Mark Long recently discussed the new season of The Challenge: All-Stars and also revealed interesting details about his '90s pop idol era. Mark gained notoriety after first appearing on The Real World: San Francisco in 1994 when roommate David "Puck" Rainey was kicked out by his roommates, and they were given three options for his replacement. The cast decided to go with Jo Rhodes as the new roommate while Mark was re-shuffled back into casting and landed in the debut season of Road Rules USA: The First Adventure, which turned out to be a better gig for his branding as the "Godfather of Reality TV."
Mark's veteran career on The Challenge began in 1998 in the sophomore season Real World/Road Rules Challenge and concluded in 2o12 on Battle of the Exes, where he was partnered with Robin Hibbard. Twitter rumblings began online with the "We Want OG's" campaign in summer 2020, which turned into a full-on movement that hauled production into gear to have The Challenge: All-Stars premiere within the following year, a feat that other shows rarely come across from initial concept to premiere date. The show just premiered season 3 on Paramount+.
Mark recently appeared on the Reality Life With Kate Casey podcast, where he revealed to host Kate Casey that he can sing and he has music on iTunes. He went on to say, "I have two singles, actually. One isn't on iTunes. One is really boy band-y, which I will e-mail you as soon as this is done, if you want to squeeze it in here. Yeah, but it is total 1997 boy band [Backstreet Boys] 'Quit Playing Games With My Heart' lead vocals. It is insane." The demo in question, which is available to listen to at the end of his segment, is "How Do You Want Me To Love You." The song would later be recorded by English pop group 911, which appeared on their sophomore album Moving On in the summer of 1998. You can listen to the song, courtesy of halaryloha on YouTube, below:
The song available on iTunes is "I Go To Rio," which Mark described as "a remake of a Peter Allen classic." His career could have taken a different trajectory when he "almost signed with Warner Brothers South America Music." Mark went on to say that his stage name was "Sebastian Blue" and that he almost performed the song at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Before going into his personal career, the vocalist also shared, "We like Grease 2 as much as we like Grease. A lot of people don't. You know who likes Grease 2 as much as we do? My Worst Cooks chef Jeff Mauro. Me and him sang Grease 2 the entire Worst Cooks Celebrity Edition shoot. It was awesome."
Michelle Pfeiffer's seminal classic certainly doesn't get enough credit, but it's Mark's almost double-life as a Ricky Martin wannabe that draws attention, especially since the vocals Mark presented to Kate sounded awfully similar to the same cut 911 produced. Regardless of whether or not that's really Mark's voice, the song is rather an earworm. And it would have certainly been a sight to see in the late '90s, given the now-50-year-old's almost perfect physique. Instead, Mark decided to pivot his career and brand towards nostalgia by pioneering The Challenge: All-Stars and appearing on the celebrity edition of Worst Cooks In America. '90s nostalgia is high right now and Mark seems to have caught the right wave since he knows exactly how The Challenge fans want to love him.
The Challenge: All-Stars streams Wednesdays on Paramount+.
Sources: Reality Life With Kate Casey/Apple Podcasts, Mark Long/iTunes, halaryloha/YouTube