Every so often, fans will chime in regarding which seasons they’d like to see in the future. A common response: The Duel 3.
Truth is, it will never happen and I strongly believe it wouldn’t be a good move. The good new, the spiritual third installment of The Duel has already happened.
To understand this, we need to look at The Duel 2. That season was very different from the original Duel for a few reasons, but mostly because it rewarded alliance and partnerships over individual performance. Picking competitors for Duels was started by one male and female, and they had the time to predict the whole chain. This meant people could skate by if they had solid alliances. The whole season was also partner based, which was apparent in 90% of the final.
The Duel 1 did a good job keeping the games fairly individual. There were some partner and team missions, but each week had some variety. On person started the selection chain, so there were a couple power shifts. That season also had a really fresh cast, so the bulk of the competitors didn’t have strong alliances coming into the season.
Production didn’t establish a successful individual season until Free Agents in 2013. This season, in my opinion, is the spiritual third Duel season. It resembled the first season more closely because it was a mix of team, partnered, and individual competition. Plus, teams were usually random, so people had to deal with the hand they were dealt. While The Duel 1 & 2 used cards to pick the Duel game, Free Agents used a kill card to pick the second elimination competitor.
You could even take this a step further and say Dirty Thirty is the fourth Duel. In fact, it resembles Free Agents very closely except it has redemption. Once again, this season did a better job of avoiding alliance domination that The Duel 2.
If we look at The Duel, Duel 2, Free Agents, and Dirty Thirty, The Duel 2 is the least individual. I would much rather see another season like Free Agents or Dirty Thirty than a season similar to Duel 2.
Stop Being Polite 
Free Agents, in my opinion, is one of the very very best seasons of all time. People should be begging for a free agents 2. Dirty XXX was ok but the countless redemptions for each player was over the top and annoying.
Dirty Thirty without Redemption and the Purges would have been amazing.
Agreed. Cast was pretty loaded.
I agree about Free Agents. One of the best seasons ever.