Tuesday, April 11, 2017

DC WRAP Double Shot: Challenge Invasion Wk 9 & AYTO Second Chances EP 3

BY DC CUEVA                     
■ @DC408Dxtr  TW / IG / YT

As you settle into this week, time for us here at DCBLOG to help refresh your memory a bit in recapping an eventful last week in the MTV Trifecta with our look at Episode 10 of The Challenge Invasion and Week 3 of Are You The One? Second Chances, all before we kick off this week tonight.
   Last week saw two champions eliminations go down and saw the defending guys' champion get dethroned and the elimination queen keep her unblemished record in tact. We also saw those challengers take to the lake for a thrill ride on tubes, then saw the underdogs not only take control of the game but also get jobbed by TJ Lavin with the latest super twist to take Thailand. And over in Australia, the perfect matches had to deal with dead animals and demanding tasks before taking selfies with Australia's favorite animals. And for that season's big twist involving one of the most controversial castmate from last summer, yes, that happened: the first steal.
   Coming up, an expanded edition of our Things to Know episode recap - the reason for which will be explained after the jump, plus some words from the man at the heart of the drama down under. And on ExtraTime after poll results and fantasy scoring, find out who in Team MTV is now a new mom, and when worlds collide in this small world that is reality TV. That follows next.


 THINGS TO KNOW 
♦ EXPANDED EDITION 

First, as mentioned last week, the rules here dictate that if an episode of The Challenge ends without a full resolution -- that is, a challenge and an elimination played out in full, then the recap for that week is moved to the following week's Things to Know recap. Hence, we begin this expanded Things to Know review with the previous week from Thailand.

CAMILINATOR RETURNS: Something we've seen over the years on The Challenge has been of the alter ego of everyone's favorite Brazilian. Last year, a big blowup took place in the Rivals III house when Camila and Amanda got into words, no surprise as the former has had a lot of them in just about every Challenge she has appeared on, and the ladder laying claim to her title as "pop-off queen" dating to her AYTO season. Well, in the wake of the champs pranking the underdogs with chips in their beds, it's no surprise that fuels up Camila vs. Amanda II, with Laurel getting in on the act as well when the champ tells her that it was funny, and Amanda saying it isn't. This then brings Camila into the picture after a few drinks, and once again the Camilinator decides to take over the house. Yes, her signature flipout once again takes over our screen as she strips down to her underwear, just as Amanda is taking verbal jabs at her.

NICOLE & TEAM BLACK: Something that we've seen develop over the years has been of the relationship of Laurel and Cara Maria. It began when they became enemies on Cutthroat, then were paired up on Rivals I, went to the final and became BFF's residing in Montana. Now, they find themselves in a love triangle along with Nicole, which helps to explain the exact opposites of Team Black: Cara is more free-wheeling, while Laurel tends to be more reserved. Nicole has been giving both of them a chance here in Thailand, first with her & the redhead play-wrestling after the champs arrived, and now with her & Laurel growing more closer as time has progressed here. And it's because of this girl crush that she has that in a conversation with Camila on the side, Laurel decides to take more pride of who she is in coming out... just before that happens.

 TWO CHALLENGES: For the two challenges taking place in these two weeks, the first one sees the teams take to a teeter totter above water, with two ropes attached to them, and guys and girls heats in a last one standing competition...the team who stays up the longest banks $15K. The girls take to the air first and just about everyone grabs a hold of the rope. That doesn't include Camila and Cara, who hang on for dear life in Camila wrapping the rope around her, and Cara and her arms doing the trick... it's Camila who wins safety in this champs elimination week. As for the guys, Shane shows how smart he is despite being an underdog in jumping on CT and Bananas almost immediately in an attempt to take them into the H2O, and does what he needed to do in letting the Underdog guys, Cory and Nelson, become the last two standing and take down the cash for Team Red.
   And in the following week's challenge, it's a rather fun one: another one in the lake called "Cross Over," but this time with them being on a chain of inflatable tubes. The objective is both players beginning on opposite sides of the tube, then cross over each other while the boat is running, and pulling themselves into a rope and grab a flag...fastest time wins and if a player falls, they'll just get a maximum recording of 3:00. And, it's also a money grab for the underdogs as the $30,000 at stake will go to them on what is an elimination off-day...more on that shortly.  A number of the competitors time out, but for the handful that do grab the flag, they absolutely kill it. Shane completes his task, and so does Hunter. But the most outstanding runs go to Cory and Nelson, who hang on in their attempts to grab the flag before they fall into the water. The Underdogs win yet again.

CHAMPS ELIMINATION: For the biggie of these past two weeks, then it is the latest elimination involving the champs. Obviously, the reason that this is an extended version of our episode recap is because the episodes ended and began during this round.
   Shane taking down him in the challenge sees Bananas head into the Fortress automatically. Going into this, his 14th overall elimination, Johnny's record was 7 wins & 6 losses, and the last time the six-time champ was sent in was when he & Sarah we put into the last Rivals III elimination and won...we all know what happened. And the man he is facing is Darrell, who had won his first four challenge titles in his first four appearances, and had a 6-1 elimination record... that one was when he lost with partner Cara Maria. For her, she would enter her 17th overall elimination where, after winning the first champs elimination round her record went up to 12-4. Her opponent is none other than Laurel, who is undefeated in win or go home situations: 9-0.
   Continuing to give ode to past Challenges in doing throwback elimination games for this season, "Balls In" is the game at hand for the champions. It's as simple as you can get: a player on offense has a ball in their hand, and the other trying to defend goal on the defensive end, played in three rounds with the player achieving the most goals staying in the running for the cash. It has seen a number of classic elimination battles over the years, from Abram and Brad to fairly recently when we saw it on Free Agents a couple years ago.
   First comes the guys and the battle becomes as brutal as you can possibly get between two guys who are not only the two winningest champions in this show's history, but also two beasts when it comes to eliminations - proof being what Darrell did to Zach in the first champs battle, for example. Not surprisingly, this heavyweight tilt between him and Bananas begins with a defensive tussle in the first possession that ends deadlocked. The second possession sees Darrell come up with the goal and Bananas suddenly finds himself down 1-0. And then after what seemed to be the longest wait ever -- a Final Four, WrestleMania and our ExtraTime piece on Big Easy, among and other things -- Johnny's chance to tie the score and force overtime comes up short... Darrell takes down the champion.
   Then comes the girls, and like that guys battle, the first possession between Laurel and Cara Maria ends up 0-0. For possession #2, Laurel doesn't mess around and nets the first bucket. That proves to be all that she would need, as she goes on to get the next two goals to take the win...although this one is undoubtedly bittersweet and ends with little fanfare afterward. To say the least, this game has now been turned on its head for the champions... and as it turns out, it's just the beginning.

CLUB DRAMA: After that elimination, everyone lets loose after an excruciating night in the Fortress. Not surprisingly, drama follows them there too: Laurel dances on everyone as Nicole believes this is all to get a reaction from her. Jenna confesses that Nicole has feelings for her and would be willing to tell her about it. They do get the opportunity on the side and they conclude that Nicole wanted her friend when Laurel needed her. Laurel decides to blow her off and to no surprise, Nicole is not feeling it. Later, the two come together again to has things out back home, and it seems Laurel is trusting Nic to open up more, just as Nic is getting to like Laurel more in being intelligent and smart, compared to the fun side of Cara Maria.
   And it happens for the guys too: Shane begins to ignite drama with Hunter on the bus as he accuses him of using Ashley to help him go further in this game. Shane is willing to keep Ashley and Amanda on his side, but his plans go awry and both the girls and Hunter tee off on him. This continues back at the house, and it seems Hunter & Ashley are okay after all that.

HOUSE PARTY & A TWIST: After last week's challenge came the news from TJ Lavin that the week's elimination was getting nixed in favor of a house party to help take everyone's mind off of what has been a grueling game so far and just before the business end of the season that awaits these remaining competitors. Of course, we saw this last year on Rivals III as a result of the many teams who got injured and one quitting... but this time CT worries that this as just a merely play for what might happen next. The party takes place and everyone is just enjoying themselves at this pool turned nightclub in similar to those elaborate luaus on AYTO: drinks and fire guys included. But unlike the last one, TJ walks in to not only tell the house that it's not just a house party, but also a going away party as well. There, he tells the underdogs to begin to pack after they get to retire for the night and prep for the next challenge, as he feels there's too many underdogs left considering the discrepancy of the team numbers, and there will be multiple underdogs going home... that comes later tonight.

GIOVANNI AT THE CENTER: Over in Australia, the drama that's been taking place among the couples here has, once again as it was last summer, Giovanni at the center of the drama... and this time, the girl he's been seeing here is Alicia. Devin get a chance to confront her for having a relationship with the Wolf, and she responds with just the simple reply that she's just "free on the market"... single. For Gio, he gets a bit emotional and begins to think about quitting and packing up. But having a partner as supportive as Francesca keeps him on his toes and not give up.
  But that's not all: Alicia decides to once again do her thing and spend time with Asaf in the pool...it gets as heated as the temperature in the water. After hearing Gio talk behind her back, Alicia goes off, but Mike is there to cool her down. Later, Gio and Fran get alone time and he tells her, "This is all about the relationship that we don't have because of you." Being that this was all cut off after they left Hawaii last year, he held this against her...not surprising given his wildcard status.

 SELFIES & STUFF: For the week's mission, the couples are tasked with having to deal with Australia's most exotic animals, including - yes - a koala bear and a kangaroo. The easiest task is to take selfies with them...the hard part is having to complete tough challenges - which includes having to move around dead rats and chickens. On paper, Cameron & Mikala are the perfect match who are in love, but this strong couple gets exposed in struggling with the rats and this challenge. They're not alone among the Season 4 couples: Gio & Francesca also find this to not be easy with the singer stressing, "I'm terrified Gio is going to sabotage this for me." Another couple from last summer, Tori & Morgan, work together the best and come away with the win, followed by Adam & Shanley and Mikameron in 3rd... and it's Asaf & Kaylen who come in last. While most everyone else have been feeling the heat, this stay seems to have rekindled something with Team Torgan, though on a civil level compared to what happened to his roommate back home.

THE FIRST STEAL: Meantime, the heat is on for the rest of the house to make a choice of who should face Asaf & Kaylen in elimination. Giovanni once again has a reason to go off on them for deciding to put him & Francesca into The Choice... but it's no surprise that that would be the case for the both of them to be put in.
   Since the news was first let out there in the open, and then when it was revealed to the house, there has been a sense of what might happen, of is "that" going to happen?  For here, it's the Choice of deciding to steal and go home in one taking all the money and the other going home broke. Well, for this third instance, Francesca decides to pick "steal," and Gio goes with "share"... she takes all the $20,000 in the bank and he goes home with none of the cash. As everyone else reacts like us in having our jaws dropped, this is handled a bit more reserved for Gio & Francesca in that after what he has been through, Gio comes to the realization that he does need to leave and get the help he needs. And in the end, he finds comfort and having a sense of being grateful in letting Francesca help him out and come to their choice.


 DC FORUM: PERSPECTIVE 
ENDGAME: GIO & MENTAL HEALTH

Twitter @KaramoBrown
For Giovanni, he has been through a lot in the course of ten months since we first saw him that June night last year when Are You The One? Season 4 debuted. And from the moment he stepped into that house, there were two sides: either you were with the Wolf, or you weren't. We've seen his fair share of moments in the thirteen episodes we have seen Gio: from his relationship with Kaylen in that house in Hawaii, to him finding his perfect match with Francesca, to getting close with fellow drama-starter Alicia here in Australia. Along the way, he's gotten to walk down the runway at New York Fashion Week and meet Jersey Shore's Sammi Sweetheart and fellow AYTO original Scali from Season 1. He's made and broken friendships with the likes of Asaf, made music that's been the buzz of his SoundCloud, and helping to grow the clothing line that bears his nickname of "The Wolf."
   After last week's episode aired, Gio tweeted the following to give thanks to Francesca for offering her support to him and cleared the air on what MTV might do in portraying him in a different light than who he really is.
@FTWGiovanni"We never fought during a mission we communicated and supported eachother more than anyone, just didn't translate in the game @ohhhfrancesca.  You can play the editing game all you want, everyone who was there knows the truth. I apologize for production again... it isn't fair that you guys don't get the truth about us and what happened on these shows. At the end of the day, @ohhhfrancesca and I resolved our issues EARLY on and she was an amazing partner and I love her. I appreciate all the love and positivity.  I love you all, learn from my mistakes and stay positive πŸ’•#AYTOSecondChances"
Francesca replied to him on their last challenge - @OhhhFrancesca: "That last mission was the one where we communicated the best & even when we thought we were gonna come in last we still supported each other." And in the photo we've embedded above, Karamo tweeted at @KaramoBrown, "Moments after we say goodbye to he tbeautiful & gangata @ohhhfrancesca & @ftwgiovanni who is the realist!"

We always like to stress here, as we've written before, that four things take precedent when it comes to wanting to do or continue along with doing an MTV show or not. Those four items are: school, career, family and health/well-being. There are, understandably, a lot of fans - and a few castmates on this season we won't mention - who are happy that the person they see as the least-liked member of this cast is gone.
   But Gio is making the wise decision to take his leave from this season, knowing that, mentally, he heart shouldn't be in Australia and realizes that he's got a long task ahead of him. As my Reality Debrief cohort Andrew Kirk tweeted, "Glad to see Gio is admitting that he needs to work on his insecurities that takes guts to admit that on national tv." AYTO Season 3 castmate Chelsey added, "Being in the mental health field I commend Gio for realizing he needs help."
   It, indeed, takes courage to go up there in front of not only family and friends but all of America to admit and publicly acknowledge that you are not perfect, and do need both the necessary help from psychiatrists to improve his mental state, and the support of close family and friends to get through this tough time. As we've seen from him over the past ten months, Gio has a lot of insecurities that he wants to work on to improve himself and to those people who are his haters into his fans. He's taken the first step in being able to prove that he has a heart and being able to gain some respect.
   As we know, mental health is a serious topic that so many of us can relate to, and it's something we have seen a lot of on the Trifecta over the years... most recently with Peter on Real World Bad Blood and his girlfriend Jennifer, who have been the targets of social media bullying since what we saw there in Seattle, and the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why has brought this issue into focus along with Half of Us. Gio knows that a lot of people watching have dealt with these mental issues and those people who watched last week know that they aren't alone.
   As a fan and viewer, I do commend Gio in admitting that he's not perfect and realizing that it's time to take a breather and get help. If he is able to improve himself to where his mental state of mind is good, he can return to these shows and become a popular castmate instead of being one who's not liked much in the minds of many people. And if you know of someone who is dealing with anger or has mental issues, take the necessary steps to give them help. One call can make a difference and can save a life as well.


 PULSE POLLS 

Which underdog guy do you think 
has the best shot at winning? 
 CORY                                 40% 
● HUNTER                            27%
● NELSON                               7%
● SHANE                               26%
  OUT OF 15 VOTES

Which underdog girl do you think 
has the best shot at winning? 
● AMANDA                            10%
● ASHLEY                               0%
 JENNA                               76% 
● NICOLE                              14%
  OUT OF 21 VOTES

Do you think Francesca made the right 
choice to take all the cash from Gio?
 It was right to STEAL          82% 
● They should've SHARED      18%
  OUT OF 83 VOTES




 FANTASY TRAX 
#DCCHALLENGE

 WEEKLY POINT SCORERS
    1. HUNTER: 55 Points
    2. SHANE: 50 Points
    3. AMANDA: 40 Points
    4. ASHLEY M: 35 Points
 T-5. Three tied at 30 Points each
 T-8. Two tied at 20 Points each
  10. Two tied at 10 Points each

 TOP 10 TOTAL SCORERS
 T-1. ASHLEY M.: 270 Points
 T-1. SHANE: 270 Points  3
 T-3. AMANDA: 265 Points
 T-3. CORY: 265 Points
    5. HUNTER: 240 Points
 T-6. NELSON: 220 Points
 T-6. SYLVIA: 220 Points
    7. JENNA: 215 Points
 T-9. CAMILA: 195 Points
 T-9. NICOLE: 195 Points

 THE WEEK'S NOTABLES
As the Underdogs team won their second straight challenge, all members each earn 20 points.
 HUNTER: As Week 9's top scorer, Hunter receives 55 overall points: 20 points for getting into two verbal fights with Shane both on the bus and in the house, and 15 points for leaving his alliance with Shane, all on top of the aforementioned 20 for winning that mission. He now stands 5th in the overall points standings at 240 points overall.
SHANE: Similiarly, Shane receives 50 overall points: 20 points for his verbal fights not just with Hunter but also AMANDA as well (who also receives those points as well), plus 10 additional competition points for going first in that mission. He jumps two places to a tie for 1st in the overall points table at 270 points.
ASHLEY M: Along with the 20 challenge points above, Ashley receives 15 points for crying three times in the episode: on the bus, in the bunk bed back home, and after falling in the challenge. She is tied with Shane for first overall in the points standings at 270 each.
OTHERS: With them winning their eliminations, Darrell and Laurel each earn 10 points for winning their battles in the Fortress, the only Champions to record points this week. Cory collects 10 points for giving a toast to the remaining champions players at the house party.



 #DCExtraTime 

CHEYENNE'S A MOM!
TW @CheyNotShy
In past posts here, we have been able to tell you of the many castmates from all around the Trifecta who are now settling into the most demanding challenge of all: raising a kid. The parents club of the MTV Trifecta now have the opportunity to welcome a new member to their club.
   This past Friday, Cheyenne from AYTO Season 3 and Rivals III gave birth to her new baby girl - or Princess to make it better, Ryder K, to the world. A post on Instagram posted just last night welcomed the newcomer to the world for the first time: "after 26 hours of labor on 4/7/17 my Queen was born 7lbs 14oz 21 1/2 inches of perfectness." We, of course, send our heartiest congratulations to Cheyenne and family.

A post shared by CHEYENNE (@cheynotshy) on


WORLDS COLLIDE: AYTO MEETS REAL WORLD AND THE BACHELOR
IG @AmberLeeDiamond

And for some playmates baby Ryder might want to have fun with, she and Cheyenne might think about taking a trip over to Austin, TX.  That's where last week before AYTO Second Chances, Adam allowed Instagram to spend a day with him before Episode 3 aired. The D.C. native hosted MTV's Instagram story from his new home in the Texas state capital, and did an Instagram Live and had some lunch with three very good friends, and their two kids.
   They happen to be the first couple of Are You The One? - Amber & Ethan from Season 1 and their daughter Scarlett. And with them at lunch is fellow Austinite Madison from Real World Skeletons, and her baby daughter Harper. Given that he now calls this place home, it was a matter of time before we could get to hang out with them through the land of social media, given their immense standing among fans of the MTV Trifecta.
   Amber captioned in another of her Instagram pics with the fellow MTV mom, "We could mommy date with these beauts all day! πŸ‘ΈπŸ»πŸ‘ΈπŸΌCan't get enough of my MTV fam!"  The Real Worlder added, "Glad Scarlett an I are on the same page πŸ˜… But Harper and I met up with some MTV family today! AYTO meets Realworld ✌🏻"  We are working on an ExtraTime In-Depth to take a look at the journey Ethan & Amber took from when they first discovered each other in Hawaii, through their engagement and into married life and parenthood... that story will come your way near the end of this cycle.


And lastly, from a group of AYTO originals to a group of AYTO losers -- of course, we're talking about the Season 5 cast, and two of them meeting one of those Bachelors... if you know someone who also loves watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette like my mom, then it's likely they know about Robby Hayes, who came on last summer's installment of The Bachelorette as one of those 24 guys who went to Thailand for a chance to land the woman of their dreams: former Bachelor contestant JoJo Fletcher.
   The former competitive swimmer described himself in his cast bio as a hopeless romantic like Ryan from season 1 because, as he added, "...there is nothing more satisfying than a genuine, big smile from the girl you would give the world to." Robby made it all the way to the end and to the final two last summer before JoJo chose Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers' brother Jordan Rodgers to not only be the last one standing, but also shortly after get engaged and currently have wedding dates planned.
   The runner-up hasn't found love just yet, but he did get to hang out with Season 5's Kathryn and Tyler down in Miami over the weekend. And here's something that links Tyler with the Bachelor, The Challenge and a hip-hop heavyweight: last week, Robby signed with modeling firm Wilhelmina Models, which comes on the heels of Nicki Minaj adding a modeling deal to her broad resume alongside being in the headlines of late in having a public beef with rival rapper Remy Ma. Tyler does modeling work for Wilhelmina, as does CJ from Real World Cancun and two Challenges.


▪   ▪   ▪   ▪   ▪

And that will wrap it up for our look at this week in the MTV Trifecta. Usually, this is where we get to tell you of any webcasts and articles of interest as you await this week's episodes of The Challenge, AYTO and Stranded with a Million Dollars... but due to time constraints after a week that saw all we saw above, March Madness, The Masters and me getting sick as well, we will forgo that here for this week, and bring you the links to them and all else on this coming week's posts. Do check out our previous WRAP's for all of our listed links to those interviews, discussions and recaps.
   We leave you with our usual reminder to bookmark this site for our unique weekly look at this reality TV world, and to follow live tweets of the Trifecta on DCNOW at @DC408DxNow. With the NBA Playoffs coming up, and with the Coachella festival to take center stage in what will be an emotion-packed Coachella Valley this weekend given the tragedy that occurred there yesterday, it'll be worth it to give my live coverage handle a follow to witness all of the action. And our look at Yellowcard's Challenge breakthrough, which was planned to be posted here during this week's wave, should now come in this coming week's wave of posts, too... we'll announce what's coming up on the site after tomorrow night's AYTO.

That's is how we look at it this week Inside the MTV Trifecta...thank you for joining us. And until we talk on DCNOW later tonight, talk to you then and, have a good one.

- I AM DC

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