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 (Aneesa, Bananas, Cohutta, CT, Devyn, Jasmine, Jessica, Johnny, Jordan, Laurel, Nany, Nia, Preston & Swift)
Auto Body Rally: Played in male/female pairs, each pair 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 while the other pedals in order to navigate through the obstacle course. The team with the fastest time wins the challenge, while the teams with the four slowest times are automatically sent to "The Draw."[4]
Winners: Cohutta & Laurel
Bar Crawl: A giant wall, with platforms on both sides, numerous holes horizontally-aligned at the base of the wall and two oversize bars in two holes, is suspended from a crane over water. Played in teams of four (two players on both sides of the wall), each team has to advance from one platform to the other by using the bars as a "walkway." Players on each side have to shove the bars through the holes in order for their partners to advance forward on the bars. It is a timed event, and the team that advances all of their players from one platform to the other in the fastest time wins, while the teams with the two slowest times are automatically sent to "The Draw." A team is disqualified if they do not complete the challenge within a time limit, or if any team member drops a bar into the water.[5]
Winners: Team Brandon (Brandon, Bananas, Camila & Jessica)
Bounce Out: First, players are separated into two teams of 11 players. Then, the two teams are split into two groups — of six and five players. Each player wears oversize plastic bumper suits with pictures of their faces on them, and the groups have to designate one player to serve as "the ball," in which that player will try to advance from one side of a beach to another, toward a soccer goal. The remaining players will either try to defend their own goal or help escort the designated "ball" toward their opponent's goal. After one group scores a goal, the other group will take the field and try to do the same. The first team to score three goals wins the challenge, while all members of the losing team are automatically sent to "The Draw."[6]
Winners: Team Red (Bananas, CT, Jessica, Johnny, Jonna, Jordan, Laurel, Nany, Preston, Swift & Theresa)
Piggy Back:
Winners:
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.
Wrecking Wall: Each player must punch through a 30-foot dry wall to make holes so they can climb up until they can reach a bell. The first player to ring the bell wins the elimination round.
Played by:Dustin vs. Frank and Emilee vs. Jonna[4]
Looper: Each player has a rope hooked to their backs, and has to run around two posts, where each player will try to reach a bell, in a tug-of-war match. The first player to ring the bell wins the elimination round.
Oppenheimer: Each player must run across a caged circle hallway and passed the other player to ring a bell. The first player to ring the bell twice wins the elimination round.
Played by:Cara Maria vs. LaToya and Brandon vs. Zach[6]
Winners: Team Red (Bananas, CT, Jessica, Johnny, Jonna, Jordan, Laurel, Nany, Preston, Swift & Theresa)
Winners picks for elimination: Brandon & LaToya
"The Draw" selections: Zach & Cara Maria
Elimination game: Oppenheimer
Eliminated: Brandon & LaToya
Notes
^[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]
^[b] Frank initially thought that he was suffering from a collapsed lung, and had hoped to continue competing. However, when he arrived at the "Bar Crawl" challenge in Episode 3, T. J. Lavin delivered the news that doctors diagnosed Frank with a contagious viral infection, and he was immediately removed from the competition.[5]
^[c] Johnny was selected for the elimination round in Episode 3, but did not have to compete. There were four cards in "The Draw," but only three male players were eligible for participation — CT, Jordan and Swift — none of them drew the "kill card." Therefore, by virtue of Frank's illness that resulted in his removal from the competition, no male elimination round was held.[5]
