Hosting MTV’s The Challenge has taken T.J. Lavin around the world, from European countries like Iceland and Spain to South America’s Brazil and Argentina. But, Lavin also has a home base in the United States.
Although he enjoyed a successful BMX career and is fully engrained in the reality competition sphere as the franchise’s frontman, Lavin’s remained in the same house since the ’90s — but with some stellar upgrades. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, alongside his wife, Roxanne Lavin, and their animals, including several dogs. Lavin is also the adoptive father to Roxanne’s daughter Raquel, whom she had in a prior relationship, but she doesn’t live with them.
Lavin originally gave MTV Cribs a tour of his house back in 2002, long before he was a married man. And they returned in 2021 to see what Lavin — and more importantly, Roxanne — had done with the place.
It went from exactly what someone would think an extreme athlete’s house would look like, to a pristine yet rustic abode.
According to the MTV Cribs segment, Lavin lives off the grid in a 2,600-square-foot house that boasts four bedrooms and three bathrooms. During the tour, Lavin showed off the fully renovated interior and his backyard that’s one-half green oasis with a hot tub and the other half BMX jumps, as well as his garage with a fully equipped gym and storage for his cars, boat, and of course, his bikes.
Check out Lavin’s property tour through the YouTube player below:
Lavin isn’t home year-round, however
As mentioned, Lavin’s role as Challenge presenter means he’s away from his Las Vegas sanctuary for months every year. But, Lavin’s used the opportunity of traveling around the world to immerse himself in different cultures.
“I just love to meet the people, and become one with the community,” Lavin said in an interview with MTV in 2021.
He said he spends most of his time hopping from breakfast and lunch places to coffee shops. But, he also takes the time to meet the locals.
“One of the best times that I’ve had filming this show was giving people rides in South Africa,” Lavin said. “Every day that I had to go down into Cape Town, I would have a car full going there and coming back, and it was the best experience ever because we listened to the language of the world, which was Bob Marley, all the way there and all the way back singing at the top of our lungs. It was amazing.”
Lavin said that out of everywhere he’s gone with the franchise, Queenstown, New Zealand, was his favorite location. And he also gave a shout-out to Rovinj, Croatia, calling it the “most charming town” he had ever seen.