  We study the discrete-time threshold-$\theta \geq 2$ contact process on
random graphs of general degrees. For random graphs with a given degree
distribution $\mu$, we show that if $\mu$ is lower bounded by $\theta+2$ and
has finite $k$th moments for all $k>0$, then the discrete-time
threshold-$\theta$ contact process on the random graph exhibits a discontinuous
phase transition in the emergence of metastability, thus answering a question
of Chatterjee and Durrett \cite{cd13}. To be specific, we establish that (i)
for any large enough infection probability $p>p_1$, the process started from
the all-infected state w.h.p. survives for $e^{\Theta(n)}$-time, maintaining a
large density of infection; (ii) for any $p<1$, if the initial density is
smaller than $\varepsilon(p)>0$, then it dies out in $O(\log n)$-time w.h.p..
We also explain some extensions to more general random graphs, including the
Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi graphs. Moreover, we prove that the threshold-$\theta$
contact process on a random $(\theta+1)$-regular graph dies out in time
$n^{O(1)}$ w.h.p..
