 1: pumped about today's show. Okay, my guest today is a
Speaker 1: guy that's been in reality TV longer than most of
Speaker 1: my audience. I feel like has been alive, just some mainstay,
Speaker 1: a trailblazer if you will, in the reality TV world.
Speaker 1: You know, after doing Worst Cooks with Johnny, I became
Speaker 1: this huge challenge fan and now Sarah and I are obsessed.
Speaker 1: So having this guy on the show today makes me
Speaker 1: really really excited by Also, like I said earlier, I'm
Speaker 1: getting up there in the age bracket. And your boy
Speaker 1: was in high school in the mid to late nineties. Okay, facts,
Speaker 1: and so I was a huge real world road rules
Speaker 1: guy and the guy that we have on the show
Speaker 1: today was from the first ever road Rules season. But
Speaker 1: that's not all he did. Man, literally, this dude has
Speaker 1: done everything. He was on Fox Reality's longest running original series,
Speaker 1: Reality Remix, which, by the way, how does that show
Speaker 1: not exist anymore? With the advent of all these amazing
Speaker 1: reality TV shows whatever, He basically interviewed hundreds of reality
Speaker 1: stars and reviewed their shows genius. He was the gadget
Speaker 1: guru on multiple daytime talk shows, including like the New
Speaker 1: Donnie and Marie Show, Soap Talk, and so many more.
Speaker 1: He was a lead host for E Entertainment three hour
Speaker 1: live morning show called That Morning Show. And of course
Speaker 1: it's a two time Challenge winner, which is baller. What
Speaker 1: about a year and a half ago, he hopped on
Speaker 1: Twitter and he sent out a tweet saying, Hey, Challenge fans,
Speaker 1: how do you guys feel about an O G version
Speaker 1: of the Challenge, shorter shooting schedule, some of the best
Speaker 1: O G personalities? And guess what? That thing went viral.
Speaker 1: So my guest today signed a partnership deal with the
Speaker 1: production company that led to the MTV slash Paramount Plus
Speaker 1: deal and that birth the new concept The Challenge All Stars,
Speaker 1: which is now airing on Paramount Plus. If you are
Speaker 1: a fan of the Challenge, uh, you better go watch
Speaker 1: The Challenge All Stars. So on the Wells Cast today
Speaker 1: we have the Godfather. That's right, the one, the only
Speaker 1: Mark Long eyes. This is one you do not want
Speaker 1: to stick around, all right, welcome back to the Wells Cast.
Speaker 1: Very excited to have well, let's just say it, one
Speaker 1: of the greats from reality TV on the show. And
Speaker 1: as someone who has been on reality TV now for
Speaker 1: seven years, I can't imagine doing it for as long
Speaker 1: as this guy. Speaking of the word long, Mark Long
Speaker 1: on the show. How are you, bro? Yes, as always,
Speaker 1: Wells coming in hot and ferocious just for you, my man,
Speaker 1: I look young and beautiful, It's true, but I am.
Speaker 1: I'm on the wrong end of thirty and Bro. I
Speaker 1: remember your season of road Rules back in the mid
Speaker 1: nineties and I was a huge fan. I had the
Speaker 1: miss on I don't know, maybe a year year ago,
Speaker 1: and I was fan blowing out. So having you on
Speaker 1: the show is very, very exciting. So thank you for
Speaker 1: being here. That is awesome. Yeah, you're you're aging me
Speaker 1: right off the bat with my nine road Rules call out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I turned fifty this year. Well, isn't that terrible? I mean,
Speaker 1: when you're growing up, fifty is so old when you're
Speaker 1: like eighteen. So I'm there, I am there, my friend.
Speaker 1: I didn't age you. You aged yourself because you created
Speaker 1: the challenge to debate my friend Challenge All Stars, which
Speaker 1: is a sweet way of saying the Challenge a a
Speaker 1: RP edition, Just so you know, like I need you
Speaker 1: to understand, like where I'm coming from. I wasn't a
Speaker 1: fan of the Challenge. I was a fan of road
Speaker 1: Rules and Real World growing up. I actually auditioned for
Speaker 1: Real World funny enough years ago in college and then
Speaker 1: that's a And then I wasn't a fan of the
Speaker 1: Challenge until I went on Worse Cooks in America celebrity addition,
Speaker 1: it's really most term there, and I went up against
Speaker 1: a gentleman by then him of Johnny Bananas, and then
Speaker 1: I became friends with him. I beat his ass on
Speaker 1: the show, which was nice because I found out that
Speaker 1: he's some great challenge guy. Since then, my fiance Sarah
Speaker 1: and myself have become fucking addicted to the Challenge. This
Speaker 1: most recent season is amazing. So right off the bat,
Speaker 1: before we get into your iteration of it. Are you
Speaker 1: watching the Challenge right now? It's airing on MTV. Of
Speaker 1: course we're We're approaching the finals on that series. I'm
Speaker 1: a big CT fan, so I'll always root for the
Speaker 1: o G. And it's great because I actually I'm super
Speaker 1: close with Johnny. He was actually out here for his
Speaker 1: birthday and we went we had to come to a dinner,
Speaker 1: but I watched you beat his ass on Worst Cooks
Speaker 1: in America. So you can always have that that feather
Speaker 1: in your cap as you move forward in this reality
Speaker 1: realm my friends. So it's yeah, kudos to you. It
Speaker 1: was awesome. I'm glad that you said CT, because there's
Speaker 1: nothing more that I love than someone who's really good
Speaker 1: an interview. I'm new to this whole challenge thing, so
Speaker 1: what I'm tweeting or I'm instagramming about how much I
Speaker 1: love CT and Big Tea and their dynamic and like
Speaker 1: how cute they are, how good both of them are
Speaker 1: an interview. People are hitting me back being like Sects
Speaker 1: a snake. He's always been like this and you shouldn't
Speaker 1: root for him, Like, first of all, I can forever
Speaker 1: I want because that's the whole joining the show I
Speaker 1: come at it from a different angle of I love
Speaker 1: CT because if I was a producer on that show,
Speaker 1: I would absolutely cream my pants every time I sat
Speaker 1: down with him. That sounded weird, but it's true because
Speaker 1: he gives you such good soundbites. And the thing with
Speaker 1: your show. The challenge all Stars is that I always
Speaker 1: say this about Bachelor in Paradise, it's the reality TV
Speaker 1: all Stars from the Bachelor World's everyone who's very very
Speaker 1: good at being on camera and doing interviews. And I
Speaker 1: imagine that's kind of what this is. This is everyone
Speaker 1: who's very very good at being on camera. And I
Speaker 1: will go even a step further. So a lot of people,
Speaker 1: when they first saw the show kind of come out
Speaker 1: in the press, they were like all Stars. Well. They
Speaker 1: instantly went to people's resumes, like how many challenges have
Speaker 1: they won? And I was like, whoaa, we'll pump the
Speaker 1: brakes because this initially started as the O G project.
Speaker 1: You know some of those people that you haven't seen
Speaker 1: in ten twenty years. That was my goal. So all Stars,
Speaker 1: I'm exactly like you. I used the all star termid
Speaker 1: the fact that they have an all star personality, They
Speaker 1: have an all star reputation within the challenge, they have
Speaker 1: an all star moment in the past challenges that has
Speaker 1: been epics. So I don't go to the resumes of
Speaker 1: win or lose. I go to the resume of who's
Speaker 1: gonna show up, who's gonna give us their best personality,
Speaker 1: and who's some of the most fan favorites. I mean, Beth, Ruthy,
Speaker 1: cyrus Um. Those are some names that everyone grew up
Speaker 1: with and can relate to instantly. And then you have
Speaker 1: those wild cards thrown in like the tech Money's or
Speaker 1: the Sella's or the yes is that people just they
Speaker 1: really went off the grid, So it's nice to bring
Speaker 1: those people back. I think I've said this before. The
Speaker 1: nostalgia of the fact that we grew up with the
Speaker 1: audience just like they grew up with us, So there's
Speaker 1: kind of an emotional connection. They're not just hey, who's this.
Speaker 1: Who's Kyle from the from the UK? That guy looks familiar,
Speaker 1: So there's kind of an invested kind of emotional attachment
Speaker 1: before the season even starts, because you grew up with
Speaker 1: these folks and that was my main goal, and I
Speaker 1: think we hit it out of the park and I
Speaker 1: couldn't be more happy than the response we've had so far.
Speaker 1: It's been amazing. Bar Stool said it was perfect, which
Speaker 1: that's high praise from the place that's primarily known as
Speaker 1: talking about people so well done. That's what I said.
Speaker 1: I said, if we can get bar Stool Sports, who
Speaker 1: ships on everyone, they're the realist person out there to
Speaker 1: say it's perfect, we did something right. I'm actually going
Speaker 1: on with them later today live and uh, they get
Speaker 1: it though. They they don't care that people are the
Speaker 1: strongest or the most in shape. They love good television.
Speaker 1: It's entertaining as hell, and it's fun to see, you know,
Speaker 1: someone that's not an Olympic athletes struggle but still be
Speaker 1: funny along the way. And I think, you know, Middle
Speaker 1: America is not you know, probably out there during the
Speaker 1: winters running fifty miles and you know, so it's like,
Speaker 1: it's nice to show the average portion of America that
Speaker 1: that moms and dad's mothers, fathers can still strap on
Speaker 1: the speedo and to go out there and melt some
Speaker 1: ice with their ass, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's nice. Going back to the genesis of the Challenge
Speaker 1: all Stars, I was reading up on you and I
Speaker 1: guess I just assumed that Viacom was like, all right,
Speaker 1: we've got this new streaming service, let's just create some
Speaker 1: new programming for Paramount Plus. This will be an easy fit.
Speaker 1: And then as I dug a little bit deeper, I
Speaker 1: saw that the origins came from a tweet that you
Speaker 1: had sent out, just like kind of asking the fans
Speaker 1: out there what their appetite was for something like this
Speaker 1: goes viral boat a bing bought a boom. You're now
Speaker 1: an EP on the show. Yeah, I'm executive, I'm a
Speaker 1: player coach as they say, EP and competitor. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: threw I threw out the tweet in late July, US
Speaker 1: Weekly picked it up and it went nuts. And then uh,
Speaker 1: some different outlets started reaching out to me. People Magazine,
Speaker 1: you know, Yahoo, all the different ones. So I knew
Speaker 1: there was a temperament for it. I knew there was
Speaker 1: an audience for it. And once I met with Bua
Speaker 1: Murray who does the challenges, and we established that partnership deal,
Speaker 1: there was really no other place that I wanted to
Speaker 1: take it first but MTV and the fact that it
Speaker 1: coincided with the release of their partnership with Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: Everything lined up. So when I first pitched it in
Speaker 1: late July, to have it shot and airing in April
Speaker 1: is pretty you know, the business, it's insane, so it
Speaker 1: happened really quick. Um, the talent that I got is
Speaker 1: a plus. They're super funny and it's just a fun,
Speaker 1: nostalgic show that I've had so many people just like
Speaker 1: I just smiled through the whole episode because it's just fun.
Speaker 1: It's a fun show. The music is fucking awesome, so
Speaker 1: it's a good throwback show. How is it not a
Speaker 1: conflict of interest to be a producer but also be
Speaker 1: contestant on the show. So when I initially started, my
Speaker 1: role was to gather lots of names that were interested.
Speaker 1: So I pulled probably eighty names and put together probably
Speaker 1: eighty bios. Spoke with eighty you know o g cast
Speaker 1: members kind of gave him a speel about you know,
Speaker 1: this isn't a challenge. We're gonna be leaving for ten
Speaker 1: eleven weeks. That's one of the reasons we can't go
Speaker 1: on in the first place. So I said, how would
Speaker 1: you feel about a two to three weeks you know,
Speaker 1: shooting schedule, and if I can make this happen. Will
Speaker 1: you be will you be interested in there? Like everyone
Speaker 1: I asked said yeah. So when I got them to
Speaker 1: sign on and do the partnership, I got the executive
Speaker 1: producer credit right off the bat, just by doing that
Speaker 1: pre production work. So once they established that I was
Speaker 1: going to be a cast member, I didn't know the format.
Speaker 1: I didn't know the games we're gonna play. I actually
Speaker 1: didn't even know the host until I showed up on set,
Speaker 1: because that's how secretive they pushed it away from me.
Speaker 1: So when you watch it, I don't have any kind
Speaker 1: of insider trading knowledge. I show up just like everyone else, thinking, well,
Speaker 1: there's ice blox, we're probably gonna be melting ice box,
Speaker 1: or there's a crane. I guess we're doing stuff high today.
Speaker 1: So in terms of a competitive advantage you'll see as
Speaker 1: the series goes, I definitely do not have a petitive
Speaker 1: advantage in terms of knowing what we do before it happened.
Speaker 1: So that kind of how was that worked out? If
Speaker 1: I'm in your shoes and I'm creating this thing and
Speaker 1: I'm kind of doing all the heavy lifting in terms
Speaker 1: of logistics of of you know, the architecture of the show.
Speaker 1: Why aren't you hosting? That's like me being like, I
Speaker 1: want to do a Bachelor at style show, and then
Speaker 1: I create the whole thing, and then I'm like, and
Speaker 1: I also want to like go and be like one
Speaker 1: of twenty seven dudes and date one ship. Like that
Speaker 1: to me, I'd like, no, I want to go be
Speaker 1: the host of the show. Well, I wanted to. I
Speaker 1: think what MTV did im paramount, which was smart, is
Speaker 1: bringing t J over to host kind of was a
Speaker 1: bridge to that younger generation and the older generation that
Speaker 1: we have in terms of audience. So, you know, having
Speaker 1: him be the figurehead of both shows. I think it's
Speaker 1: a nice combination that kind of pools from each age
Speaker 1: group because he's now known young and old as being
Speaker 1: the guy. So would I have hosted it? Of course,
Speaker 1: Look I'm an egomaniac. I'm like you. I would have
Speaker 1: loved to host it, but I just thought for the
Speaker 1: show's sake in terms of the big picture, because I
Speaker 1: have a master plan of this whole thing, uh wells,
Speaker 1: and it is to do probably eight or nine seasons
Speaker 1: of the All Stars and then as a spinoff series,
Speaker 1: not like a ten season, but as a spinoff series.
Speaker 1: Almost like a super Bowl of Challenges. We have the
Speaker 1: older folks versus the newer folks in a super Bowl
Speaker 1: of Challenges. So I definitely want to be part of that,
Speaker 1: and that is my my framework if I could create
Speaker 1: the next five years of this show, So just keep
Speaker 1: an eye out for it will be the biggest thing
Speaker 1: ever in the Challenge world watching some of the young
Speaker 1: bucks who think they own the world having the old
Speaker 1: you know, college kid come back and just give them
Speaker 1: the biggest wedge year of their life and let them
Speaker 1: know who's boss. So I can't wait for that as well.
Speaker 1: I'm pump Man, and I think you're right having a
Speaker 1: lynchpin like t J in there. It links all the franchises,
Speaker 1: I guess together. Can I make one request going forward?
Speaker 1: Course as something that annoys me when I watched the Challenge,
Speaker 1: t J's chiron or like lower Third always says Handler,
Speaker 1: and if I were t J, I'd be like, motherfucker,
Speaker 1: I'm the host of the show. Like for everyone out
Speaker 1: there that doesn't know television production, Handler is kind of
Speaker 1: like the bits that like make sure like you get
Speaker 1: out of your trailer and get to sit on time.
Speaker 1: I've never understood why he's the handler. Make sure the
Speaker 1: copy is right for the cast, right. Yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: I haven't even looked at the title of him on
Speaker 1: our show. I wonder if it says handler too. I
Speaker 1: bet you it does not. For a while. You should
Speaker 1: just say t J labn uh BMX star. It would
Speaker 1: just give it. It It would give him that role. So
Speaker 1: he's now evolved a handle. I think that's a demotion. Yes,
Speaker 1: you think, uh, he should definitely be host. He should be.
Speaker 1: It should say t J Labin Face of the Challenge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He is the through constant
Speaker 1: that everyone can expect. And I'll tell you what, when
Speaker 1: t J shows up on on set, there's no middle ground.
Speaker 1: He's either delivering great news or terrible news, and it's
Speaker 1: usually terrible news that involves us doing something ridiculously crazy.
Speaker 1: So t J has feared and loved all at the
Speaker 1: same time. Logistically filming this thing in just a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, When you say that to me, that means
Speaker 1: it was a super ambitious shoot shoot schedule with people
Speaker 1: who are not spring chickens. Were you guys just filming
Speaker 1: like every single day? Was there fatigue on in that respect?
Speaker 1: After doing it looking back, is is there anything that
Speaker 1: you would change. I think the shoot time, which was
Speaker 1: three weeks, so when you got to set and when
Speaker 1: you left, if you stayed the whole time was three weeks,
Speaker 1: and I think just from being there and hearing people's
Speaker 1: reaction afterwards, it was the perfect amount of time because
Speaker 1: it wasn't too short. But they definitely if we would
Speaker 1: have went a lot longer, a little longer, people have
Speaker 1: started like complaining just because they missed home because their
Speaker 1: moms and dads. But we got to Argentina and actually
Speaker 1: had the quarantine for seven days, so we were in
Speaker 1: our hotel for seven days doing nothing. I didn't you know,
Speaker 1: we could see people out the window, But in terms
Speaker 1: of physical communication or that conversation, I think when we
Speaker 1: got there the first day, everyone we were just like
Speaker 1: unleashed cage dogs, like we're running around the house because
Speaker 1: we've been cooped up so long. So I don't think
Speaker 1: it was definitely it wasn't. It didn't even feel like
Speaker 1: a rush schedule. It just felt like a constant schedule,
Speaker 1: like we had no true days off. If you weren't
Speaker 1: competing or eliminating someone, it was interviews. It was nineties
Speaker 1: parties that we threw. It was pajama so like I
Speaker 1: went there with the producer had on knowing I just
Speaker 1: don't want to compete every day. I told everyone, bring
Speaker 1: a nineties outfit, bring some sleep where like, let's do
Speaker 1: some stuff, some o G stuff that the fans used
Speaker 1: to love. And I'm glad it made the first episode
Speaker 1: because it was such a the nineties party was great
Speaker 1: and people like the music to match that was perfect.
Speaker 1: So it was a long shooting schedule and and and challenging,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't impossible, and I think everyone kind of
Speaker 1: after the first day just kind of sunk back into
Speaker 1: their Okay, well, this is how it's going to be,
Speaker 1: and everyone was fine, listen. I think everyone's excited to
Speaker 1: see you guys like jump from you know, steel bar
Speaker 1: to steel bar on a movie, Semitruck and melt Ice
Speaker 1: with your back and all this crazy. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I do believe that a lot
Speaker 1: of the fans, at least ones from like my Age Demo,
Speaker 1: are excited to see old rivalries return. Are people who
Speaker 1: are bitter, that were bitter and like the mid nineties
Speaker 1: still bitter today. You know what the funny thing about
Speaker 1: that was is t J said, the very beginning, your
Speaker 1: past will come back to haunt you in some cases.
Speaker 1: Episode two, Tris Shell and Katie, who were best friends forever,
Speaker 1: have the biggest fight and it was the opposite so
Speaker 1: it wasn't even like they had beef. They went the
Speaker 1: other way. They went from being best friends too. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure there ain't Ben gonna be friends after this show.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's how visceral the conversations and the argument's got.
Speaker 1: But you'll move ahead a Nissa and Ruthie. You know
Speaker 1: they have some problems Nia Maiah and Ruthie, Derek and
Speaker 1: Neia Maiah. So yeah, it's fun to have at history
Speaker 1: to kind of tap into as you know, looking at
Speaker 1: it from a producer hat. And the great thing about
Speaker 1: this is we can go back and show those flashbacks
Speaker 1: of those shows in those moments, so unlike the show today,
Speaker 1: if they have a you know, they have an argument,
Speaker 1: they don't sometimes they do, but they don't. They don't
Speaker 1: flash back fifteen years which everyone looks different. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not high depth. You're like, oh wow, this is
Speaker 1: a video videotape, but yes, you will see those rivalries
Speaker 1: come back to haunt you. You will see some friendships mended,
Speaker 1: but you will also see some that that is definitely
Speaker 1: being tested that might not last after the show, which
Speaker 1: hey it was maybe it was time and this was
Speaker 1: the catalyst that it needed to end. So who knows?
Speaker 1: Or it just sets you up perfectly for season two
Speaker 1: and more dramaa. I'm no dummy, I'm no dummy. Come on,
Speaker 1: when you've watched the challenge, there's a lot talked about
Speaker 1: your social game, your physical game, your puzzle skill game.
Speaker 1: Obviously they're all important, But what do you think is
Speaker 1: the most important as someone who's won the challenge? What
Speaker 1: you've wanted twice? Yeah, I want it twice. So I
Speaker 1: think when you show up, everyone can be in shape
Speaker 1: if they want to be right, I mean, if they
Speaker 1: took the time to be in shape. There there, that's
Speaker 1: not a mystery. But when you come to those checkpoints
Speaker 1: in a final, or those checkpoints in a daily challenge
Speaker 1: that require, you know, the math skills that you've got
Speaker 1: to do on point that you've got to you know,
Speaker 1: think on your feet if you it involves the pentagram
Speaker 1: puzzles you put together. It involves just a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that to some people, you can train all day
Speaker 1: long for that, but you still don't get it. It
Speaker 1: still doesn't click that puzzle. And we have some in
Speaker 1: our show where its puzzles or trivia or or objects
Speaker 1: putting them together. I think that's almost a stronger asset
Speaker 1: to have in your bag than just being physically strong,
Speaker 1: because every challenge that I've done and that I've seen,
Speaker 1: even with with double agents, there's that X factor of
Speaker 1: who can do the puzzle better, or who can do
Speaker 1: it the fastest, or which partner can help the other
Speaker 1: person do the puzzle fastest, And that plays a huge
Speaker 1: role because you know the finals now, aren't hey, guys
Speaker 1: start here and run to the top of that mountain.
Speaker 1: There's always checkpoints, there's always puzzles, there's a wild card
Speaker 1: eating elimination. That's always fun. Um. So I think physical
Speaker 1: attributes play about and all the other stuff play about
Speaker 1: sevent To be honest, the challenge stands now when I
Speaker 1: watch there's like kind of a big focus on picking
Speaker 1: on the rookies. There's just this whole kind of like
Speaker 1: rite of passage thing and if you know you haven't
Speaker 1: been here for a while, then we want to send
Speaker 1: you down into the pit as many times as possible
Speaker 1: and as often as possible at this show. Obviously that's
Speaker 1: can't be done because no one's a rookie. So what
Speaker 1: is the thing that people end up like focusing on
Speaker 1: in your show? When you watch in the beginning, there's
Speaker 1: a lot less to judge on, right, so a lot
Speaker 1: of the things are looked at how well you did
Speaker 1: in the challenge or we also in our particular situation,
Speaker 1: we had to a guy and a girl had to
Speaker 1: step up to be captains each day, but if they lost,
Speaker 1: if their team lost, they were instantly set in the
Speaker 1: elimination for the house and the boat someone in against them.
Speaker 1: So we actually granted in the beginning sometimes the the
Speaker 1: loser because he had the balls enough to step up.
Speaker 1: We granted him, Hey, who would you like to go against?
Speaker 1: Like who who do you want? You know? And then
Speaker 1: it then it takes almost like not the pressure off
Speaker 1: the house, but it almost justifies giving the person that
Speaker 1: steps up kind of that that we have your support,
Speaker 1: thanks for stepping up. So the funny thing though, is
Speaker 1: as you see the series go further and further, the
Speaker 1: strategy starts to kick in, and that's when you can
Speaker 1: see the line in the sands with Alliances, so that's
Speaker 1: not always the case. As we creep along this this
Speaker 1: you know, fun train of reality television competition. So as
Speaker 1: that five thousand gets closer and as the numbers whittled down,
Speaker 1: it shifts from I don't want to say not there,
Speaker 1: but fairness kind of leads towards strategy and who's gonna
Speaker 1: get me to the end or who do I think
Speaker 1: has my back when the time comes. So the very
Speaker 1: few first votes might seem a little easier, but as
Speaker 1: you go, it's definitely a strategy play. And I think
Speaker 1: everyone knows that there's a time in there coming up
Speaker 1: where I'm just like, guys, let's be honest, this is
Speaker 1: this is strategy, this is alliances. Let's not let's call
Speaker 1: out the pink elephant in the room. So everyone knows it,
Speaker 1: and we're skilled. We are skilled competition players. Even though
Speaker 1: we're a little older, we still know the game. Last
Speaker 1: question about the Challenge All Stars just on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: It started, yeah, a week ago, so everyone goes go
Speaker 1: watch it being an EP but then also being a
Speaker 1: contest in the show, was everyone really upset that you
Speaker 1: were the winner? Uh? Like, I said, every step of
Speaker 1: this challenge, I have to earn my way through it,
Speaker 1: and you will see it. I do not get an
Speaker 1: easy ride. I might not even make the finals because,
Speaker 1: like I said, if we were playing tug a war
Speaker 1: every day, I would probably have a really, really great
Speaker 1: shot at making the finals and winning. But it's not
Speaker 1: that type of show. I wanted to be fair and
Speaker 1: competitive and as unbiased as possible, and you will see that.
Speaker 1: And I mean, hey, that's why you tune in, right
Speaker 1: Maybe the Godfather wins, maybe he gets sent home the
Speaker 1: episode five, you never know to see if I could
Speaker 1: trip you up there, Mark apparently, I see, I see you.
Speaker 1: Come on, come on. Last question. You're a big dude.
Speaker 1: You're jacked up, kind of like the big gun right
Speaker 1: now in the challenge, is is FEESSI? Even though I
Speaker 1: feel like he's a little bit of a complainer, but whatever,
Speaker 1: I would need to get into that. Who would you
Speaker 1: rather go against in a hall brawl? Would you rather
Speaker 1: go up against FEESSI or would you rather go up
Speaker 1: against CT Just by the way, I think that you
Speaker 1: might blow both of them out the water, But who
Speaker 1: would you rather well, as I said Serio episode one,
Speaker 1: I am six three and one half inches two and
Speaker 1: thirty pounds of twisted steel. So I don't care. From
Speaker 1: twenty nine those stats ring true to this day. I
Speaker 1: think me being a competitive it's not even arrogance, it's
Speaker 1: just me being very competitive and competent. I think my
Speaker 1: advantage to Fessie is is my age. I mean, I
Speaker 1: would come in there and treat him like a son
Speaker 1: rather than a counterpart peer. And you know how you
Speaker 1: were kind of scared of your dad when you grew up.
Speaker 1: I would put that fear of of that daddy daddy
Speaker 1: mentality in his mind and listen, he always says, oh,
Speaker 1: I played football and this stuff. I played football, to dude,
Speaker 1: I know how to lower the boom. I know how
Speaker 1: to be a free safety and knock your teeth out.
Speaker 1: So FESSI no problem CT. Now? Is it CT is
Speaker 1: getting better in shape? Is it better in shape CT
Speaker 1: or CT that I've been seeing lately, because he he's
Speaker 1: getting in really good shape again. I think so CT
Speaker 1: and I would have a battle. But like like Fessie,
Speaker 1: you know I've I've played all those type of contact
Speaker 1: sports before. It will be a brad I would, I mean,
Speaker 1: just because I love CT so much. Would it be
Speaker 1: hard to go against, of course, but him and I
Speaker 1: are both we can flip that switch just like a
Speaker 1: Derek and uh, you know it would be a battle.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think I go to and on both.
Speaker 1: But that's just me be an arrogant. I actually agree
Speaker 1: with you. Yeah. Nanny said something a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago that I thought was true. She was like, Fess,
Speaker 1: he's a guy who would like hire a hit man
Speaker 1: to go kill you, or CT would buy the knife
Speaker 1: himself and do the work himself. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I believe that. Actually, that is an excellent quote. That
Speaker 1: is true. I stand by that Nanny tweet man or
Speaker 1: that that statement. That's awesome. It's nice to see how
Speaker 1: CT is evolved too, because he, you know, in the beginning,
Speaker 1: you know, the Boston personality brought him, he was really
Speaker 1: aggressive and really combative, and I think that was kind
Speaker 1: of a stick. But as he's grown older and he's
Speaker 1: now a father, he plays a very strong strategic game now.
Speaker 1: Where he used to smother you with his you know,
Speaker 1: the threat of his fist, now it's more of a
Speaker 1: game play, behind the scenes kind of thing, which I'd
Speaker 1: loved to see that evolution of his game. And Fessie, man,
Speaker 1: it's you know, I said this the other day, Fessie,
Speaker 1: you know everyone can win daily challenges, but until you
Speaker 1: win the final, you know, you can't crown yourself the
Speaker 1: next greatest thing yet. And I think he'll get there.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not a Fessi batcher batcher at all. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think he's carved himself out to be the nice villain,
Speaker 1: which which is a big role in these shows. I
Speaker 1: don't not root for him. I always root for someone
Speaker 1: that that's really trying and passionate. I just think he's
Speaker 1: got to get that that that one championship notch in
Speaker 1: his belt before he starts, you know, trying to claim
Speaker 1: that he's the new greatest thing on the Challenge. I agree,
Speaker 1: screw the MTV version of the Challenge. Everyone needs to
Speaker 1: go watch The Challenge All Stars. It's on Paramount plus,
Speaker 1: ghost stream it now, download the app, all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. Really really excited for this season and and
Speaker 1: thank you for bringing more of the Challenge into my life.
Speaker 1: It really has brightened these COVID days as of late.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you want to talk about your
Speaker 1: show that I haven't asked you about before we pivot
Speaker 1: into my part portion of the show. I knew we
Speaker 1: had something when they released the trailer and within a
Speaker 1: week it had five million plus views. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: insane for this type of show where it's come from. Um,
Speaker 1: it's a really fun show. And if if you're eighteen
Speaker 1: years old or forty nine or fifty two like Beth,
Speaker 1: there's an audience for everyone. T J is a great
Speaker 1: you know, trigger point lynch pin of that, and it's
Speaker 1: a fun, fun show that you can smile throughout the
Speaker 1: whole thing, and everyone can put themselves in our shoes
Speaker 1: thinking wow, I could probably do that. And some things
Speaker 1: are very hard. The final that you'll see is super hard,
Speaker 1: just like a regular challenge, but it's fun, it's entertaining. Thursdays,
Speaker 1: the new episodes drop on Paramount Plus. It's the first episode.
Speaker 1: I couldn't have gotten any better response than I did
Speaker 1: from all of the fans and the press outlets alike,
Speaker 1: and the Barstool Sports shoutout was great. I mean, the
Speaker 1: US Weekly stuff and People Magazine, all of them. So
Speaker 1: I'm super excited, my man, and I'm glad you and
Speaker 1: your girl have to watch you have to, but don't worry.
Speaker 1: It's we didn't have the paramount app but now we do,
Speaker 1: so it's it's coming out perfect. Okay. I don't know
Speaker 1: if anyone told you about what this show is, but
Speaker 1: I'm kind of obsessed with origin stories. I'm more interested
Speaker 1: in how people became successful and well known and what
Speaker 1: that blueprint was. So we're gonna take a quick break,
Speaker 1: and when we come back, we're going to find out
Speaker 1: where the hell Mark Long came from and how the
Speaker 1: hell he got on this show? Down perfect, Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Stick around listening to the Wells cast. All right back
Speaker 1: in the Wells cast, very very excited to have the
Speaker 1: man the myth of the legend, one of the o
Speaker 1: g s from. Like, I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: my audience might not even remember that there was this
Speaker 1: show called road Rules where they would take like I
Speaker 1: don't know, ten strangers and throw them in a Winnebago
Speaker 1: and make them drive around the country like a bunch
Speaker 1: of assholes doing a bunch of weird things. But it
Speaker 1: was like one of my favorite shows growing up. And
Speaker 1: I will say this, I was definitely more Road Rules
Speaker 1: than Real World Guy. But that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1: That's where this man came from. You were on the season.
Speaker 1: You came along at a time where reality TV was
Speaker 1: still in its infancy. I don't know if people really
Speaker 1: understood what it was, and they definitely didn't know what
Speaker 1: it was going to be. As someone who was a
Speaker 1: forefather of what's considered to be amazing entertainment but the
Speaker 1: downfall of American society, how do you feel about the
Speaker 1: role you played. Oh, I didn't give myself this term
Speaker 1: the Godfather. I have cast members from every show across
Speaker 1: the board. You know, give me that that phrase of
Speaker 1: the Godfather, and I wear that hat proudly. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean back then, we didn't have a blueprint to go
Speaker 1: buy you know what I mean? When I did the
Speaker 1: road Rules show, there wasn't a first season even to
Speaker 1: look back on and say, oh, this is how it works. Right.
Speaker 1: So in terms of being a true, true, original organic
Speaker 1: company kind of like an adventure show, it was it.
Speaker 1: And there was so many shows like I heard a
Speaker 1: rumor that Fear Factor was then spun off of a
Speaker 1: road Rules type of theme that they the producers saw
Speaker 1: that show and said, wait, we could probably do this,
Speaker 1: but on a bigger smaller scale, so to speak. So
Speaker 1: lots of shows got spun off from different early reality programs.
Speaker 1: And the thing now that the biggest change that I've
Speaker 1: noticed is because of social media, everyone is so instantaneously
Speaker 1: available to pick on, bully, praise, um, give their highest regards.
Speaker 1: So that to me is a little weird because I
Speaker 1: even said, our cast member, we never even when we
Speaker 1: were filming now, we didn't talk about Instagram followers when
Speaker 1: we were down there, or how did your Twitter? Now?
Speaker 1: I hope our Twitter numbers go up? We didn't. We
Speaker 1: don't care because we didn't come from that generation where
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people, you know, even outside
Speaker 1: of the MTV Challenge, these guys today that are on
Speaker 1: the different reality shows, they're so focused on that and
Speaker 1: they know my numbers, my brand. By this, it's like
Speaker 1: we we would compete now in All Stars for a
Speaker 1: full Razor scooter just as hard as we would for
Speaker 1: five dollars. So that's a generational thing. It's a lot
Speaker 1: more produced these days, you know, types of reality shows.
Speaker 1: But you know, that's one of the things I can
Speaker 1: always say that was so special for me is I
Speaker 1: didn't have anything to compare it to, so when I
Speaker 1: showed up to the mountaintop on Malibu and met these people,
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was going to be getting into.
Speaker 1: And it was like the Wild West. I mean, there
Speaker 1: was so many things we did that you couldn't do today.
Speaker 1: There's an episode where we drove these demolition derby cars
Speaker 1: in Indiana and I actually talked the producers into letting
Speaker 1: me drive a car in the race and that wasn't
Speaker 1: like they would never let me do that today, Like
Speaker 1: there's so much insurance there. But the guys like, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you don't crash it, you can drive it. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I look at the producer, like, come on this, we
Speaker 1: have to and there like go for it. So I'm
Speaker 1: like I was that wasn't in the script and that
Speaker 1: would never happen to day. But it was really the
Speaker 1: wild wild West. Um. There was a story we were
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. That's when Kit Hoover and I had
Speaker 1: our mysterious first kiss our production when a bagel got
Speaker 1: broken into and they stole like three boxes of already
Speaker 1: shot footage and they actually had to release an article
Speaker 1: in the paper and somehow they paid like a three
Speaker 1: thousand dollar ransom and the tapes just magically showed back up,
Speaker 1: So it might have not even happened if that because
Speaker 1: there was like three bat in the boxes of tapes
Speaker 1: were probably three cities. So there's so many behind the
Speaker 1: scenes stories that that weren't shown. I mean I used
Speaker 1: to take the Winnebago and production was already asleep and
Speaker 1: like in their hotel. I would take the Winnebago and
Speaker 1: just like drive through McDonald's like they didn't know what
Speaker 1: we were doing. But you could never do that today.
Speaker 1: So it was literally like the wild West back then.
Speaker 1: And it's gotten way more structured, way more produced, but
Speaker 1: it's produced it a great way. I mean, just how
Speaker 1: our show looks compared to how it looked, I mean
Speaker 1: with the drone shots and just showing the vastness of
Speaker 1: Argentina like it is badass. So I'm I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that's a negative thing. I'm just saying back then, there
Speaker 1: was really nothing to compare it to period. I agree,
Speaker 1: And I think one of the biggest problems that we
Speaker 1: find on in the Bachelor World is there's this kind
Speaker 1: of like cliche that always gets thrown around, is that
Speaker 1: you're not there for the right reasons, which is a
Speaker 1: very nice way of saying you're there because you want
Speaker 1: Instagram followers so you can go sell diarrhea tea on
Speaker 1: your Instagram page. And and so my question was, like,
Speaker 1: you're the reason why the Kardashians are a thing, which
Speaker 1: isn't fair because you're not. Because the thing that annoys
Speaker 1: is about the Kardashians is that like one Instagram post
Speaker 1: they make like four million dollars And that was never
Speaker 1: a part of your Guys game plan to begin with, right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and the fact that it has evolved to that, and
Speaker 1: trust me, I mean, let I'd be lying if I said, hey,
Speaker 1: my Instagram and Twitter numbers aren't going up. I mean
Speaker 1: they are, but that's you know, I'm not out there
Speaker 1: pushing my Instagram or Twitter. It's just a natural thing
Speaker 1: that happens now. But those shows like The Kardashians, man
Speaker 1: good for good for them. I mean, holy crap, the
Speaker 1: evolution of that show and just how long it lasted,
Speaker 1: and you know Murray was a big part of that
Speaker 1: as well. It's amazing. But you know it's not right
Speaker 1: for you because I'm sure even on your show, there's
Speaker 1: there's some genuine people showing up thinking, hey, this might
Speaker 1: be the one. And there's those, you know, there's a
Speaker 1: few bad apples in every bunch that are probably there
Speaker 1: to just you know, have those moments where they want
Speaker 1: to be seen and they do their freak out moments
Speaker 1: or their cries or they're fighting and and that's a
Speaker 1: shame too, because you kind of diminish what they're there for.
Speaker 1: I'm really good friends with one of your cohorts from
Speaker 1: the past, remember Nick Peterson. So Nick was the one
Speaker 1: that took the money and didn't split it with the girl.
Speaker 1: So I have a charity forgive Kids of the World
Speaker 1: that he comes to every year. And people still ask
Speaker 1: about that because it was just such a dirty move.
Speaker 1: But cut to Johnny Banana is doing that to Sarah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So people know what's gonna
Speaker 1: make good TV. They know now nowadays like what they
Speaker 1: have to do to stand out, which is it's cool
Speaker 1: in a way because it's fun parts of it's fun
Speaker 1: moments of the shows, but it's also a little more
Speaker 1: produced than organic, which is how we used to be
Speaker 1: back in the day. I mean, even the first Real
Speaker 1: World you could tell they were totally real. I mean,
Speaker 1: it wasn't like they came to put on an act.
Speaker 1: It was you know, Eric Nice was Eric Nice. You know,
Speaker 1: he was the New York kid that was just the
Speaker 1: model strug you know, struggling, but you know, just those
Speaker 1: stories and having watching that reunion on Paramount Plus is
Speaker 1: awesome too. So it's fun to go back to that
Speaker 1: vintage I don't want to say old people, but the
Speaker 1: vintage reality, the pioneers, so to speak. So it's fun. Man,
Speaker 1: It's and I don't know what it is, but people
Speaker 1: love nostalgia and I'm right there with them. So I
Speaker 1: love it. And there's a reason why Vinyl has come
Speaker 1: back and all that kind of stuff. It's because people
Speaker 1: love to feel a certain way. Even for me, it
Speaker 1: brings up I was in high school when Your Guys
Speaker 1: this season was airing, and it it reminds me of
Speaker 1: that time, which is great, speaking of high school and stuff.
Speaker 1: Where are you from? I was born in Philly. I
Speaker 1: grew up in Philly till third grade. My dad was
Speaker 1: in the military. My mom was a nurse, so we went.
Speaker 1: We bounced around a little bit. I ended up in
Speaker 1: a small city in Florida called Satellite Beach, a little
Speaker 1: small city right on the beach Um went to University
Speaker 1: of Florida. I actually sent in a casting tape for
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Real World from University of Florida, and I
Speaker 1: was a broadcast production major, so I made a really
Speaker 1: kick ass tape. So I'm like, if anything, they're at
Speaker 1: least gonna appreciate the time I spent on the tape
Speaker 1: because it was like it was cool, like it was real,
Speaker 1: like bunch of ship with awesome music and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: So I got the call and started going down that
Speaker 1: rabbit hole of Real World Los Angeles and I got
Speaker 1: down to like a final twelve and there was a
Speaker 1: guy on there called His name was Aaron, a blond
Speaker 1: guy who was a c p A. And they were like, Mark,
Speaker 1: you know, we love your personality, but we think Aaron
Speaker 1: is a better real because you know, you have this
Speaker 1: broadcast journal as a major and you want to be
Speaker 1: in entertainment and he's just an accountant. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a little more real to us. And I said that's fine.
Speaker 1: So I didn't make that. And then like three months later,
Speaker 1: when Puck got kicked out of the house, I got
Speaker 1: called to be a roommate change, so I actually flew
Speaker 1: out to San Francisco and met with the roommates and
Speaker 1: they ended up picking a girl named Joe because the
Speaker 1: other the guys were like, well, we had a guy,
Speaker 1: you know, we let's try a girl this time. So
Speaker 1: but it was a blessing in disguise because two months
Speaker 1: after that, I got a call to do the road
Speaker 1: Rules Pilot. And I did the road Rules Pilot with
Speaker 1: four other people that weren't even on the original cast.
Speaker 1: So when the road Rules Pilot got picked up, they
Speaker 1: told us in the beginning, we're gonna cast a new
Speaker 1: group of people. So I was literally, this is a
Speaker 1: true story. I was in Los Angeles on the corner
Speaker 1: of Hollywood and Fuller. There's an apartment there, studio, and
Speaker 1: my had a home phone. My home phone rang and
Speaker 1: it was John Bunium and Mary Mary Elis Peutiam and
Speaker 1: John Murray, the heads of Buna Murray. They said, hey,
Speaker 1: we wanted to let you know the road Rules Pilot
Speaker 1: got picked up. I'm like, awesome, and I'm thinking in
Speaker 1: my head in l A, at least I could put
Speaker 1: that like on my resume, you know, like road Rules Pilot,
Speaker 1: playing myself. And they said, but we had a guy
Speaker 1: that was cast to play kind of your personality, but
Speaker 1: New York didn't like them, so they just asked if
Speaker 1: you you wanted to do it. Yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: do it, so and they're like, but you can't tell
Speaker 1: like the other cast, you know for the first few
Speaker 1: weeks that you did the pilot, because we want them
Speaker 1: to be kind of surprised as well. So I ended
Speaker 1: up doing the pilot with I mean the show with
Speaker 1: four other people that didn't do the pilot, And when
Speaker 1: the show came out, I got calls from all those
Speaker 1: people that did the pilot like what did you do
Speaker 1: to get on the show? Who did you sleep with?
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, give me a break. So that's a
Speaker 1: that's a kind of a peel behind the curtain, Like
Speaker 1: I everyone was supposed to do Ruad road Rules. It's
Speaker 1: just a guy that was playing my personality did something
Speaker 1: to piss them off. So I got the call when
Speaker 1: you look back at that first season, what's the thing
Speaker 1: that you remember the most fondly? When I looked back,
Speaker 1: they re aired it the whole season in on MTV
Speaker 1: Classic the other day. It was the whole like a
Speaker 1: what's it called like? Back to back to back? The
Speaker 1: whole thing. It was so it was so vanilla, Like
Speaker 1: it was so vanilla that I laughed. I'm like this
Speaker 1: was cutting edge back then. I'm like, this was like
Speaker 1: what was like the cool thing? Like I guess the
Speaker 1: thing I look back on Kit and I, Kit Hoover
Speaker 1: and I. We had such a great relationship and such
Speaker 1: a comic relief for that show, like we get We
Speaker 1: got into so much even the producers rolled their eyes
Speaker 1: with I just remember the good times and going everywhere.
Speaker 1: I mean we went to thirty six states in three months,
Speaker 1: and you know I was on the Today Show as
Speaker 1: a Barnum and Bailey clown, like with Matt Lower, who's
Speaker 1: not even there anymore. I mean, you name it. We
Speaker 1: did it, like I'm saying, rode the race card, did
Speaker 1: the skydiving, did the bungee jumping. Did I was one
Speaker 1: of seven people that had stood on top of the
Speaker 1: President's head on Mount Rushmore. Like we got to do
Speaker 1: so much crazy ship that. You know, looking back now,
Speaker 1: you appreciate a lot because when I'm twenty one years old,
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is cool. This is but like you
Speaker 1: don't it doesn't sink in like it does now. So
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, I can say I did
Speaker 1: all these crazy things and then to come full circle
Speaker 1: with what we're doing now is like that's a reality
Speaker 1: pioneers dream is to relive that moment. That was just
Speaker 1: so fun and I loved it, and I loved every
Speaker 1: second on that show. I love filming on every second
Speaker 1: of this show. And it's just it was an amazing time.
Speaker 1: Road Rules was you know, it was critically acclaimed. I
Speaker 1: mean it was like a show where it wasn't just
Speaker 1: people thought, hey, I like the show. It was like
Speaker 1: a critically acclaimed reality show of its time. To do
Speaker 1: that and to be you know, have four Winnebago it's
Speaker 1: like a like a traveling circus and be able to
Speaker 1: pull all this off. It was super cool. A lot
Speaker 1: of people get their fifteen minutes and aren't able to
Speaker 1: do anything with it, and then there are people who
Speaker 1: are able to use that forward momentum and really create
Speaker 1: something special. I mean, you you did Road Rules and
Speaker 1: then I mean like you did like MTV Sports, you
Speaker 1: in Fox Realities, you needed reality or remixed. You are
Speaker 1: like the gadget guru. You've done a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: and then now you're an e P on the challenge
Speaker 1: all Stars for all of our listeners out there, what's
Speaker 1: one piece of advice that you live by that's helped
Speaker 1: you that kind of like create this forward of momentum
Speaker 1: throughout your career. You know, wells It's so simple. And
Speaker 1: I've said this many times. One of my most favorite
Speaker 1: jobs I've ever had was the show on Fox Reality
Speaker 1: Reality Remix, I hosted with Kennedy, who's now on Fox News.
Speaker 1: It was it was like entertainment Tonight, but it was
Speaker 1: for reality shows. I went. I did so many cast visits.
Speaker 1: They flew me to China to cover Survivor China. But
Speaker 1: I think the biggest takeaway that I've taken from being
Speaker 1: a reality start growing up is I never took myself
Speaker 1: too seriously. I was always responsible if I had a
Speaker 1: call time at ten o'clock. I was sitting out in
Speaker 1: the parking lot at nine thirty. And there was so
Speaker 1: many people that I tried to get involved in Reality
Speaker 1: Remix that's a correspondent to kind of throw them a bone.
Speaker 1: These people just dropped the ball left and right, and
Speaker 1: I won't even drops but some of the big ones
Speaker 1: I think would have really helped launch what they're doing.
Speaker 1: Just by being responsible and not being an asshole. So
Speaker 1: like like you like you doing your podcast and continuing
Speaker 1: and being out there and being responsible. You're set is amazing,
Speaker 1: Like you're taking everything you know, it's it's fun, but
Speaker 1: you take it seriously. And I know every type of
Speaker 1: reality thing, whether that I'm doing All Stars, where I'm
Speaker 1: doing a guest spot on you know, a different television show,
Speaker 1: or the Gadget Group. I always thought this could be
Speaker 1: my last job, so I want to be hit it
Speaker 1: out of the park in every way in terms of
Speaker 1: being nice to the production, having them say, god, that
Speaker 1: guy Mark was awesome to work with, showing up on time,
Speaker 1: being prepared. So that sounds very basic, but in the
Speaker 1: world of reality TV, some of the cast members that
Speaker 1: have the biggest potential just dropped the ball by just
Speaker 1: not taking things seriously, and it it pisces me off.
Speaker 1: So I was like, I could have had so many people,
Speaker 1: so many jobs during that that that series, and it
Speaker 1: just it was disheartening to watch. And then now you know,
Speaker 1: now they're like, oh, now I want to do this,
Speaker 1: and well, you know, great, but you had a chance
Speaker 1: to do a lot of that and you just, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was age, but I mean
Speaker 1: it's just if you're watching. If you want to be
Speaker 1: a reality star, be real. Don't go in with any
Speaker 1: altered things of what you think the producers will watch.
Speaker 1: Be yourself. You never know who they're going to pick.
Speaker 1: And if you are a reality star, you know, be responsible.
Speaker 1: Take your job seriously. You know, come prepared, show up
Speaker 1: on time, be creative. Like I can tell just by
Speaker 1: looking at your set that you're like me and you
Speaker 1: take things seriously and you you're good at it, so
Speaker 1: they should follow both of us are both of our
Speaker 1: our path. Well, So that was my That's kind of
Speaker 1: my advice. I always say, it's really hard to get
Speaker 1: rid of someone who's really really easy to work with.
Speaker 1: That's showing up on time, that's being super nice to everyone.
Speaker 1: You should be nice everyone just because you're not. Yeah,
Speaker 1: being easy to work with I think is like one
Speaker 1: of the most important things on your resume, or it
Speaker 1: should be. I think you could go back to every
Speaker 1: job I've had an entertainment and not only would they
Speaker 1: probably say it was easy to work with their Like dude,
Speaker 1: if we asked him to pool cables, he would have
Speaker 1: done it because I was that involved and invested in
Speaker 1: what we were doing. And why wouldn't you be nice?
Speaker 1: You know? I mean, they're giving you an opportunity of
Speaker 1: a lifetime. That's why. You know. There was a few
Speaker 1: times even on All Stars were a few cast members
Speaker 1: just kind of weren't that nice to production. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: you could be replaced in the snap of a finger.
Speaker 1: Just be nice. We're here to do a job. You're
Speaker 1: getting paid. It's like, shut up, I'm running out of
Speaker 1: time with you before lets you go. You got time
Speaker 1: with some rapid fire questions. Oh of course, all right,
Speaker 1: here we go rapid fire questions with Mark Long's and
Speaker 1: the challenge you All Stars Number one frapizza, topic, sausage,
Speaker 1: favorite book. Uh, I'm not a book guy. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not like an entertainment magazine guru, all of them.
Speaker 1: Who's your first kiss? Oh? Her name was? I forgot her.
Speaker 1: Oh her name was like, I don't know, like a
Speaker 1: Joe Anne. And I kissed her. I brought her a
Speaker 1: gold he like a little balloon like balloon that you
Speaker 1: wear on your thing, a gold balloon necklace on the
Speaker 1: side of how in elementary school? And I kissed her
Speaker 1: so romantic. What was the first concert? Everyone to? First
Speaker 1: concert was Hammer with Vanilla Ice opening. You just aide
Speaker 1: yourself again? Right there? Oh yeah, baby? First job you
Speaker 1: ever had? The first job I ever had was at
Speaker 1: Taco bell. I was fifteen years old, and I lied
Speaker 1: and said I was sixteen, and I did the drive
Speaker 1: through and I would give all my friends free ship.
Speaker 1: First car you ever owned, making model Honda Accord still
Speaker 1: running today. I'm sure still running, baby. Who would you
Speaker 1: call to get you out of jail? Andrew Queller a
Speaker 1: buddy of mine. He's he's just he looks like a bouncer.
Speaker 1: He looks like a hit man. He just tattoos on
Speaker 1: his neck. I call him first. Do you want an Emmy?
Speaker 1: Who did you think first in your speech? Oh? I
Speaker 1: gotta think moms. I think Moms and Dad. First record
Speaker 1: or c D you owned? You want to hear something hilarious?
Speaker 1: I think it was Madonna because I remember playing I
Speaker 1: remember right, here's another aging. I remember riding down my
Speaker 1: street on my bike holding like a jam box playing
Speaker 1: Lucky Star. I thought I was cool. Celebrity crush I
Speaker 1: mean younger, like who didn't have a crush on Pam Anderson, right,
Speaker 1: I mean when she when I was younger and she
Speaker 1: was younger, Pam Anderson was my crush. I always like
Speaker 1: Carmen Elector too. She was cool early days of both
Speaker 1: of them twenty years ago. How would you describe your
Speaker 1: high school self? You know how to give out superlatives.
Speaker 1: In high school, I got best attitude. I'm like, is
Speaker 1: that cool or is that lame? But no, I was.
Speaker 1: I always was friends with everyone. I was friends with
Speaker 1: the guys on the football team, and I was friends
Speaker 1: with the guys in the Rocket club because I just
Speaker 1: always I was never the bullying guy. I always want
Speaker 1: to me, I like to make everyone in the room
Speaker 1: feel cool and feel comfortable. That's always been like a
Speaker 1: thing that I've tried to, you know, even to this day,
Speaker 1: Like if I see someone getting picked on or getting
Speaker 1: you know, I try to like diffuse that as quick
Speaker 1: as possible. And last one, you've done a lot. What's
Speaker 1: one thing you haven't done in your career that you'd
Speaker 1: like to I think the evolution of me is kind
Speaker 1: of like yourself. I think I've been in it so
Speaker 1: long that I could have like a serious sex m
Speaker 1: podcasts of reality all reality and really go back and
Speaker 1: and and pull out. The have so many stories, dude,
Speaker 1: from Playboy mansion to getting arrested, like, so many stories
Speaker 1: that are just haven't been out. I can see that
Speaker 1: or I'd love to, you know, kind of host something
Speaker 1: on my own base around what I'm doing now, we'll see.
Speaker 1: That would be cool. And I mean, the world is
Speaker 1: the worster now with with the success of this show,
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll do many seasons of this. I feel confident
Speaker 1: we will. You know, I'll be coming back to you
Speaker 1: in a few years saying remember that super Bowl idea.
Speaker 1: It's happening, so we'll see. You should write a book, dude.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'd have to get that cleared. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of people gotta wait for a couple of
Speaker 1: nbas to expire. Yes, exactly. Uh. Mark Long, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being on the Welles cast. You are
Speaker 1: an absolute delight to talk to. I totally get it.
Speaker 1: It makes total sense to me why you've been doing
Speaker 1: this for so long. Everyone out there, The Challenge All
Speaker 1: Stars is on Paramount Plus right now, make sure you
Speaker 1: go watch it. Where do people follow you to keep
Speaker 1: up with your stuff? You can follow me everywhere Twitter,
Speaker 1: Instagram at the mark long Easy. Thank you, brother man.
Speaker 1: This was so much fun. Thank you Wells. I appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to Wells cast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or anywhere you get your podcasts. It's the internet line,
Speaker 1: h