BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
Coming up, we'll recap last week's Vendettas episode in looking at the week's top moments, reveal our top players of last week's premiere and forecast the chances for the field for the Champs vs. Stars final. And afterwards on ExtraTime, we'll trek back home to join the MTV world's newest parents for a visit to the parents... that's all ahead.
THINGS TO KNOW
VENDETTAS: The Premiere
● VENDETTAS ARRIVE: First, the competitors arrive in Spain just off the plane, and as always TJ Lavin brings them to a field hockey pitch to welcome them to Season 31 of this season. He gives them the format of what the game is about, what the competitors should expect, and reveals the prize money for this season which stands at $500,000 -- half of last season's $1 million purse but is the second largest prize fund in Challenge history. The host, for which I watched an Instagram Live of him at a BMX event at Orange County over the weekend, also makes mention of the Vendettas within the cast, including Cara Maria & Kailah, and Leroy's two vendettas in Veronica and Britni.
● AT THE ROCK: In a break of tradition, the players are told that instead of having time to relax and prepare for their challenge, instead they will get to do it almost right off the plane. The mission: a foot race which will conclude at the top of the 1400-foot Rock of Gibraltar in Spain, which is best known to Americans as the mountain that's depicted in the logo of financial firm, Prudential. It is also an overnight challenge, like those we have seen in every final since Rivals, starting with them racing to a checkpoint where they'll stand all night long. They, they must hold a box for about six hours, then running to the summit with those who get to the room first will receive a headstart on the others at sunrise while the others will go off in staggered starts. Those who make it to the top banks $25,000 while the last place guy and girl are eliminated and won't make it to the house.
● BRITISH INVASION: Being that they are the newbies of not only The Challenge but to American viewers, in a standard setup they would be the easy targets to send home first, but the only way to crash the bash is to win that first challenge -- something Leroy did on Rivals. On Vendettas, it's the British contingent, and it's Joss who bursts out of the blocks to a massive day 1 lead and ultimately hangs on to that cushion on the back-end of the two-day challenge to pocket $25,000 -- or roughly £18,400 to win that first challenge. Along the way, we are also introduced to Kyle and Rogan, who are both cocky and it's Cara Maria and Marie who are attracted to the former to the point where RiRi calls him "David Beckham" and he becomes attracted to Ri's "bum"... and eventually they share a kiss once they move in.
We also get to the meet the two British ladies in Kayleigh and Melissa, both here because of a violation of girl code on EOTB, and they finish safely to advance... it's not the case for Rogan after getting into serious pain on Day 2 and is eliminated along with Nicole R. In a surprise of sorts, Jemmye outpaces both Kailah and Cara along the way along with Nelson, while Zach's redemption tour continues in him finishing 2nd overall, and Nicole Z. finishes 1st for the girls and 4th overall.
● BA-NATALIE & BRADNI: During that all-nighter, Johnny Bananas finds himself in something he has not had in a long time: being attracted to one of the ladies in The Challenge as a newly single man... but it comes from the other MTV newbies in Big Brother. Natalie from BB 18 catches the attention of the one who hasn't had that much luck since what happened on another mountaintop more than a year ago, and once they and those who survived that first challenge arrive in Marbella where their house is located, the two begin to flirt. And it's Cara Maria who gives this budding pair the nickname of "Ba-Natalie."
Also in that checkpoint room in the first challenge, there's also another relative newbie who's also admiring a veteran: after her reasonably good rookie showing last year and off of her relationship with Chuck from her AYTO season, Britni comes in single for her sophomore challenge. For this season's returning star in Brad, who first appeared on MTV when Britni was still in elementary school in 2004 on Real World, who won Cutthroat six years later and who has come off of a divorce from his ex-wife Tori Hall. Also at the house, Brad and Britni begin to snuggle up to one another, and it's only a matter of time before they hook up... which they do in the privacy of the bathroom.
WINNERS' LIST
VENDETTAS: The Premiere
During this Challenge, we at DCBLOG will acknowledge those who had standout performances in each week by putting them on this weekly shortlist known as "The Winners' List." This week in honor of the recently-completed World Junior Championship in hockey that saw Canada win in Buffalo, we've picked three stars.
● JOSS: Our first star goes to Joss, who came in a rookie who would usually get eliminated if the veterans had their way, but because this is an individual-based season anyone could win and gain safety. He proved that very reasoning there in grand style and what we saw there in getting off to a fast start on the first day, then holding on to that lead on day two by winning comfortably as if he's a time-tested veteran. Joss makes a name for himself winning that first challenge and though it's early and a lot is still to come, he's surely won over fans on this side of the pond.
● NICOLE Z.: Despite the rookie-filled nature of her first Challenge, Nicole Z. made it to a final as a first-timer on Invasion, but she no doubt impressed us there last year in Asia winning two missions and the Bloodbath. She definitely comes here much more fit than on her first appearance, and in a first challenge where everyone were running for themselves in a gender-neutral race, Nicole finished 4th ahead of all the female competitors and all but one men's finalist. That is a big statement to everyone that what happened last year was no fluke and that Nicole is here to win.
● DEVIN: Given that his last Challenge ended much earlier than expected in not making it to the end of an MTV show for the first time, Devin came here with much to prove... he bragged about it in his confessionals of how he's become more fit than he was going into Rivals III. With him finishing in the top 5 for the guys and inside the Top 10 overall, Big D is proving that his short Dirty 30 stint was just a flash in the pan and him finishing ahead of Bananas, Cory and most everyone else is a word to everyone that he's in this for the long haul more than they think at first.
FINAL ORDER - By Gender
GUYS GIRLS
1 JOSS NICOLE Z.
2 ZACH NATALIE
3 SHANE KAM
4 BRAD CARA MARIA
5 DEVIN MELISSA
6 LEROY JEMMYE
7 CORY KAILAH
8 NELSON SYLVIA
9 VICTOR VERONICA
10 TONY BRITNI
11 KYLE ALICIA
12 EDDIE MARIE
13 BANANAS KAYLEIGH
14 ROGAN NICOLE R.
BLUE - Challenge Winner ($25,000)
RED - Eliminated
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STRATEGY ROOM
CHAMPS VS. STARS - MAKING A CASE
As the ones who won last week's challenge on Champs vs. Stars, Bananas, Emily, Josh and Justina all have big choices on their hands with who will join them for the final to battle for $150,000 for causes much bigger than playing for themselves. First, evaluations of the finalists...
● Bananas might've lacked in the opening Vendettas challenge, but it is a much different story on Champs vs. Stars: Johnny won for the Champs guys to return to his customary place of a finals berth. He emphatically won that arena when he & Wes butted heads, and after what we saw with his friend Matt coming in during the foosball match in support of Special Olympics, he should be a favorite with a bit more support than he's gotten in the past year or so because of this gesture.
● Emily returned from her few years' Challenge hiatus after her win on Rivals II five years ago as she's become a fitness icon, but it's as if she never left in how she's become the leading female on this group despite what the Champs have had to go through on Champs vs Stars. She has either won or earned safety in all the missions and will make it again into the final without being eliminated, so it would be impossible to think that she won't win for the girls come tomorrow night.
● It wasn't up until last week's mission that Josh had finally won himself something for a Stars team that had seen the Champs quite literally dominate an entire Challenge spinoff season with just two arena wins for their side. But in him putting up the fastest time in the pool for the Stars guys, he finally had a chance to stand out to prove why he was cast for this season and put his athleticism to work. It's because of that that Josh is in this final and may help him along tomorrow.
● Michelle earned that female Stars spot in the final, and in a game where momentum is always your friend it seems that she has acquired it at the very right time. In that last Arena elimination, she faced off against Aneesa in a cage match and given her experience in the UFC Octagon she was expected to win, and she won that battle. Her being able to handle the physical part of this game may help her handle the tougher parts of the final, depending upon who joins them.
For the field who awaits their decision tomorrow, it is indeed a tough call...
● CHAMPS: CT, Tori, Wes, Zach are waiting for Johnny's decision of who to bring to the final, though Zach verbally has conceded his spot to the two other vets knowing that they are much stronger than him... same goes for Tori despite her awesome run. For CT, he made it to the end last year only to lend Wes his support, but in coming off of finals berths on Invasion and Dirty 30, he would love to get another finals shot after what we saw last week.
The dream scenario, of course, is for Bananas to choose Wes and the matchup everyone has wanted of them having these two go in a final instead of having an elimination that turned out to be more like kids play than the physical battle we hoped they would have. Wes was in that Pros final finishing out of the winners circle, and would love to put a final bow on this rivalry by winning not just their first elimination battle but also their finals rubber match.
● STARS: It's a much deeper pool for the Stars to pick from for Josh and Michelle to choose from, though like Zach and Tori, Ariane has voluntarily conceded knowing that after what she went through in last week's challenge she may not survive this final week.
In essence, it's basically a toss up among Matt, Justina and Kim. Only one of them have been into arenas, and there Matt volunteered himself to give the Stars a better chance in that first week battle vs. Cory over Riff Raff and the WNO star won that battle handily. Justina has had a stellar season in impressing us with stellar performances during this mini-season and what she's been able to do not only makes a strong case for Michelle to pick her but also become a permanent Challenge staple too. And there's also Kim who has been on that alliance, but it all comes down to who the Stars pick to join them tomorrow.
If I was to pick the third person of who you think would have a better shot in the final, this is how I would handle things...
▪ For the Champs, if you want someone who can get through the tougher parts of a final that won't be as rigorous as what we saw to begin Vendettas, than Wes should be chosen after CT struggled with the endurance phase in the final of Dirty 30 and also Invasion despite him winning.
▪ For the Stars, it would be a toss-up between Matt and Justina given how he's been able to exceed expectations, and her strong season as a whole. This is so much a 50/50 prospect between those two (I don't think Kim will be chosen) that there's not even a slight favorite... it's a coin flip.
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#DCExtraTime FOLLOW-UP
CHEY, CORY & RYDER K.: MEET THE PARENTS
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| IG @ThatsRyderK |
Of course, that happens to be Cheyenne, Cory and baby Ryder K., whose news of him revealing that he's the baby daddy that broke the Internet just before Christmas and made an already good-sized lead-up to Vendettas a much bigger one. And in this Follow-Up, it was more than a week after that revelation that they and Ryder spent their his first full week as the MTV world's newest dad by making the trek to meet his parents up in Michigan.
Cory spent the first two decades of his life in the Mitten, as the locals call it, and the embedded video below saw them trek up to the snow in the Midwest to spend part of their Christmas break in his hometown. There, the daddy brought them to his house, showed pictures of his childhood and when he was a baby himself, visited his old high school and a local ice rink to take a pic with Santa, and of course meeting the Whartons.
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And on that heartwarming note, which we hope you had a tissue box handy watching that, that will wrap it up for us here this week. As is always the case, there is a lot more to the story of this week and the past few weeks in the MTV Trifecta than what we could write on here, and for more check out the following long list of podcasts and webcasts...
● Challenge Mania with Derrick K. & Scott Yager has been able to offer fans with not one, but FOUR big podcasts over the holidays and after the premiere of Vendettas. First, Darrell joined the duo to discuss his comeback year and his Challenge career, followed shortly after by Kailah as she previewed the new season and discussed Cara Maria, football and other matters. Last week, the last combatants in the Arena, Aneesa and Michelle, talked Champs vs. Stars, and a few days ago Brad joined the guys on being the latest to return from a long hiatus. All those, plus chats with Tony, Jemmye, Hunter and Pros finalist Shawn Merriman awaits on Podbean and iTunes.
● A few weeks ago, AF Chicago was joined by Leroy as he and the show's hosts discussed his entire MTV career which began on Real World Back to Vegas, right up to Dirty 30 and obviously the events that surrounded him and Camila. And before Vendettas, Johnny joined podcast hosts and Grammy-winning artists Mulberry Lane as he discussed this Challenge season and all else to a podcast audience a little larger than that of the MTV crowd.
● After the Vendettas premiere, avid Challenge fan and sports bets-maker Drew Scott was joined by Shane and Marie as discussed that first act and previewed the rest of the season on his podcast. And also check out his chats with those from the past which -- save for Abram -- if you remember Sophia from Road Rules: The Quest, Cara from Aneesa's Real World Chicago season, Brooke from Denver or Nick from Hollywood, pat yourself on the back... Drew has talked to them there.
● Last month as Dirty 30 wrapped up and Champs vs. Stars began, Weekly Sitdown was joined by not one but two members of the Champs in Jenna and Tori as they discussed those two seasons with the shows hosts. And fellow podcast Challenged ran into Britni and veteran KellyAnne at the Chicago benefit event which you can listen to here, along with The Brain Candy Podcast talking to RW Cancun & two-time Challenger Emilee on their Pateron premium offering.
● The final month of 2017 and last week's Vendettas premiere offered plenty to talk about for Rob Has A Podcast and hosts Brian Cohen, Ali Lasher and Adam Buongiovanni, as any combination of the three and Adam's twin brother Nick discussed last month's AYTO6 finale and reunion, and the first act from Europe.
● After Are You The One? Season 6 wrapped up, AfterBuzz TV's Lem Gonsalves, Nicollette Gaona, Melody Rose, and Nino Llanera were joined by lovebirds Clinton & Uche as they discussed their relationship and everything else from New Orleans and the reunion. The foursome will return to cover Ex on the Beach U.S. down the road after a season where just about all the cast joined them during the fall and became ABTV's top-rated reality podcast.
● And before the season premiere, Andrew Kirk talked to fellow blogger Allan Aguirre about his blog work, looked back on The Challenge as a whole and previewed this Vendettas season on YouTube. And along with his customary and acclaimed previews of the entire cast and episode recaps, check out Allan's latest post as he also dug deep into the archives and found something that's so 2000's... check it out there.
We'll be back here next weekend to cover Week 2 of Vendettas as more of the aspects that will turn the game upside down are revealed, along with the finales of Champs vs. Stars and Floribama Shore. Also in the coming days, we'll look at MTV's hit freshman series Siesta Key as last year's summer sensation preps to return in a week with more drama and romance in paradise. And as the TV Critics Association Press Tour continues in Los Angeles this week, we hope to get an idea about when Ex on the Beach U.S. premieres along with those who battled The Challenge on Fear Factor in Shredders finally getting their premier date too, so stay tuned for all of that.
As for this site, if you're new to us be sure to bookmark DCBLOG for our distinctive and incisive look at the MTV reality world from our exclusive Pulse of the episodes to our ExtraTime stories and our usual reviews of the episodes like this one. And make sure to share our links on your favorite social media platforms to help spread the word to your fellow fans and let them sample our outstanding content and look at the Trifecta as only we can offer. And let this blogger know about my work by dropping a line at @DC408Dxtr, in the comment boxes here and via email.
For now, that is how we see it Inside the MTV Trifecta. Hope you have a good week ahead and enjoy this week's episodes including tonight's Floribama Shore finale. Thanks and see you then.
- I AM DC
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