DC ExtraTime: The Caucus Challenge Goes to Camp and to Beantown

*** CAUTION: Certain Videos Embedded Below Contain Adult Language & Situations Not Intended for a Younger Audience. Parental Guidance is Suggested. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

IG @TheAndresRodriguez

As we are finally into the final 48 hours of 2020 and anxious to ring in 2021 tomorrow night, those who we've been thinking about right now and a lot during the holidays are our family and friends. For many of us, we have not spent much time in person with either or both of them this year because of the pandemic and whose only contact have been through virtual parties on Zoom or digitally. But for those of you who have been healthy and being extremely aware of this reality we are in now, then you have gotten to cherish that quality time... that includes the subjects of this year's last ExtraTime.

Ever since we first introduced them three years ago, Andres Rodriguez and his tight-knit group of friends from Secaucus, NJ have been regulars of this DCBLOG site. It's for that we have chronicled the entirety of his signature series for his YouTube channel, The Caucus Challenge, and its Real World-inspired spinoff The Life We Live. Yes, it's likely that you have been obsessed with watching those new MTV Challenge and Are You The One seasons that they have on Netflix and CBS All Access all this month, but this clique has also forged their own identity for great television in creating ten Caucus Challenges and three prior seasons of TLWL before this year.

In a perfect world, we would be enjoying watching the eleventh & twelfth seasons of Caucus by now... but of course there were other plans. So instead, what the franchise's creator & host had in mind earlier this summer was something different and something familiar. And on a night where Double Agents is taking this rare Challenge Wednesday off for the New Year's holiday, we'd thought we'd give you a suggestion for what to watch, and share you how Dre & Friends spent their Lost Summer of 2020.

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 CAMPGROUND GAMES 

A staple of any summer for most of us (and that includes my sister's family) has been to spend a whole weekend away from the city and the suburbs and to enjoy life in the outdoors. Who can think of those times where you and your family or your friends got to bring along those tents, lanterns, that pack of marshmallows & graham crackers to make some smores and all else for a weekend of camping? We can all relate to that especially if you're fond of your younger years.

It's with that in mind that Dre and his friend JT thought of something special to replace this year's Caucus Challenge seasons: bringing along their families for a summer camping trip, and creating a scaled down version of their show to a whole different venue in a camping ground than the backyard of Dre's house and his surrounding neighborhood. This is a whole different season and not just because of the pandemic -- the stars were more than just some of their friends, but also parents, aunts, uncles and kids... and in addition to drama and action, there's also fun and comic relief too.

There's creating puzzles, a game of rugby, tackling the terrain, and plenty of competition in the battle for bragging rights. And given the unique nature of this special spinoff, there's something unique about this in that it's all in the family... and below, the three episodes of the Campground Games.

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 THE LIFE WE LIVE: BOSTON 

Those who have been following the whole MTV Reality journey know that Boston and the surrounding New England region have been a proud hub to so many of The Challenge's biggest names, plus the most notable guy in the history of Are You The One?... and before all that, it hosted an all-time Real World alum class. And in so many ways, Beantown is so much different than its New York counterparts: a City of Champions full of working-class people, time-honored traditions, and THAT accent.

The first year of TLWL saw the crew travel down to Miami for Dre's birthday, venture to the splendor of the Poconos for some relaxation before they split off for college, and drive up to St. George in Upstate New York for their winter break. Orders to stay home to slow the spread in the one metropolis most affected by the first wave of COVID forced Dre to not have have an elaborate birthday trip this time around, but after their campground challenge he and his friends found a way to make the most of this unusual summer by going up to Boston at the end of the summer.

The trip gets underway rather inauspiciously with a long road trip of all of four hours & change from Secaucus to Boston, plus some drama along the way. And within 24 hours, the hope for a drama-free vacation evaporates as quickly as when interpersonal matters and gossip see the good vibes of a Siesta Key party go into the Atlantic. And all of that is documented below...

And during this month of uncertainty in our world, just this month Dre and friends set off for Season 5 of The Life We Live. This time, it's to a whole different locale and in getting to do things bigger... but all after quarantining for a time before jetting off westward for the first ever season of either of his series to take place outside of the Eastern Time Zone. We'll rejoin them in Colorado Springs later during Double Agents... and if what we saw in their first four seasons are any indication, you can bet that there will be plenty of drama going down again in the Rockies.

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