T.J. Lavin never thought the day would come that Mark Long is back on “The Challenge.”
After a 12-year break from the flagship reality series, Long, 53, is among the legendary cast of Season 40, premiering tonight on MTV.
In an exclusive interview with The Post, Lavin, 47, had an easy answer for who he was most surprised agreed to compete on “Battle of the Eras.”
“I mean Mark long because he doesn’t ever want to come on the show,” Lavin said with a laugh.
“I was excited to see Mark,” the BMX cyclist added.
Long made his reality TV debut on the first season of “Road Rules” in 1995.
Not including “Battle of the Eras,” Long has been on 6 seasons of “The Challenge,” two of which he won.
After competing on 2012’s “Battle of the Exes,” Long pitched “The Challenge: All-Stars” to MTV. He’s an executive producer on the show and competed on Seasons 1 and 3, which aired in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Long is representing “Era I” on Season 40 with fellow old school players Aneesa Ferreira, CT Tamburello, Tina Barta, Derrick Kosinski, Katie Cooley, Rachel Robinson, Brad Fiorenza, Darrell Taylor and Jodi Weatherton.
In his interview with The Post, Lavin explained the show’s decision to go all out in honor of the “milestone” season.
“It’s another accomplishment. We really made it to 40. Like that is unheard of for a show to go this long,” he said. “And now there’s no signs of it slowing down. So we’re pretty excited.”
Lavin shared his hopes for the future of the show as it heads into a new era after Season 40.
“I want to see somebody come in with some style and do something that completely blows everybody away,” he said. “So it doesn’t really matter to me what you do. I just want you to be remembered. I want you to come in with the mindset of, I’m going to change this game, and how am I going to change it? We’ll have to see, you know, so it’s with a fresh outlook.”
He also named Horacio Guterriez, Kyland Young and Michele Fitzgerald, all from “Era IV,” as some of the biggest standouts on “The Challenge” right now.
“Horacio and Kyland were the two guys that were like, wow. And Michele’s right up there too with them,” said Lavin. “She’s very, very good. But she also ruffles a lot of feathers, which is great. She’s not scared to go against somebody like [Johnny] Bananas who’s been in it forever.”
“The Challenge: Battle of the Eras” premieres tonight at 8 pm ET on MTV.
