The Challenge: Free Agents is the 25th season of the MTVreality game show, The Challenge. The season is located in Uruguay, with former cast members from MTV's The Real World, Fresh Meat II and Spring Break Challenge competing. The season follows a new format, featuring each contestant competing in either teams, pairs or for themselves, for a share of $350,000 in prize money.[1]
This season is once again hosted by T. J. Lavin, and premiered on April 10, 2014 on MTV,[1] marking the first time that the show has aired on a night other than a Wednesday since season 14 aired in 2007. This season also marks the first since season 11 that does not include any cast members from The Real World: Austin or the first Fresh Meat challenge.
Note: For the first time in the show's history, each contestant will have numbers on the backs of their jerseys. Jersey numbers are in parentheses, next to the cast members' names.
Format
Prior to each challenge, host T. J. Lavin will announce to each contestant as to whether a challenge will be declared as either an individual, pair, or team challenge. After each challenge, the winning teams/pairs/players are not only safe from elimination, but will also choose one player of each gender to compete in the elimination round. If a challenge is played in a team format, all members of the winning team are safe from elimination. The remaining players will participate in an elimination vote called "The Draw," in which each player will either flip over a "kill card," which has a skeleton symbol, or a blank card. If a player flips over a blank card, that player saves himself/herself from participating in the elimination, however, if a player flips over the "kill card," that player will face the player of the respective gender that was previously voted by the winning team/pair/individual in the elimination. The winning players of each gender return to the game and have a shot at competing for a $350,000 prize, while the losing male and female players are eliminated from the game.[3]
At the end of the season, six players will compete in the final challenge — three of each gender. The first-place finishers win $125,000, second-place wins $35,000 and third-place wins $15,000.[3]
Gameplay
Challenge games
Out on a Ledge: Each player participates in a multi-stage race to the top of Montevideo's World Trade Center. First, host T. J. Lavin chooses one player of each gender to be team captains. The captains then alternate between choosing male and female players for their teams, which are initially two teams of 14 players — Team Black and Team Red. The teams are then split up into three teams — two of four players and one of six players. The three teams are positioned at three different locations — one four-player team is chained together at the rooftop next to a locked box at a puzzle station, another four-player team is chained together at a plank hanging from the edge of the rooftop, while the six-player team is chained together at the base of the building.
In Phase 1, the two six-player teams race against each other through all 42 stories of the World Trade Center, and each team is possessing a key that will be required to unchain their respective 4-player team that is chained together at the locked box, where Phase 2 will begin.
In Phase 2, one four-player team uses a key to unlock a box which contains puzzle pieces. When that team solves their puzzle, another key is retrieved to unchain the other four-player team standing by near the plank.
In Phase 3, players from the remaining four-player teams have to race along a plank suspended 450 feet above ground level, one player at a time, then retrieve a pink flag sitting in the middle of a rolling log, and ring a bell in the fastest time possible. The entire challenge is a timed event, and the team that completes the challenge in the fastest time wins.[3]
Winners: Team Black
Auto Body Rally: Played in male/female pairs, each team has to race in a sportscar on a drag strip, then run around a series of hay bales, and ride together on an oversize bicycle within an obstacle course consisting of bales of hay, toward a finish line. When each pair rides the bicycle, one player has to backwards-steer the front of the bicycle in order to avoid making contact with the bales. The team with the fastest time wins the challenge, while the teams with the four slowest times are automatically sent to "The Draw."
Winners: Cohutta & Laurel
Elimination games
Balls In: Each player will be given five chances to get as many balls inside a barrel, located in the middle of a large circle. If a player is either knocked out of or steps out of the ring, or if the ball is knocked out of the ring, their ball is considered "dead." Players will alternate between offense and defense in each round. The player who has more baskets than their opponent after five rounds wins the elimination round. Note: Challenge previously used during The Inferno II.
^[a] Chet withdrew from the "Balls In" elimination at the end of Episode 1, after he busted his chin open. Host T. J. Lavin gave Chet the option to either continue the elimination round with a bandage, or get stitches and forfeit; Chet chose the latter, fearing a bacterial infection. Therefore, Frank was declared the winner by default.[3]
