Road Rules

Road Rules is an MTV reality show that was a sister show of the network's flagship reality show, The Real World. The series debuted on July 19, 1995, and ended on May 9, 2007. This allowed Road Rules a total of 14 seasons and 12 years on the air. The series followed five to six strangers, between the ages of 18 and 24, stripped of their money and restricted to a life in an RV, traveling from location to location. The strangers were guided by a set of clues and missions to complete at each location. It was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001. The series was a pioneer in travel/adventure/reward reality television (together with Mark Burnett's Eco-Challenge productions). Road Rules was created by Jonathan Murray and Mary-Ellis Bunim of Bunim/Murray Productions. After Bunim died of cancer in early 2004, the show went into hiatus for three years. After season 14 ended, it was confirmed that Road Rules was no longer in production (though neither MTV nor Bunim-Murray have commented on the status of the series). The idea of Road Rules came to mind when Real World castmates Jon Brennan, Tami Akbar and Dominic Griffin traveled in an RV across the United States to get to their The Real World: Los Angeles house in the first two episodes of the second season. Bunim-Murray began working on the show soon after the third season of Real World, and finally debuted in 1995. The show generated a spin-off series, also broadcast by MTV, known as The Challenge (originally known as Road Rules: All Stars before being renamed Real World/Road Rules Challenge after both its precursors), which is still in production. The spin-off series is mostly cast-contestant dependent on both Road Rules and The Real World as it combines contestants from various seasons of both precursors. The long-running Challenge series has well outlasted Road Rules, having run for 30 seasons since 1998.