DC ExtraTime: Going Viral with Shanley

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

Thursday marks the end of the first half of the 2018 MTV Reality year: first comes the season finale of Jersey Shore Family Vacation as the originals party it up one more time in Miami, followed by the final act of a most eventful first season of the American adaptation of international MTV format Ex On The Beach. Both have brought record viewership to MTV as the channel's renaissance continues as the programming that made it famous is entertaining a new generation of fans, with the momentum set to continue in new seasons of The Challenge, Floribama Shore, Fear Factor, Catfish and Wild 'N Out, plus other new shows ready to be unleashed this summer as is the return of Real World to come in the launch of MTV Studios later this year.
   The first time that MTV delved its feet into the sub-genre of romantic reality television since A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila came in the same islands of Hawaii that's hosting EOTB, when the first season of Are You The One? debuted four years ago. It has the series' only perfect match that has stayed together and have wedding rings and babies in Amber & Ethan Diamond, while the invasion of two pairs from that season to Battle of the Exes II the next year set the stage for the crossover into The Challenge of other reality series. And when we get closer to the fall, we'll be returning to our 50th state for Season 7 of AYTO, with Terrence J. again hosting following his gig hosting the BET Awards red carpet show over the weekend.

Another memorable member of that class is part of the group of exes who invaded Hawaii and cast a looming cloud over the vacation of the singles in Hawaii. And perhaps, by the time the last Crush ceremony takes place later tonight, she may leave the big island with another AYTO alum going along with her in Cameron from Season 4 after they became "friends with benefits" during the chaos of the past two weeks in the EOTB villa.
   We first saw Shanley McIntee as that girl from Indiana described as a free-spirit and one who wasn't having much romantic luck on the Indiana University campus. From the outset, she clicked with a Navy worker from Virginia, Chris Tolleson, and the two instantly clicked and seemed destined that they would be in for the time of their lives. That is, until they were sent to the very first Truth Booth in the first episode, and returned a No Match much to everyone's surprise. But in a harbinger of what we would see on later seasons of this show, the two stayed together even after they got to see how much of a b!t©h a small space with lasers can have on a game of $1 million and true love.
   But her most notable moment came in the very first instance that a Truth Booth held just as much high stakes as the ultimate pressure cooker of a matchup ceremony. In Week 6, Chris was sent in as a scheme by the house to try and separate him and Shanley to help the house's cause. They paired him with someone he didn't spend as much time with, Canadian native Paige Brendel, and when the words "Perfect Match" appeared on screen, it led Shanley to go after the one who launched the efforts, Simone Kelly... and the fight divided and then brought together a house that ultimately won that cash. And the day after, my friend Andrew Kirk landed an exclusive interview with Shanley.
   But in between the time between that memorable first season of AYTO and her return to Hawaii for Ex On The Beach - with a stop in Melbourne, Australia last year for Second Chances with her perfect match Adam Kuhn (the one who was obsessed with Brittany on that original season), Shanley pursued the one gig she's been wanting for so long and has been pursuing since: hosting. And we have happened to have found her first work post-AYTO, which brings us to another MTV tradition...

Scour the world of YouTube and other video websites, and you'll likely be inundated with plenty of videos that will make you want to laugh out loud. And those who watch an end of week tradition in Ridiculousness with Rob Dyrdek or longtime Sunday staple America's Funniest Home Videos know that there are ample opportunities to do just that… so are many other websites whose goal is to amuse you and remind everyone that there is a something more important than a social issue that can divide the country and dominate your timelines.
   A site that prides itself on offering people a chance to let out some laughs is JukinVideo. It is unique in the viral video landscape, as its Facebook synopsis states, "JukinVideo only takes uploads from original owners. In an age when online videos are ripped, recycled, and uploaded to countless different websites on a daily basis, JukinVideo insists on uploads from original video owners ONLY."  And in that day of videos being reposted in record numbers, Jukin makes sure to not clutter timelines with videos already posts on YouTube and rival sites but showcases original work on its site.

In 2015, the site reached the precious 1 million subscribe milestone on its way to today having 1.7 million subs on its YouTube channel, and its videos have garnered 825 million hits. And during that year, Shanley joined the JukinVideo team in teaming with host (and who at the time was JV's Audience Development Manager) Ricardo Marquez in hosting fan interactive show Jukin 301 on YouTube and Facebook Watch. There, the two got to become Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon and discuss & debate which video should receive the status of clip of the day.
   Below are four YouTube videos where Shanley and Ricardo (who, as this is being posted on finale day, has just announced his new web venture, the delicious digital brand Crispy Chicken) got to watch videos of -- among other things -- pranks going wrong, some awkward party tricks, a naked man getting tasered, and Halloween costumes.

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