DC ExtraTime: The Kwasi Beast Gets Singled Out

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Since it debuted in January 2014 as one of a handful of shows to gain the coveted launchpad of airing after the baby mama drama of Teen Mom, Are You The One? has become MTV's most successful foray into romantic reality television. Through seven regular seasons and one spinoff, the show has brought MTV's unique formula for success into this love-filled genre, producing its share of big moments, great personalities and memorable couples.
   But it is hardly the only foray MTV has made into this genre: some might remember MTV's first partnership in 2006 with then-upstart reality TV production group 495 Productions and executive producer Sally-Ann Salsano. A few years before they started the monster that is Jersey Shore, they co-produced several seasons of A Shot at Love, where the figure of interest on two seasons of that show was internet icon Tila Tequila.

The first serious play MTV made in romantic television came in the mid 1990's when our latest batch of MTV stars had to resort to Barney & Friends for their TV entertainment. During a time where afternoons were as much a priority in original programming as what airs at night, MTV churned out a classic staple of at-home after-school activities for Generations X and Y. Singled Out was the daily quest for a guy or girl to score a date with someone with the person of the opposite gender who was not chosen from a group of three would-be suitors as was the case with the show that started this whole genre in The Dating Game.
   The process of thinning out the field of 100 contestants - a 50/50 split between men and women - begins with the Picker being brought in blindfolded in front of his or her potential daters in the Dating Pool behind a wall. With the help of a board that ranged from physical attributes to love preferences to what they like to do in spare time, contestants who didn't fit the ideal preferences were told to take a hike. Then came Keep 'Em or Dump 'Em: the Picker getting to ask questions from tried & true ones to stunts to see if they would want to keep the dater or dump them. Lastly, the final three contestants made it to Final Cut: several steps and questions separating the bachelor from meeting the one they would score a date with, and it's there that the Picker meets the winner face on.
   Singled Out launched the careers of all three of its hosts: Chris Hardwick was the main host of the original series when it aired from 1995-98, and went on to become host of The Walking Dead aftershow, The Wall on NBC and first-name podcast status... and who narrowly escaped being shot down by the #MeToo movement. Jenny McCarthy was the show's original co-host in policing the dating pool in the first half of the show's run, and when she went on to become the star of her own MTV sitcom and other gigs that have come since for her, her replacement also became a big name. Carmen Electra took over as she would also become a household name, and much like what we'll be seeing with CT, her wedding with rockstar Dave Navarro was documented for an MTV miniseries.

As part of MTV's foray into digital programming which sees The Real World move to Facebook next year and Jersey Shore now having its own YouTube channels - among other things, last week MTV rebooted for YouTube a new version of Singled Out. The star who impressed everyone on the first installment of The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars last winter, Justina Valentine, steps into Chris' old hosting gig to help guide the Picker through the process of finding their one. Her fellow Wild 'N Out castmate, Conceited, joins her to be the daddy around the dating pool in fulfilling the co-host role that Jenny and Carmen did so awesomely.
   And to offer a fitting transition from what we've seen on the channel itself to this new world of digital goodies, Kwasi from Are You The One? Season 7 was chosen to be the very first contestant in the second coming of Singled Out. We saw Kwasi find himself in drama with Cam, in love with a few of the girls in the house, and find himself a match with former West Virginia pageant queen Lauren. But when she found love with the ex who visited her in the week the exes came to Hawaii, by the time the dust settled on the group sharing in their $1 million moment a few weeks ago, Kwasi looked to, who else, MTV to get another chance at love.
   For the YouTube revival of this 90's hit, there's only one person instead of two in every episode which lasts less than 15 minutes. And while the dating pool is still 50 contestants, they are split 25/25: twenty-five of them are single people in real life - known as the IRL's, while the other twenty-five are represented by dating profiles - aka URL's. And like the original show they will be whittled down from 50 all the way down to #1, and unlike what viewers saw in the past, the question on the mind of the Picker will be of whether it's legit love or a catfish who's crashed the party.
   Below, find out if Kwasi lands a date with a single girl or get burned by a catfish... new episodes appear each Monday on MTV's YouTube channel.

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Pictures Courtesy: Instagram @Urge2Pose, @JustinaValentine and @ConceitedNYC