BY DC CUEVA
Last week was no exception: the first married couple to come onto The Challenge in a decade rolled along in continuing to put their stamp on the game while we also saw a dominant performance in that challenge itself by a defending champion. But we had no idea of that unexpected to come around: a person who no one expected would last past the second guys' elimination week not only got to do that, but also took out THAT champ... and it's as if we didn't miss the magic of springtime surprises.
Ahead, a recap of last week's game-changer of a week of Total Madness to get you in the mood for what goes down tonight - and if the previews of it are a sign then we are in for a dandy. But if you're a die-hard Challenge fan who knows your history well, you'll want to stick around with us afterwards as those who we featured in the prelude to Total Madness get together through the magic of video conferencing some two decades after they started their journey in MTV history. See you after the jump for The Upset of All Upsets and a Road Rules Reunion on the DCBLOG Challenge WRAP...
THINGS TO KNOW
EPISODE 3 ▪ "It's A Hard Jay's Night"
● BLOW-UP PUZZLES: The week 3 challenge sees the players compete as individuals once again and this time, they are tasked with a dual challenge: solve a complicated puzzle by running to two decoding stations and heading back to their station to try and solve it as quickly as they can. The first man and woman to complete their puzzle not only win their way into the tribunal, they also get to finish things off in grand style by blowing up a truck. When it's all finished (as depicted below), the defending champ with the dad bod takes the win for the men, while for the ladies one half of our resident Big Brother romance continues to have the Swayleigh gang in the drivers seat.
● ROWS AMONG PLAYERS: In British slang, something we call in America a disagreement is called a "row" with the "o" being pronounced like "ow"... and two of them go down after that challenge. When nominations take place, it seems at first that Jay would be the one getting sent in... and though that would be the case drama ensues between the first vote for him and him being officially given the nod to go in yet again.
After Cory, Nelson and Fessy consult Wes about potentially bringing to an end his alliance with Bananas, it's what happens with him not going with strategy that sees him and Kailah get into it over him throwing her under the bus and three of her allies burning votes for him. But Bananas also finds himself in the drama as well with his latest beef: what happened with Johnny stealing Sarah's money was the biggest finals moment in Challenge history, but Ashley upstaging him in the money category with a steal of her own has created a new vendetta. And along with what happened on WOTW2 last year, that causes them to go at it...
● FIRST NIGHT OUT: It takes until week 3 for the house to finally get out of those surroundings of the bunker and the competition for a night out in the old city, and it also brings into focus, once again, Dee, Rogan and whoever joins them in what Allan Aguirre calls "the Triangle of Toxicity." Last time out, of course it was Jenn... and this time it's Jay who joins in this tricky trifecta of sorts. Earlier on back at home base the Survivor and the Shore alum got to know one another like what we see below, and it's when they head to the club that they finally get close to each other... and if there's a Rivals 4 or an Exes 3 now there's gonna be a potential pairing at stake.
● MADNESS UPSET: If there's a name with the word "Madness" in it, it is not officially one until something out of the ordinary takes place... if you're a basketball fan, you're used to seeing mid-major conference teams taking down the big guns. And if you missed the excitement of March Madness this spring, then you got to be served up a slice of David vs. Goliath in the Week 3 elimination.
Going into this, everyone in the stands at the purgatory and you at home thought to yourselves, "This is gonna be a piece of cake. CT's gonna win it, and there's no way Jay's gonna win - he's that layup." It might be different in variation, but putting things around an object is the very game that saw Laurel's undoing and put CT en route to title #2 on Invasion three years ago. It's also one that debuted on Battle of the Seasons II and saw Ashley & Frank earn their way into the final there.
Even though he's part of the tribunal, CT decides to take a gamble to try to gain a skull against Jay instead of letting Rogan go against the Survivor. They get 20 minutes to barricade a bunker door with ropes, stones, blocks and chains, and make it difficult for their opponent to untie & unlock it so they can open the door and turn on the light. In a game that combines strategy & endurance with mental & physical elements, it becomes a more tough one for the old man and it's the youthfulness of Jay that now sees everyone give him more respect. Relive this UMBC/Virginia-esque battle below...
💥 💥 💥
#DCExtraTime FOLLOW-UP
CAMPUS CRAWL REUNITED
A company which has benefited from the newfound environment that is working at home is San Jose-based Zoom Video Communications, whose Zoom software has now become as must a must-have for those working in business and offices functions as TikTok has been for the rest of us. Zoom offers free access for video conferences of up to 100 users for up to 40 minutes, with subscriptions for longer times & larger virtual conference rooms. And that has helped keep us all connected in the life of being quarantined, both during the business day and for other things, including this one instance where it was used for a weekend reunion of reality royalty.
During the countdown to Total Madness, DCBLOG featured a look back at the cast of Road Rules: Campus Crawl from 2002 and them getting to dance in front of hip-hop icons OutKast before Dre & Big Boi's defining period of their career of Speakerboxx/The Love Below. The Season 12 cast of that show had a step-dancing challenge against an online-chosen team in OK's hometown of Atlanta and won in a squeaker that night in a season that saw four of them go on to become Challenge champs. A few weeks later, we did a follow-up on one of them having their house being visited by Travel Channel's Ghost Loop after reports of paranormal activity in her south Seattle area neighborhood.
 |
| Twitter @KendalSheppard |
The nurse tweeted below, "It was killing me not to look at that text.. but nothing could take me away from the laughs that Shane, @mtvrrdarrell @thegreysauce @rachel_fitness and @EricReeceJones's handlebar mustache brought! 🤣😂." The king of shade captioned on Instagram, "When you get close to your 20 year reunion and you realize everyone has nothing but time... Virtual Campus Crawl 😂😍." And the fitness queen added, "That’s my oh Shane you haven’t changed a bit face ;) love you! And what a great idea - so nice to see everyone ❤️"
It was killing me not to look at that text.. but nothing could take me away from the laughs that Shane, @mtvrrdarrell @thegreysauce @rachel_fitness and @EricReeceJones 's handlebar mustache brought! 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/U9RC7LIsS6— MTV Kendal (@KendalSheppard) April 19, 2020
This is not the only Zoom reunion to take place over the 4/20 weekend: another lifelong member of the ViacomCBS family had her own digital get-together over a decade after a show on Nickelodeon made her known to those of you who are ten years older... we'll join Allie DiMeco of the most recent season of Ex On The Beach as she reunites with The Naked Brothers Band coming this weekend.
💣 💣 💣 💣 💣
But before we leave: as we speak to you on this Wednesday, April 22nd, Team MTV's newest parents in waiting, Cory & Ex On The Beach girlfriend Taylor Selfridge, are ready to meet her first kid and for the MTV King, his second baby girl. And after what went down last night on Teen Mom OG, some drama taking place after it aired and perhaps that rude awakening by the 3.8 quake that shook L.A. earlier this morning, it's been quite a final prelude to this moment, which takes place in the midst of the coronavirus. We'll meet their new addition also during this weekend's blog coverage.
And after episode 3 airs tonight, we'll be featuring a new best friend of one of those Taylor got to meet up with when, as an ex-girlfriend herself, she made the annual visit of the exes to Are You The One? Season 6 a few years ago... and if you are a newsmagazine junkie, you'll want to join us here then. That will do it for us for now... enjoy Challenge Wednesday and we'll see you then.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
#DCBLOG
No comments:
Post a Comment
Got something on your mind? Let us know! But please be mindful and do not post spam or negative comments (due to that, all comments are subject to blogger approval... and we reserve the right to disable these sections if things get way out of hand).