DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - Fear Before Floribama

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

In an MTV sense, the past year has been nothing but a resurgence that has taken the channel to the enviable position of the fastest-growing network on cable. Double-digit viewership growth has bucked industry trends and made viewers want their MTV in a whole new way.
   The choice MTV and new channel boss Chris McCarthy made was to send the scripted content it tried out and had little results to its new natural habitat at the newly-launched Paramount Network, and return to what made the channel famous in the first place. That would be non-scripted reality programming that tailored to its younger Millennial audience, as well as relaunch TRL as both an on-air and digital franchise.
   Think about the past year: bosses upped the ante on The Challenge in making two of the three trilogy seasons' final prize pool a cool $1 million and launched a Pros/Stars spinoff series. They relaunched the Shore franchise after years of overseas success and used the massive audience of the return of the Jersey Shore originals and Teen Mom to help launch Ex On The Beach, Siesta Key and two of the shows that are our focus here.
   One of them helped to spur that Family Vacation we just saw down in Miami, while the other helped launch this renaissance. And both are the subject of this installment of Before They Were MTV Stars, where one person who appeared on both of those shows has had something to do with this success.


As MTV sought a way to regain the viewership who had deserted to other channels on the cable universe and to other ways of home entertainment, President McCarthy and the Viacom big wigs realized that if wanted to recapture that millennial audience, it had to get into their heads of what they were passionate about, and what they loved about the 90's and the 2000's... the two decades of which MTV had its biggest success. Towards the end of that second decade, Jersey Shore came on the scene and it rewrote MTV history as the channel's highest-ever rated series and a pop culture phenomenon that kept the channel afloat until the originals left Seaside in winter 2012.
   The channel rang up a familiar friend in that show's creator & showrunner, SallyAnn Salsano, and thought of a way to bring that Shore feeling back, but in a whole new way in risking the fan base who had loved Snooki, The Situation and the originals. It sent out a casting call for eight strangers to shack up in the one-time Spring Break hotbed of Panama City Beach, Florida for a summer in the hopes of recapturing what made those six seasons in Seaside Heights, Miami and Italy as magical as it was at the beginning of this decade. SallyAnn also looked to her successful CMT series Party Down South for inspiration in bringing that spirit of the American South to a series that was ridiculed for showcasing negative Italian American stereotypes when it premiered.

Floribama Shore was the result of all this, and after a successful first season and an even more exciting first two episodes of its sophomore outing, so far things have been very good in bringing MTV's trademark brand of reality to a town that, until city ordinances against underage hooligans in March & April eventually drove students and tourism away a few years ago, has again become the epicenter of America's attention. The new addition to the international Shore franchise of iterations in Britain, Mexico and Continental Europe has certainly brought a fresh energy to the show, while also channeling the Southern vibes of both PDS and short-lived 2013 hit Buckwild.
   Though there wasn't the kind of controversy that accompanied Jersey and whose only mumbling came from fans which begat the eventual return of those originals to coincide with this new iteration, there were skeptics of how PCB would be portrayed after what went down in Seaside. But eventually those in the Panhandle would embrace the cast, and a local resident had this to say on IG when they met them during Season 2 filming: "I have never met such honest, down to earth, funny, and extremely entertaining group of people, not just “reality stars,” PEOPLE. I’m sure if you spent 30 minutes of your time to get to know each of the cast members, you would definitely second guess your opinions. I am so thankful for our friendship and the love they have for not only myself, but for the local community as well."

   Once of those eight who's brought that Southern style to the Shore is Candace Rice: one who, as MTV wrote, "...brings the southern belle to PCB with her big hair, perfectly applied make-up and Instagram - ready outfits. But growing up in Memphis, she saw more gun violence than she cares to remember, so for her, this summer is all about being care-free. Her quick wit and no-nonsense demeanor make her a voice of reason in the house." And on Season 1, we saw her go all-in on a bystander for saying disparaging things towards them at a club for what was their second straight bar fight in as many episodes. And who can forget her mom and dad coming in to celebrate the end of last summer exactly like their daughter.
   But the road that got her to being part of MTV's latest success story began twelve months ago... on a different show, a different setting, and with a familiar face helping to reintroduce a show of old that aired on another network being brought into a new age.

In a time where deciding to go back in time and reboot old favorites is now commonplace these days, one of those oldies but goodies that appealed to MTV was Fear Factor. The original series debuted in 2001 on NBC (which was show-ran by Real World fourth-wall alum Matt Kunitz), all part of the first wave of reality series to make its way to network television when Survivor's success saw the potential in adding this type of programming to what's offered to everyone over their antennas. It became a big hit for the network as it would run for eight total seasons on the home of Must See TV.
   Those can remember that on the night of Super Bowl XXXVI -- years before it had Sunday Night Football and days before the Salt Lake Olympics -- that the Peacock did what MTV did with Beavis & Butthead and FOX did with In Living Colour, and counter-programmed U2's halftime show... with a special episode featuring Playboy playmates. Even MTV alums Trishelle and Mike "The Miz" got in on the act, among many notable people to appear on this show, including Joe Rogan - then a comedian on NewsRadio before MMA fans grew to know him as longtime UFC TV analyst.
   For MTV's update on this classic grossfest, Ludacris took over as both show host an executive producer, and just as it is now with the Celebrity season airing after Final Reckoning, Season 1 of MTV's Fear Factor aired after The Challenge both during Champs vs. Pros and XXX: Dirty 30. Those who loved the original no doubt are no doubt enjoying this modernized take, as in addition to everything viewers loved about the original - gross-out food, encounters with spiders and the like, Luda also looked to scary movies, viral videos and urban legends to add new stunts to up the ante in the contestants confronting their worst fears.
   Season 1 saw David Hasselhoff's daughter follow in her dad's footsteps in competing on the same show confronting the same fears her Baywatch father confronted a decade earlier. Earlier this year, Season From Hell saw even more insane challenges than the inaugural one such as escaping a buried coffin like what we saw last week in South Africa. And last year, Bananas, Leroy, Laurel and Aneesa tackled their fears against the kids of Winter Break: Hunter Mountain in an all-MTV battle, which offers the backdrop for the Celebrity Fear Factor season that debuted last night... which brings us to when both of these franchises collided (at least, until Jersey takes on Floribama later this summer).

The sixth episode of Season 1 saw four sets of lifelong friends join Luda to tackle the task of putting those relationships to the test, and conquering those fears - such as being deep into a tank of water and balancing themselves high above the ground to save their favorite gadget of their phone, to gain the $50,000 first prize to those who survived all three tasks. Candace came to Fear Factor with her friend, Emmanuel - one of her friends from back home who joined her to try their luck. As she would tell the camera, "We wanted to be on Fear Factor 'cause... what are we scared of?" And he replied, "I'm scared of nothing. We're gonna come smooth, looking scared and timid. We're best friends for life!"
   Candace and Emmanuel faced three other sets of friends to tackle the always scary prospect of encountering dangerous creatures. First, they had to put inside their mouth a live vinegaroons, an insect known better as whip scorpions and who spray vinegar-like acids inside their mouths, and transfer twenty others of these creatures to a box. Then, they had to empty laundry clothes from a washer & dryer into laundry baskets with worms inside and don a jacket... followed by going into the bathroom to take the rats out of a tub, search through that infect water to grab a key to open a box and spit out that scorpion.
   If having to put up with what most of the cast had to deal with Codi last season and in the first two episodes was one thing, then this first MTV appearance by a member of the Floribama cast is way different. Below is Candace & Emmanuel taking on that first stage of Beat The Beast: "Party Foul."

Candace and Emmanuel had a slower time than the three other teams who did better than them, and they were eliminated at that first stage and didn't get a shot at the 50 grand. She told the camera afterwards, "Unfortunately, it was my mistake as to why we didn't win," while he added, "You win some, you lose some, but you live to fight another day."
   But what we did not know that July 10th night a year ago last week that this time on Fear Factor was to be her warm-up act... the main event would come five months later, and she would be winning in a big way down in the Florida Panhandle. And later this summer, four of her Floribama roommates will look to settle  unfinished business for her when they will face four Jersey Shore originals on Celebrity Fear Factor - along with many other familiar MTV faces who'll compete very soon.

▪   ▪   ▪   ▪   ▪

The past two nights in MTV Reality have seen more drama with Candace's fellow roommates in their Panama City Beach humble abode, while Final Reckoning has some clarity thru the first two weeks with more drama, new partners and old feelings revisited. We'll have our look at this week's episodes of Floribama Shore and The Challenge starting Friday, along with Part 1 of our long-promised 2017-18 Reality Debrief, among other things to come this weekend. Be with us then, and have fun.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG