BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
We'll recap the past two episodes ahead here on the WRAP, along with music videos featuring two of the exes before they invaded Hawaii. And we'll also look at what the rest of the year has in store for covering our strongest beat including a subtle but noticeable change of sorts coming to this site. That's all to come before Episode 5 goes down in just a few hours.
THINGS TO KNOW
EPISODES 3 & 4
♥ ALICIA RETURNS: We begin with the most shocking ex entrance so far in Hawaii: when
those who watched her on AYTO Season 5 last year, Second Chances after that and in a way on Vendettas, they know that Alicia is one who can ignite some fires almost quickly. When he's summoned to the Beach of Doom at the beginning of Episode 3, Cory is expecting that Alicia would be showing up just two weeks after they broke up prior to him heading to Hawaii. He gets shafted when his ex doesn't show up and appears that he has dodged a bullet... but then comes an elevator.
When that comes up from below, Cory and Taylor are called to come on down to the Shack of Secrets, and Cory believes that with his ex having not down up he believes that there will be something most positive like rose petals will be waiting them below. Even before the elevator touches the ground, they know they are in deep trouble when they find that Alicia is waiting down below for them, and the first thing to come out of his mouth is: "Oh my god. My worst nightmare has happened. I'm going down there with the person I'm with, and my ex is right there."
There - and with the Tablet of Terror's help, Cory and Alicia have it out just too soon after the breakup and he and Taylor explain what has gone on here, with her also having a history with who they call "The Snake" with what happened with stealing Andre from her. Things get tense downstairs with all of them, and when Alicia pops up from above things get testy with Angela letting the house know why she doesn't like the girl she got into it the last time they were in the same room. And Cory then brings Alicia out afterwards to talk as she again loses her mind.
And when the house holds a party later on, Alicia spots Cory dancing with Taylor and she brings him aside to go off on him in asking "Why don't you like me?" Alicia then gets the waterworks flowing when Angela screams at her as Derrick becomes a teddy bear to who he shared a house with last year. Alicia then follows Cory around as Angela proclaims "That's your man!" to Taylor as the entrance of Alicia has certainly made this house hell.
♥ GETAWAY DATE TIME! Another couple who has clicked in the house from when they moved in has been Tor'i and Angela, who have been seeing each other from the start and things have continued to prosper even with the prospect of Angela getting into their business. The morning after the Alicia madness, the elevator pops up again with another message in the bottle, but this time it's for a different reason than sending someone down to the Shack.
Victoria reads the note to tell that Tor'i and Faith are being invited on something what those who watch AYTO love: a getaway date and an excursion for him as his lady begins to wonder why they were chosen for this date. A table of goodies awaits Faith and Tor'i where they take advantage of the compliments that's being offered of them, including him taking body shots off of her. It's no surprise that when the daters return from their escape that Angela is waiting for them.
♥ FIGHTING REVENGE: For the ensuing elimination ceremony (more on that in a moment), everyone goes around to discuss who they want to take the flight back, and Chris believes that despite Alicia's presence in the house he wants to send Chelsko home while also putting a Crush heart into the Snake's box. Before things get into the process of sending someone home things begin to sizzle with Angela deciding to go in on Chris, then Taylor joining in on the proceedings to tell the DJ to "Stay loyal!" All of a sudden, Faith calls those who are getting on Chris "bullies" when word gets to them about the date with Tor'i. He bolts away upon everyone finding out about his bodyshots on Faith, and Angela responds in only a way she can: standing up, going in on Faith and raging in showing why she's the pop-off queen of this house.
The biggest bombshell on the patio comes when Angela tells Tor'i that he's dead to her, and he tells Cory that no one had to keep the secret of his date with Faith. And upon them returning from the patio, Angela then decides to react by doing exactly what to do when something like this happens: by taking the opportunity to get back at the man you just lost with doing it with the one you broke up with that brought you to this house anyway. She retaliates by deciding to go into the confessional where Derrick is talking about what's transpired to the camera by turning this private moment into something more: kissing and hooking up. Of all the moments we've had, this is the biggest... but that's not all to this story.
Later on, the whirring elevator returns with another message in the bottle: this time it's Tor'i and Jasmine who have to head down to face the music... or make that, face a staple of every Challenge final. A puzzle awaits them to the two to piece together which will reveal to them what is being hidden from them until now which will reveal itself once the patchwork is complete. When they assemble a larger-than-life puzzle set like the ones you did when you were in elementary school at recess, the picture that comes up is of Angela & Derrick kissing in the confessional. Understandably, Tor'i is upset and will do what he can to send Derrick home. When it gets caught on camera, it's sure that whatever suspicious thing gets captured will get everyone talking.
♥ THE DJ AND TALL GUY: Outside of the two love triangles, there is also other drama with the others in the house too. Chris becomes the first of the OG's to get a second ex to move into the house when Haley arrives to join his first ex, Chelsko. Things get tense with him and Haley when he proceeds to call her "Chelsko" not one but four times, and she goes off on him for calling him that and she screams and cries.
But if Alicia's entrance was the most explosive so far in Hawaii, the most cordial one belongs to that of Cameron - Taylor's ex for a short time until Andre entered the picture again (and more well known as the one who dated perfect match Mikala on his AYTO season) but with a relatively calm greeting compared to all the exes so far. But Cam's eye seems to be focused on getting with Skyler or Victoria, considering that his most high-profile romance also came on MTV as well. It also makes the two ladies battle for not only Cam's heart but also Chase's as well. But...
♥ TRIPLE TROUBLE: Back to elimination: aside from the Faith & Angela fight, the 2nd Cut or Crush elimination sees something that we don't see much on The Challenge. The votes come down to Chelsko and Alicia, and by the way of luck and one crush vote that negates one of their cut marks, the originals' voting comes up as a tie. Just like what we've seen in the past with TJ and recently with The Miz, the other group - the exes - are then asked to vote out one of their own as a tiebreaker. That too also comes back as a tie, and instead of having something such as a joint deliberation of sorts and the two ladies pleading the case like what we saw on Vendettas, BOTH Chelsko and Alicia get sent packing. One interesting twist to this: Derrick decides to vote for Alicia based on the premise that if had she stayed in the house, she would've had to endure more of CorLer's romance and feels that it's best to keep her out of harm's way.
But again, that's not all: last week's episode not only features that second elimination that was carried over from the previous week (and delayed this WRAP until this week) sees a second Cut or Crush where beforehand Skyler brings Chase aside to tell him to keep her. That request goes on deaf ears as he votes for her to leave, one of the many votes for Skyler to get her eliminated over Derrick despite what took place earlier, and she instantly bolts away. Yes, a double elimination that sees THREE people instead of two going home... but things change tonight with the exes now holding power and the right to send an original packing. It'll be fun.
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#DCExtraTime
EXES IN VIDEOS
If you're one of those who checks us out regularly during The Challenge, sometimes the ExtraTime bit that follows our episode WRAP pays tribute of sorts to those who get eliminated. When Devin was eliminated on Dirty 30 last year, we posted him joining AYTO castmate Zak to help prank their fellow alumni, for example.
This time, we saw both Chelsko and Alicia get cut in the same elimination, and we found on YouTube videos featuring them. For the former, she is a singer and posted her latest video, "Masterpiece," on YouTube after she got the heave-ho. And for the ladder, before she was cast on AYTO5 Alicia was the leading lady in a video for local hip-hop artist Lu Rei. Those two are below.
♥ CHELSKO - "Masterpiece"
♥ LU REI - "Love" feat. ALICIA
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THE LOOK
SPANNING THE GLOBE, AND A CHANGE
Lastly, as you loyal visitors to this site know by now, last week DCBLOG got to celebrate our fifth anniversary, and the celebration will continue all month long as I plan to repost some of this site's most exciting stories now through the end of Champs vs. Stars III. Looking ahead things are now ramping up for what should be an exciting second half of 2018 in our trek around the MTV world… quite literally both across America and overseas.
● ARE YOU THE ONE 7 - Hawaii
Hawaii is not only host to the first season of Ex On The Beach and where a volcano and an spell of earthquakes continue amidst all of the big drama, it also will be a venue for our next MTV cycle. Our 50th state will also serve as hosts to Season 7 of Are You The One? - its record fourth time hosting the love experiment after Seasons 1, 3 and 4. And after taking over as series host last season - and straight off of hanging out with Teyana Taylor, Golden Barbie and friends at Coachella, the eclectic Terrence J. will emcee the quest for love & money in the islands. We wonder what kind of advice he and Romeo got to share over in the Valley.
● THE CHALLENGE 32 - South Africa
Meanwhile, if you have been noticing the lack of Twitter activity by many of our MTV friends in the past two months, it is of course for one reason: Season 32 of The Challenge has been filming for a while now, which as we know it has been titled "Final Reckoning." It is rumored to be taking place in the country of South Africa, where Inferno III took place back in 2007 and where the Bad Boys of Derrick, Abram, Kenny, Evelyn, Tonya and Real World Key West's Janelle took out the win. If you have been checking out TJ Lavin's Instagram lately, he has been hanging out with locals in that country who hosted the FIFA World Cup eight years ago, and without giving things away there's already been a lot of drama taking place. Of course, that comes this summer -- and if you saw a few of your favorites on MTV on Mother's Day, they were interviewed right there in South Africa.
● FLORIBAMA SHORE - Season 2
Closer to home, as Jersey Shore continues its comeback tour tonight, the new generation of fun in Floribama Shore has been swiftly going along with filming of its second season which coincides with this year's Spring Break madness in Panama City Beach. However, there may be more to Season 2 than just roaming the Florida beaches and clubs: on Twitter last week, the impresario of the Shore franchise behind the fourth wall, executive producer SallyAnn Salsano, hinted at a change of locale for Nilsa, Gus and friends… just as it was when the Jersey Shore crew took to Florida for Season 2 and Italy for Season 4. With respect to them, we won't reveal where they're at now, but to give you a clue: for overseas fans this location will be familiar to Shore fans everywhere as well as to longtime Real World fans here stateside.
● NEW LOCALES: Kentucky and Staten Island
And lastly, as MTV builds upon the success of the past year seeing viewership increase substantially, new shows are already in the pipeline to join these three shows and more in the coming year. Two of those newbies will be based in two different parts of this country: the spirit of Buckwild will take us down south yet again, but this time to the state of Kentucky as Made in Kentucky will feature what we loved about that show, and in a way Winter Break, to that great state. And in where Vinny, Nicole and Marie call home, Staten Island 10310 will introduce MTV viewers to this island long neglected by most of New York City but has lately produced some good castmates that now the time has come to being America to their world.
So, it's quite a big second half of 2018 that we have ahead for our MTV coverage, but it's worth noting about where they've come from. Last year, MTV hired Chris McCarthy as its new president to rejuvenate the channel and came to the realization that they're better off with reality TV programming than the scripted fare they've tried in recent years (with Teen Wolf and Awkward being their only hits in that genre), which now has an ideal home over at Paramount Network. We're glad that MTV is doubling down on this genre, and it's paid off for them big time.
What we've seen from him, program head Nina Diaz and their team the past year has seen them churn out fresh new content in adding Ex On The Beach, Siesta Key, reintroducing both the Shore franchise and Fear Factor, and other new projects in the pipeline to add to what they've already have with Teen Mom, Catfish and of course Are You The One. Our site's horizons have expanded too, from just covering Real World and The Challenge in our first year & half, to adding AYTO and EOTB to our lineup among other things.
It's with this in mind that with the expansion of their reality programming suite and our coverage that now is the perfect time to christen a new name for an old friend. Starting with covering Final Reckoning this summer, we will be rebranding our coverage of what is my strongest passion as Inside MTV Reality. We'll still use the Trifecta name in reference to The Challenge and any show that feeds cast members to the fifth major sport and that show, along with AYTO and EOTB right now, will still be given our top priority as it has since we started this ride. But with us having covered Season 1 of Floribama Shore, the early part of Winter Break and posts on other shows too, it seems ideal to make this change to reflect our expanded beat.
The change in the title of our coverage is the only big change: what remains the same is both the DCBLOG name and the exceptional coverage you come to expect from this site. We have a lot planned for what's coming up in the coming months, along with a recap of the past 18 months or so to come after the end of Survivor (which falls at the end of the traditional September to May TV season) and before Season 20 of Big Brother begins. So join us as we now go Inside MTV Reality with DCBLOG. And of course, thanks for your support.
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