BY DC CUEVA
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| Instagram @NurysKMateo |
Fast forward to 2018, and since that time MTV has added two series from a subgenre synonymous with roses, love and heartbreak: romantic reality television. At the same time that the reality OG embraced the theme of love and drama, Are You The One brought the MTV reality formula to a genre synonymous with The Bachelor, and the terms Perfect Match, Truth Booth and Boom Boom Room joined our lexicon. From quintessential perfect match Amber & Ethan of Season 1 right up to what went down in its most recent chapter last year, the series has already made quite a mark in bringing something new to this subgenre.
And overseas, a new MTV International format took what Real World Ex-Plosion did in San Francisco and turned it on its head into a twisted tale. It brought several Brits including one from Jersey Shore's UK equivalent Geordie Shore to an island paradise for a good-old holiday vacation by the beach, only for their exes to crash the bash. Ex On The Beach has delighted MTV's international audience the past few years, and after four British alumni invaded America for the first time on The Challenge Vendettas, a new U.S. version introduced what they call "the ultimate relations*** show" to America, and gave those reason to stick around after Jersey Shore this spring.
What we saw in the Big Easy and Hawaii the past year has been nothing short of exciting in the MTV Reality spectrum. Shortly, a new group of twenty-two single girls and guys will take their place when a new season of AYTO takes center stage, while one of those who were in Hawaii this spring has already made his mark on a much bigger stage.
But earlier this summer, a group of those who lived out the experiences of being on AYTO Season 6 and on Ex On The Beach got together for what was certainly not your daddy's quaint little get-together to catch up on old times. It was a memorable weekend of reliving that feeling of living in the same house at the same time in the same place before one of them debuted on The Challenge Final Reckoning and the torch being passed from them to a Season 7 cast with big shoes to fill when it bows in 12 days from now.
Unlike the first time, no MTV cameras were present to capture it for those in our living rooms, but thanks to social media everyone had a front row seat on their smartphones to watch this epic Rose City Reunion of Romance go down in the Willamette Valley.
Last fall, the AYTO Season 6 house were certainly all over the place: little to no progress whatsoever in the game scenario itself, and they were the cast that followed the first cast to lose it all: Season 5 earlier in the year. They were left with only a puncher's chance going into their last week in the New Orleans house with not much progress through nine tries. And given the circumstances of what befell their Season 5 predecessors they were under pressure to do what those in the Caribbean could not do: go 11 for 11 and win not just money for getting the perfect match puzzle in tact, but the full $1 million after somehow avoiding a blackout at a matchup ceremony and losing money.
When they got their only Truth Booth match late in the season, the door was open only a small bit for something for them to work on. And when a man who was part of NOLA's most infamous couple was given a second chance to try out a strategy that could not get them over half the beams lit - all after he gave his crush's teddy bear one last shellacking, all they could was to hope that he would become a hero than a goat and hope their plan would get them a chance to win in the tenth and last matchup. And after the most nerve-wracking several minutes they have experienced in their lives, the AYTO6 cast pulled off a record comeback: ten lights in the last matchup, 11 for 11 and $1 million.
When everyone who loves MTV's take on romantic reality were fully rested from that Miracle in the Bayou, they headed to Hawaii for the first American season of Ex On The Beach, and two names were already familiar to MTV viewers in one of the exes of that 6th season and a man who, thanks to several Challenges and that RW Ex-Plosion season, had already made news beforehand when he became a baby daddy. They were about to go through a piece of karma coming back to them, along with other reality TV alums including a Bad Girl, two from Bachelor Nation, a girl who know what it's like to be tabloid fodder and a guy who knows what it's like to be a reality TV villain.
Like what we had on that first AYTO season in Hawaii four years ago, the rookie season of Ex On The Beach USA offered plenty of drama spurred by the fact that while the singles who occupied the most picturesque house ever for an MTV reality series, they could not escape the past of having their exes crash the party. From a basement that turned budding romances into yesterday's news when the pasts came back to reveal the truth, to one girl offering two dramatic entrances that turned the house upside down... and the many entrances the exes made of emerging from the beach, EOTB surely brought the goods and introduced America to what the world has seen these past few years.
For eleven of those who basked in the confetti that night in the Big Easy last year, outside of small trips this was the first time that they have been under one roof since they filmed the reunion for their season which aired after a comeback that exceeded the comeback the AYTO Season 3 cast of going from 2 lights to ten and overcoming an early blackout to win $750,000.
This meant reunions of two steamy love triangles: Malcolm and the two girls who fought for his heart (quite literally with a banana included) in Diandra and Nurys, and one of the two who are still together - Clinton and Uche - and a girl who danced on him in one of the house parties in Jada. Another awkward meeting was sure to happen with Anthony and Geles, after she splashed water in his face at the Mardi Gras nighttime party. And we can't forget about Audrey or the resident rapper and funny guy of the bunch, Ethan.
Oregon is where Joe calls home, having been at Oregon State before he made his way to not just AYTO6 but also Ex On The Beach. Four of those who also lived in paradise also joined him and the Season 6 cast: now two-time Challenger and a leading man of the drama in Hawaii - Derrick H., the man who's made quite a buzz the first month on Final Reckoning - Paulie, and fellow exes Marco and Andre. Also joining them for this weekend: one Joe got to meet through being part of the love community Mikala from AYTO Season 4 (and ex of one of the EOTB exes, Cameron) and her fellow member of the cast known now for where Tori got her MTV start, Prosper.
Below are videos and postcards from their epic weekend in Portland.
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As for Paulie, he finds himself in the middle of drama as he and those who reside in the Redemption House get a shot at rejoining the race for $1 million. This week's Pulse of The Challenge Final Reckoning comes your way here tomorrow, plus something for all ages too. And later this weekend, we'll be kicking off the countdown to Season 7 of Are You The One? not with a season preview (which will be up next week) -- but with the help of one of those looking for a shot at love, a look at one of this year's newest TV hits. Talk to you then...
- I AM DC
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