Road Rules

An asterisk (*) indicates the cast member was voted off the show or lost a season 14 face-off and did not make it to the end. A caret (^) indicates the cast member was required to leave the show.

The series began with a simple format, closely mirroring its parent show The Real World. The concept was simple, abandon five strangers on the road, take away their money, have them drive around in an RV completing missions and doing odd jobs for money, and if they lasted to the end of the trip, they would win a "handsome reward". It was touted as The Real World on an RV, but as the show progressed, several changes were made to the show for various reasons, mostly having to do with causing excitement and raising sagging ratings.

Setting up the idea for The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, the face-offs have come to be an instrumental part of each season. The current cast competes either with a current The Real World cast who would be filming their series parallel to theirs or a former Road Rules cast, if Real World was ever out of its production season. The first official face-off, between the Islands and Boston casts gained such high ratings, that a spin-off series was begun, the ever-popular Challenges, and a pattern in most seasons where the cast would compete against another cast for a separate prize.

• First Adventure - No face-off during this season. Although cast member Mark initially appeared on the Real World: San Francisco season as one of three possible replacements for ousted housemate, Puck. The housemates chose Jo over Mark.
• Second Adventure vs. Real World: Miami - The Road Rules cast posed as house cleaners and stole the Miami's cast eight-ball. They did so successfully. Timmy fooled Miami's Dan and Cynthia who were obviously suspicious of the unannounced cleaning crew.
• Europe - No face-off.
• Islands vs. Real World: Boston - The casts competed in a series of competitions in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior to each event, two random people from the Boston cast were required to sit out in order for the number of people on each team to be even. The first event was to get each teammate through a web of wires. Each teammate had to pass through a different hole and could not touch the sides. The second event was to get each teammate from one platform to another using only a piece of wood that was not long enough to bridge the gap. The third event was to have all 5 teammates balance on a wooden cube at the same time. The fourth event was to have each teammate climb a wooden wall, and the final event was a tug of war. The Real World Boston won the first three events, and the Road Rules Islands cast won the final two. Syrus, while competing in the second mission, injured his shin attempting to jump from one platform to the other without using the board. The Islands crew, who desperately needed money at that time asked the Boston cast to split their winnings. The Boston cast declined to do so. They also played paintball with a team of former Road Rulers from different seasons at the beginning of their season. (Los/Christian/Devin/Effie/Michelle with special guest Timmy as a referee) The previous Road Rulers won two of the three contests, leaving the Road Rules Islands cast with only $400.
• Northern Trail vs. Road Rules: All Stars - The casts competed in a series of Olympic-themed games including luge, ski jumping, and figure skating. The Olympic-theme was due in part to the fact that the casts were competing in the Olympic facilities at Lake Placid, New York. The competition consisted of 5 events: a two-man kayak, a one-man kayak, two individual luges, ski jumping, and figure skating. Each person had to compete in at least one event but could not compete in more than two. Road Rules won the two man kayak and the luge while the Real World All-Stars won the individual kayak and the ski jumping events. At the figure skating competition, Noah and Dan edged out Sean and Cynthia to give Northern Trail the victory. The Northern Trail handed the keys off to their RV, which the All-Stars cast used for their season.
• Down Under vs. Real World: Seattle - The cast competed in the "Aqua Games" in Seattle's main harbor. They competed in various games, including holding onto the back of a raft attached to a seadoo, jumping into rings from a platform, and the finale: a bull-riding contest. Nathan won the competition for the Seattle cast, while Christina and Susie both took the competition as a joke.
• Latin America vs. Road Rules: Down Under - The cast competed in Veracruz, Mexico in a series of games. The Down Under cast took the prize, but the more serious implication of this face-off was when Abe of the Latin America cast hooked up with Susie in the RV. This started the tension between Abe and Gladys, which led to Gladys hitting Abe and being sent home.
• Semester at Sea - Did not do a face-off. Various students on the Semester at Sea program participated in various missions during this season.
• Maximum Velocity Tour vs. Real World: New Orleans - In a throwback to the very first face-off, the Maximum Velocity Tour cast worked with a Make-A-Wish child to pull off a sting on the Real World: New Orleans cast. They included the Make-A-Wish child in the mission, as the cast posed as Make-A-Wish ambassadors to distract the cast members while James and Laterrian jumped a back wall to steal the New Orleans' cast robotic dog. Hearing that the cast was in town, Melissa of the New Orleans cast hid the eight-ball in anticipation of the cast stealing it. This cast also competed in Los Angeles, CA against the cast of the first season of Making the Band (O-Town) in which O-Town won. They also competed against a group of winners from an MTV.com contest in Provo, Utah, which Road Rules won, and competed against the Playboy Extreme Team.
• The Quest vs. Real World: Back to New York - The casts met up in Morocco. These two casts met up after spending a week in Palm Spring during casting. Members of each cast had already made friends and enemies, creating instant drama and the casts playing practical jokes on each other. In direct contrast to her competitive persona on the Challenges, Back to New York's Coral and fellow cast member Nicole refused to compete in a mud wrestling challenge. This left Back to New York's Lori and Rachel to compete alone against the Road Rules girls. In a grueling mud wrestling competition, Road Rules won because Coral and Nicole refused to compete.
• Campus Crawl vs. Real World: Las Vegas - The Campus Crawl cast first had to take a photograph with one of the Las Vegas cast members handcuffed to the bathtub. Because Raquel had met Steven of Las Vegas in the College Station casting call, Raquel was able to coax Steven to show her and Rachel the Las Vegas suite. Not knowing that the two were from Road Rules, they were able to handcuff and photograph Steven. The cast competed at Lake Red Rock near Las Vegas, Nevada which The Real World won.
• South Pacific vs. Road Rules Campus Crawl - This cast competed in a marathon challenge, in which the cast was required to compete in different games but were not allowed to sleep during the 48-hour period. In the last competition, in which they had to remember various details in the past 48 hours, the Campus Crawl cast pulled off a win.
• X-Treme vs. Road Rules: South Pacific - The two casts competed in a series of games which concludes with a boxing match. The X-Treme cast beat the South Pacific cast.
• Viewers' Revenge vs. Pit Crew. Roadies beat out the Pit Crew in a mission that had players carrying tires from sand dunes. They also beat the Pit Crew in a mission that involved weight lifting and weight puzzles, along with a football game. The final challenge was carrying boxes across semis and dropping them into the hole; Pit Crew finally won, making the score 3-1.

• MTV's official Road Rules website
• Entertainment Weekly 'Road' Warriors, Retrieved March 2009