DC ExtraTime: Team MTV Takes Over Wild 'N Out

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Instagram @KirkMedas

During the three-month offseason in between seasons of The Challenge, fans of that show and MTV Reality were offered some juicy special attractions: one of them saw Nicole, Marlon, Jemmye & Laurel head to Ex On The Beach's first winter-themed season, Peak of Love. But it was the state of Florida that played host to ample amounts of drama and fun in the sun with two shows that walked the red carpet together at last year's Video Music Awards and then shared the marquee in the sultry Siesta Key and the wild-fest of Floribama Shore.

Season 3 of the ladder saw Mattie Lynn Breaux go from being a finalist of War of the Worlds to joining fellow rookie of that season, Gus Symrios, and the rest of his crew in their new playground of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, now known as Tompa Bay after Tom Brady's signing last month with one-time NFL doormats, the Buccaneers. During their summer in SPB, she helped relive the joys of her young self that viewers first saw on CMT's Party Down South, and Mattie even got close with Gus' frenemy, Jeremiah Buoni, among other things over the winter.

This past week, four of those Southerners Mattie lived with in St. Pete Beach in between her times on The Challenge took on a different role to what they have been used to. Instead of puke 'n rally and chi-chis up - or even getting minted with a tattoo souvenir, they got to take the stage of one of MTV's most enduring hits which began fifteen years ago. And they were spectators to a mic-drop meeting of two former best friends... only part of the times when some familiar faces to MTV fans have shared the stage with Nick Cannon and friends under the bright lights of Wild 'N Out.

Credit: MTV

When October 8th rolls around this fall, two guys with MTV ties will turn the Big 4-O: one is Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who began on Real World, became a Challenge champion and then grew to become one of the biggest stars in the WWE. The other is Nick Cannon, who was raised by his paternal grandfather and spent his childhood in a gang-ridden section in San Diego and was a member of a gang until a close friend of his was killed. After graduating high school, he first won public exposure when he did stand-up comedy on his dad's TV show on local public access cable.
   Nick then made his way to music as part of a rap group opening for Will Smith and 98 Degrees before Jive Records snapped him up in 2001 for his first record deal with Ex On The Beach host Romeo Miller and 3LW on a cover of Will Smith's "Parents Just Don't Understand" for a Jimmy Neutron movie. His first solo album came two years later, followed by releasing music under his own label including his frequent jabs with Eminem. But other hobbies would later take up more of his time: eight years hosting America's Got Talent, heading Nickelodeon's TeenNick efforts, hosting radio morning shows in New York and L.A., and of course his 8-year marriage to Mariah Carey.

The year 2005 saw the start of what would become Nick's magnum opus: he sought the opportunity to bring something he had become a fan of, improvisational comedy games along the lines of UK & U.S. hit Whose Line Is It Anyway, and combine it with the urban hip-hop culture. The end result became Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out, which debuted in July 2005 on MTV, and with the exception of a few years' absence has been on air since airing on not just the main channel, but also MTV2 and last year spreading its wings to the home of the Love & Hip Hop franchise and other reality series of interest to the African-American community, VH1.
   Over its fourteen seasons, there has been a plathera of other artists who have joined Nick on either his Red Squad or been part of the Black Squad opposition, from DC Young Fly and Matt Rife to Conceited and Tim DeLaGhetto... even big names like Kevin Hart, Jeffrey Ross and Pete Davidson. But many of us Challenge fans will be familiar with just one name in Justina Valentine: her being part of Champs vs. Stars I two years ago saw her make it to the final, and she's been host to the reunions of both The Challenge and Ex On The Beach, along with the YouTube installment of 90's hit Singled Out which saw two AYTO alums get another shot at love. She takes part in a trio of comedic games before the main event at the end of every episode: WildStyle, and a freestyle rap battle and a punch line determines who gets possession of the WNO Championship belt.

On Tuesday night - a night before this week's Total Madness, the Season 14 finale of Wild 'N Out saw two trailblazers in the world of influencers take center stage: Emmanuel Hudson and Spoken Reasons. The two men first collaborated on an iconic 2012 YouTube video called, "Asking All Them Questions," and over 66 million views have been recorded of that six-minute clip. It seemed to be the start of what would be great things for the both of them, but it never came to be and fans were left clueless for so long as to how things got rotten for them.
   Spoken Reasons decided to come out of hiding and onto the WNO stage where, by the sheer luck of the draw, Emmanuel is part of the current crop of castmates... and it took until the last segment of WildStyle for them to finally have a sequel eight years in the making with so much boiling up until that moment.

While all of that was taking place, four familiar faces were spotted in the background: half of the cast of MTV Floribama Shore. The group's third summer together in SPB saw not only Mattie join them and the #JeriGus bromance breaking up, but also more of the hilarity and fireworks that have made them stars. Aimee Hall introduced us to her new boyfriend and marked her graduation from anger management school with a cake, while Nilsa Prowant took advantage of a last-minute trip to Mattie's adopted hometown of Nashville for closure after the sudden death of a close friend. And for the summer's biggest party, Codi Butts invited everyone and their parents for the ultimate family get-together in his South Carolinian backyard. And we can't forget about Kirk Medas, too.
   Aimee, Codi, Kirk and Nilsa also had their time in the spotlight on WNO in addition to being witnesses to that epic freestyle. And during the game "Jokin' Word," it was nothing but finger snaps on stage when the girls took the stage... and you pretty much know what the Princess Goddess Mermaid and the Squid will do.

🎤   🎤   🎤

Last summer while their Family Vacation was rolling along, two Shore originals -- Jersey Shore's Vinny Guadaginino and Ronnie Margo-Ortiz -- took a break from that trip to join the madness and guest star, singer Karol G. First, they took to a mechanical bull to try and spit rhymes while being aboard that staple of any big weekend party in clubs across this country and then went up against the host in WildStyle...

Travis (R) with Iggy Azalea
(Twitter @TravisMills)

And also during this season, another new member of Team MTV took the Wild 'N Out stage: last year, Travis Mills went on a cross-country journey with The Bachelorette's Rachel Lindsay to find those who have been "Ghosted," and in the spirit of Catfish they brought together one-time lovers who disappeared from online view and brought a new online phenomenon to the forefront. And after they had a moment with Mickey & Minnie Mouse at Disneyland, in February he broke up with his girlfriend of three years, Madelaine Petsch of The CW's Riverdale.
   As a musician himself, Travis is more used to the big lights of performing than his mates in the Shore universe, and two times has he taken the WNO stage: his first time was in 2016 when he shared the stage with Iggy Azalea. And two weeks before the Floribama Shore kids, Travis made his comeback like it was his birthday and then went up against Nick and even DC Young Fly. It's the "anything goes" ways of this show that make Wild 'N Out MTV's most successful YouTube offering with 7.7 million subscribers & 2.8 billion video views... and you never know who will pop up next.

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