DC ExtraTime: "Dealing" with Christmas in July

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

In the midst of what is the hottest of the four seasons, usually it would be in the back of one's mind in the summertime amidst the scorching hot heat. Those happen to be the feelings of winter time: snow on the ground, seeing your breath in front of you and the shivering in the cold unless you layer up.
   As this post drops on the last full night of summer (September 21st), before you know it we Americans will again feel like kids getting to enjoy the sights of snowflakes falling, dusting off the snowboards we've kept in storage since spring, and having to put up with packed malls and airports. And also for some, to cross those fingers that there will be a "White Christmas" on December 25th, all smack dab in the coldest season of all.

Last year, DCBLOG featured the times where two MTV alums, Real World/Challenge alum Trey Weatherholtz and Are You The One? original Ryan Malaty, appeared on CBS' two daytime game shows, The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal. For some of you who get to wake up a little later during the warm months and having nothing much to do while the parents are at work and have no worries about school, probably you've surfed onto some daytime fun watching contestants win cash & prizes. It's likely you probably have someone you know from work or school or even a family member go onto national TV and try their luck on these game shows.
   This summer during the offseason in broadcast land, another alum who appeared on a MTV reality series got to try her luck on the latest incarnation of Monty Hall's wacky game show... and in a special episode that got to celebrate Christmas in July. For this story and its roots, we gotta rewind back to the penultimate day of the 2000's, and the same month that saw the debut of two MTV shows that, by the luck of fate, is still on its schedule 9 years later in Teen Mom and Jersey Shore.

On the Eve of New Year's Eve 2009, Season 23 of The Real World brought the series to Washington, D.C., all as the world was focused on President Barack Obama's first year in the White House. The cast in our nation's capital channeled the vibe of casts of earlier old-school seasons as well as both Hollywood and Brooklyn that came before it at the turn of the decade: all eight roommates pursued their own individual passions (rather than take part in a group job) in addition to living together in a mansion in DuPont Circle just a few miles from the White House.
   In the long scope, the series introduced a Challenge icon in Emily Schromm - then someone who had to escape a secluded life in the Midwest but had no idea that she would become a fitness idol, no less a Challenge beast. She found herself in love in the house with Ty Ruff, who became notorious for what we saw from him on Challenges and even in the RW house. The most notable of Ty's behavior was, while being drunk, knocking over the season's cult favorite figure, Andrew Woods, down to the pavement and sending the man in the Panda hat to the hospital. And D.C. was also where Denver native Mike Manning stand up for what he believed in as a gay man, before Hollywood came calling to become a rising star actor.

Another person who came to Washington epitomized the natural reality character of being that one who loves to tell it like it is. Ashley Lindley came to the District with, as her bio wrote, "...a hot temper and a blunt demeanor... passionate, compassionate and very opinionated when it comes to politics and religion." Ashley was also the most politically-aware of her roommates as one who was an Obama delegate at that summer's DNC convention... it made perfect sense for her to be cast on a Real World season that took place in the midst of all that optimism -- who can forget her reacting awkwardly when a roommate chose a room with President Reagan's portrait? And in addition, she had the season's first hookup in making out with Mike in the club, as well as forging tension with the house's resident singer - future Cleveland DJ Erika Lauren.
   With everything that took place on that Real World, fans might have pegged her for a Challenge stint, but Ashley opted instead to follow a career path outside MTV, including on local radio in Orange County and even working at that happiest of all places in the O.C., Disneyland. Eventually, Ashley landed in the world of fast food: now working for rapidly growing burger joint Burgerim as its Chief Marketing Officer. Those who watch local morning news shows in cities across the country have likely seen Ashley on set helping to promote a restaurant chain that combines what people love about other big-name restaurant chains with what Subway does best: customers get to choose their own burger... something they don't have much luck with anywhere else.

Anyone who watches Let's Make A Deal know that it's pretty much Halloween every day with host Wayne Brady scanning the audience to see who has the craziest and most outrageous costumes for a chance to win either a regular prize or have the enigma of going home with a "zonk" prize. For Ryan's day on LMAD a few years ago, he brought out of the closet his famous Aladdin outfit which he wore to a Matchup during Season 1 of AYTO.
   In Ashley's case, it was Christmas in July: that meant plenty of snowmen, reindeer, gingerbread cookies and elves for Wayne to choose for a shot to pick either the prize they're offered or exchange it for a chance to see what's behind the door. But when you have a Santa's Helper outfit and the clothes the man with the big belly and beard get to don on that magic night every December, it's likely you'll be picked. That's what happened there with her with the Santa clothes and her husband, Jonathan Daniel, and below is what happens next...

Ashley's YouTube channel features all of her appearances on local newscasts around the west coast where Burgerim's concentrates most of their business in - though the brand is expanding into other parts of the U.S. which saw her also go to Memphis, TN.

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