By DC Cueva
@DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow
Well, the buzz for The Challenge: Free Agents is at full steam, and we are two episodes into what's been a very good season so far. In the premiere, we saw our group of 28 eager competitors arrive in Uruguay only to find that they are facing an individual Challenge, followed by a grueling opening mission that saw them confront the country's tallest building. There, two relative newcomers would steal the show: Portlander Jessica conquering her fear of heights to become the star of the opening challenge, and Latoya returning battled & bruised, only to take out one of the contenders, Jemmye, in very impressive fashion in the very first elimination. And this week, Jessica would not only continue her impressive showing, she also became interested in Dustin as was Emilee, while Cohutta would have a very good week in celebrating his birthday in many ways. Speaking of them, they and several others on this season are the subject of this post.
Now, for many of you, especially those who only watch Challenges & don't watch The Real World with the same level of interest as me, Free Agents is your first opportunity to see these newcomers or returnees in action. These are the same people who I became familiar with on the past two Challenges and on their original RW season (I didn't watch Challenges much until BOTS). Of course, these fans will be in the blue of what these rookies have in store, and while it'll be easy for them to go for the vets - and also prefer the old schoolers over the new generation, as we saw in the very first elimination, there are some rookies who are eager to hang with the vets in Uruguay, enough for them to win over these fans too. Take for example what we saw with Jordan when he & Marlon went all the way to the final on Rivals II and earned the respect of one Mr. Beautiful, Kenny, after beating Leroy & Ty, among other things in his great rookie campaign last year.
Just as we did last summer, this post is our way to help avid Challenge fans, who know more about the vets than these rookies, get some insight into these new people: background from their original bios, what happened with them on their Real World, and save for those four making their Challenge debut in Uruguay, a recap of how they did on previous Challenges. This will help you understand these people the same way you know the vets and the same way that I do having followed them first in that other show that I love more. This way, we will make sure you'll never know who these newcomers are when you see them being introduced or when they compete in that first mission in the premiere. And most importantly this will help ensure that they are all given the kind of proper respect they deserve.
In that first "Who Are These Newbies?" post last summer, DCBLOG profiled 13 1st- or 2nd-time Challengers who were on Rivals II, and seven of them have been called up to do Free Agents: Jessica, Jordan, Jemmye, Frank, Nany, Zach and Preston. Just in case this is your first time watching them this season or need a refresher, check out that post where we covered them and fellow competitors Trey, Robb, Cooke, Marlon, Knight & Anastasia. And of course, five of these people eventually joined the big name vets in the final. That's at http://dc408dxtr.blogspot.com/2013/07/rivals-ii-who-are-these-newbies.html.
For our 2nd installment of "Who Are These Newbies?", we will introduce you to nine more people who have done either one or two Challenges or are making their debut in Uruguay. This includes two who were part of RW's most famous fight, two of those who were paired up on Hassel Island, and two finalists on BOTS who finished behind San Diego in Namibia. Plus as an aid to those who might be watching a Challenge for the first time, we've also included a 10th person who is neither of those options but is a power player making a return this season after a 3-year layoff.
But we begin with a trio of Real World alums who, while they are technically classified as rookies on this season, are making their Challenge return after a few years watching these shows from the comfort of their own couch.
