Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Disney
Ilana Frost
Get ready: We’re about to travel back in time to circa 2008, The Golden Age Of Disney Channel. Personally, I have never left my Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, and Camp Rock era. This is real, this is me! Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato were — and still are — my royals. Even though this marvelous generation of teens were literally carrying the channel on their backs, the Disney execs demanded more. Acting, singing, and dancing? Not enough. No, the students at Disney High also had to compete in The Disney Channel Games, AKA The Olympics (Disney’s Version).
As Taylor Swift once said, “I remember it all too well.” There were red, blue, yellow, and green teams made up of the world’s most serious and devoted athletes. There was blood, sweat, and tears. There were inflatable obstacle courses and egg tosses. For those of you who missed out on the fun (I’m so sorry) or just want to refresh your memory, I gift you my betchy breakdown of The Disney Channel Games. History lessons are so important!
It’s an excellent question. I’ll admit that when I was actually a child watching them, I had absolutely no idea what was happening. My profound adult understanding is that The Disney Channel Games was a game show that aired for three seasons from 2006 to 2009. Disney apparently wanted in on the reality TV craze, so they had all their network stars compete in field day-esque activities for charity, hence the obstacle courses and egg tosses. Honestly, as a passionate field day hater, it was kind of triggering to watch. I wanted to be a Disney star, but this requirement would’ve been a dealbreaker for me.
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More like who didn’t participate? The Big Three (Miley, Selena, and Demi) were involved, of course. The Jonas Brothers and the Sprouse twins also got real competitive back in the day. And so did all the High School Musical folks, other Hannah Montana stars, Camp Rock kiddos, and basically everyone else who was relevant at the time. Those poor kids.
In February 2009, a Disney spokesperson tragically confirmed that the Games would be coming to an end. They explained that Disney Channel was instead focusing on a new project — a “green” initiative called Friends for Change. Remember when Miley, Selena, Demi, and the Jonas Brothers sang “Send It On” and ended climate change with that epic music video? (So much teenage romance going on there.) Yeah, that was FFC. And that’s why the Earth’s temperature has definitely been lowering ever since! We owe so much to this chaotic and iconic group of Millennials.