Wednesday, September 11, 2013

RIVALS II - Elizabethany

By DC Cueva

Well, we've made it here. Ten weeks ago when the heat was on, we started MTV's The Challenge: Rivals II with an all-star cast of 32 great people all paired up with their arch enemies, most of whom I've been lucky enough to interact with on social media. And now, with summer in the books, school in session and autumn in the air, we've just about reached the starting gate of the final mission. And of course, the final in every Challenge always produces great drama with endurance, stamina, patience and stirring all kinds of emotions, all determining who will come out on top. But before we think about that, just as we did before this season began, I wanted to share a back story relating to those on Rivals II, and people who have a connection with, or were inspired by, watching them on either The Real World or a Challenge. And this story relates to one of those 10 now getting set to go after that $125,000 winners check, as well as her fellow castmate who was one of the victims of Team Rookies en route to the final.

With seeing Emily absolutely dominate this Challenge with Paula on the ladies side, and watching Ty and the stunning loss he & Leroy had to Marlon & Jordan in the season's best competition moment, it brings back memories of watching them and the rest of the Real World D.C. cast from a few years ago. In their season, Emily, Ty, Erika, Andrew, Ashley, Mike, Callie and Josh came to the District amidst the optimism spawned by year one of the Obama administration. And just as the Brooklyn cast did a year before them, the cast all pursued their career interests, reminiscent of earlier RW's. There in DuPont Circle, Emily & Ty had a roller coaster of a relationship in the house (which eventually brought them to Exes), Erika often cried & wanted to go home, and Andrew - famous for wearing a panda hat - brought girls home regularly, much to Ashley's chagrin. Outside the house, Mike took a stand in standing up for the LGBT community, Callie did photography work, and Josh pursued music & performed in a band. And as you would expect, a couple roommates - Andrew & Mike - got to go to the White House and saw the new president in person.
   One person who followed the every move of the RW DC cast from behind the scenes during the filming of that season in the summer & fall of 2009 was a young lady from right there in Washington, D.C. named Elizabethany, or Beth Proger to be exact. After graduating from the University of West Virginia, EB (a shortened hybrid name of Elizabeth and Bethany) went back to her hometown to intern at pop station Hot 99.5. And during down time from working at the radio station - home of national radio host Kane, she took advantage of following the cast, using her website www.elizabethany.com and her YouTube channel to chronicle her adventures. Starting before filming began when the house was being put together not far from the White House, and continuing throughout the filming process, people curious about what was going on with the reality pioneer in the nation's capital went to her site & watched her videos for the latest gossip & sightings.
   If you think that following the Real World cast while they are filming in your hometown is one thing (like what's taking place right now up the way in San Francisco), then for the best examples of it, check out EB's. If they had an award honoring best work following a Real World cast while not being an actual member of the camera crews that follow the cast 24/7, Elizabethany would win in a landslide. I remember checking out her site and social media sites while the season was still filming and then during the season (including checking twitter long before I had on twitter), and while many locals weren't happy about having an MTV show in their backyard, she covered it very well.

When Real World D.C. began airing in winter 2010, EB started doing show podcasts with fellow local blogger Chris Wiggins, and throughout the season they interviewed every member of the cast about all the moments that aired & didn't air on the show. Much in the same way that the Spreecasts and other podcasts cover the RW/Challenge franchise do today, the cast dished out all the gossip with EB & Chris, and I was a loyal listener to every one of their podcasts during the season. MTV was so impressed by her work that, when she was actually kicked of taping of the cast's reunion in New York at the end of the season, the channel realized their mistake and made up with EB by having her host a couple online chats during the season. She even tried out to be part of the MTV family herself in a Twitter DJ contest later that year. Even the cast themselves gave a shout out to her when they did a freestyle in the kitchen one night, as seen later on an episode and for Real World Dailies.
   This success, as well as some earlier news work at WVU & other outlets, helped propel Elizabethany to becoming a radio DJ, having done work for the same station she DJ'ed in, then going to Candy 95 in Texas and then near to home at Hot 100.5 in Virginia Beach, VA. There in the Hampton Roads area, another chapter in her Real World book took place where she became good friends with a local girl from there who tried out for Real World season 26 and eventually made it to San Diego, Sam. They became very good friends ever since, including going to the same auditions to RW St. Thomas that saw Richmond, VA's LaToya eventually get casted and before Sam went to Turkey to eventually win that year's Challenge. And Elizabethany has continued to do podcast interviews with roommates from later Real World seasons for her website, as well as helping uncover behind the scenes gossip and new cast members when the fan forums reveal who they are just as they are filming.
   And just this week, Elizabethany announced that she is returning home to where this run all started: she will take over the night shift next month at the same station where she interned in that summer, Hot 99.5 in Washington, D.C. And it all stemmed, in part, from following the Real World cast in her hometown. And if it weren't for Emily, Ty and the RW DC cast, I would not have heard of you. So, congrats, EB. Much deserved.

With the finals now here, DC Blog & Twitter @dc408dxtr, will follow the quest for the cash from Thailand. 
In the next few days, I'll be previewing the final and give my evaluations of the seven remaining teams as they go into the final and the last jungle, and of course I'll be giving my predictions on who's gonna win. Then, I'll live tweet the upcoming episode - both as the cast sees it and as I see it, plus I'll be in the chat room for chats with the cast. Later, I'll be writing a wrap up of key moments from this season as the cast saw it on twitter, and highlight those one-liners.
   If any of my followers go to the live reunion, expect me to give them the scoop from Times Square here. And as soon as the reunion wraps, I'm begin the buildup to the upcoming Real World taking place right here in my Bay Area backyard. Elsewhere, check out my Instagram for pics from my travels & other things: Instagram.com/dc408dxtr with more to come at www.youtube.com/user/dc408dxtr and www.flickr.com/photos/dccueva.

If you haven't had the chance, check out my previous DC BLOG articles relating to Rivals II:
- More on my HS friends' music as heard in last EP: http://dc408dxtr.blogspot.com/2013/08/rivals-ii-what-big-news.html

Until then, thanks for reading, have fun, and enjoy Rivals II. And happy back to football, too.

- DC
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