DC ExtraTime: Week of October 29, 2016

Originally Posted in DC ExtraTime sections of DCBLOG's MTV Trifecta coverage

on October 29 and November 2, re-posted here for the interest of readers.

BY DC CUEVA                     

> @DC408Dxtr / @DC408DxNow

If you're a loyal DCBLOG reader, then generally punctuate our posts covering the MTV Trifecta of the Real World/Challenge franchise and Are You The One? with side posts covering the people and the stories of these shows. Because this week's posts are so compelling and fascinating, we're re-posting these bits here for the sake of those who don't want to scroll all the way down to these stories. Enjoy these pieces of DC ExtraTime.

CHET'S FAMOUS FRIENDS

One of the most unique people we have encountered in the past decade in the Real World/Challenge franchise is someone who's best recognized for having blond hair, black glasses and a strong sense of fashion with, of course, a bow tie. We first met Chet Cannon on Real World Brooklyn in 2009 as the guy who was anything but your typical punk rock frat guy but who deep inside was part of a strict Mormon family in Salt Lake City. He has a flamboyant style and energetic personality yet stays true to his beliefs of abstaining alcohol and waiting until getting married to get it on - he & his fiancé became official two years ago. And if you see his Instagram accounts, he has a deep affection for '90's pop culture and the icons of that golden era for millennials like us.

   He was described in his RW bio as a die-hard Republican, and on Twitter he regularly trolls people in - and supporters of - the Democratic Party including, most notably, their current Presidential candidate. He has engaged in twitter wars that has seen folks like Amy Schumer, Lena Durham and others send him the block notice. And in the same Real World episode where his close roommate and Iraq war veteran Ryan Conklin was surprisingly recalled into the Army, Chet was one of the two roommates in the house (the other was "Captain America" Scott) who supported GOP candidate John McCain when he fought Barack Obama in 2008.

   It's because of him leaning towards the right that Chet has gotten to meet the past two Republican Presidential candidates, starting with the person who put up a strong challenge in 2012: former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. But perhaps the greatest accomplishment of his career was outside of politics and in Chet's Utah hometown: in the wake of the bid scandal that rocked the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee and the Olympic Movement, Romney was brought in by the SLOOC as its new president. His leadership helped to ride the ship in Salt Lake in the aftermath of that ordeal (which led to numerous reforms in the IOC after bribes were reported in 1999) and through a Winter Olympics that helped to heal the country in the aftermath of 9/11.

   And then, just a short time after meeting Gov. Romney, Chet then went over the Trump Towers in New York City and met Donald Trump back when he was hosting NBC's The Apprentice and being a prominent businessman with interests in many hotels, apartment complexes and golf courses. Chet posted on Instagram after the meeting, "Sat down with @realDonaldTrump today. Awesome, funny guy." Their meeting took place back in 2013, and almost no one had any idea at the time that when the next chance at the White House would come that Trump would be in the mix as a serious contender. Well, here we are three years later, and quite a campaign it has been for him and challenger Hilary Clinton as we approach Decision Day next week.

Outside politics - and through his travels over the years (for which some of these pics come from his IG & Twitter @ChetCannon, Chet has had plenty of opportunities to meet many big names in pop culture, starting all the way back on his original Real World:

● In Brooklyn, Chet was assigned to do internships in the City to pursue a passion of his when he went to the Big Apple of doing hosting gigs with aspirations on hosting MTV's TRL (it didn't come true, of course, as the show had announced it was signing off upon his arrival). First, he got to meet up with that icon of punk rock, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, when he interned for his venture Friends & Enemies. One of those assignments was to interview up and coming band Hey Monday, headed by front-lady Cassadee Pope. Just a few years later, she went onto Season 3 of The Voice, went all the way to the end and the night before Chet and Team Brooklyn competed on the Challenge Seasons final, she took the big prize. His interview with Hey Monday is at this link.

● If you're someone in pop culture, it's inevitable these days to cross paths with the man who's "the hardest working man in showbiz", and last year Chet got to meet up with the one & only Ryan Seacrest. It wasn't that while ago that Ryan was doing a number of assorted local gigs in various markets (including here in the Bay Area), but in 2002 came an opportunity to host a summer musical talent series on FOX with Brian Dunkleman and things have never been the same for him in being host for the entire 15-season run of American Idol. Later, KIIS-FM in Los Angeles called him to take over Rick Dees' spot in the morning, then took over for Dick Clark as host of ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve bash, being part of E!'s Red Carpet coverage and spent a summer in Rio with Costas and company at the Olympics.

● Basketball season is here once again, and that would mean the sight of seeing a man worth billions in value on the sidelines complaining about bad calls in Big D. Sixteen years ago, Mark Cuban was an Internet tycoon and used his fortunes after selling his webcasting business to Yahoo! to buy an also-ran NBA team and instantly made the Dallas Mavericks an instant contender, producing an NBA title five years ago and playoff consistency led by Dirk Norwitzki. The owner has always been a target of the Commissioner's Office thanks in no small part to publicly criticizing officiating and being fined a record amount of money. In addition to the Mavs, Cuban now has another gig to look forward to: he serves as one of the featured judges on Shark Tank, looking over all those new products provided by entrepreneurs. 

● Someone who'll be part of a film to watch in the new year is Zac Efron. We first got to know him as a key member of the beloved Disney Channel movie franchise High School Musical which began ten years ago this year and netted him and the cast enormous love from fans who sang along with them...it probably includes you if you remember those days of the mid '00's. That translated into star roles on Hairspray, 17 Again, Charlie St. Cloud, The Lucky One and That Awkward Feeling. Recently, Zac starred in We Are Your Friends (directed by Catfish co-host and Nev Schulman's buddy Max Joseph) and the two Neighbors movies including this past spring's Sorority Rising sequel with Seth Rogen. And next on the docket, he joins "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson, David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson in the movie version of Baywatch coming next May.

● Before there was AYTO and A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila, the most notable dating experiment MTV ever put on was a '90s show called Singled Out. Fifty single girls and fifty single guys were put on one set and were dwindled down in several stages until one person was left and they won a date with the person of their dreams located behind a door. Singled Out is most notable for introducing us to Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra who served as co-hosts and policing that packed dating pool. The show's main host might not at first had as big a cult following as his lovely co-hosts, but Chris Hardwick would ultimately carve out a niche for himself later in his career. Chris now hosts Talking Dead after episodes of the mega-hit The Walking Dead, hosts @Midnight on Comedy Central and is CEO of Nerdist.

● Finally, if there's a better example of how The Real World has been able to pre-read the kinds of trends that would happen later on, then look to Chet's season. That year, the word "transgender" echoed loud & clear when Katelynn moved into the Brooklyn house just months after she went overseas as a male to undergo gender-changing surgery to become a woman. Her story resonated through viewers that season in Red Hook, and six years later came the startling news that '70s Olympic hero and patriarch of the Kardashian family, Bruce Jenner, would transform himself from a male to a female and became Caitlyn Jenner, garnering unparalleled worldwide attention. Just a few years earlier, Chet hosted a panel at a reality TV convention where him and Kris Jenner were on stage. In his IG caption, Chet talked about his experience living with Katelynn, as well as a prior occurrence before moving to New York, and how it introduced him to this unique world and how people who decide to transform themselves into new people aren't as afraid as they were years earlier because of both Katelynn and Caitlyn.

And this is just the gist of the people Chet has encountered since we first saw him seven years ago. He's also met Josh Hutchinson, U.S. women's soccer icon Alex Morgan, E! Soup host Joel McHale, YouTube star Justine Ezarik and others too many to fit into this feature - and this doesn't even bring into account the many Real World & Challenge alums he's run into over the years. He's now enjoying life outside this world with his wife, and of course all the best go out to them... With bow ties aplenty.

BURNING MAN

Labor Day Weekend is always the saddest part of the warmest of the year's four seasons: it's the unofficial end of summer as people flock to the beach one more time, others go on one more family vacation and kids take advantage of those last three days of down time before going back to school. For many years, it has meant spending many hours watching Jerry Lewis host his annual telethon to help kids with Muscular Dystrophy, and for others it means the kickoff of college football. But for 30 years, this 3-day weekend meant to celebrate America's working class has meant another thing for those who like to express themselves in more ways than one.
   In a place that seems to be more of a mirage located in an oasis situated in the middle of nowhere, in a desert area 100 miles north of Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, tens of thousands flock each year at summer's end to a temporary community erected in a remote area of the Black Rock Desert in late August for the Burning Man Festival. The event's roots go back to 1986 when a group of friends gathered at a beach near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and burned a 9-foot tall wooden man at a bonfire on the summer solstice on June 21st -- aka the longest day of the year. Those founders had no idea that this gathering would eventually become an international phenomenon.
   Commencing on the last Sunday in August and continuing to Labor Day on the first Monday in September, Burning Man is described as an experiment in art and community, all influenced by 10 main principles. Those include, among others, radical inclusion, self-expression, self-reliance, community cooperation, civic responsibility and gifting, as well as protecting the brand from getting too commercialized. There is also a solid emphasis on those who come to the desert to Leave No Trace, making sure the environment trumps all else when it comes to minimize the impact Mother Earth has on this flatland located far from civilization. 

   This city is full of bold art sculptures, musicians, dance parties, fashion and a temple erected as a mourning place for those who passed or to put to rest personal situations before it sent up in flames on the final night. Also as part of the closing ceremonies that last Sunday is the burning of their Burning Man structure - now 43 foot tall - at the center of their metropolis, connected to the campground by Lamplighters who offer light at night when there's no electricity located anywhere. And on Labor Day Monday, everyone dismantles Black Rock City piece by piece following this week full of discovery, freedom and making new friends as they head back into the real world and live regular lives for 51 weeks until they all reconvene again in the same exact place.

   This year's Burning Man Festival attracted over 70,000 people to Black Rock, and the theme of this year's event was "Da Vinci's Workshop." According to Rolling Stone magazine, organizers asked those who made the trek to Northern Nevada to see the similarities between the Renissance era of the 15th century in Florence, Italy and the festival in this temporary city located not far from "The Biggest Little City in the World." The weekly pop culture bible adds, "While the artists and enthusiasts may not have succeeded in starting their own Renaissance, they were able to create a beautiful and imaginative community, if only for a few days."

IG: @MTV_Christina

   The last time we saw Christina, it was on The Challenge: Rivals III of her and rival Nate knocking off favorites Cory & Ashley in an all-time elimination upset and then losing the very next jungle. Of course, we best know her as the 11th girl from her original Are You The One? season at this time two years ago, including her much-documented relationship with Brandon and all the guys in the house being spotted with her at one time or another - and obviously her bond with the Goon Squad. But when you see her pictures on Instagram, she is totally in her element when there's music and nothing peace and love - she has a strong love of everything related to the hippie lifestyle.
   Christina summed up her experience at Burning Man this way after her first trip there last year: "Life at @burningman was so blissful and beautiful. Go, experience what the wordl could be like in a community that actually makes sense." And after her second week-long stay in the Nevada desert in September, her Instagram caption that accompanies the picture above reads, "Nothing and everything makes sense here. It was a sad goodbye for sure. My second time on the playa was definitely something special. Counting down the days till next year. )'("

IG: @ParisEike

   She was joined for this, her second trip to the Northern Nevada desert, by a fellow alum from her season 2 grad class and from what seems to be the hub for AYTO casting - Denver, CO. Paris was a daughter of a model and a football player who's beautiful and tough who juggled with several guys before moving into the house in Puerto Rico. She and Florida guy Pratt clicked from the very start but in week 1 they did all they can to avoid getting put into the Truth Booth. Eventually they were put in shortly after and emerged a perfect match, all in the same week as the first AYTO blackout: no lights gained at a matchup ceremony which under the current game setup would've seen their cast lose $250,000 and got two of them (if this twist used on Seasons 3 & 4 would've been in play they would've lost $500,000 and won just that much in the end).

   Paris had the opportunity to experience the Burning Man Fest for the first time this year and she captioned on Instagram, "You don't know home until you actually find it! What a mind boggling, altering and enlightening place." If you're someone who has a passion for being yourself, then it's Burning Man that should be on your bucket list.

A REAL WORLD REUNION... FROM 5280'

There was a mini-reunion of sorts this past week for a Real World season that debuted ten years ago this autumn. In 2006, the show made its way to the Mile High City as Denver hosted the first RW season to call the Rocky Mountains home base. Davis, Tyrie, Stephen and Colie came together to reminisce on the 10-year anniversary of their season as the ladder, who now works for a national chain of bowling alleys in her post-MTV life, hosted both the mini-reunion and the grand opening of her company's Denver location last week.

   In that 18th season there in that city 5280 feet above sea level, we saw a threesome in the shower right out of the gate with Colie, Alex and Jenn, as well as the infamous, award-winning fight between Davis and Tyrie. There was also the night where Ty decided to go pee late in the night which eventually caught the attention of the cops and saw him spend a night in the slammer. How about the night where Brooke smashed just about everything in Davis' room in one of her epic meltdowns? Or of Stephen coming to grips with having to live in the same house with gay Davis when he was opposed to same sex marriage? And there's them helping with Outward Bound in the Colorado wilderness.

Davis shared the following video below with his castmates from their reunion night which you can check out there. And as we told you here last summer, he also talked with Ellie Goulding in late 2012 before her international breakthrough... the video of his interview with the songstress is below also.

Celebrating the Real World Denver 10 Year with cast members Tyrie, Davis, Colie & Stephen @BunimMurray @TheChallengeMTV @RealWorldMTV pic.twitter.com/Mul6MCK1ql

— DAVIS MALLORY (@DavisMallory) October 23, 2016

DC PLAYLIST: IT WAS ALL A "DREAM"

Finally - to continue this girl theme, some musical nostalgia to share with you here. On certain occasions, there comes a reason for me to mention something worthy from my social interactions... and if you're someone who likes all music and loves throwbacks, this will be of interest to you.
   As we wrote here during AYTO Season 4 this past summer, we told you about a member of that cast, Francesca, getting her start on the short-lived American version of the British sensation The X-Factor. The show's most-notable alums is the girl group Fifth Harmony, and the girls are still riding high with their sophomore album 7/27 and garnering two moonmen at the MTV VMA's.
   Before Ally, Camila, Normani, Dinah Jane and Lauren, as well as British girl group Little Mix - ruled the world, of course there was Destiny's Child and the Spice Girls as the pop music scene has exploded since the ladder's debut on our shores 20 years ago. Part of that generation of girl groups that have come onto the scene since then gave me a Twitter follow this past week, and we'd thought we'd share a brief story about them here.
   In fall 1998 as boy band fever blazed this country, a talent scout brought together teens Holly Blake-Arnstein, Melissa Schuman, Ashley Poole and Diana Ortiz to form a new girl group who would ultimately name themselves Dream. They caught the eye of that musical icon of sorts, Sean "Puffy" Combs, as he signed them to his Bad Boy Records label as he made his first foray into the pop world (he would later form the group Danity Kane via the 3rd generation of Making The Band).
   Shortly after, the girls dropped their debut single "He Loves U Not" which catapulted the quartet to #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and MTV's TRL. Their next single, "This Is Me," brought them to #1 on MTV, and landed them a the opening act spot for Destiny's Child, Eve and Nelly on the MTV TRL Tour, as well as many TV appearances. They also presented a VMA alongside two other divas, Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore from the current breakout NBC fall hit This Is Us.
   This would turn out to be the peak of Dream's powers: in spring 2002 Melissa left the group to pursue acting, and after a sophomore album & two singles the group (with replacement Kasey Sheridan) would disband. Solo careers and a failed 2008 attempt to bring the original four back together followed, followed by Melissa, Ashley and Diana forming a group called Lady Phoenix... only for that to not get off the ground either. Fast forward to last year, and it was Fifth Harmony's enormous popularity and the current retro movement that that gave Melissa, Ashley, Diana and Holly a reason to get together once again.
   In May of last year, the Dream girls came together for a mini-reunion and posted an online acapella video of "He Loves U Not" which gained media attention and views. This sparked rumors of a comeback which they all confirmed over the Memorial Day Weekend through launching social media platforms, and that winter season they recorded and released "O Holy Night" in anticipation for 2016. This year, the group announced their inclusion on this past summer's MY 2K Tour with 98 Degrees, O-Town (who also favored one of my IG pics as well too) and Ryan Cabrera. The four acts also took part at the Mixtape Festival in August along with New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men and Paula Abdul in Hershey, PA.
   Also that month, they released their first single in 13 years entitled "I Believe" on online music sites with the hope that a new album would be released. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the cast as earlier this month the group disbanded once again and have shelved album plans, citing the strains of family and public limelight. However, there's always the memories Ashley, Melissa, Diana & Holly brought fans and took them back 15 years to more simpler times during this past summer's tour (I graduated high school the same year as Dream's breakout 2001). And with them giving me a Twitter follow (which I always say thanks and much appreciated), again we wanted to share them with you here.


- I AM DC