DC WRAP: Are You The One? Season 6 - "Tale of Two Players"

BY DC CUEVA                     
■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

As you settle into the year's shortest work & school week, welcome on back to DCBLOG's Inside the MTV Trifecta. Tomorrow, something that started while you were on summer vacation finally draws to an end this close to the holidays as The Challenge XXX will wrap up with Part 2 of the Reunion and the revealing of the top finishers of the $1 million final, along with Champs vs. Stars. We'll have that covered for you here on Thanksgiving weekend, plus a friend of this site will rejoin us to talk about that reunion from her first-hand perspective.
   But from the title of this post, our focus for this week's WRAP is all about Are You The One? and Week 9, where this would be where we would be in all-out serious mode to discuss what the cast has to do to get the confetti falling with one more week left. But we're not at that point of the 10th & last Matchup of Season 6 just yet, with seven of those beam sessions behind us, the house having just had their 8th getaway challenge and the singles about to let that guard down for that night out partying.

   Coming up in this abbreviated review, we'll recap last week's episode that might've given you reason to play "Playas Gonna Play" from 00's girl group 3LW by the time you finished watching. And along with the game situation and polls, we'll elaborate more on that animal who was spotted inside the AYTO house and show you more of that friend's skills... join us for that and baby news next.

 THINGS TO KNOW 

♥ PLAYERS TURNING POINT: In the aftermath of the house remaining match-less inside the Truth Booth, for some in the house they begin to realize that the game may depend on them having to cut ties with those who aren't matched up with their crushes. In Keith's case, he still rides out hope that he and Alexis can get back together... but after what happened on that date Lexi decides that enough is enough after his two hookups with Alivia before and during their getaway date.
   But much of the attention is on two guys: for Malcolm, he hooked up with several girls early on, and two of his hookups - Nurys and Diandra - have a conversation where Nurys tells Didi that she and Malcolm slept together and thinks he's playing the both of them. They then decide to play tag team on him but denies that he had went to the Boom Boom Room and laid it all on Nurys. Didi adds that she's on the market again and doesn't want to be put in the Truth Booth with the Drummer... all after he calls her a d___ rider.

♥ NEW CONNECTIONS: In building upon their speed dating session last week following the no matches they've been having, the girls decide to become matchmakers themselves by having some alone time with the guys. This is their effort to get to know them better and let those who have been isolating themselves from everyone else a chance to open up... and having common upbringings is deeply religious families gives Uche a feeling that she and Joe are a match. And with Alivia being totally done with him, Kareem turns his attention to Nurys... both have common temper problems.
   But the biggest focus as far as the new connections go is on the resident heartthrob and the latest triangle. And being upset that Anthony ditched her for the game, Geles opens up to Audrey about the connection's she made with Michael. While they talk in what appears to be some quiet chemistry between them, Michael says he's attached to her, but then he tells her that he feels that he and Audrey are a match. While talking to her, he gives her some comfort and they head into the BBR.

♥ CRAWLING & BOATS: Trusting your partner is always key in any paired challenge, and it is key in this week's challenge, as Blinded By Love sees the pairs navigate an obstacle course with the men blindfolded and the girls piggybacking on them for the ride. Them having to put their name in a hole gives the two winners their spot on the getaway date... and in the end it's Michael & Audrey and Joe & Alivia who come away with the win, though everyone will be focusing in on the former to put into the Truth Booth.
   After that comes something no AYTO season would be complete without: Terrence J. reveals after the challenge that, with two straight good matchups, he would give them something extra: a boat ride to a Mardi Gras-themed party by the Bayou. That, along with the date, Truth Booth and Matchup, is in two days from now... provided that you're aren't busy traveling.

 MATCH MATH 

As for the game itself, the seventh matchup and the order of selection goes to the guys. They stick with five couples who paired up in their sixth beam session, re-paired one from earlier and had five new duos. The result is a season high with the chart below, with that giving them reason to get down and skinny dip knowing they've turned the corner here.

MATCHUP 6 (Girls' Pick) 
♥ Kareem & Nurys (2nd - MC #6)
♥ Anthony & Keyana (3rd - MC's 4 & 6)
♥ Michael & Audrey (2nd - MC #3)
♥ Shad & Alivia
♥ Keith & Jada
♥ Diandra & Dimitri (3rd - MC's 1 & 6)
♥ Joe & Uche
♥ Tyler & Nicole (4th - MC's 1, 3 & 6)
♥ Ethan & Zoe
♥ Clinton & Geles (2nd - MC #6)
♥ Malcolm & Alexis
  FIVE BEAMS ▲1  SEASON HIGH

MATCHUP PROGRESS       

♥ 1st:  3
♥ 2nd: 1
♥ 3rd:  2
♥ 4th:  3 
♥ 5th:  1 
♥ 6th:  4 
♥ 7th:  5   SEASON HIGH

  ● Behind... Season 1: SEVEN (+1), Season 2: SIX (post Black)

  ● Ahead of... Season 3: THREE, Season 4 & 5/FOUR

Two straight good matchups not only net the Sexy Season 6 cast party night, but also have slashed the amount of possible combinations of the 11 matches from over 450 after the 7th Truth Booth, to now just eight possibilities. Below after the combinations, as compiled by AYTO Math:
♥ Alexis/Kareem, Alivia/Shad, Audrey/Michael, Diandra/Dimitri, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Malcolm, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Tyler, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Malcolm, Alivia/Tyler, Audrey/Michael, Diandra/Dimitri, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Shad, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Kareem, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Malcolm, Alivia/Shad, Audrey/Dimitri, Diandra/Michael, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Tyler, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Kareem, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Tyler, Alivia/Shad, Audrey/Michael, Diandra/Dimitri, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Malcolm, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Kareem, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Malcolm, Alivia/Tyler, Audrey/Michael, Diandra/Dimitri, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Kareem, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Shad, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Malcolm, Alivia/Shad, Audrey/Dimitri, Diandra/Clinton, Geles/Michael, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Tyler, Nurys/Kareem, Uche/Keith, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Tyler, Alivia/Shad, Audrey/Michael, Diandra/Dimitri, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Ethan, Keyana/Anthony, Nicole/Kareem, Nurys/Keith, Uche/Malcolm, Zoe/Joe
♥ Alexis/Anthony, Alivia/Malcolm, Audrey/Shad, Diandra/Kareem, Geles/Clinton, Jada/Keith, Keyana/Michael, Nicole/Tyler, Nurys/Dimitri, Uche/Joe, Zoe/Ethan

--- From: AYTO Math

AYTO Math projects that four couples have a 87.5% chance of being one of those five beams: Anthony & Keyana, Clinton & Geles, Ethan & Jada and Joe & Zoe. Also with favorable odds on that site to possibly be that 5th light are Keith & Nurys (75%); a three-way tie at 62.5% between Dimitri & Diandra, Michael & Audrey and Shad & Alivia, and the other pair with an 50/50 even-money chance is Malcolm & Alexis.
   The only ones who are uncertain with no green or yellow lights to that site's chart are Tyler -- who can be matched with either Nicole (37.5%), Alexis (25%), Alivia (25%) or Uche (12.5%); and Kareem -- whose only chances are Uche, Nicole, Alexis, Diandra & Nurys.  Since the girls will have the pick in the 10th and last matchup should this season go the distance, any of those girls could be asked to make the same choice Shannon made which eventually lost the game for her cast... obviously, they will feel the pressure if we get to that point.
   Additional analysis done by In Touch Magazine has them confirming their first perfect match: out of all of their possible combos, they had Clinton & Geles as their first match. But something to keep your eye out here: if the results of our poll are correct, then based upon In Touch's charts the possibilities could be narrowed down to two and AYTO Math's to three if Michael & Audrey don't become this season's first match.
   If the house votes them in -- which is all but a certainty, then the chances of them winning get a little more complicated, and they have just two chances to close the deal. It may give them a shot of not only winning the $1 million but perhaps not needing to go down to Week 10... they could clinch it as soon as next week depending upon if there is 11 normal episodes instead of 12, something we've never had in AYTO history. Stay tuned of course.

 POLL @DC408Dxtr

After they got to explore their 

connections tonight, do you think
Michael & Audrey are a Perfect Match?

● YES, they are a match!            19%
● NO, they aren't a match!         81% 

   OUT OF 54 VOTES

▪       ▪       ▪

 #DCExtraTime 

THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE MONKEY BUSINESS

Instagram @KeithK93

If you watch the Trifecta regularly, chances are there is a Halloween costume hidden somewhere inside the houses of The Challenge, Are You The One? and Real World, and often other MTV reality shows too. Johnny Bananas makes it a point to bring a banana costume to The Challenge house, something Tyler from Season 5 wore before he was cast for last season and them crossing paths after he lost $800,000 for the group. And who can forget Real World Ex-Plosion where Cory and Jenny wearing animal costumes and hooking up in the confessional wearing that furry outfits?

   If you watched last week's AYTO, you may have spotted an specie on the loose who escaped from the nearly New Orleans Zoo with intentions on scaring the 11 single girls inside their humble abode. Well, that happens to be Keith, and just before he was unleashed to go on an attack on the girls in the AYTO house, he posted a video Instagram of him being dressed up as a monkey.

   His Instagram is under private and we can't embed that video for you below, but if you do check it out you'll see him ride a hovercraft with his dog, decide to slam one home, perform a trick on a skateboard and catch a couple deep passes from 40 yards out... all of which in slow-mo. Perhaps, after we saw Bananas and Tyler wear a banana costume, now we get a monkey rolling around and perhaps they may all gather around in a Challenge house soon enough...

MORE CONGRATS...

Before we go, our only mention of anything Challenge in this week's WRAP: exactly a year ago this month for a member of the JEK dynasty, two-time Challenge champ Evan Starkman donned a wedding ring... now a year later, you can add to that another title to those he won in 2009 as winner of The Duel II and the champion on the Champs team on The Ruins along with Kenny, Bananas, Derrick K. and Susie.
   On Instagram at @TheEvanStarkman this past week, he announced that he's about to become a dad. The message that accompanied a picture of wife Rachael read, "I always wanted to invent something that would move around & make funny noises & would change the world as we know. Thanks for making my dreams come true @rachaelkari #babyonboard #starttostarkman"
   Mark Long wrote in the comments, "Yes!!!!!!!", while Ruins runner-up Sarah added, "Aw congrats!!! Sending you all love." Two other Ruins players chimed in in Cohutta - "Congratulations man!" -- and fellow parent Kimberly of RW Hollywood - "Yayyyyyyyy!! Congrats!"  Our congrats go out to Evan as he embarks on this next phase of his post-MTV career.

▪   ▪   ▪   ▪   ▪

And on that note, we will wrap up this week's WRAP. To tide you over to tomorrow, this past week offered the following sites below reason to talk about last week's episodes...
● AfterBuzz TV was joined for their Week 9 AYTO after show last week by budding couple Keyana and Anthony as they talked about episode 9, the season at this point and what's been happening with her and Michael, and him and Geles. Check out that podcast here, plus guest spots from other AYTO alums and castmates plus The Challenge and more on ABTV.
● Check out Rob Has A Podcast and its MTV coverage with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_), Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) and Adam Buongiovanni (@AdamBongo) as they talked about Dirty 30 Reunion and AYTO, plus the site's extensive Survivor coverage. And before next week's Reunion Revealed, check out Brian's blog posts on going to the Real World and Rivals II reunions.
● And check out The Brain Candy Podcast's premium offering on Patreon with treats for hardcore fans from Susie and Sarah. After they were joined by Challenge champ Landon last week, this week they were joined by Sarah's RW Brooklyn roommate Devyn as they talked about that season, them on Battle of the Seasons II, her dating show and more.

We're not done with this week's posts yet... later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, we will focus in on MTV's newest series that debuts next week on Cyber Monday, as a new generation of partyers will take to the beaches of Florida in the spirit of an MTV icon, as DCBLOG offers The Look at Floribama Shore. See you for that shortly.

- I AM DC