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BY DC CUEVA
The effect that the Black Lives Matter protests and the renewed tensions we've been going through in the course of the past month have seen plenty of casualties. For example, the popular form of police television has gone through a sizable shift in the wake of the small events in Minneapolis that saw riots all across this country. As a result, one of TV's longest-running non-scripted programs and a staple of weekends on basic cable have, with the snap of a finger, been given their pink slips in COPS and Live P.D., and even sparking talk of sending to the pound the adorable police dogs of Nickelodeon's Pup Patrol.
Close to home in where we are situated in covering everything related to the primary beat of this site, something that you are accustomed to as a source of escapism has also been touched quite a bit by the ongoing animosity and new revelations coming up during this timeframe may also see the world of MTV Reality be not quite the same anymore once we are finally over the tough times we are in. And in the snap of a finger, three of the channel's most prominent figures have been blacked out from its roster, while a fourth had a hand in taking down key figures of another series that she got her start on before she joined the MTV family two years ago.
Yes, we are living in unprecedented times... and we here at DCBLOG - and me being this lifelong MTV fan who has been shook by the events of the last few weeks, thought it would be an appropriate time to take stock in what has been a hard time. Though it is not our thing here to take the chance to go after people for what they have been go, it's worth an opportunity to take a look at what has gone down in as brief & to the point as possible, as well as what it all means and what is next. We caution that some of the content being presented may be upsetting and we advise viewer discretion.
We begin with the icebreaker: when she went onto The Challenge, Dee Nguyen made waves on War of the Worlds last year, and then did one better the following season in being part of the winning Team UK in the final. The native Australian being able to gel well with Wes and with "Ninja" Natalie made her someone who we felt would represent the next generation of Challengers... not to mention her infamous relationship with Rogan, which has continued into their title defense on Total Madness.
However, it's when she was quarantined here in America during the corona lockdown that things suddenly unraveled: while she was in Kansas City living with Wes for his quarantined-based passion project, internet series Friends & Benefits, that she suddenly became delusional in the social sphere and different from the one who we loved on The Challenge. It led to the following tirade (a more detailed version is posted at the other go-to blog in the Challenge world by Allan Aguirre):
It was in the wake of Dee's meltdown and her stance going against Black Lives Matter that saw our feelings for her change like night and day. And MTV took immediate action against her and promptly banned her after sparking heated discussions between her and Bayleigh and everyone else. The most visible evidence to all of this is of her being edited almost entirely out of Total Madness - and the first episode that came after the order came down was paired down by half an hour. The result has seen her being ejected from Wes' KC surroundings and now off of all public existance in the social sphere, except for a statement on her Instagram.
The only other time we've heard from her was talking to US Weekly in the days after getting banned, where she apologized to everyone and added, "What was stated wasn’t meant to be hurtful or discriminatory in any matter. It was a knee jerk of a reaction and it’s certainly not the way that I feel nor what I meant. ... Having had to deal with racism my entire life, ironically through all this, there is a warm feeling I have with the fact that humans are standing together to call out unacceptable comments and behaviors that in the past were rarely called on."
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At the same time that went down with Dee, another person with ties to one of this year's Challengers also had her MTV membership card taken away. Going into this year, Cory Wharton was anticipating this spring for two reasons: him making his return to The Challenge and him getting to welcome his second child into this world. He and his Ex On The Beach girlfriend, Are You The One? alum Taylor Selfridge, welcomed her first kid, Mila Mae Wharton, back in April and she will have a story to tell to everyone of how she was born during the time of this COVID pandemic, which continues to rage on into the summertime.
Taylor has quite a personality dating to when she was in the AYTO house three years ago, and then when she met up with Cory in the EOTB house a year later. But somehow, she couldn't escape the past of what went down before she became an MTV star: when she had a Twitter account, there were some times when making fun of people would eventually rub people the wrong way. And while we don't have the visual evidence of it to offer it, Taylor nonetheless has repeatedly apologized for her wrongdoings both on the show and on social media.
Here's there's a conflict of interest: MTV had plans to feature Taylor & Cory's pregnancy journey as the replacement for what would've been this year's Teen Mom OG reunion, but at last minute it didn't make air for reasons unknown... but the reasoning was because of those racially-insensitive tweets that she sent out before she deactivated her presence towards the end of EOTB Season 1. But Taylor insists that the decision to leave the Teen Mom universe was her own in order to give a sense of privacy to her and the newborn.
Nonetheless, Cory's YouTube channel got to capture the moment of Taylor giving birth to Mila Mae, and it's embedded below.
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Another person who was anticipating something big this summer has been Alex Kompo of Siesta Key. At the end of the winter half of Season 3 earlier this year, his girlfriend Alyssa Salerno showed him a standard of most every reality show: a pregnancy test, and it revealed that the kit had turned up positive, an indication that she was awaiting her first kid. Earlier this month, they welcomed with open arms new kid Alessi into their world during what was an anticipatory week for them.
As it stood, Alyssa celebrated her birthday just after she gave birth to Alessi, and we all anticipated the drama involving her finding out about Alex's ways of cheating on her with his much-celebrated ex, the show's main protagonist Juliette Porter, while they were on their trip to Nashville during the season 3 winter finale back in March. As it turns out, that may never see the light of day.
That was because MTV decided to cut ties with him just before the mid-June summer premiere of Siesta Key, when the uproar over him and controversial comments left on Instagram and on Twitter back in 2017 resurfaced during this racially-charged time of ours. This also brings about the controversy he found himself when the show debuted over possible shark hunting charges that were never brought against him and his friends.
But it's not just MTV who has felt the brunt of all of this: the entire entertainment industry has been shook by all of this, and one of cable's biggest shows, Vanderpump Rules, has been deeply affected by all of this. Over its eight seasons, the show has had only one Black cast member in Faith Stowers, who Jax had an affair with a few years ago, but who then went onto that aforementioned Ex On The Beach Season 1 and then onto two seasons of The Challenge.
It was when she crossed into MTV land that Faith encountered an incident in 2018 which she shared on Instagram Live earlier this month that made waves in West Hollywood and beyond. There, she spilled the tea that two original VPR castmates, Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute, had phoned the cops to report her for a crime that she did not commit, but was tipped to British tabloid The Daily Mail. Stassi brought up the incident on her podcast and tweeted a link to that article with racially insensitive language.
In apologetic Instagram posts afterwards Stassi wrote, "What I did to Faith was wrong. I apologize and I do not expect forgiveness. I am also sorry to anyone else that feels disappointed in me. I am going to continue to look closer at myself and my actions -- to take the time to listen, to learn, and to take accountability for my own privilege." And Kristen added, "Although, my actions were not racially driven, I am now completely aware of how my privilege blinded me from the reality of law enforcement's treatment of the black community, and how dangerous my actions could have been to her. I'm ashamed, embarrassed, and incredibly sorry."
The actions of what happened that night led Bravo and Pump Rules' production firm Evolution Media to decide that Stassi and Kristin are better left out of later seasons of the show. And two of those who joined the cast this year, Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni, were also sent packing when racial tweets from the past popped up again... and it may not be the end as actions involving other cast members from the show may lead to more getting their walking papers.
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Well, not all of what took place during this upheaval involved racial overtones: two of those who starred on MTV Reality shows also took their shot at their former network. Six years ago, we saw Simone Kelly become an integral part of that memorable first season of Are You The One, and a year later helped usher in The Challenge's expansion when she took her talents to Battle of the Exes 2.
The most recent time we've seen 'Monie was on The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 three years ago, when she got into an off-camera fight with Shane Raines (Real World 30 Tony's brother) while at the secondary Redemption House during the early part of the season. Both were sent home after all of that, but that's not enough.
In her stories Simone wrote, "I think it's time I really spoke up about why I stopped doing shows with MTV. These major networks play a huge part in the systematic oppression of black ppl in this country. They think when they hire 4 ppl on a cast of 32 they've done their part." And below, she addressed it much more in an hour-long IGTV post.
Two years later on Season 2 of Ex On The Beach, we got to see Bad Girls Club alum Janelle Shanks among the group of the ten singles (which also included Teen Mom's Farrah Abraham, Bachelor alum Chad Johnson and fellow BGC alum Angela Babicz). Janelle echoed the sentiments brought up by Simone in her Instagram post below where she brought into question the issue of editing people like her to a certain stereotype for the sake of television entertainment.
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FORUM PERSPECTIVE
The views & opinions expressed are only of its blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of DCBLOG or affiliated parties.
For my perspective on all of this: reality television has always provided us with a sense of comfort and a feeling of escapism, especially in the times were are in right now. That will still be the case, and I will still enjoy these shows the same way I have done, but I believe things have changed quite a bit by the events of this June.
To get the easier parts out of the way: as I got to say long ago, actions that take place with these people - whether it's on the shows they've been on or off of it like what has transpired the past two week, will not entirely change how I get to perceive them, and will always be supportive of those who I support regardless of their behavior. Even after the cyclone finally dissipates, that will still be the case as they are now dealing with their past undoings and the consequences that come with them.
It's because of this fact that I am not one of those who takes part in the world of the cancel culture like most everyone else on Twitter, and have always elected to not vent much on these matters on social media. And whenever any situation arises with them, there's always this DCBLOG site for me to express my thoughts beyond 280 characters or an Instagram caption. And once again, I reaffirm my full support to the Black Lives Matter movement and to all of my Black friends.
Our thoughts: what Dee got to do in the spur of the moment during this time of ours was definitely uncalled for, and it was the right call to not only have her not be cast anymore, but also for MTV to have the guts to do what they did in announcing that it was the straw that broke the camel's back - it also goes for Stassi and Kristin even though I don't follow the Bravo world. For what happened with Taylor and Alex, it's something a bit sketchy because what happened with them took place in the past, and Taylor did the right thing to get out of this before it got out of hand.
For Alex, it's different: they were promoting his storyline right up to just before the premiere, and for us to not have to find out what happened with the cheating scandal is a total shame... same goes for him following the journey that's brought him to parenthood with Alyssa. But what happened with the past was something that he couldn't escape, and obviously things went the way it went. But you can't deny that he & Alyssa will be great parents out of the public limelight.
And for the allegations brought up by Simone and Janelle, this will now put MTV and those in the ViacomCBS regime into a big spot of how they can follow through on their pledge to stay true to the Black community. There has been instances where people like them have been edited to a certain way, and because of people power now they have made their voices heard to stop this stereotyping. And it brings into focus what happened prior to the ViacomCBS merger: former CBS executive Whitney Davis' op-ed in Variety about racism at her network during the tenure of displaced CEO Leslie Moonves... not to mention Big Brother 21 and the actions of that controversial cast.
Despite all that we have been through in the first six months of this year, 2020 is a year of change... one whose results will be felt well beyond the afterglow of this year's elections and for the rest of a decade that's started off on a bad note in many ways. But for this genre of reality TV, 2020 will certainly be remember as the year When Reality Got A Reality Check, and the everlasting effects will now leave this part of American life feeling not quite the same anymore.
Unfortunately, there may be more people who will be taken out of our favorite shows because of past wrongdoing unless they totally own up to it. Those who want to be on these shows once the pandemic finally dissipates now have to take their social media obligations seriously to prevent something like what happened to Dee, Alex, Taylor and everyone else from happening. There will be more power to the people that will find out that what happens in the past won't stay in the past.
The producers of the shows you enjoy now have to take on greater transparency in every aspect of production because of all of this, while also trying to do what they can to better reflect this diverse country of ours which has been united like never before during this time of meyhem. And the same will do for networks and brands, which will have its hands full in trying to stay true to, as the idiom goes, what their actions will do and speak louder than those words in a tweet.
With that, we'll leave you with this Instagram caption which will sum up the feelings I have for those who are now not part of Team MTV, all during this time at a crossroads for this genre we love & the shows you enjoy. For more information on how you can help inspire change in the world and where you live, visit Black Lives Matter on Carrd.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
