DC ExtraTime: The Miracle Kids, and the New Dad

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

With the new take on love known as Ex On The Beach giving those who watch Jersey Shore Family Vacation a chance to stick around afterwards (and many of you have done just that and getting buzz from Ellen DeGeneres to The Soup on E!), it's only fitting that the show that brought romance to the MTV reality scene and helped to create what we at DCBLOG call the MTV Trifecta is making a big mark this spring. Those who will be part of the latest chapter of that show will no doubt have a tough act to follow following the biggest underdog story to surprise this community since a Road Rules outcast became a Gauntlet queen 15 years ago.
   Are You The One? is responsible for giving us one of the ten singles who have moved into the EOTB house - Taylor, several of the exes who we'll be seeing as this maiden voyage goes along including two from her own cast, and even three alumni to Champs vs. Stars despite them not being champs themselves. One of those people there also happens to Derrick's ex and, as was revealed on the Dirty 30 reunion, who also had a phone-hacking moment similar to what Angela did to his phone in the Shack of Secrets. Another of Taylor's Season 5 castmates -- one who hooked up with the man she's dating right now and has hatred for her -- is still to come, but they are notorious for being the only AYTO cast to leave the show with no money... but after what we saw with Kam going to the final on the most recent Challenge they are pretty much alright.
   For some background to this story, you gotta go through AYTO's whole history, which we have covered every step of its entire six-season run on here. Season 1 took place in these Hawaiian islands in 2014, where another ex who we'll see later, Shanley, first made her mark from the outset. Her most notable moment came midway through that season when she got into AYTO's first big blog-up with someone who would go on to do three Challenges, Simone, just after the most intense Truth Booth ever. Season 2 introduced us to two girls who then did two Challenges, Briana and Christina, the always honest Southerner Ellie and her tattooed perfect match Nate, and two who we last saw being spotted on Dr. Phil, Brandon and Jasmine. We'll later see Cameron from Season 4 who was part of a notable romance with his match Mikala before that ended badly, and Joe from the most recent season of last fall... and if you watched his season then you know who his ex is.

While Season 5 provided us with a fifth of this entire EOTB cast and Shanley's Season 1 cast being the most beloved for that they they have the only perfect match who are together, married and are parents in Amber & Ethan Diamond, the AYTO cast that has accomplished a lot since their season aired is Season 3 - who like the Originals won in our 50th state. The CV that the group as a whole has racked up since we first saw three years ago is so decorated, you might say that they have the most intriguing resume of any MTV cast this decade, and no doubt have the AYTO equivalent of what Johnny Bananas' Real World Key West cast have been able to accomplish.
   Until Joe's Season 6 cast ascended into "Eleventh Heaven" last December in New Orleans, it was Season 3 that pulled off the biggest comeback in AYTO history - and one of the biggest shocks in recent MTV history. Faced with potentially being the first cast to lose, Devin Walker went into his celebrated bag of tricks, popped out a quarter from his pocket and put together red Solo cups to use his head and utilize his playbook. Their goal was to try and figure out how to get from 2 lights where they were most of that season in Week 9, to 10 beams in Week 10 and win the jackpot, which was $750,000 after they recorded a blackout that cost them a quarter of their $1 million bounty. He put together a complex strategy that, in the end, netted them eight lights in the last matchup which, until last December, was the largest 1-week netgain, and the cash too.
   Devin is, of course, the most famous member of that Season 3 cast who pulled out that "Miracle in the Islands" and gave them our Underdog Award in our 2015 Reality Debrief. And after making the Rivals III final as a rookie and winning the AYTO spinoff Second Chances, he has brought his game to Champs vs. Stars after famously taking out his rival Johnny Bananas in elimination on Vendettas. But the apprentice of master manipulator and JB's biggest nemesis Wes is hardly the only person from that cast who has made some headlines... in fact, it's a lot of them:

♥ The girl Big D was with all season and who were in the most intriguing relationship of that season - and one of the most memorable in AYTO history, Hooters girl Kiki Cooper, first made waves even before she went on the show when gossip sites discovered that she was one of the ex-girlfriends of Ryan Edwards, himself an ex to Teen Mom OG's Maci Bookout who last month got 'cuffed again for breaking his probation order on a past heroin possession charge.

♥ Kiki's perfect match, Mike Cresecenzo, had a tumultuous relationship with Popoff Queen Amanda Garcia including a fight on the finale where he left the house afterwards, then became the boyfriend of Derrick's ex Tori who then went to Real World Bad Blood, left that house and broke up with the blonde who dressed up as Hulk Hogan on this week's Champs vs. Stars when she found that he cheated on her with a roommate in Seattle.

♥ After that Week 2 blackout, Southerner Britni Thornton found herself in love with Hawaiian bad boy Chuck Mowery, and upon breaking up with him after over a year together then went on to do the past two Challenges, and this winter landed a champion who emerged from both an 8-year Challenge hiatus and a divorce of his wife who he met on MTV, Brad on Vendettas.

♥ Canadian filmmaker & funny man Zak Longo scored Season 3's other blonde bombshell in New Yorker (and Nick Jonas fan) Hannah Rathbun, and are still together as they have documented their world travels for their hundreds of thousands of social media followers, and with help from Devin, Tori, Mikala and others prank called fellow AYTO alumni.

♥ Amanda, Nelson Thomas and Hunter Barfield have all done multiple Challenges together, with Nelly T. making it to the Invasion final and almost stole a victory from CT (and who also got to hang with Jerry Springer and Steve Aoki), and her & the ladder also making deep runs on The Challenge, the ladder especially. And Devin's match, Rashida Zakiya, partnered with him to win Second Chances... not to mention turned an AYTO After Show stage into a hip-hop club.

♥ And of course, by way of what happened last winter when this EOTB season was filmed and was revealed to tremendous interest on social media before Christmas -- Devin's Rivals III partner Cheyenne Floyd shares custody of her 1-year-old baby son Ryder K. with Cory.

That brings us to the latest member of the Miracle Kids to bring some buzz to this vaunted group: in that last matchup, Britni was paired up with Texan Austin Sheets, who when we met him was an former Army member from the Dallas area. He was one of those who wasn't involved in much drama or screen time on Season 3, but did get some heat for opting to choose to play for dates rather than go with strategy in one of their getaway challenges - shocking considering his background..
   Aside from a collection of designer watches, high-end cars and big estates that would make you think he is a rapper, Austin is an entrepreneur who has a bit of intelligence beneath those tattoos. When we saw him on AYTO, he was part of network marketing company Team Fusion whose Facebook synopsis read, "We empower people to dream big, strive for their highest potential with hard work and perseverance achieve their goals and dreams!" And those who've been to his social media pages have seen videos of words of wisdom and thoughts to live by from the man himself, who has also taken the stage to speak to fellow network marketing enthusiasts, post-MTV.
   And this past week, Austin revealed some extra news as well: on Instagram, he posted a caption that read, "Nixon Austin Sheets, 8.5lbs and 20inches. 4/24/18."  He joined Ms. Chey Not Shy as parents among the Season 3 cast, as well as not only Amber & Ethan but also Gianna & Hayden of Season 5, among many others, in those who not only have been on AYTO but also found the love of their lives in new babies. Kiki (who was paired with him in their blackout) wrote, "So happy for you!!!!!!", while Zak added, "I’m a Godfather 👋🏽😂." Our congrats go to Mr. Sheets.

Ima dad now. pic.twitter.com/nhkTaav0EQ

— Austin Sheets (@in_my_SHEETS) April 26, 2018

- I AM DC