DC ExtraTime: Thank You Amanda & Kendal

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Five years ago this month, twenty singles flew to Hawaii for an opportunity to find love and win $1 million if they all found their perfect match. But the cast of Are You The One? Season 3 had no idea that they'd become a legendary cast in MTV Reality annals: a group who found the path of finding true love harder than it seemed, and who had trouble moving on from their non-matches when they were dealt a money-losing blackout blow. But one move by its most derived member from New England in the final week helped ascend them to true underdogs and has seen them go onto not only The Challenge, but also Teen Mom OG, The Real World, Ex On The Beach, and even Dr. Phil.

A notable member of the AYTO 3 "Ohana" is Amanda Garcia, who developed a fiery personality in her signature blowups at anyone from her crush in the Hawaiian house, Magic Mike, to then Zach and Camila on her five starts on The Challenge. Whether you like her or not, there's no doubt that Amanda made quite an impact on our MTV screens when she went for love, and when she was that scrappy Challenger as the definition of "popoff queen." But as she now has stepped away to tackle the new challenge of being a mom and being engaged, Amanda is now taking on a task greater than television and anything else in our world.

The chaotic events of the past month has put into focus the handful of those who have going about their normal routines of not being at home during the day, being at work and risking their lives in this unprecedented time. Their duties have been to help all of us going through the pandemic to offer & provide essential needs & services at grocers, banks, post offices and garbage collection. But no job has been important nowadays then those who work in hospitals and healthcare who've been working overtime and every day to help those who most in need: those suffering from COVID-19 and those who are not affected by the virus but are still suffering from sickness & injuries and need urgent care.

In where Amanda calls home of the state of Colorado, as of press time her state has had around 8,000 cases reported of the coronavirus, which has claimed just over 325 people in fifty-six of the sixty-four counties which have been affected by it. Not surprisingly, her hometown of Denver and surrounding counties and neighborhoods have been most affected with a quarter of all cases of COVID-19 and over 1,500 have been hospitalized around the state -- also with the largest number in the metropolis. But yesterday, state health officials shared promising news that people taking social distancing measures seriously has helped to soften the rise of cases in Colorado.

As news of COVID-19 became widespread after it was declared a pandemic, just about every hospital and health facility in the U.S. has gone to work to help care everyone who has been suffering from the virus, comprising the countless numbers of those who comprise America's healthcare force. That includes those who were on maternity leave such as Amanda, who decided to come back to work early on March 25 -- two weeks the World Health Organization's earth-shattering declaration.

And last week, Amanda took to Twitter to post a message on behalf of fellow nurses like her... and her message read in part, "I am a nurse-a frontline worker. To be honest, I don't need free pizza or cups of coffee. ... I am grateful that I won't be losing all my income due to this virus." And she also got to plead to those reading that note to offer that spare free food to families who are in need, the elderly, those who work at home and those in financial despair.

#retweet pic.twitter.com/QKI58gKadl

— MTV Amanda (@MTV_AMANDAG) April 10, 2020

Amanda has garnered great respect from everyone during this time even from one of his biggest adversaries in Johnny Bananas, but she is not alone: After her house was visited by Travel Channel's Ghost Loop earlier this winter, Challenge Inferno champ Kendal Sheppard-Darnell is also a nurse herself in the Seattle area. The situation where she lives in Washington State is slightly more serious in over 10,000 coronavirus cases and around 550 deaths, but like in Colorado a new doctor's report states the virus is not spreading as much in Western Washington as first feared.
   Like Amanda, Kendal has has also received similar messages of support, with Jemmye tweeting to her, "Thank you for being on the frontlines of this and taking care of the patients that need you. Y'all are my heroes now more than ever." Kendal and Amanda being able to work for us and for all in this time make them worthy of being MVP's.

- I AM DC
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