T. Green
The Challenge: Free Agents
It’s time for the 25th season of The Challenge, and we’ve got a new set of rules in store! This season’s concept is Free Agents, which is closer to The Ruins in the sense that it is an individual challenge. Once again, the prize pool is 350,000 in total, with 125,000 each to the guy and girl winners, 35,000 for second, and 15,000 for third.
Girls:
Jemmye – The Real World: New Orleans (2010)
Laurel – The Challenge: Fresh Meat II (2010)
Devyn – The Real World: Brooklyn (2009)
Cara Maria – The Challenge: Fresh Meat II (2010)
Nia – The Real World: Portland (2013)
Nany – The Real World: Las Vegas (2011)
LaToya – The Real World: St. Thomas (2012)
Emilee – The Real World: Cancun (2009)
Jessica – The Real World: Portland (2013)
Aneesa – The Real World: Chicago (2002)
Camila – Spring Break Challenge (2010)
Jasmine – The Real World: Cancun (2009)
Theresa – The Challenge: Fresh Meat II (2010)
Jonna – The Real World: Cancun (2009)
Guys:
CT – Real World: Paris (2003)
Swift – The Real World: St. Thomas (2012)
Dustin – The Real World Las Vegas (2011)
Johnny Bananas – The Real World: Key West (2006)
Leroy – The Real World: Las Vegas (2011)
Frank – The Real World: San Diego (2011)
Isaac – The Real World: Sydney (2007)
Zach – The Real World: San Diego (2011)
Cohutta – The Real World: Sydney (2007)
Johnny – The Real World: Portland (2013)
Jordan – The Real World: Portland (2013)
Chet – The Real World: Brooklyn (2009)
Preston – The Real World: New Orleans (2010)
Brandon – The Challenge: Fresh Meat II (2010)
This challenge is being held in Uruguay, with TJ Lavin (donning a shorter haircut) hosting for approximately the 3,378th time. TJ reiterated to the competitors that there are no more excuses. He noted that some losers in the past blamed bad partners or teams, but also that some winners skated by even though they didn’t perform that well. With this competition, it’s going to be all (well, mostly) on the individual.
For each mission players are randomly selected for a team, pair, or individual challenge. The winners choose one guy and one girl to go into the elimination round. The hook is that their opponents are randomly chosen in “the draw”. CT is thrilled because the format caters more to his strengths. Other people are skeptical because they could get screwed over by the randomness factor.
Everyone makes their way to the house. OK, we get it, it’s huge, it’s beautiful, and most importantly, it’s stocked with alcohol. Blah, blah, blah, that’s old hat. What’s going on with the cast? Jordan takes note of endless possibilities in terms of attractive females. The newly single people in the house are eager to mix things up without having to face any pressure from back home. The first big house event is CT and Theresa playing a game of strip basketball. Theresa loses, but shows some surprising athleticism in the process. Elsewhere, Dustin and Jessica take a liking to each other.
The first challenge is “Out on a Ledge”, which takes place at Uruguay’s world trade center. This is a team mission, and Nia (black) and Chet (red) are chosen as captains. Part of the teams race up 42 flights of stairs while chained together. After a lot of back-and-forth jostling, the red team gets to the top first. Unfortunately, LaToya bumped her head and was dehydrated, so she was carted away in an ambulance.
The second stage is a puzzle. The black team catches up and pulls ahead at this part, which gives them a time advantage for the third stage. For the third part, the players have to traverse across a suspended rolling log, grab the flag in the middle, and get to the other side to ring the bell. Two of the black team members made it all way as opposed to only one for the red team. That was enough to earn them the victory.
Now, it’s time for the black team to nominate two people from the red team for the elimination round. And already, the drama begins as no one can come to a consensus on who to vote for. Some want to pick off the rookies and weaker players. Others feel like it’s better to keep the weak ones around. And then there are those who want to go completely off the board. These teams are temporary anyways, which makes for an awkward situation.
In the end, most of the votes went to the easy target in LaToya for the girls. The guys vote was way more divided, with six of them getting votes. But Chet ended up getting put in. Their opponents were yet to be determined though. What happens is that each of the other players eligible for elimination pick from a set of cards. Whoever draws the kill card has to take part in the elimination round. This time, the two unlucky winners were Jemmye and Frank.
The elimination game is called “Balls In”. It’s sort of like American Gladiators, where one player tries to put a soccer ball into a container while another one defends it. Players alternate offense and defense. Chet gets his chin busted open while going against Frank. He decided to get his stitches and forfeit the game, rationalizing that he was a hypochondriac and didn’t want to mess up his face any further. Not exactly the strongest way to go out, but he claimed he wouldn’t have any regrets.
Fortunately, LaToya vs. Jemmye turned out to be a good, competitive match. LaToya took the voting process personally and took it out on Jemmye, knocking heads and winning 3-2. The rest of the competitors now realize that anyone can be knocked off at any point in time.
The Real World: Ex-Plosion Reunion
There was one last bit of madness to clean up on The Real World, as the reunion episode aired. A lot of this was covered in the various aftershows, but there are some new updates on the cast.
Arielle and Ashley are still together. Their keys to a successful relationship are great communication and honesty, something the rest of the house apparently lacks. Jenny and Brian are working things out in L.A. Cory and Jenny had hung out for a bit after the show, but they had a not-so-amicable separation. Cory thinks Jenny is shady, especially with certain things she’s said on social media.
It was definitely not a good reunion for Jay. We learned that he and Jenna were not together anymore. An ex of Jay’s contacted Jenna and warned her about his ways. There was also an incident with Jay Skyping with a naked girl, which was the last straw for Jenna. They’re both seeing other people now. The rest of the house chimed in and said that Jay was shady, fake, and not a good friend.
Jamie and Thomas still fight but they are still together. Thomas got mad when he found out Jamie and (ex) Ashley kissed, but he eventually got over it. They addressed Jamie’s ex Cameron. There was a clip Cameron explaining that he and Jamie argued all the time, and that’s why they broke up. Jamie was glad he wasn’t on the show because she was always in his “fame shadow”, and she wanted The Real World to be her time. Jamie and Hailey managed to hash out their issues and become civil.
The cast spoke more on the exes/O.G.’s divide. The originals apologized for their hostility, but didn’t regret their initial sentiment about wanting the exes out. At first, they tried these silly initiations to make the exes prove themselves worthy of the house. They believed that if it weren’t for the O.G.’s, none of the others would’ve made it onto the show.
Lauren acknowledged that she was obviously not pregnant anymore, but didn’t elaborate any further. Her and Cory still get along. Hurricane Ashley is living in France with her boyfriend Francis. She set the record straight on her relationships. Kyle was her ex-fiance, but she cheated on him. We got video of Kyle as well talking about how he still loved her. Ashley wanted to get out more while Kyle was more of a homebody. They also talked about Ashley’s wildness, particularly with her drinking. She said a lot of it had to do with insecurity. Ashley and Jamie continued to let it be known that they strongly disliked each other.
Some of the cast let it be known that they want to be on a future Challenge. Hopefully, they will be, as there are some good candidates to get thrown into that environment. So now this Real World ends as we seamlessly transition into Challenge season.
