The Challenge: Double Agents is the 36th season of the MTV reality competition series The Challenge. This season features alumni from The Real World, Road Rules, The Challenge, Are You the One?, Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother, the Olympics, Love Island UK, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Geordie Shore, Ex on the Beach, Shipwrecked, America's Got Talent, WWE NXT, and Ultimate Beastmaster competing for a share at a $1 million prize. The season premiered on December 9, 2020. A launch special, titled "The Challenge: Double Agents Declassified" aired on December 7, 2020.
Format Double Agents features a main challenge, a nomination process, and an elimination round. This season had players competing in male-female teams of two, initially selected among themselves at the conclusion of the opening challenge. These teams frequently changed throughout the season due to the nature of the game. Daily Challenge: Players compete in a main challenge in pairs, where the winning team forms the Double Agents. Nominations: Players, besides the Double Agents, participate in nominations and must vote for one pair to participate in the elimination round. They are given a chance to discuss the nominations before voting privately and as individuals. The team who receives the most votes are "compromised" and will have the player of the designated gender compete in the elimination round. Double Agents: Following nominations, the Double Agents are shown the nominated team, as well as which individuals voted for them. At the Crater, the Double Agents vote for a second team to compete against the nominated team in the elimination round, where the player of the designated gender will participate. The Double Agents may also volunteer for elimination instead of voting for a team. Eliminations (The Crater): Following the Double Agent's votes, the gender that participates in the elimination round is disclosed. The player of the designated gender of the nominated team competes in an elimination round against the same-gender player of the team selected by the Double Agents, or the volunteer from the Double Agents. The loser is eliminated while the winner receives a Gold Skull and remains in the game.
Twists Gold Skull: Similar to the "Red Skull" from Total Madness, winning an elimination round earns a player a Gold Skull, a requirement to compete in the Final Challenge. There are only 10 skulls available - five for each gender. Once all five skulls are obtained for a gender, the only way to obtain a skull is to defeat a player possessing a skull in elimination. Rogue Agents: A player without a partner at any point in the game is classified as a Rogue Agent. Rogue Agents do not compete in the next daily challenge and are ineligible to be selected for elimination. Infiltration: The winner of an elimination round may select any player of the opposite gender (excluding the Double Agents) to become their partner. In the event that a player in an existing pair is chosen, their former partner either chooses a new partner between the remaining agents without a partner, pairs up with the agent without a partner, or becomes a Rogue Agent, depending on numbers. Security Breach: Two "Security Breach" twists were enacted throughout the season: Reactivated Agent: In episode 5, eliminated contestant Ashley Mitchell returned to the competition due to the number of female medical disqualifications. Double Elimination: In episode 11/12, a Double Male Elimination occurred in which two male players were eliminated. The two teams that received the most votes during nominations were compromised. The Double Agents then had to vote two teams into the Crater to compete against the compromised teams, or could volunteer against either compromised team.
Contestants Male contestantsOriginal seasonFinishChris "CT" TamburelloThe Real World: ParisWinner Cory WhartonReal World: Ex-PlosionRunner-upLeroy GarrettThe Real World: Las Vegas (2011)Third placeFaysal "Fessy" ShafaatBig Brother 20Fourth placeKyle ChristieGeordie Shore 8Episode 17Darrell TaylorRoad Rules: Campus CrawlEpisode 14Nam VoUltimate Beastmaster 1Episode 12Josh MartinezBig Brother 19Episode 12Devin Walker-MolaghanAre You the One? 3Episode 12Demetrius "Mechie" HarrisEx on the Beach 3Episode 8Jay StarrettSurvivor: Millennials vs. Gen XEpisode 7Lio RushWWE NXTEpisode 6Nelson ThomasAre You the One? 3Episode 4Wes BergmannThe Real World: AustinEpisode 3Joseph AllenAmerica's Got Talent 14Episode 2Female contestantsOriginal seasonFinishAmber BorzotraBig Brother 16Winner Kam WilliamsAre You the One? 5Runner-upNany GonzalezThe Real World: Las Vegas (2011)Third placeKaycee ClarkBig Brother 20Fourth placeTula "Big T" FazakerleyShipwrecked: Battle of the IslandsEpisode 16Aneesa FerreiraThe Real World: ChicagoEpisode 15Gabby AllenLove Island UK 3Episode 13Lolo JonesUS OlympianEpisode 11Amber MartinezAre You the One? 8Episode 10Theresa Gonzalez-JonesThe Challenge: Fresh Meat IIEpisode 9Ashley MitchellReal World: Ex-PlosionEpisode 6Tori DealAre You the One? 4 Episode 5Natalie AndersonThe Amazing Race 21Episode 5Olivia "Liv" JawandoShipwrecked: Battle of the IslandsEpisode 4Nicole ZanattaReal World: SkeletonsEpisode 3
Gameplay Challenge games Decryption: Played in male and female heats, contestants race up a volcanic mound to reach a capsule with a color code encrypted on it. They must memorize the code before returning to their station and duplicating the sequence, by connecting colored wires. The first player in each heat to correctly duplicate the sequence and detonate their station wins their heat, however, the heat winner with the fastest overall time earns the ability to select their partner and become the Double Agents. Winner: Aneesa Ice Spy: Teams swim through glacial water towards a boat to retrieve a block of ice with a "kill" capsule frozen inside, before returning to shore. They must remove the kill from the ice using an ice pick, and can place the kill in another team's station. Once a team receives three kills, they are eliminated from the challenge, however, they can still place the kill they currently possess. The last team standing wins. Winners: Aneesa & Fessy Road Kill: Two teams at a time begin on the back of a moving truck. Each team member attempts to push their opponent of the same gender off the truck and onto the surrounding safety nets before timing out. The last player with any body part still on the platform wins the matchup for their team. The team that pushes both opponents off the truck the fastest wins the mission. Winners: Kaycee & Leroy Drone Control: Played two teams at a time, one teammate wears a VR headset connected to the camera of a drone. They must direct their partner, who flies the drone using a controller, towards a number code at the opposite end of the tunnel. Once they obtain the sequence, the player wearing the headset must solve a binary puzzle before entering the code into a tablet. There is a ten-minute time limit before teams time out. The team with the fastest time wins. Winners: Devin & Tori Agent Down: Played in two heats of six teams, the female partners begin harnessed on a ledge on the side of a platform while their male partner begins on top of the platform. The male players must pull 200 metres of rope out of the platform before they can hold onto their partner. The ledge drops after a certain time, however, the female team member can still hold the platform to avoid falling if their partner has not finished pulling the rope. The team that holds on the longest wins. Winners: Big T & CT Smuggle Run: Teams carry a heavy cylindrical capsule on their shoulders and complete a five-mile race. Along the way, they must use their capsule to climb over a wall and solve a magic hexagon puzzle before reaching the finish line. The first team to cross the finish line wins. In addition to becoming the Double Agents, the winners also receive a cash prize of $6,000 each and a P3 Portable Protein reward. Winners: Jay & Theresa Aerial Takedown: Played in male and female heats of five players. Players begin on a cargo net being dragged by a helicopter, and must push their opponents off the net into the water below without timing out. The player who pushes all their opponents off the cargo net first wins the heat, however, the player who achieves this the fastest wins for their team and becomes the Double Agents. Winners: Kaycee & Leroy All Brawl: Played in three phases, each phase requires players to enter a mud-pit and obtain an X-shaped relic. The winners of each phase advance to the next phase. The team that wins the third phase wins and becomes the Double Agents. In Phase One, five players of the same gender at a time enter the pit and must find the relic in the mud, escape the pit and cross the finish line with the relic to advance. In Phase Two, the heat winners of the same gender from Phase One must wrestle the relic away from their opponent and bring the relic out of the mud-pit to advance. In Phase Three, the individual winners from Phase Two and their partners must wrestle the relic out of their opponent's hands, where competitors face-off against their opponent of the same gender. The team that has both players win their individual matchup wins. Winners: Kam & Kyle Interrogation: Played in two heats, with each heat containing one member of each team. Players begin standing on a platform above water, holding onto an overhead bar. One at a time, they are asked a true-or-false trivia question. If they answer correctly, they must select another player to have their bar tilt forward, making it more difficult to hold on. However, if they answer incorrectly, their own bar tilts forward. Players are eliminated if they fall in the water or hold onto the side of the apparatus. The last player standing wins their heat, while the player who answers the most questions correctly, or holds on the longest, wins for their team. In addition to becoming the Double Agents, the winners also receive a cash prize of $5,000 each. Winners: Amber B. & Darrell Black Sand Ops: Teams search through a field of one hundred torches to find their colored puzzle pieces buried underneath ten of the torches. If they dig up another team's puzzle piece, they can either leave it unburied, or rebury the piece. Once they find all ten pieces, they must use the pieces to assemble an Icelandic totem by replicating a provided answer key. The first team to correctly assemble their totem wins. Winners: Devin & Gabby Air Lift: Played one team at a time, teams begin on the bow of a moving speedboat and grab onto ropes attached to a nearby helicopter. They must hold onto the ropes until the helicopter reaches a drop-zone, before dropping into the water. Once in the water, teams swim towards a platform and press the button on top. Teams are disqualified if they are unable to grab a rope, or fall into the water prior to reaching the drop-zone. The team with the fastest time wins. Winners: Big T & CT Survive the Night: Teams begin handcuffed together and locked in a cell. They must complete a series of tasks to unlock their handcuffs and escape. The first team to escape their cell wins. Task 1: Hold a heavy "bomb" for two hours. Task 2: Consume an entire tray of ram's testicles and fermented shark to find a message printed on the tray: "Solve the equation on the back". Task 3: Flip the tray over to find a math equation, the solution of the equation forms the code to unlock a box containing hammers. Task 4: Use the hammers to break through cinder blocks and search for a key, which unlocks team's handcuffs. Task 5: Scratch a blackboard to reveal a clue: "The key to your freedom lies underneath". Task 6: Dig through the dirt floor of the cell to find two hand files. Task 7: Use the files to unlock the cell and escape. Winners: Kaycee & Leroy