DC WRAP Double Shot: Challenge XXX Week 12 & AYTO Season 6 Week 3

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

Today is the birthday of one of the MTV Trifecta's most famous alumni: Mike "The Miz," who got his start on Real World Back to New York in 2001, and went on to both several Challenges and to a successful WWE career. And on this Sunday Funday, welcome back to our look Inside the MTV Trifecta as we WRAP up last week on The Challenge XXX and Are You The One? Six.
   In Colombia, we saw two more big twists big revealed in yet another Redemption House for those who lose the coming eliminations as well as the winners of the succeeding challenge getting to send players there directly along with those into elimination. And in New Orleans, we saw Michael become the heartbreaker in the house, while the house's strongest couples were awoken by their connections which got them nowhere but almost led them to a familiar scenario that two previous casts have had after their second Matchup.
   Since both episodes ended without resolution, again we'll be tabling our usual Things to Know episode recap to next week or whenever they do end with resolution. But coming up, we'll be focusing our attention on the comeback week this week of longtime Challenge veteran Veronica, look at where the game stands in NOLA, and then look at when three AYTO seasons all converge. Join us ahead as we continue a busy holiday weekend look Inside the MTV Trifecta.

 ENDGAME 

VERONICA'S RETURN

Until this past May, it had been a long time since we saw Veronica on a Challenge: The Ruins in 2009. On Champs vs. Pros, she was with us for just that one week when the newest Challenge champ Ashley M. beat her in that first elimination and Veronica had volunteered herself in knowing that she hasn't competed in eight years and wanted to see how she could measure up to everyone else who had been dominating while she's been away. Now, here we are early in the fall and we are talking about the three-time champion reemerging with an impressive week.
   Both her and I have, in a way, the same beginnings: the first Challenge season I remember watching was Challenge 2000 where she made her debut when they bungee-jumped off the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas in the first mission, and where Gladys from Road Rules South America was host when The Challenge was just a Road Rules vs. Real World traveling roadshow. Those fans who've been watching this show for a long time might recall the heated fight she had with Katie on the first installment of Inferno, which she would go on and win. And I remember watching her original Road Rules season where she and her cast rode not on an RV across a continent, but on a cruise on a Semester at Sea around the world.

Yes, Tony may have won his elimination battle and was on the same winning challenge team as her in this week's mission (and for which fellow blogger Allan Aguirre wrote a post on him on Medium), but Veronica just edged him out for the week's most impressive showing. This was not easy for her to handle the circumstances of what happened at the deliberations when the winning team from the previous week's mission, led by relative rookie Kailah, felt that she had not done enough this season and felt it was the ideal time to put her in and prove herself... two other members of the winning team agreed that they should give her the spot to prove that she has still much in the tank.
   And then, there's having to deal with the rest of what the Double Cross had, in once again having someone who was voted in by the winners having to face a friend who was thrown in by the other losers in the proceeding mission in the Presidio. It happened to Team Jailah and then to the Young Bucks, and it was time for two who had their moment earlier on this season to face off, all thanks to Tori putting in Aneesa once again. Plastic, webs, ropes and a flag were involved in this elimination, and almost from the start Veronica began good and stayed good throughout, all the way to eventually winning and impressing the other competitors, while also feeling bittersweet beating a friend to get back into the game.
   Later, there's what happened in the mission where they started in a dark room, had to figure out how to unlock the keys to a sledgehammer just by chipping off paint from a window, then jump out to complete a complicated puzzle. Veronica was the senior member of a green team who made her MTV debut when her four other teammates were going to elementary school, and facing teams who also had similar puzzles they completed in the Rivals II final. Being the mom of her group, Veronica helped her team complete their puzzle which gave them the win and now puts them in the drivers' seat for who gets to go into the Presidio and into Redemption.

As they say, experience counts when it comes to older players competing against the young guns on a Challenge. The last time some around the age of 40 made a run at a final, Veronica's fellow Road Rules alum Mark came within a last elimination of the Exes final when he and Robin were beaten by
Johnny & Camila. When we saw Darrell earlier this year, he came back from a few seasons' hiatus to beat Zach, Bananas, push eventual Invasion champ CT to the limit and then team with Cara Maria to win Champs vs. Pros. And Trishelle came back from many years off to make the BOTS final.
   Considering our remaining female competition in this including Kailah, Britni, Jemmye, Cara, Jenna, Camila and Tori, four have been to Challenge finals, and the rest have made impressive showings on this season... and we can't forget the resume Aneesa has chalked up over her career as she could get yet another shot at this. Depending upon what choice her team makes, they have a chance to make a power move and break up either the Cara/Camila or Jailah partnerships and give Veronica a chance to go deep towards the end.
   It's true: she was at the peak of her powers back over a decade ago, and our poll below indicates that 62% of you think that she will come up a bit short of making it to the end, and 38% of you feel she will have just enough to make it to the end. But nonetheless, her being able to turn back to the clock and prove her standing as a three-time Challenge champ makes Veronica her my Winner of the Night for this week.

After what happened tonight, how far do 

you think Veronica will get this season? 

● Winning the whole thing          0% 

● Making it to the final              38% 

● Coming up shy of final            62% 

And for who you think Veronica, Tony, Britni, Kailah and Jordan will put into elimination, here's the poll result for that...

After what happened tonight, how far do 

you think Veronica will get this season? 

● Team Pink                              75% 

● Team Blue                              25% 

 STRATEGY ROOM 

AYTO: THROUGH TWO 1/3's…

What next for the NOLA 22? Last week, they got off to a good start with three matches when all but one cast began with a couple. Now, the Season 6 cast took two steps back and settled for just that one beam… but it could've been worse for the house. Though they came back into the house in a much different mood than their first matchup, imagine what the vibe would've been like had they blacked out -- obviously they would've lost it knowing they would've seen $500,000 sail off into the Bayou. But they can kiss their lucky charms that the seven figures are still in the jackpot.

   Now, with another power couple in Malcolm and Nurys heading in, they have their second good couple head into the lasers chamber hoping that they are that one beam. First, here's the matchup chart...

WEEK 2 (Girls' Pick)
♥ Alivia & Kareem (2nd - Wk 1)
♥ Alexis & Keith (2nd - Wk 1)
♥ Uche & Clinton (2nd - Wk 1)
♥ Zoe & Tyler
♥ Keyana & Michael (2nd - Wk 1)
♥ Jada & Ethan (2nd - Wk 1)
♥ Nurys & Malcolm (2nd - Wk 1) (TB PENDING)
♥ Nicole & Dimitri
♥ Diandra & Anthony
♥ Audrey & Joe
♥ Geles & Shad
ONE BEAM ▼2

From the Match Math provided by AYTO Math at AreUThe.blogspot.com, the single beam they got reduced the number of possible matches by four fold from approximately 1.66 million to about 390,000 combinations. Looking over this list and the couples mentioned as possible matches last week, the three beams they got in week 1 theoretically could belong to those three strong couples in Keith & Alexis, Michael & Keyana and Malcolm & Nurys. But along with this, Alivia & Kareem, Uche & Clinton and Jada & Ethan also stuck with them, but only one of them or the five who switched things up are that single beam.
   However, their bad matchup now gives them a chance to sort of go back to the drawing board, but hopefully this does give them a better idea of where their head is at. They should understand this: the five who switched up may be that one beam, which could render the six who repeated their first matchup pair is not that match.
   AYTO Math's latest analytics show new chances for eight of the ten who decided to switch up their matches at Matchup #2. They now show a 51% chance that Audrey & Shad and Diandra & Dimitri could be one of those beams, while they have placed 49% odds on both Joe & Zoe and Nicole & Tyler. For Malcolm & Nurys, they are pegged at 15.7% that by midway though this coming week, they'll be headed to the Suites if the lasers have their way.
   However, our poll results show a different story as far as who they think is the Perfect Match of our other Music Week subject...

As he enters the Truth Booth, who do 
you think is Malcolm's Perfect Match?
● NURYS                                    25% 
● DIANDRA                                32% 
● AUDREY                                   9% 
● Somebody Else                       44% 
   OUT OF 32 VOTES

Do you agree with the cast's decision to 
put Malcolm & Nurys in the Truth Booth? 
● YES, it's a good idea                57% 
● NO, they're no match              43%
   OUT OF 47 VOTES

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 #DCExtraTime 

AN AYTO SUMMIT

Lastly for now, as our new group of singles have settled in for this special ride, just recently there was a meeting of seasons and casts in the SoCal sun to mark the passing of the baton from the alums to the AYTO Season 6 cast. Through the pics they post on Instagram and Twitter, we often show you on here the vibe of castmates from the entire MTV family getting together to enjoy theit time outside the show from the workouts the Dirty 30 cast had in New York to awards shows and beyond. This one: no exception, and this one takes place in the unofficial capital of MTV alums of the Los Angeles area.
   If you saw the scene on AYTO 6 a week back of Diandra heading into the outdoor gym, putting on some boxing gloves and taking her frustrations out on a punching bag after getting rejected, this channeled what happened last season when something similar happened to Osvaldo when, he too, also got to become his own Rocky. Back in late September just after the newest season premiered, the Chicago native celebrated his birthday with two of his fellow Season 5 castmates: Carolina and Shannon, who after suffering their own stories of heartbreak post that chaotic finish in the Caribbean are now rooming together. Another who's experienced a romance on the show and then a subsequent breakup is Cameron from Season 4, known best for his relationship with Mikala that blossomed last year but then had a bad ending down in Australia on Second Chances.
   He and the girls celebrated Osvaldo's birthday, and also had the chance to hang out with four guys from this current Season 6 and, in effect, to help pass down the torch to them along with some advice on how to handle this newfound status as TV stars. The guys were Anthony, Dimitri, and the two guys featured in our header picture above in Tyler and Ethan, who got together to make some music for everyone post their Truth Booth blunder. And below is a video from Cameron documenting that day when Seasons 4, 5 and 6 all got together.

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And that will wrap it this abbreviated edition of the WRAP. Before we go, there's more to the story of this week in the Trifecta, and here's where to go for more of the week that was...
● For hardcore Challenge fans, check out The Brain Candy Podcast's Patreon offering where Susie and Sarah are offering premium subscribers exceptional content, including an interview they posted Friday with Jemmye, plus chats with Derrick, Ammo and Averey, which you can check out at Patreon and with a subscription.
● After this past week's AYTO, AfterBuzz TV was joined in studio by Dimitri, Alivia and Diandra as they got to talk to the hosts about the first three episodes and this past week's events in the Bayou. Check out that podcast here, along with The Challenge and all of your favorite shows.
● Also, check out Reality Life with Kate Casey, where last week she talked with a patriarch of MTV reality TV, Bunim-Murray co-founder Jon Murray, as they discussed 25 years of Real World, 30 seasons of The Challenge and 30 years in the television business. Also included are recent talks with Real World original Trishelle, Justin Bobby of The Hills, Mike "The Situation" and others.
● And check out Rob Has A Podcast and its MTV coverage with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_), Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) and Adam Buongiovanni (@AdamBongo) as the former and her discussed this week's Challenge episode, and her and the ladder talking episode 3 of AYTO.

We are far from done with this week's posts on this holiday weekend... still ahead, ExtraTime In-Depth will offer a deeper look at the journey that's taken a Challenge competitor from a conservative upbringing to the forefront of the non-binary movement. But first, coming up later tonight is a special edition of DC FORUM to discuss the latest rumors that has fans buzzing around the hotstove in relation to Season 31 of The Challenge.
   Along with bookmarking this site for our unique angle on the MTV world, remember to please do this site and me a big favor and share these DCBLOG links with everyone on social media so that this site can become that much more visible to a larger and broader fanbase, and also to help bring new fans to our high-caliber content and acclaimed posts with episode coverage, exclusive social reaction and compelling stories no one else offers.

Again, we'll have our special FORUM look at Season 31 of The Challenge coming up later on this evening... for now, enjoy your Sunday and talk to you then.

- I AM DC