DC WRAP Double Shot: Challenge XXX Final Pt. 1 and AYTO6 Episode 7

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

As you all settle into this short work week, welcome back again to our DCBLOG look Inside the MTV Trifecta as we look back at last week in the world of The Challenge and Are You The One? before things get down to business tomorrow night. Last week, we saw the final two spots determined for the unprecedented $1 million final of Dirty 30 in a new location on the former, while on the ladder we saw one power couple break up and more start to sizzle as they try to reverse their fortunes in Louisiana.
   Coming up, we'll delve into the Strategy Room to reveal our Power Rankings for The Challenge XXX final with less than 24 hours before we decide champions. Plus, we'll also recap last week's Are You The One? with our matchup chart and analysis, and the results of our three polls where we once again recorded double-digits for our cumulative polling. And then on ExtraTime, we'll show you some of the best from Halloween with the MTV family... so stay here with us, will you?

 STRATEGY ROOM 

DIRTY 30 FINALE: POWER RANKINGS

As is tradition, we will be recapping this week's episode -- last elimination and part 1 of the final -- on next week's WRAP which will be devoted almost solely on the last act of this long Challenge season. And as the Dirty 30 final begins, it is a close race with the field being tightly packed as they go about moving the rocks around. It also has a say in our finale Power Rankings…

GUYS

1. DERRICK

2. JORDAN

3. CT

GIRLS

1. CARA MARIA

2. CAMILA

3. TORI

Given the experience of the two champions in the female field, it won't be a surprise is either Cara or Camila win and it should be a race between those two… obviously fans will be rooting for the former to win more than the ladder. To be able to win three finals in a four season stretch -- Champs vs. Pros included -- will explain something in being able to lay claim to be top female Challenger and have a second Challenge crown. But don't be surprised if Tori takes it out -- it's her first Challenge yes, but her experience in the AYTO house and then here has helped her, and will use them to her advantage.

   It's a much different story for the guys: all three have won before, and two are going for back to back titles, while the third is looking for a fourth ring. Derrick has the momentum from beating Bananas, CT has an edge by his size despite just squeaking by Nelson overall in last season's final, and Jordan has been in this ringer many times, and just barely got himself to this game. It's much more competitive in that field and whatever direction the game goes in that three-way battle, there will be people happy about the result.

As it was last season on Invasion, this Dirty 30 is a timed final over several stages, and those who cross the finish line first at the end of all this won't necessarily be the one who takes home the $450,000 check. Those who watch the Tour de France each summer know that Chris Froome didn't have to finish 1st in each stage to win his three titles -- just have the lowest cumulative time, cycle moderately or reasonable well, win those crucial time trials or be close to the leading pack at the mountain stages, and you'll be atop the podium wearing the yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées in Paris just as the Brit has done recently.

   Here, this will benefit those who might not have a chance on paper of winning first, but then start to gain momentum as the final progresses. For now, CT is struggling to get through this first phase of the final as him not being in prime shape has caught up to him, and Tori has been taking the lead for her & him. And this comes as it's become clear that the two other teams have been battling for top spot and looks to be that way here as we end phase one.

   With this cycling-style final format, CT and Tori aren't out of it yet, and this is something that we saw before. Nelson beat CT in the endurance phase on Invasion to actually make the Bostonian's win much closer than it turned out, and the same went for Johnny R. beating Bananas in Free Agents head-to-head to garner second, same for Nany over Laurel on the mountain. All those who are seemingly behind here is to stay persistent and hope the opponents falter late to open the door for the others to take advantage.

   There is also, by our look ahead, a Double Cross to add time to the other players time, which was the difference in seeing Ashley win last season, and if Tori is able to win that Double Cross she can make the veteran ladies work harder to get to their second win and give her a shot at following Ashley into the winner's circle. And CT can gain the XX and make a seemingly insurmountable lead for one of the guys disappear and make it more competitive going into the late stages.

   Even though we've given our final Power Rankings, it's so hard to tell who can win this that we won't even make a prediction of who reigns supreme. All we hope here is that this will be a good to great final, and that everyone finishes, gains their paycheck and say that they've completed this grueling final and be part of a season as memorable as Season 30. With that, here's our penultimate polls…

POLLS  @DC408Dxtr   

Which guy do you want to win #Dirty30?

● CT                                           49% 

● DERRICK                                  46%
● JORDAN                                    5%

   OUT OF 57 VOTES

And for the girls… 
Who do you want to win #Dirty30?

● CAMILA                                     2%

● CARA MARIA                            37%
● TORI                                        61% 

   OUT OF 54 VOTES

THINGS TO KNOW

#AYTO EPISODE 7

♥ MAKING NEW MOVES: Over in New Orleans, the cast has been dealing with just getting a single beam at the 5th matchup, and are no doubt in panic mode. They realize that the no-match couples should wake up to look at where this game is really going, know that they are the reason why the house hasn't been playing this game and should begin to see other people.
   First, Anthony decides to end things with Geles knowing that this has been ruining the house's chances, while Clinton and Uche also figure out that they should see other people too. Later, the rest of the house does what other AYTO casts do: go around the place and get to know new people with the hope that they are worthy enough of being matches. This session of "Speed Dating" is exactly what the house needed to do at this stage, though the question of whether it's too late to do this will depend upon what happens in this back end. Those like Tyler & Nicole get to explore their connections more, along with Clinton & Geles and Michael & Uche.
♥ GOING BANANAS: With them being down this late in the game, it's no surprise that the house finds themselves in a state of panic, tensions running high and patience running thin. First, Clinton becomes UFC referee Herb Dean in having to take Kareem away from wanting to get into a fight with Tyler, Ethan and Joe, which makes the house realize where this game is going. However, it seems that Nurys and Malcolm can't keep their eyes off of each other as they've forgotten about the nipple-gate of a couple weeks ago, even after their no-match in the Truth Booth. When news of them kissing starts to circulate, Diandra finds out about it and then decides to lose it and begins to throw bananas across the kitchen towards Nurys, when in reality they aren't matches with the Drummer. Again, Clinton drags her away.
♥ BAD NEWS & GOOD NEWS: Given their fascination with one another going all the way back to the beginning, Keith and Alexis have been one of those power couples. They avoid the Malcolm drama by heading into the place of relaxation, privacy and infrared cameras capturing it for us viewers in the Boom Boom Room. And this comes as they are one of the two couples that win the getaway date for making one of the two dishes that delighted Terrence J. in this hub of food and dining. They are then voted into the Truth Booth... only for that to come up short: 0-6 in the lasers.
   This latest blow to their hopes serve as a reality check and along with speed dating as written above, at Matchup the group decides to return to five previous pairs from the first four matchups and keep Audrey & Shad together, along with five new pairs. The result: four beams, and the group finds themselves back in the game with at least a much easier night's sleep and spirits lifted.

 AYTO MATCH MATH 

AFTER 6 TRIES...

At three-fifth's of the way through, this Season 6 cast finds themselves in a deeper hole than their first five predecessors: no Truth Booth match through six tries, and having had more combinations -- more than 2,100 -- than any other group going into last week's Truth Booth according to AYTO Math.
   In fact, even before Keith & Alexis went into the chamber of lasers, they already had them as an inferred no match when Clinton & Geles were a more feasible chance at getting chosen had the players used their heads. However, them getting four beams will more than do for their confidence, as they now have over 450 possibilities left. At this Week 6 stage, this is larger than the 265 of Season 3, roughly the same number for Season 2, the 165 of last season's cast, the eight that Season 4 got (the week of Sam & Alyssa's match), and the 3 that the Originals had in Season 1.
   AYTO Math has no inferred perfect or non-matches on their chart, while In Touch Mag's estimates 71 solutions with them thinking Anthony & Keyana, Ethan & Jada, Audrey & Shad and Nicole & Tyler are those four beams... two of them have 80% chances to be among those. And no doubt, if Nicole & Tyler or Ethan & Jada make their way to the date, then the house will be willing to throw them into the Truth Booth. But again, they are entering Week 7 and we're entering Episode 8 of this season... perhaps they could crack the code early.

MATCHUP 6 (Girls' Pick) 
♥ Keyana & Anthony (2nd - MC #4)
♥ Alexis & Joe
♥ Uche & Michael
♥ Geles & Clinton
♥ Zoe & Keith
♥ Audrey & Shad (4th - MC's 1, 4 & 5)
♥ Nurys & Kareem
♥ Diandra & Dimitri (2nd - MC #1)
♥ Alivia & Malcolm (2nd - MC #4)
♥ Nicole & Tyler (3rd - MC's 1 & 3)
♥ Jada & Ethan (3rd - MC's 1 & 2)
  FOUR BEAMS ▲3  SEASON HIGH

MATCHUP PROGRESS       

♥ 1st:  3
♥ 2nd: 1
♥ 3rd:  2
♥ 4th:  3 
♥ 5th:  1 

♥ 6th:  4 
  ● Behind... Season 1: SIX (Unchanged)
  ● Ahead of... Season 2: 2 (Blackout), Season 3/TWO
  ● Tied With... Seasons 4 and 5/FOUR Beams

POLL      

Of these pairs, who should the 

#AreYouTheOne cast send next to 
the #TruthBooth?

● AUDREY & SHAD                      47% 

● NICOLE & TYLER                      27%
● ALIVIA & MALCOLM                  10%
● KEYANA & ANTHONY               16%

   OUT OF 62 VOTES

▪       ▪       ▪

#DCExtraTime

A TEAM MTV HALLOWEEN: 2017

This year, Halloween once again gave people of all ages reason to mark the spookiest night of the year: for those at work, they got off early to help the youngsters dress up, and for them and those young at heart a chance to dress up in simple and ridiculous costumes for the purpose of having a good time and to go around the neighborhood to ask one question, "Trick or Treat?"
   For me, it was perhaps as productive of Halloween 2017 as in previous years: only about less than ten times did I give out trick or treaters candy because October 31 fell on a Tuesday and of course, when you have school the next day the kids had to be home early.  And although I did not have a TV or valid live stream of The Challenge handy, it did mean that my SnapChat did get some airplay as did what I do sometimes in tweeting out song selections as I sometimes do on DCNOW.

Enough about my Halloween night: we have looked over the pool of over 40 people from the Trifecta community who dressed up for Halloween parties this year, and have singled out, in no particular order, thirteen Halloween costumes that stood out to us for this year's crop. Through the magic of Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat, here are our selections...

ASHLEY M. as Playboy Playmate (IG/@MTVAshleyBrooke)

KEITH as a Karate Fighter (IG/@KeithK93)

JOE as a Teddy Bear
(SC @PrinceOfNorway)

AYTO 5's TAYLOR (IG/@taylor.selfridge)

AYTO 3's KAYLA & STACEY
as Wives (IG/@stacebabie)

SHANE R. (Snap/@ShaneJacob)

TRISHELLE & husband as characters from
Game of Thrones (IG/@TrishelleC)

ZOE as a Prison Inmate (IG/@ZoeInWonderland)

AVEREY as Pocahontas (IG/@AvereyTressler)

KELLYANNE (IG/@KellyAnneJudd)

AMANDA (Snap/@AmandaGee_13)

AYTO 5's CASANDRA & MIKE (IG/@Crank_That_Cas)

AYTO 1's RYAN as Aladdin (of course!)  (IG/@RyanMalaty)

▪   ▪   ▪   ▪   ▪

And on that note of sharing with you those costumes, we will wrap it up for this week here -- all ahead of what goes down starting tomorrow night. To prep you for what happens there, sample these following webcasts...
● Before last week's episode, Jordan joined wellness expert Alexa Silvaggio as he discussed not only this Challenge season and his time on MTV, but also his role on OWN's If Loving You is Wrong, and his motorcycle brand. Check out that podcast here at alexasilvaggio.com, plus an interview from last month by reality TV expert Kate Casey with Challenge and Real World creator Jon Murray at Art19.com, among other notable podcasts.
● Check out Rob Has A Podcast and its MTV coverage with Brian Cohen (@CohenBrian_), Ali Lasher (@LashTweets) and Adam Buongiovanni (@AdamBongo) with discussions of last week's episodes of AYTO and The Challenge, plus the site's extensive coverage of Survivor with blog posts, podcasts and much more.
● Last week, AfterBuzz TV continued their season of bringing on those from this AYTO season when Uche joined the panel and AYTO alum Asaf as they discussed episode 7, the first half of the season and, of course, her relationship with Clinton and the battle for his attention with Jada. Check out that podcast here, plus guest spots from other AYTO alums and castmates plus The Challenge and more on ABTV.

On the topic of Jordan, at midweek before we cover this week's episodes, ExtraTime will take a longer look at Jordan's high-profile role playing a police officer for one of Tyler Perry's great creations. And with our usual reminder to bookmark this site and to follow DCNOW's live Twitter content at @DC408DxNow and at #DCChallenge, we are just beginning a busy November around here to cover the Dirty 30 finale and reunion, the homestretch of Are You The One?, the beginning of Champs vs. Stars and a look at new series Floribama Shore, among other things. And help us by sharing our links on social media and let your fellow fans enjoy all that we do here.
   That's how we look at it Inside the MTV Trifecta for this week... thank you for checking us out. Until we talk on Twitter and back here in a few days, see you then and good luck to our finalists.

- I AM DC