DC WRAP: Challenge Invasion Wk. 7 and AYTO Second Chances Premiere

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

As you all go through those Tuesday blues, welcome back to DCBLOG for the Trifecta WRAP as we review last week on The Challenge Invasion and the premiere of Are You The One? - Second Chances before new episodes air tonight along with Stranded with a Million Dollars.
   Last week in Asia, there were pranks abound in a toilet seat and potato chips causing an uproar with the underdogs. Food was also the center point of the week's challenge that saw plenty of vomiting on our screens, and led to the Barbie Beast adding to her unbeaten elimination record. And after the chaos of the AYTO Season 5 finale and that season's cast losing, there's a Second Chance for three couples from that season and seven other perfect matches as their battle for love and money began again down the ways in Australia, which saw a familiar couple take center stage in the game and familiar faces dominate the house drama.
   Coming up, a review of the past two Challenge episodes (Week 6's review is carried over to this week's Wrap due to our extensive focus on the aftermath of the collapse in the Caribbean) and the AYTO Second Chances premiere, along with fantasy scoring and polls. But you will want to stick around after those for ExtraTime for the latest on the new power couple bringing together two MTV alums who are a mom and a dad, and my thoughts on Madison & Javi. See you after the jump...

THINGS TO KNOW

● CHAMPS REGAIN FORM: We begin with Week 7 and the week's challenge - the second since the invasion, sees the players try to hang onto a spinning platform above water. Nelson makes the call for him & Amanda to go up first but they taste their own medicine in not doing well...so do most of the underdogs. Not surprisingly, the champions take the win in this, their own elimination week and bank $10,000. And yes, Johnny once again decides to play his game and go in not just first, but also again due to the newbies outnumbering the veterans, he and Laurel go in again and because they are the top performers for Team Black, they are safe.

● HEAVYWEIGHT ELIMINATION: In that week's elimination, the Champions are put into the ringer of losing one of their own despite winning. Laurel votes Zach in on the basis of his poor showing in the Free Agents final, and the women vote for Darrell. Similarly, Bananas votes in Cara Maria, and the guys vote in Ashley K., not surprising considering she has just one season under her belt. For these Champs eliminations, classic games are being used for them, and for the first one, it's Pole Wrestle: a battle for a pole and the first to two wins. For the ladies, Cara Maria was expected to add win #12 to her elimination mark, and though she wins Ashley does put up a good fight in seeing how she can prove herself against a great competitor. That accounts to being the undercard to the main event of Darrell vs. Zach, pitting a David who's won four titles and a Goliath with one win but looking like a beast. In this battle, it's a toss-up: Thor's strength vs the champ's experience, and in the end it's the ladder that prevails as Darrell wears down Zach and sweeps him 2-0, much to Jenna's disbelief.

● PLENTY OF CURRY: For this past week's challenge, it revolves around a serving of, as its definition reads, meat & veggies cooked in an Indian-style sauce of strong spices and turmeric. In short, it's best known as curry, and both teams are tasked with the job of racing three miles to bowls of that soup at two stations, and must finish their soup to gather puzzle pieces, which they must put together to win - all the while running back and forth. As this is an underdogs elimination, all eyes are being on the first guy & girl to finish, who also get immunity & voting dibs. CT loves this so much he has two of them, and so does Shane -- so much so, he helps out in finishing everyone else's bowls when they start to throw up. In the end, the champs prevail and the underdogs do a lot of throwing up, though Hunter and Nicole win immunity.
● GAMBLES & PRANKS: As evidenced by what happened with Jordan on Free Agents, something that is a no-no in Challenge world is a rookie deciding to gamble and volunteer themselves into elimination. In this case, after her 2nd elimination win the last time out, Sylvia feels that she was the weak link at the curry mission, and she feels that she deserves to be put in. The house follows through on her pleads to go in and votes her in, though Johnny does give it to her despite winning the last one. For the week's match, "Bell Ringer" sees players attached to a bell and them having to ring 16 Thai idols in order to win...but those idols also have power inside, making things tough for them to see. For the guys, Dario doesn't find his rhythm and Nelson takes the win. It's also the same for the girls, as Sylvia's opponent Jenna finds her groove early and wins over the KC native.

   Meanwhile, pranks are abounding in the house with Bananas deciding to steal the toilet seat from the underdogs bathroom and taking it for a ride in the pool, and Ashley goes off on him in what is a tradition for veterans to do in a Challenge house. And that's not all: while Amanda and Ashley are going swimming, the Champs put chips in their beds. Not surprisingly, the girls freak out once they find out about it in saying that the Champs are like kids. Hunter laughs about it and Ashley gets riled up in her throwing their beds into the backyard and Hunter deciding to cut ties.

♥ SECOND CHANCES: In the wake of the first-ever loss in AYTO history, it's not that long of a vacation for AYTO, as Second Chances takes off with a whole new game. As mentioned in our preview, ten fan fave matches are in this game for another chance at love & money, and a chance to explore more of why they're matches. As they all arrive in Melbourne, Australia, the game kicks off with each having $20,000 in their bank account. The winners gain immunity and bank more money, while the last place team will lose half of their money and be put up for elimination, making money a central point of this season. And in a house with both newbies just off the plane from the Caribbean, others who are just friends and one who's a perfect match, things will be fun down under. And when you add two pot stirrers in Alicia and Gio who immediately hook up, it's even more spicy.

♥ DASHIDA DOMINATES: For that week's first challenge, they're assigned with the task of finding where their house is located in the country's second-largest city, along with choosing a method of transportation to get to their house. To add more to this intriguing search, they must solve a puzzle to find the name of the street they're staying on, using pictures drawn on one of the walls in the city proper. Given that he singlehandedly pulled off the greatest Houdini act in Trifecta history 16 months ago and got a reprieve the last time we saw him last year, it's no surprise that Devin and Rashida are the first to figure out the street name - 10 Match Road - and win the first challenge, adding $20,000 to their bankroll and residence in the winners' suite. Adam & Shanley put up a strong effort to place in the top three, as does Asaf & Kaylen. And in last place is Casandra & Derrick.

♥ SHARE OR STEAL?:  The most interesting part of all this season is the elimination process. While this shares the same nighttime setup of the pairs sitting on the patio and listening to host and Real World veteran Karamo Brown (taking the place of AYTO host Ryan Devlin), what makes this different is that the other couples will vote for another match in the house to be sent in along with the last place couple, and as mentioned above the winners are safe - in this case, Devin & Rashida will get to sit back & relax. The puppet master leads an alliance to keep them and Seasons 1 & 2 together, and when he asks Carolina & Hayden to join in, they decline.
   Ultimately, that second perfect match from this past season, who are no true perfect match to say the least, are chosen to go into "The Choice": the couple sent in weekly will choose individually whether to share their money & stay in the game, or pull a Bananas - that is, steal and run. If both decide to share & stay, then the couple who's also up for elimination goes home, but if both up for the Choice decide to steal, then both those players go home broke. To put this bluntly, it's a game of trust. But with issues still unresolved from him seeing his love Gianna back home, Hayden & Carolina both choose to share & stay in Australia... thus sending Casandra & Derrick home.

 POLLS @DC408Dxtr 

Whose underdog rookie alliance 
do you think will survive to the end?
● SHANE's Alliance                20%
● CORY's Alliance                  75% 
  OUT OF 25 VOTES

 FANTASY TRAX 
#DCCHALLENGE

■ WEEKLY POINT SCORERS
    1. CAMILA: 85 Points
    2. SHANE: 65 Points
    3. CORY: 60 Points
    4. BANANAS: 65 Points
    5. ASHLEY M: 50 Points
 T-6. CARA MARIA and LAUREL: 35 Points each
    8. CT: 30 Points
    9. SYLVIA: 25 Points
t-10. Four players tied at 20 Points each
  14. NICOLE: 15 Points
t-15. Two players tied at 10 Points each

■ TOP 10 TOTAL SCORERS
    1. SYLVIA: 220 Points
    2. CORY: 215 Points
    3. ASHLEY M.: 205 Points
    4. SHANE: 200 Points
 T-5. KAILAH: 180 Points
 T-5. NELSON: 180 Points
    7. HUNTER: 165 Points
    8. JENNA: 150 Points
    9. AMANDA: 140 Points
  10. NICOLE: 135 Points

■ THE WEEK'S NOTABLES
As the Champions team won this past week's challenge, each member receives 20 points.
● Multiple Categories: Eight players each earn 10 points for verbal fighting during the episode: Amanda, Ashley, Bananas, Camila, CT, Dario, Hunter, Nelson and Shane. Six receive 10 points for throwing up: Amanda, Ashley, Camila, Cory, Shane and Sylvia.
● CAMILA: Camila is the week's top scorer with 85 points, including along with those mentioned above, 20 for sex with Cory (for which he also earns those points as well) and 15 for leading a prank. Depending upon what we see tonight, she should add to the total.
● SHANE: Shane is top guys' scorer with 65 points which, includes 40 points for vomiting four times, and 15 for joining an alliance with Nicole.
● ASHLEY/BANANAS: Ashley scores 50 points which, along with those above, include 20 points for the toilet seat prank meltdown and 10 for expressing homesickness.
● Champions: For them leading the prank of stealing the toilet seat, Bananas, Cara Maria and Laurel each net 15 points for that prank.
● Notables: In winning her 4th career elimination, Jenna earns 10 points, as does Nelson. And Sylvia earns the week's only crying points: 5 after losing the elimination.

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 #DCExtraTime FOLLOW-UP 

THE NEXT MTV POWER COUPLE?

Now, probably our most important follow-up here: not long ago, we brought you more on that Teen Dad who appeared on the Week 9 AYTO Aftermatch to reveal to everyone that he had sent a casting tape to increase his chances of getting onto Season 6 of the show and hold duel citizenship of being part of the family of one show and being a castmate on another. Well, unless something out of the ordinary happens, the now-ex of Teen Mom castmate Kailyn Lowry, Javi Marroquin, won't have to go looking for love in paradise because he has looked within Team MTV and the Trifecta to get a hold of his new girlfriend.
   Last week saw news emerge that he had begun to see Madison Walls from Real World Skeletons... yes, that same Madison who had went through a drug-ridden past, who last year at this time had become a new mom, and the same one who had met Tony there in Chicago, who would become a dad not once, but twice in the course of a single year. And this comes after the two had talked on Instagram about them having a lot in common of both having been on MTV and being parents...in Javi's case, he shares custody of 3-year-old Lincoln with Kail. And both he & her went through a very public divorce a few months ago.
   Maddi told E! News last week, "Javy and I are definitely together. We are definitely boyfriend and girlfriend. I love that he is a gentleman. And I like his core values and that he has morals and just what he stands for. I'm really excited for him to come to Austin next month. I;m going to introduce him to my friends and family and Harper and it should just be a really good time, and then we are making plans for this summer together."
   The photo above is of Madison flying up from Austin to his home of Philadelphia for that first date. He told E! of that encounter, "We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and then later I had my friends come out to meet her and we all went out and danced and drank and just had a really good time. It was awesome. I haven't introduced her to Lincoln yet. I learned from my past mistakes where I introduced him way too early on in a relationship, so now I know better. Kail knows about the relationship for sure. I'm happy for Kail. I wish her nothing but the best and health and wellness and all of that stuff. I'm her for her. We actually are in a good place, and I just want health for her and the baby. Lincoln is actually the one who told me she was having a baby. He knows what's going on. He's excited to have another sibling."
   While there is a protection from abuse order given to Javi by Kail, an insider reports to Hollywood Life that the Teen Mom is feeling a bit jealous about all this that if this thing gets serious, which appears to be the case, then she feels it's best that Lincoln and her other son Isaac should stay home and not be around Madison and baby Harper, considering how fresh their split still remains.
   And there's one interesting person has something to say about this: for Tony, nothing but good words, shall we say - per E! News: "For me, it was really sudden, but with Madison, we have a really, really good relationship. Things were rocky for a long time but we co-parent so well and she’s just awesome with Harper. I am really thankful for that. I find it kind of interesting. I’m really happy for her." He adds of Javi, "I've seen Javi a few times on the show and as far as I can tell, you know, he's a military guy and that's awesome. I see how he is with his children and that's very commendable. So, I'm pretty excited for Madison. I think she deserves a good guy and happiness and all that good stuff. I think with this the sky is the limit for them."

For those like me who watches all three shows of the Trifecta, there's a whole dynamic of great people and big time drama that threads each of those shows that take place both on- and off-screen... it also shares some traits with MTV's most-watched show post-Jersey Shore. And those who watch Teen Mom know that the franchise is an intriguing melodrama that enthralls a lot of people and gives gossip sites and the tabloids something to write on whenever something happens to the eight young moms whose lives have been documented by MTV for eight years, stretching back to Season 1 of 16 and Pregnant. I have something in common with Tony, Madison and Javi living with young kids in our house, which is always fun for me but also demanding for those who get to raise them and revolve their off-camera lives around the demands of parenthood.
   This new relationship bringing together one part of the most-recent Real World fan favorite romance and another from a show with certainly more eyeballs (and one that also provided eyeballs not only to Are You The One but also Catfish too) just adds another intriguing storyline for those who produce Teen Mom to keep their eyes for, and also to bring some interest (much-needed in a way) to the one that started it all for this whole world of reality TV. Perhaps, there could be a moment down the road where baby Harper, Tony's daughter Isia and Lincoln are all playing in a playground. It could happen...stay tuned.

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Well, that will do it for this week's look at the MTV Trifecta. As we go, a couple webcasts of note...
● Check out Rob Has A Podcast with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_), Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) and Adam Bungiovanni (@AdamBongo) as they discuss The Challenge and AYTO. On that Challenge RHAP, Ali and Brian discussed what happened in Thailand this week in Thailand, and check out the site's AYTO coverage too, along with extensive coverage of the new Survivor season at RobHasAWebsite.com.
● And if you're a fan of Stranded with a Million Dollars, just posted is an interview CandyDish did with Cody, as they discussed the first half of this season and a lot more. Check out their chat here, plus interviews with other Trifecta personalities and discussions at SoundCloud.


Be sure to follow DCNOW @DC408Dxtr for all live episode tweets (which you can join at #DCChallenge) plus the Final Four and so much more. And bookmark this site for everything MTV Trifecta, taking you beyond the screen for the stories behind the story, social reaction and so much more. We'll be back over the weekend for this week in Challenge land, Week 6 of Stranded with A Million Dollars and Week 2 of Are You The One? - Second Chances, among other things...we'll be announcing this week's subject matter at the end of tomorrow's episode.

That's is how we look at it in the MTV Trifecta...thank you for checking us out. And until we talk on DCNOW tonight and then back here this weekend, see you then and enjoy your week ahead.

- I AM DC