DC WRAP: Are You The One? S4 - Episode 8

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

As we prepare for tonight's finale of both this Season 4 of Are You The One? and this MTV Trifecta cycle, we bring you an abbreviated edition of the WRAP. Last week, the cast saw the exes of the guys arrive in the house and saw Giovanni put everyone on edge when he won that week's challenge and threaten to turn the game on its head. But it's the game that caused the house to go haywire when they notched a late blackout and saw them lose $250,000 this late in the game.

   Ahead, we'll head to the Strategy Room to look at what lies ahead for them as they try to recover from that blackout and try to salvage $750,000 just as last year's cast did. Plus, we'll share with you the latest piece of good news for two members of the Trifecta alumni. Join us here next.

 STRATEGY ROOM 

AYTO: THRU 8 TRIES

When we last visited the Strategy Room a few weeks ago, there was some upbeat feelings about the Season 4 cast perhaps winning the cash after a good start to their campaign. Early on, there was talk that they could win the money without going to the tenth & last round, just as we saw back on the first season. But now after happened at their 8th matchup, it's now desperation mode for them after suffering a late blackout and losing $250,000. And the possibility now looms large that, being where they are now, they could be the first cast in the short history of this show to go home money-less.

   As we look at the matchup choices made in weeks 6, 7 and 8, we find that there were only two pairs that were chosen repeatedly: Julia & Stephen and Asaf & Camille. For Julia, now that both Stephen and Gio are not the ones for her, and after what we saw earlier on with John, now she has just several guys for which she can choose. Despite what happened to them last week, Tori and Morgan should pair up either in the 9th or 10th challenge and should they win, the house will no doubt put them in the truth booth after throwing away these picks here lately. They tried to strategize last week, but the plan went to the window and they, of course, got burned with the blackout.

As we look at how the past two casts have dealt with a blackout, both of them suffered them but ultimately found a way to win whenever they 

● In Season 2, Briana, Nate, Christina, Dario, Brandon and co. dealt with not one but two of them. They knew that they got gut checked by what happened in week 4 and in week 6, but they had some confirmed non matches to take care of when they started with a clean slate. They came up with a new plan after the second blackout and in getting three truth booth matches down the stretch, as well as Anthony taking the lead in the strategy game, it propelled them to daylight.

● The Season 3 group suffered their blackout early on back in week 2 and stayed at the same number and had given up on all hope at this stage of week 8 until a man who just made $12,500 came up with a last ditch plan and saved them. Had they got another one late, as was noted by Melanie late last season after a matchup they thought they blacked out, they would've waved the white flag. Instead, they got fortunate there and after the 2nd TB match Devin went to work and singlehandedly won the game for them.

For me, in my head the cast is now way back in the pack and no one has stepped up to take over the strategy of the game that they should wave the white flag, forget about trying to win the money and just head on home. But remember, if you can take last season as an example, it's not over yet. And in my heart, if they can muster one last try by trying to put a couple they think is a match like Tori and Morgan, perhaps this could open up the floodgates. Don't be surprised if it happens again.

 DC FORUM 

POLL: AYTO EP. 8

Concurrent to this Strategy Room post, after Episode 8 aired last Monday I conducted a Twitter poll to my fellow followers about what might happen. Here's the result:

"After their blackout tonight, do you think the AYTO Season 4 cast can still win the cash?" 

● YES, they will win $750k: 37% 
● NO, they will lose it all: 63% 
  - Out of 27 Total Votes Cast

Will the group find a way to win the money? We'll find out soon enough.

 #DCExtraTime 

CANCUN LIFE CHANGERS

Shifting from the fight for love and money to two life changing moments for two members of a Real World cast from many years ago. In the summer of 2009, we were introduced to the Cancun kids who brought us to Spring Break, redefined the word crazy in the Trifecta vocabulary and introduced us to the guys of LMFAO which we will take a look back at here when we kick off our coverage of Real World Season 32 in Seattle down the road. Five years ago, we saw two of them make their Challenge debuts and both made quite a mark as a team and going on to become staples of the show too. Now, it's safe to say that they have a new challenge ahead of them in both love and in being parents.

Credit: IG @JonnaMannion

● First, there's JONNA, who we first saw all the way back on Discovery Hub's Endurance and won herself a trip to the Amazon in Brazil. We then saw her on Real World Cancun where she came with a boyfriend back home and an acquaintance turned roommate in Derek, and saw her get involved in two love triangle - with a guy and with a girl - and even flirted with a roommate as well inside the Suite ME in Mexico. We then saw her on Rivals I, on Rivals II, Battle of the Seasons and Exes II, the ladder two seeing her get close to Zach and her having to deal with his ways in Costa Rica. All the while, we saw her become homeless after her boyfriend left her, almost make the final in Turkey and all else as well.
   At the beginning of our Challenge coverage, we brought you the news of her announcing her pregnancy alongside Camila and Nany in SoCal, followed by her having all the usual baby showers and friends giving them all the usual gifts and the like before the big day. And in the same day as the Rivals III finale, Jonna gave birth to her newborn kid, and she announced the arrival of her new addition to her world on Instagram: "Hey guys! My name is Naleigh J. I was born about a week ago on 8/3 at 8lbs 14 oz. I am so excited to finally be home, happy and healthy with my mom and dad." Some fellow MTV'ers gave the new mom congrats on social media:
- Jemmye / IG @justjem24: She's adorable

- Trey / IG @mtvtrey: Congratulations Jonna
- Derek / IG @mtvderek: Can't wait to meet her @jonnamannion

Credit: IG @JazMTV

● And second, just days after Jonna first introduced us to Naleigh Mannion, her Rivals I partner and fellow mom announced her second life changing moment in eight months. We were first introduced to JASMINE as that bartender and student from Houston, TX who, when we saw her in Cancun, became a great castmate for all the drama she would get herself in, as well as her drunken alter-ego Rasheeda. To this day, I still remember watching the clip on Dailies of her getting into Ayiiia's face telling her, to make it PG friendly, to calm down after her fight with C.J. in the house. Of course, we all remember her more for her getting into fights in the Challenge house: with Theresa and Camila in the Rivals house, with her partner on that season as well, with Tyrie on Exes and with Nia on Free Agents.
   Roughly 36 hours before Christmas last year, Jasmine welcomed in her new baby, Madelyn Eva Fougere, to the world as part of a year that saw many a baby being born in the Trifecta. Now, you can add fiance to that list: over the weekend, she announced in two Instagram pictures that she has become engaged to her boyfriend, Dean. She posted on IG: "I said yesssssss!!!! 💍💍💍💍💍😍😍😍😍Ummm duh!!! m going to be that annoying chick for 24 hours with tons of ring poses. Hehe #notsorry #inlove #engaged💍 @deanfougere"
   And unlike what happened after yesterday's Olympic diving final where a fellow Chinese diver came down to one knee after his fellow competitor won a medal in Rio, Dean's proposal actually came as a surprise to Jasmine as they shot a video, which you can see here. He posted, "Big news everyone! @jazmtv and I just got engaged. I told her we were going to film an Illuminati exposed video at the Bunker Hill monument to trick her, and then I asked with her filming. She dropped the camera and said yes after crying for a minute. Have a nice day everyone!"

We here at DCBLOG would want to send our congrats to Jonna and Naleigh, and Jasmine and Dean, on these two great life-changers and wish them all the best.

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And on that note, we will bring to a close this edition of DC WRAP as we all prepare to wrap up not just Season 4 of Are You The One?, but also this cycle of the MTV Trifecta. There's not much in the way of promoting as many webcasts as we usually do at the end of these posts as we are nearing the conclusion of our coverage, but there is just two of them to tell you about...
● In the wake of what happened on the Rivals III finale, it's no surprise that the Brain Candy Podcast with Sarah and Susie has much more to discuss from there as they posted a follow-up to their finale podcast by posting another one on the reunion, the months after the filming of that season and the allegations their site has brought up as well. Listen to that podcast here, and their site for that podcast and post as well.
● Last week's blackout gave something to talk about for Brian Cohen (@BusDriversRoute) & Ali Lasher (@LashsTweets) on their MTV RHAP. They discussed that episode and all else on Rob Has A Podcast, which you can check out here, along with all of their MTV coverage on that site as well. I plan to invite them and Andrew Kirk to join me for the final post of our coverage, the Reality Debrief, to review this entire Trifecta cycle coming up at month's end.

For that Reality Debrief, it's not too early to begin to send in your questions on what's happened in the past several months in reality TV and looking ahead at what lies ahead by tweeting them to me @DC408Dxtr or in the comments below. We'll bring you that post over the Labor Day weekend.
   Now apologies to everyone for posting these articles here later than usual as I have been busy spending my time watching the Rio Olympics, and I promise to have some Olympic posts coming up here this week and all month long. Of course, DCBLOG will have tonight's AYTO finale covered here this weekend along with several ExtraTime longform stories that will be up here as well too.
   Remember, follow DCNOW at @DC408DxNow for a major Monday starting with the Are You The One? two-hour finale starting at 10PM Eastern & 7PM Pacific, followed by Olympic Primetime at 9 PM Pacific; the first hour of tonight's Olympic coverage will be live tweeted at @DC408Dxtr. I'll also do live chats, Q&A's and polls in addition to highlighting key moments from DCNOW when it airs out west. And after the Closing Ceremony next Sunday, I will be announcing the destination for my fall trip on all of my social platforms. So, stay tuned for that.
    For now, thank you for reading and see you later tonight on DCNOW. Enjoy your week ahead.

- I AM DC