■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
We'll be recapping all of that in this recap post, plus provide my predictions on who will win, place and show in the Invasion final. And after the fantasy scoring, we'll catch up with a Real World'er who has just dropped his latest musical joint, as well as show you his football experience. That's all next.
THINGS TO KNOW
Okay, as we begin… we lied to you when we told you last week that we weren't going to do another Things to Know recap for the Challenge until the finale. Well, with this having the last elimination taking place followed by lots of reflection and a little drama, we'll be doing one more here for the regular season, then do an expanded finale Things to Know in a few weeks. Now, let's proceed...● LAST CHANCE: First, we begin with The Challenge, and the last ticket at stake for the final... which is being contested among 4-time champion Darrell and many times challenger CT. Again, the game is Knot So Fast and the competitors have ten minutes to tie a rope around a pyramid, and then untie the rope when they go to the opponents pyramid. In phase #1, it appears that CT may gas out this early in what is a demanding game, and when the horn blows CT hangs on the pyramid as if he's a hammock. He does, though, tie it into a big knot all inside the pyramid and not all around it. Then in the second half, it's Darrell who struggles to untie that difficult knot… and CT gets the RR vet's rope untied to win.
● DRAMA & TEARS: The final six head out to the club to take in the feeling of going for a chance at the cash as they have drinks and fun. Back at the house, Cory and Camila get a chance to enjoy a victory kiss, while Nelson and Nicole watch with interest and with a sense of jealousy. She also gets emotional knowing the person she fell in love with in the house, Laurel, won't be in the final with her.
For Ashley, it's not all joy and relief. She is feeling all but alone and with no cameras in sight… and this causes a flashback to when we first saw her on Real World three years ago. There, she tells everyone that she is going home just before the final, and also flat out says that Nicole and Nelson are talking about her behind her back with, in truth, they weren't talking about her. But something that we understand is that she had too much to drink and this same behavior we saw in San Francisco also sees her slap the hat off of Nelson, and that's where those to come in and say that's it. CT and Camila do whatever they can to tell Smashley to chill, and he also gives her a prep talk to stay in Thailand.
● DIEM REMEMBERED: Before the business that awaits them in the final, the finalists are sent off on a much-deserved vacation to enjoy themselves and to reenergize before the 3-day final, which we will document here in a couple weeks. Nelson also stumbles at opening a bottle of the bubbly and enjoy all the down time before their moment of truth arrives.
The group takes part in an ancient Thai festival celebrating a goddess of water where they release two flowers into a pond, with one being emblematic of their past and the other representing their future. For CT, this strikes close to his heart as after everyone was wondering why he was acting weird, they come to the realization that they will be competing with a heavy heart in competing the final on the anniversary of the death of Diem Brown. Camila finds out about this and the show pays tribute by showing a montage of Diem's most memorable moments from the show: her relationship with CT, her competing on The Duel II without her wig, and dancing in the club on Rivals II.
CT and the finalists then walk down to the ocean to release their flowers, and all have their own pasts and things they have to release: from Nelson's tough upbringing to Camila having experienced loss in her family and more. And for the Bostonian, there's the feeling of how the past several years have changed his outlook on life, and how becoming a dad has brought it all full circle. Seeing him this calm and humble will make him a sentimental favorite, as well as the overwhelming one for the guys, as the finals take off.
♥ AT THE MOVIES: Over in Australia, AYTO Second Chances begins its second half with the perfect matches being forced to make a video to show why the matchmakers had them as a match all along. At first, this challenge seems like a fun one, but it's clear that the pairs don't have as the kind of top-notch filmmaking expertise as Season 3 funny guy Zak, and a few struggle communicating and execute these films which will then be judged by moviegoers. Adam & Shanley bicker at a local tire shop, while Cameron & Mikala have difficulties at an aquarium. This is no problem for Tori & Morgan as he becomes a robot, while Devin & Rashida take their musical act to a row on the river. But in the end, the vote of theater goers gives the win and power couple status to Mikameron.
♥ TORGAN & MIKAMERON: After what happened last week with Morgan & Tori sharing and staying, Devin feels a bit mad that he and his alliance didn't get their wish of them leaving. After finishing 4th, Morgan feels unhappy after a poor showing and won't give Tori credit in blaming her for poor filmmaking in making him feel weird...and she is left in tears. As for the Season 4 lovers, Cameron & Mikala know that though they've gained $20,000, they realize that there flaws in how they communicated in making their video. And it appears that after her feelings for him weren't as serious going into this, them being the ones in charge might have resparked those feelings.
♥ ANOTHER TWIST: With a cloud hovering over the house in what could possibly go down, once again The Choice seems Tori and Morgan being chosen to go into the outdoor truth booth with host Karamo Brown, and last place finishers Alicia & Mike watching to see if they go home, stay or get that $75,000. After they get another chance to air it all out, they once again lock in their options to either share or steal. But in the end, this ends up being all for naught as it becomes a Blind Choice. They won't know who each other choose, and the game stays as is: five couples left. Another twist.
Our hope here is that no one quits or gets medically evacuated and that everyone will make the finish line of this first three-day final and collect their cut of the cash. And if what we just saw on Stranded is an indication, endurance will be key more than ever to get through what they're about to go through. This will be a fitting conclusion to what's been the most unpredictable Challenge season we've had in a long time. And don't be surprised if any of the four underdogs take the crown. It's been wild.
■ WEEKLY POINT SCORERS
1. ASHLEY M.: 95 Points
2. CORY: 60 Points
3. CT: 30 Points each
T-4. CAMILA and NICOLE: 25 Points each
6. NELSON: 20 Points
■ TOP 10 TOTAL SCORERS
1. CORY: 480 Points
2. ASHLEY M.: 450 Points
3. NELSON: 415 Points
4. SHANE: 315 Points
5. NICOLE: 305 Points
6. CAMILA: 290 Points
7. AMANDA: 285 Points
8. HUNTER: 265 Points each
T-9. JENNA & SYLVIA: 220 Points each
Others: 11. LAUREL/190 Pts., 13. CT/140 Pts., 15. CARA MARIA/110 Pts., T-16. BANANAS/85 Pts., 19. DARRELL/70 Pts.
■ THE WEEK'S NOTABLES
As the first day of the three-day final began with a mass start at the beginning of the swimming phase, all players receive 10 points for being first to compete in a challenge.
● ASHLEY: As Week 12's top scorer, Ashley scores 95 overall points. Along with those challenge points above, she receives 20 points for having a meltdown, 25 for physical fighting when he hits Nelson's hat off, 10 for verbally fighting him (he also receives 10 as well), 15 for reading TJ's clue on the final, 5 for crying at the festival and 10 for giving a toast. She currently stands 2nd in the overall points standings at 450 points, topping all female competitors.
● CORY: Cory receives 60 points in Week 12, leading all male competitors. On top of the 10 challenge points, he gets 20 points for giving two toasts at the club and at the villa, 15 for having an open mouth kiss with Camila, and 15 for reading TJ's clue at the dinner table before the final. He now leads the overall points table at 480 points.
● CAMILA: Camila picks up 25 points in having the above mentioned kiss with Cory, plus 10 for crying two times when sitting in the villa with the group and when they remembered Diem.
Four years ago at this time, Season 28 of The Real World was airing, which took place in Portland, OR. It turned out to be the last RW season in its original format of just seven strangers living in a house with no surprise to worry about. Just like the St. Thomas cast before them, I gained a solid rapport with all the cast on social media, and a couple fellow MTV insiders, Andrew Kirk talked to all of them on his podcast, and Brian Cohen got his podcast start interviewing some of them and went to the reunion -- which was also one of the first Trifecta posts we got to do here at DCBLOG.
As it also turned out, from a Challenge standpoint all but one of that group of eight would appear on at least one Challenge after encountering romance, drama and yes, the now-infamous fight we saw in the finale: Jordan competed on three of them and won his most recent - Exes 2 with Sarah; Johnny rode a wave of luck in the Draw to make it to the Free Agents final and finish second to Bananas, and four of the five girls -- Jessica, Averey, Nia and Anastasia -- have all appeared on The Challenge too (only the one who left early, Joi, hasn't appeared yet).
And then, there's Marlon Williams. In Oregon, he made a stunning admission to the housemates on the patio that while he had a depression a few years earlier, he told them that he had actually engaged in casual sex with a guy. He also reluctantly hooked up with local girls in the club, which caught the ire of his dad, which then forced him to go to church to confess his sins. He also got confrontational as well when he had become tired and despised of the actions, personality, brash behavior and insecurity of Jordan and got into a fight in the house kitchen. That got them paired up on that Challenge, and in allowing everyone else to take over the spotlight in Thailand, the guys flew under the radar and won two jungle eliminations. In the first in a double Hall Brawl matchup, they knocked off Leroy and Ty; and in the second they defeated Knight and Preston to make the final. In that final, their boat capsized in the Thailand sea in the first part of the final and did not make it the second half and got a $10,000 3rd place consolation prize.
As a young Texan, Marlon got to do what others aspire to do here in this land of Friday Night Lights: play high school football, and in the same Austin-area stadium in Pflugerville High School which served as the site for that renowned football film's TV series adaptation. He went on to Texas Tech University and became a nationally-ranked linebacker, making it to the All-Big XII team two times as well as celebrity status in Lubbock. You can check out a YouTube highlights reel of him here.
Through having done some research on him, we happened to stumble upon the team picture from Marlon's 2009 senior year at Texas Tech. Marlon is kneeling down in about left center in the front row, right below head coach Mike Leach, who after becoming the school's winningest coach, was suspended and then fired for his role in inappropriate treatment of former football player and analyst Craig James' son Adam after he had suffered a concussion during practices for Tech's appearance in the 2010 Alamo Bowl.
Post-football and post-MTV, Marlon has become better known as "J-Deezy" -- a hip-hop artist who we saw him do his work in the recording studio during that season in Portland, which included inviting his Portland roommates to do cameo spots on a couple of his tracks. One of them is located below in "Lay Down" with Nia and Anastasia.
After his two MTV shows, J-Deezy has furthered his musical resume in releasing several tracks, mixtapes and albums... around a slate that also has his own clothing line and fitness program, in case he happens to get that call. Below are some of his tracks, and at the end is his latest album, The Rebirth, which you can also get on iTunes.
And that will bring to an end this look at the week in the Trifecta. As we go, there is a lot of discussion on this past week in MTV world, and here's where you can check them out:
● Check out Rob Has A Podcast with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_) and some special guest co-hosts for Challenge talk as regular co-host Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) is off due to law school. This week, Brian was joined by fellow RHAP host Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloom) as they discussed everything that transpired on this episode, plus got into some other Trifecta talk and delved into Mike's broad reality TV knowledge. Listen to that pod here, plus all of his past recaps and full Survivor coverage at RobHasAWebsite.com.
● Also visit Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk) and all his Trifecta coverage on YouTube, Blog Talk Radio, Reality Radio and Periscope. In case you missed it, last week Andrew had the first exit interview with Shane after his elimination and great comeback season, and also check out his interviews with Cory and Ashley from earlier this season. After the coming two episodes of this Challenge season, join the both of us on Periscope after its west coast airing for raw thoughts in the episodes, and of course we'll have our mid-year Reality Debrief on here on Memorial Day Weekend.
● And if you're a fan of Stranded with a Million Dollars, the day after the finale this past week the podcast Candy Dish talked to Makani as they discussed her time in Fiji, her partnership with fellow member of Team Thrive, Cody, and all else from this season. Listen to that podcast here, plus interviews with Team MTV, reality TV discussions and more on SoundCloud.
Make sure to follow DCNOW @DC408Dxtr for all live episode tweets (which you can join at #DCChallenge), plus a big slate of events and shows planned for this May including next weekend's Kentucky Derby and MTV Movie & TV Awards, the special event series The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros, and the NBA Playoffs.
Of course, make sure to bookmark DCBLOG 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 on Friday to begin our usual wave of posts anew. And with this WRAP coming to you earlier than normal and with the outcome of this Challenge to not reach its conclusion until a couple weeks from now, this does give us all the time needed for ExtraTime In-Depth posts we have planned these new couple weeks where we'll look at The Many Sides of Asaf, the story behind the murder of CT's brother Vinnie and a high-school version of The Challenge... that and more in the coming month.
That's is how we look at it in the MTV Trifecta...thank you for joining us. See you here hopefully in a few days for our latest In-Depth posts. And until then, enjoy the week ahead.
CT and the finalists then walk down to the ocean to release their flowers, and all have their own pasts and things they have to release: from Nelson's tough upbringing to Camila having experienced loss in her family and more. And for the Bostonian, there's the feeling of how the past several years have changed his outlook on life, and how becoming a dad has brought it all full circle. Seeing him this calm and humble will make him a sentimental favorite, as well as the overwhelming one for the guys, as the finals take off.
♥ AT THE MOVIES: Over in Australia, AYTO Second Chances begins its second half with the perfect matches being forced to make a video to show why the matchmakers had them as a match all along. At first, this challenge seems like a fun one, but it's clear that the pairs don't have as the kind of top-notch filmmaking expertise as Season 3 funny guy Zak, and a few struggle communicating and execute these films which will then be judged by moviegoers. Adam & Shanley bicker at a local tire shop, while Cameron & Mikala have difficulties at an aquarium. This is no problem for Tori & Morgan as he becomes a robot, while Devin & Rashida take their musical act to a row on the river. But in the end, the vote of theater goers gives the win and power couple status to Mikameron.
♥ TORGAN & MIKAMERON: After what happened last week with Morgan & Tori sharing and staying, Devin feels a bit mad that he and his alliance didn't get their wish of them leaving. After finishing 4th, Morgan feels unhappy after a poor showing and won't give Tori credit in blaming her for poor filmmaking in making him feel weird...and she is left in tears. As for the Season 4 lovers, Cameron & Mikala know that though they've gained $20,000, they realize that there flaws in how they communicated in making their video. And it appears that after her feelings for him weren't as serious going into this, them being the ones in charge might have resparked those feelings.
♥ ANOTHER TWIST: With a cloud hovering over the house in what could possibly go down, once again The Choice seems Tori and Morgan being chosen to go into the outdoor truth booth with host Karamo Brown, and last place finishers Alicia & Mike watching to see if they go home, stay or get that $75,000. After they get another chance to air it all out, they once again lock in their options to either share or steal. But in the end, this ends up being all for naught as it becomes a Blind Choice. They won't know who each other choose, and the game stays as is: five couples left. Another twist.
▪ ▪ ▪
STRATEGY ROOM
#DCCHALLENGE: MY PREDICTIONS...
As we embark on the final, in lieu of doing a Twitter poll as we usually do after the recap, we proceed with doing what we only do when money is in the line: do predictions of who wins and who finishes in the place and show positions from inside the Strategy Room. And as I always say here, the Trifecta competition shows are always games of momentum, and recent history will suggest that those who win their last elimination will ultimately win the final of their Challenge season.
With that in mind, given how strong they are and having finals experience before in last getting to this stage together on Rivals II, this might favor CT and Camila, and you'll likely assume that they'll be favorites to take the top prize after winning the last champs elimination. He just took down a great champ in Darrell and will assume all-time great status with a win. She's already had her shining moment beating Laurel and a win here vaults her into the stratosphere of top female competitors.
For the underdogs, only one of the final four on Team Red have finals experience and after what we saw from Cory on Bloodlines he can tap into that experience in Berlin to power him through, though this time he'll eventually have to get through by himself. Nelson, Nicole and Ashley earned their way through the bloodbath and after what happened there and after, you'll think the first two will be most capable of going though this stage unharmed. But as we've always seen, anything can happen.
So after having written all of that, here's my predictions...
GUYS
1. CT
2. CORY
3. NELSON
GIRLS
1. CAMILA
2. NICOLE
3. ASHLEY
Our hope here is that no one quits or gets medically evacuated and that everyone will make the finish line of this first three-day final and collect their cut of the cash. And if what we just saw on Stranded is an indication, endurance will be key more than ever to get through what they're about to go through. This will be a fitting conclusion to what's been the most unpredictable Challenge season we've had in a long time. And don't be surprised if any of the four underdogs take the crown. It's been wild.
FANTASY TRAX
#DCCHALLENGE
■ WEEKLY POINT SCORERS
1. ASHLEY M.: 95 Points
2. CORY: 60 Points
3. CT: 30 Points each
T-4. CAMILA and NICOLE: 25 Points each
6. NELSON: 20 Points
■ TOP 10 TOTAL SCORERS
1. CORY: 480 Points
2. ASHLEY M.: 450 Points
3. NELSON: 415 Points
4. SHANE: 315 Points
5. NICOLE: 305 Points
6. CAMILA: 290 Points
7. AMANDA: 285 Points
8. HUNTER: 265 Points each
T-9. JENNA & SYLVIA: 220 Points each
Others: 11. LAUREL/190 Pts., 13. CT/140 Pts., 15. CARA MARIA/110 Pts., T-16. BANANAS/85 Pts., 19. DARRELL/70 Pts.
As the first day of the three-day final began with a mass start at the beginning of the swimming phase, all players receive 10 points for being first to compete in a challenge.
● ASHLEY: As Week 12's top scorer, Ashley scores 95 overall points. Along with those challenge points above, she receives 20 points for having a meltdown, 25 for physical fighting when he hits Nelson's hat off, 10 for verbally fighting him (he also receives 10 as well), 15 for reading TJ's clue on the final, 5 for crying at the festival and 10 for giving a toast. She currently stands 2nd in the overall points standings at 450 points, topping all female competitors.
● CORY: Cory receives 60 points in Week 12, leading all male competitors. On top of the 10 challenge points, he gets 20 points for giving two toasts at the club and at the villa, 15 for having an open mouth kiss with Camila, and 15 for reading TJ's clue at the dinner table before the final. He now leads the overall points table at 480 points.
● CAMILA: Camila picks up 25 points in having the above mentioned kiss with Cory, plus 10 for crying two times when sitting in the villa with the group and when they remembered Diem.
● NICOLE: Nicole also gets 25 points in proposing a toast (10) and crying at the table to Nelson (5).
● CT: CT gets 30 points, including 10 for winning his elimination battle with Darrell and another 10 for giving a toast.
▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
#DCExtraTime
.
CATCHING UP WITH...
RW Portland's MARLON/"J-DEEZY"
For a third of the Invasion final six, they have achieved something that's been historically difficult to do but has happened many times over the years on The Challenge. That would be of being a rookie competing on this show for the very first time, survive not only the first week where they would usually go into elimination and be the first ones out, and making it all the way to the end, to the final and the race for the cash.
Nicole is competing on a Challenge for the first time and has made it to the end in her first go, and Cory made it to the final as a rookie on Bloodlines last year after a late charge at season's end to finish second. It has been a recent trend in the past few years -- Jenna, Zach, Devyn and Devin to name a few who've been in this spot before, and that offers the backdrop for this latest installment of "Catching Up With…".
As it also turned out, from a Challenge standpoint all but one of that group of eight would appear on at least one Challenge after encountering romance, drama and yes, the now-infamous fight we saw in the finale: Jordan competed on three of them and won his most recent - Exes 2 with Sarah; Johnny rode a wave of luck in the Draw to make it to the Free Agents final and finish second to Bananas, and four of the five girls -- Jessica, Averey, Nia and Anastasia -- have all appeared on The Challenge too (only the one who left early, Joi, hasn't appeared yet).
As a young Texan, Marlon got to do what others aspire to do here in this land of Friday Night Lights: play high school football, and in the same Austin-area stadium in Pflugerville High School which served as the site for that renowned football film's TV series adaptation. He went on to Texas Tech University and became a nationally-ranked linebacker, making it to the All-Big XII team two times as well as celebrity status in Lubbock. You can check out a YouTube highlights reel of him here.
Through having done some research on him, we happened to stumble upon the team picture from Marlon's 2009 senior year at Texas Tech. Marlon is kneeling down in about left center in the front row, right below head coach Mike Leach, who after becoming the school's winningest coach, was suspended and then fired for his role in inappropriate treatment of former football player and analyst Craig James' son Adam after he had suffered a concussion during practices for Tech's appearance in the 2010 Alamo Bowl.
Post-football and post-MTV, Marlon has become better known as "J-Deezy" -- a hip-hop artist who we saw him do his work in the recording studio during that season in Portland, which included inviting his Portland roommates to do cameo spots on a couple of his tracks. One of them is located below in "Lay Down" with Nia and Anastasia.
After his two MTV shows, J-Deezy has furthered his musical resume in releasing several tracks, mixtapes and albums... around a slate that also has his own clothing line and fitness program, in case he happens to get that call. Below are some of his tracks, and at the end is his latest album, The Rebirth, which you can also get on iTunes.
▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
And that will bring to an end this look at the week in the Trifecta. As we go, there is a lot of discussion on this past week in MTV world, and here's where you can check them out:
● Check out Rob Has A Podcast with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_) and some special guest co-hosts for Challenge talk as regular co-host Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) is off due to law school. This week, Brian was joined by fellow RHAP host Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloom) as they discussed everything that transpired on this episode, plus got into some other Trifecta talk and delved into Mike's broad reality TV knowledge. Listen to that pod here, plus all of his past recaps and full Survivor coverage at RobHasAWebsite.com.
● Also visit Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk) and all his Trifecta coverage on YouTube, Blog Talk Radio, Reality Radio and Periscope. In case you missed it, last week Andrew had the first exit interview with Shane after his elimination and great comeback season, and also check out his interviews with Cory and Ashley from earlier this season. After the coming two episodes of this Challenge season, join the both of us on Periscope after its west coast airing for raw thoughts in the episodes, and of course we'll have our mid-year Reality Debrief on here on Memorial Day Weekend.
● And if you're a fan of Stranded with a Million Dollars, the day after the finale this past week the podcast Candy Dish talked to Makani as they discussed her time in Fiji, her partnership with fellow member of Team Thrive, Cody, and all else from this season. Listen to that podcast here, plus interviews with Team MTV, reality TV discussions and more on SoundCloud.
Make sure to follow DCNOW @DC408Dxtr for all live episode tweets (which you can join at #DCChallenge), plus a big slate of events and shows planned for this May including next weekend's Kentucky Derby and MTV Movie & TV Awards, the special event series The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros, and the NBA Playoffs.
Of course, make sure to bookmark DCBLOG 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 on Friday to begin our usual wave of posts anew. And with this WRAP coming to you earlier than normal and with the outcome of this Challenge to not reach its conclusion until a couple weeks from now, this does give us all the time needed for ExtraTime In-Depth posts we have planned these new couple weeks where we'll look at The Many Sides of Asaf, the story behind the murder of CT's brother Vinnie and a high-school version of The Challenge... that and more in the coming month.
That's is how we look at it in the MTV Trifecta...thank you for joining us. See you here hopefully in a few days for our latest In-Depth posts. And until then, enjoy the week ahead.
- I AM DC
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