DC WRAP: The MTV Trifecta's August Homestretch

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

For the first time in twelve months, those of us who follow the MTV Trifecta can take a breath after what we have seen in five seasons of the three shows this site covers the best. In mid August, we had the double season finale of Are You The One? Season 4, which followed the eventful final week of The Challenge: Rivals III. Both had endings similar to what happened in the past, with this year's cast of 20 singles shaking off a late blackout to notch two truth booth matches en route to their payday, while we're still reeling from Johnny Bananas' payback move on Sarah in the Season 28 finale. But of course, as we talk to you this break won't last very long as are now into the countdown to Season 32 of Real World as Bad Blood begins in a month from now in Seattle.

   For now here on this last day of the summer season, on this expanded edition of DC WRAP we'll look at some of the key moments from the August homestretch of the Trifecta, covering the last jungle and the final in Argentina, and the second half of AYTO in Hawaii. We'll head into the Strategy Room for the final tidbits from Hawaii and south of the border. And on ExtraTime, we'll have an exclusive look at a fight that's never seen the light of day until now, as well as a Rio Olympics link with the Trifecta and a reunion of originals. That's all ahead.

 THINGS TO KNOW 

RIVALS III IN ARGENTINA

● FINAL JUNGLE: We start with the last Jungle, which sees each of the semifinal four teams up for the draw. By just pure luck, Devin & Cheyenne make it into the final, and sees Bananas & Sarah face Dario & Nicole face off in that last elimination. Owing to Argentina being the wine country of South America, the game sees the teams carry wine barrels in the heat, while also solving riddles in between. It's the combination of JB's strength, Sarah's puzzle knowledge and Dario & Nicole getting fatigued that sees the veterans move into the final, which again sees the five-time champion win a pre-final elimination which usually means he will win.

● BAD BEHAVIOR: Before the last elimination, just as it was back in Mexico there would be bad behavior take place among the competitors. While Jenna was taking body shots off Devin, Chey freaks out over being called names at the club, and Vince taunts her. In turn, Devin goes off on Vince, and then Jenna joins in as security steps in back at the hotel and water is thrown in his face.

● MINES, WALLS & PUZZLES: The final sees the teams go up towards a mountain top 14,000 feet above sea level, and Day 1 begins with the teams blowing up a mine by untangling wires at the first checkpoint and as expected it's Bananas & Sarah that come out of the point first, followed by Jenna & Vince and Devin & Cheyenne. Then the first two positions are reversed when the teams arrive at the second stop where they have to repel down a wall down to a puzzle for them to complete. Of course, Sarah loves doing these puzzles and it's no surprise that they finish that first, even with the lingering cloud that is the twist that we'll explain here soon. The race for 2nd and 3rd among the two other teams becomes a tight one as the teams arrive at a mine where the teams must go into the dark to find more puzzle pieces, and once again Sarah does it again. But the story of this point is where Vince thinks he has his puzzle finished, only to find that it's not complete and he then begins the puzzle again from scratch after he took it all apart.

● CAVES, FOOD AND CLIMBS: Then after a trip on a zip line, the teams arrive at their camp where, once again they have to alternate standing on a log and sleeping by the campfire. The next day comes the always interesting food eating contest, and of course there's both rather disgusting food and the sight of vomit for this breakfast. Just as what we saw last year with Jamie, it's Vince who proves himself at that food checkpoint as he gets through this contest easily as he & Jenna cut the gap, and Team Princess loses time, Then comes the hard part: the hike up the mountain as JB & Sarah go ahead while Vince sits and Cheyenne struggle to get through the trek up the hill as Devin encourages her on. It's when they walk into the snow top of the climb that JB & Sarah finish first and it appeared that things were all mended...at least until what happened next.

● BANANAS PAYBACK: The twist that comes with the final, revealed by TJ before they all set off on their journey, sees that those who win a point contest among the teams get the option to split the money 50/50 or keep all the money and screw over the other, which causes everyone to panic. When the teams gather at day 2's end, it's business as usual when Devin & Cheyenne split their $25,000 and Jenna & Vince do the same with their $50 K. But it's when it comes up to Bananas & Sarah that when the moment everyone feared would come, and changes everything. When TJ Lavin reveals that Bananas has taken the most points among him & Sarah in the one-on-one game, JB makes a speech of sorts before announcing that he would take all the money - $175,000 - and run. Of course, Sarah would find herself in tears for this payback for what happened on Exes 2.

AYTO 4'S SECOND HALF

● GUY BEHAVIOR: The behavior of the guys was a key storyline of the second half of this AYTO season. Foremost in this is Giovanni, who found himself in hot water several times this season including playing several girls in the house and you not having any idea what he has in store next. In week 6, we saw him get into bed with Francesca, followed the next week by him getting close to Stephen's girl Julia, which in turn leads to both guys getting into a fight at that week's matchup after G picks her. We also saw John get back into those ways by dancing with Nicole, which sees Emma cut all ties with him; and the rarely-seen Tyler also get into words with the Nebraskan. And later in the last episode, John gets into words with Victoria after he derides her.

● LUAUS & A RAP: No AYTO season is complete without a luau - the Hawaiians' way of throwing a party. Week 7 sees the group go indoors for a house party (they had to do so because of the rain), and it's no surprise that the singles get down and dirty. Asaf gets closer to Francesca once again, while frustrations of seeing John reject her sees Emma get closer to Prosper. Victoria gets into it with Cam, while Gio again makes a move on Julia and Kaylen has to step in. In Episode 9 as the stress of the game comes to them, the house decides to hold a party to let off some steam and when Gio and Tori square off in a rap battle, it's the blonde who would more than prevail but put the wolf to sleep when her and the girls emerge a third eye above their eyes. In what they see as a joke, Gio goes off and leaves him to vent and break glass in the kitchen. He bleeds from all the anger and the house does what they can to calm the wolf down, but Kaylen knows it's all over. Later, the two would get into another argument after a drunk Tyler admits Kay is not his match, where Prosper steps and then her and Gio are caught in no man's land as things get out of control once again.

● EXES & A BLACKOUT: The exes come to town in week 8 for a match game, and of course when they come they always dish the dirt. It's the guys who have to face the music - except Prosper when none of his exes show up. The others aren't so lucky as their ex girlfriends are being honest and it's Stephen who doesn't fare well and Gio wins and eventually picks Julia to go on the date, while John picks Kay. It's a totally awkward date selection as it also features each other's exes, and the house vibe is not cool, with everyone wanting Gio to stop his ways. And when the house votes him & Julia into the booth and emerge a no match, everyone is relieved except for Gio, who doesn't apologize for wasting a booth. It doesn't get better as the house is then faced with having to play with strategy or with their hearts, and Morgan leads a strategy to have everyone pick new couples, but Stephen only worries about picking Julia after her debacle w/ Gio. When it comes to his pick, he goes with Julia instead of with the house, and they get burned with a $250,000 loss for getting no lights.

● TRUTH BOOTH: In the aftermath of all this, as it turns out the Truth Booth would be where the cast would excel the most at despite those bad choices, and is the reason for the game's outcome at season's end. Early on, Cameron & Mikala beat out Pratt & Paris of Season 2 by one week for the quickest truth booth match. And to begin week 6, the house saw Sam & Alyssa as possible matches and after she won that week's challenge and going on the date, the house voted them in and they became match 2. After poor choices in 7 & 8 based on pure instinct and snap judgement, the house then decides to go with strategy after the blackout, and it pays off: instead of going with Francesca & Asaf in week 9, the house sides with Emma & Prosper and they become match #3. And in the 10th and last try, a Plinko-like game sees Nicole & John and Julia & Cam win the last date and after things get awkward with the former, the ladder is put in and they become match #4.

● RECOVERY: At the last three matchup's, the focus is more on the strategy part, and after the week 8 debacle the razor-thin tension is still in the air for the 9th round. Kay says sorry to Prosper for the fight after the 3rd TB match and calls out Gio for his treatment of her, but G doesn't acknowledge his role. Julia then puts everyone on edge for choosing Morgan, which is against the house plan of Tori picking him, and after Francesca following through on strategy Tori is left with Asaf, which was a previous TB no match. Nonetheless, the group is given good news in them getting a season-high six beams. Then for the last week, the attention turns to Asaf as he's stuck on whether to follow his heart and pick Francesca or go with strategy and pick Kaylen. After worries before that last matchup, Mr. Dancer does follow the ladder and the rest is history... another blackout to money moment. $750,000.

 STRATEGY ROOM 

THE AYTO FINALE

So, what do we make of yet another comeback from a blackout to the money? Yeah, some of you might think they had this in the planning for show producers to deliberately prevent the cast from having a scenario where the cast doesn't go home with any money, but as we always do at the end of this, we take a chance to dissect the final pairings, see who was paired up week to week and compare the final outcome to all else in the game stats. So, here's a few interesting facts to share with you...
● During the season's second half, week's 6, 7 and 9 had four different perfect matches that were uncovered in the final matchup: Morgan/Tori, Giovanni/Francesca, Camille/Tyler and Victoria/John, plus Stephen/Nicole in Week 1 - and this doesn't bring into account the four perfect matches the Truth Booth got to confirm. The only couple who didn't pair up at any of these nine weeks and who were paired up for the first time in the 10th MC was, of all people - Asaf & Kaylen...he not only got to hang out with Britney, he also held the winning hand in this game.
   Adding to this, had the house voted smartly and went with that first choice in week 7, Morgan & Tori could've given the house four truth booth matches in the second half instead of a throwaway vote for Cam & Vic and who knows, they may have gotten the cash in 9 tries instead of ten, perhaps picking up a crucial light instead of staying at four as they were for most of this season.

● For Truth Booth picks, it's true that the cast won the money from that room in getting an early match in week 3 and then midway. In the last two weeks, we saw the turning point for them: try #9 saw them pick Emma & Prosper over Francesca & Asaf...they got that right. And so did Cam & Julia over John & Nicole...had it been the other way around in those two truth booth picks, we'd have a totally different post right now.
● As for how many times couples got paired up often, we had an AYTO First: Cameron & Mikala being paired up at every matchup, both in those first two weeks and then when they were that Truth Booth match in week 3. No other AYTO couple - not even the only married perfect match of Amber & Ethan - have been paired up at every matchup of their season... and they are still seeing each other a month after the season finale, as are non-match Julia & Stephen who were paired up four times - more in that on our RW preview later this month. The most paired up non-match were Asaf & Camille - six times and were one of those pairs in that week 8 blackout.

● And if you're scoring at home, here again below is the match chart.
•Week 1: Kay/Gio, Victoria/Cam, Alyssa & Sam, Francesca & Asaf, Emma & John, Camille/Prosper, Mikala/Cameron, Julia/Morgan, Nicole/Stephen, Tori/Tyler
•Week 2: Cam/Julia, Tyler/Victoria, Stephen/Tori, Cameron/Mikala (2), Morgan/Alyssa, Kay/Gio, Sam/Francesca, Prosper/Emma, Asaf/Camille, John/Nicole
•Week 3: Cameron/Mikala, Francesca/Morgan, Camille/Asaf, Nicole/Cam, Tori/Stephen, Victoria/John, Emma/Prosper, Kay/Gio, Alyssa/Sam, Julia/Tyler
•Week 4: Cameron/Mikala, Morgan/Tori, Prosper/Nicole, Asaf/Camille, John/Victoria, Gio/Kay, Stephen/Julia, Tyler/Fran, Sam/Alyssa, Cam/Emma
•Week 5: Cameron/Mikala, Emma/Cam, Victoria/Prosper, Kay/Tyler, Nicole/Stephen, Camille/Asaf, Alyssa/Sam, Julia/Morgan, Tori/John, Francesca/Gio
•Week 6: Cameron/Mikala, Sam/Alyssa, John/Emma, Cam/Vic, Morgan/Tori, Stephen/Julia, Gio/Francesca (2), Prosper/Kay, Tyler/Nicole, Asaf/Camile
•Week 7: Cameron/Mikala, Sam/Alyssa, Victoria/Prosper, Nicole/Cam, Tori/Morgan, Emma/Gio, Francesca/Asaf, Camille/Tyler, Kay/John, Julia/Stephen (6)
•Week 8: (2-10 \o/): Cameron/Mikala, Sam/Alyssa, Prosper/Francesca, Stephen/Julia (6/7), Tyler/Emma, Cam/Tori, Morgan/Vic, Asaf/Camille (6), John/Kay (7)
•Week 9 (6-10): Cameron/Mikala, Sam/Alyssa, Prosper/Emma, Camille/Tyler, Victoria/John, Kay/Stephen, Nicole/Cam, Julia/Morgan, Francesca/Gio (3), Tori/Asaf
•Week 10 ($$$): Cameron/Mikala, Sam/Alyssa, Prosper/Emma, Cam/Julia, Camille/Tyler (9), Morgan/Tori, John/Victoria (9), Asaf/Kay, Stephen/Nicole, Francesca/Gio (9)

 RIVALS III DEBRIEF 

● DARIO & NICOLE: For the team that finished outside the final and lost the last jungle, his debut season saw him rub people the wrong way but Dario did impress me on Rivals III in laying off on that arrogance a bit and focus on this game. For Nicole, she did come out of Nany's shadow and emerged as someone who could do just as well as her cousin and become a name for herself. They do earn most improved status among the final four.

● DEVIN & CHEYENNE: Absolutely no one, including me, expected this to come but it's the reason why they became a favorite of sorts down the stretch run of this season. Obviously, Devin was the story of his AYTO season and held the winning hand to that comeback, and after bringing us touches of the guy fans loved to hate about him in the Rivals house, he did become a good teammate to Cheyenne on the final and executed a good game plan that will make him someone to watch in this new crop. For Cheyenne, she made her mark with her relationship with Cory and was able to persevere in the final and deserves some credit as well.

● JENNA & VINCE: For Jenna to make it to three straight finals, and coming back from the enigma of what happened to her & Jay to cash in her next two starts, it makes you wonder that she could win a final sooner rather than later. And from the unanimous decision you all gave me in the poll we did after the finale, it seems to be the case. For Vince, you might think that he got here just on the sole basis that he is Bananas' cousin and that he & Jenna were given that free pass, but he did prove himself this time around after what we saw on Bloodlines.

• BANANAS & SARAH: Regardless of what happened in that very last act of this Rivals season, if you had Bananas & Sarah finish outside the top position you'd probably be out of your mind. This was a good bounce back season for Bananas after suffering back to back early exits for the first time in his Challenge career. Obviously, there was some pent up feelings of him taking the money after what happened on Exes 2, but he did what he had to do and I won't comment further on it. For Sarah, this was a comeback season for her after we thought she would hang up the jersey after her title. We don't know if she'll be back after getting screwed over of her share of the money, but if she does decide to do this one more time the memory of what happened here will more than motivate her.

 #DCExtraTime 

Three pieces of ExtraTime to share with you, starting with staying true to our mission of offering the kind of unique coverage of the Trifecta you won't get anywhere else.

EXCLUSIVE: UNSEEN FIGHT FROM TURKEY

For me, I'm still a relative newcomer to following Challenges in having only gotten onto this just four years ago with Battle of the Seasons II - the last season to not feature Johnny Bananas, BTW. We've discussed here last year of how that season's biggest moment of the epic elimination battle between eventual Challenge champ Zach and fellow football player CJ played a huge role in helping turn me from someone who followed just Real World into a Challenge fan as well.
   There were a number of fights that took place that season: Nany getting Knight's face, Marie pushing Sam into a house pot, Dustin face-palming Frank, Derek & Robb getting into words, and Jemmye & Camila going at it on the bus. But there were some other fights as well that we saw in that season trailer that didn't even make an actual episode, like what happened with Simone & Thomas. One of them was just unearthed by one of the numerous Instagram fan accounts earlier this month.
   In ExtraTime the past few weeks, we've brought you the live-changing news that happened to two members of that BOTS season: Jonna from RW Cancun & four Challenges who became the latest to become a mom this month, and RW Las Vegas original Trishelle who's just gotten engaged and made a surprise comeback that season in Turkey. One night, those two ladies, as well as the guy Jonna became close to and eventually became both her boyfriend & later ex Zach, along with Trishelle's Vegas teammates Alton & Dustin, got into words after they got home from the club. Enjoy.

A video posted by MTV The Challenge Fan page (@challengemtv_) on Aug 16, 2016 at 4:17pm PDT

Video courtesy: MTV/Bunim-Murray Productions per @ChallengeMTV_ on Instagram

DYLAN GOES TO RIO (Sorta)

Credit: IG @NickyShowtime

Two pictures from Instagram to share with you before we go: when we profiled Dylan from Real World: Go Big or Go Home back in May, he was on North Carolina's track team for some time as a high jumper. It was that time on the UNC track team (for which he was kicked off the team after the prank video we showed you) that he met someone that would eventually head to the world's greatest sporting stage and brought back to the States an Olympic medal in her possession.

   Of course, Team USA had a record showing in Rio winning 121 medals - the most won by any nation in the post-Soviet era, and it was girls rule in Brazil: Simone Biles and the "Final Five" lapped the field in gymnastics, while Simone Manuel became the first African American individual Olympic swimming gold medalist. No different on the track: they swept the women's 100 M hurdles - the first ever podium sweep in a women's event, as well as medals at the field events and distance races. The women compiled for exactly half of the track team's 32 overall medals.
   One of those medalists was Sandi Morris, who took silver in the women's pole vault, and was teammates with Dylan while both were competing for the Tar Heels. Nicky Showtime posted a TBT picture of them competing while they were both in college, and he captioned, "Sooooo proud of my girl @sandicheekspv for getting the Silver medal in the Pole Vault at the Olympics in Rio last night. Can't think of anyone who deserves it more. Congrats!! 👍🏼👍🏼 Carolina family!!! #2016 #summer #olympics #polevault #unc" Maybe we'll see him on a Challenge perhaps.

   Another member of Team MTV with Rio 2016 ties is Real World Ex-Plosion's Jamie, who flew down to Brazil a couple weeks ago for the Summer Paralympics. Her boyfriend's cousin, Australian Paralympian Brant Garvey who has an amputated leg, competed in the first men's para triathlon ever contested at the Games on the first weekend, led a portion of the race and finished 10th. Fellow Aussie Katie Kelly and guide, 2000 Olympic silver medalist Michellie Jones, took gold in one of the women's events, as did three American women who swept the podium in another race. For those like me who follows Olympic sports avidly and prefer to have all sports in my menu this time of year rather than football all the time, I spent some time watching these inspiring athletes compete on the world stage and prove that anything's possible.

ORIGINALS REUNITED

Credit: IG @WesBuckles

Finally, a SoCal reunion for another group of originals. A group of people who I've had the pleasure of following their entire run is the original Are You The One? Season 1 cast. I got on board with them before their season premiered in Jan. 2014, and they remain one of my favorite casts of the many I've watched in the many years of being an MTV viewer. They're also the reason why I have three shows that I avidly watch, follow and cover.

   On Friday of VMA weekend, one-fourth of that cast got to hang out at the famed Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood to catch up on old times. Ryan, Jessica, Wes, Ashleigh and Shanley gathered up there at the same hotel that hosted the first Oscars ceremony almost 90 years ago, as well as the series finale of The Hills six years ago. Ashleigh captioned, "It's been three years and I still love these people like family!! Still so thankful for the experience and opportunity to meet such amazing people! #theOG #theperfect10 #areyoutheone #kuiaisands #mtv" Shanley added, "one of us is pregnant. one of us is blonde. all of us are older." As we told you here last month, Jessica recently announced that she has a baby coming next year, joining Amber & Ethan and Chris T. in the parent's club.
   When they flew out to Hawaii to film the first AYTO season three years ago next month, they had absolutely no idea what this would all be about, let alone become bonded for the rest of their lives when it was all done & dusted. They went through an emotional roller coaster in the islands that culminated in them going 10 for 10, winning $1 million, and one of their perfect matches becoming a married couple and parents to a baby girl. Season 1 as a whole stands out to me as an all-time favorite of mine, and from the great rapport I developed with the whole cast, I am one of their biggest fans. They're also the latest example of a brilliantly-casted group that clicked with everyone, a dynamic that gelled with one another and where they as a whole made the season as great as it was.

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And on that nostalgic note, that will bring to a close this last edition of DC WRAP for the Trifecta cycle that began twelve months ago with Season 3 of Are You The One?, ended with Season 4 of that show and in between saw two Challenges and a Real World season as well. But obviously, there's been a lot of discussion about what we saw in the homestretch of the summer and here's where to find it all, starting with covering both sides of that last act in Argentina:

● In the aftermath of his ruthless move, Johnny Bananas joined WWE legend Jericho to discuss everything from Rivals III and all you want to know from him. Listen to that podcast here, plus of course lots of wrestling talk on his Podcast One page.
● For the other side of the story, obviously Sarah vented her frustrations to her friend Susie Meister on the Brain Candy Podcast, which spans not one but three podcasts covering the finale, reunion and a talk with Wes. Check them all out on TheBrainCandyPodcast.com.
● The finale also provided fodder for the MTV RHAP to discuss as Ali Lasher was joined, in lieu of Brian Cohen, RHAP hosts Mike and Angela Bloom to discuss all of that, which you can check out at RobHasAPodcast.com. I plan to invite Brian, Ali and other MTV insiders to do mini Forum Q&A's during the fall to discuss Real World, Survivor and Big Brother Over the Top as well.
● And lastly, AfterBuzz TV discussed the AYTO finale on their site which you can check out at AfterBuzzTV.com, but also conducted a must-watch & must-listen unofficial cast reunion of sorts as several of the cast joined the panel to discuss everything from Hawaii.

We have less than a month until we kick off anew with another Trifecta cycle with Real World Bad Blood, and of course we'll be covering that in depth and detail here with a preview coming in two weeks. Plus this week, I'll be bringing on fellow insiders for a summer edition of Reality Debrief as this DC FORUM special will look back at Rivals III, Season 4 of Are You The One?, Big Brother 18 and preview the fall's reality TV slate. There's still time to submit your questions to us that we may answer on our post, and send them to Twitter at #AskDCBLOG or at dc408dxtr@icloud.com.

   Also as a lead-in to all the madness that awaits us in the Pacific Northwest, we'll be taking a detour into music where we'll be putting a spotlight on Music's New Generation, which will be posted this weekend & next week to coincide with the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, the debut of MTV's Wonderland and a new season of The Voice -- the series will continue during the fall around our Trifecta coverage, along with a look at golf's Ryder Cup which will be up here next week.

   Now apologies to everyone for posting these articles here much later than usual as I have been busy with the Olympics and then with work and other things taking up time, as well as making sure that everything is all perfect and precise before it's published. I have some really good stuff planned for you here on the Blog this fall, plus there's the looming prospect that is DC VEGAS '16 coming in October, and we'll have more on that coming up here.
   And make sure to follow DCNOW at @DC408DxNow for a big stretch of music coming up with the aforementioned iHeartRadio Music Festival this weekend, Wonderland tomorrow night and week 2 of The Voice blind auditions, plus all-new Catfish coming up tonight and of course Real World Bad Blood in October. Thank you for reading and following this summer and rejoin DCBLOG this weekend for the Reality Debrief. See you then.

- I AM DC