Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, "Who Are These Newbies?" is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices. Some videos embedded contain adult language & situations, parental guidance is suggested.
Wherever you are, TV is a global phenomenon that has bonded generations of viewers since it began in the 1930's with relatively primitive technology that has evolved into today's 4K HD screens and viewing on every screen you can think of. As evidenced by what transpired for 19 days by them tuning into Tokyo 2020 like this one here, four billion viewers around the world got to see a record number of countries win medals and have the honor of hearing their national anthems on the victory podium... and you can't imagine the joy commentators everywhere had calling the biggest moments for viewers at home.
No matter which language people speak around this world, one thing that is common everywhere you go nowadays is reality television, with franchises we here in America know and love being adopted and customized by networks around the world featuring ordinary people. And chances are, once you're able to travel again around the world once we're over this pandemic, you might find yourself in your hotel room seeing the shows you love airing on overseas networks... but it's likely that you'll hear a different language when it's being translated by local voiceovers. Well, that's pretty much the idea behind this third & last edition of our season-opening primer on the rookies called "Who Are These Newbies?".
Leading into the premiere, we did deep dives into thirteen of the first-time contestants competing in Croatia spanning both U.S. and overseas installments of Survivor, Love Island and Big Brother; local variations of MTV reality franchises Ex On The Beach and the MTV Shore series, and even two guys from outside the MTV ecosystem and shows on rival streaming outlets. Now, Part 3 turns our attention to nations where English is not the preeminent language but who come from those above-mentioned series... and we begin with those that come from nearby in Continental Europe.
CONTINENTAL EUROPE
LOGAN SAMPEDRO
πͺπΈ Survivor Spain
Now, Spain has its first Challenge competitor competing here: 29-year-old Logan Sampedro comes to us from Oviedo in the northern part of the country, home to the nation's only Formula 1 world champion driver, Fernando Alonso. Not much is known about what he's done outside of TV, other than having athletic experience in soccer, skateboarding and being increasingly interested in combat sports in boxing and jujitsu... but also likes to play that ultimate of mental games while sitting down: chess. But one title he has in his trophy case is the title of Mr. Spain: he won the 2017 MΓster Global EspaΓ±a competition... something that gives him, by Nany at least, the title of Spanish heartthrob on this Challenge.
The reason for his ticket to this season came a year earlier when Logan became a household name to Spanish reality television fans as he competed on the thirteenth season of Survivor Spain in the spring of 2018 in Honduras -- or make that, Supervivientes: Perdidos en Honduras. The field he found himself in also included a winner of Big Brother Spain, a past Miss Spain, Instagram models, TV stars and even a convicted criminal who was caught in a corruption scandal in Marbella. But amidst all that, Logan made it all the way to season's end, where he finished in the runner-up position - and clips are below.
For the most startling story about Logan, just glance over at his eyes. We all know about what bad luck befell War of the Worlds runner-up Theo Campbell when, while was celebrating his birthday in 2019, a champagne cork hit his eye and he had to go into surgery leaving him partially blind with 7 stitches. Logan had a similar episode himself the same summer as the Brit: also on vacation in Ibiza, a drone he was flying while helping film a party for a local film crew in the European summer capital fell on top of him, and he too was also hospitalized with a much more serious diagnosis. The eye that was affected is more affected than the one that wasn't: sensitivity to light, a dilated pupil, blurred vision and, most notably, that eye is darker than the other.
BETTINA BUCHANAN
πΈπͺ Ex On The Beach Norway
+ Paradise Hotel Sweden
We are very much used to wild characters in our romantic reality universe with Angela, Devin and so many others... but wait until you get to check out what Bettina Buchanan from Sweden is like inside this hot stove. She comes to us from Halmstad in the southern portion of the country, and where before she became famous she was a professional dancer who competed on its national team and won the national championship in sport dance. But it's likely that, other than for competition or drama, you won't see much of Bettina here: she is in a relationship and has a boyfriend... and listen also for her laugh, too.
When Jersey and Floribama Shore creator Sally Ann-Salsano began taking shape in this industry, a show she produced before the former became an icon was Paradise Hotel, which began at the outset of the reality boom in the early 2000's where contestants lived in a hotel and are eliminated weekly. It aired three times here in the U.S. including in 2019 with Laguna Beach and The Hills' Kristin Cavallari hosting, but it's become a much more successful show outside the U.S. where it airs in ten countries.
Bettina has appeared five times on the Paradise Hotel franchise -- three in her native Sweden (the most successful of all the PH iterations worldwide), and two more next door in Norway. She developed a kind of persona similar to Ashley on her Real World, Kayleigh and Melissa on their EOTB seasons in Britain and others in the way she became a fan fave in Scandinavia: she pulled an Ashley on her fellow winner in the thirteen series of the Norweigan version of the show last year taking his money. And Bettina has also appeared on Norway's version of Ex On The Beach -- last year being on a winter-themed version of the show that aired on its local iteration of Discovery+ rather than MTV there.
πͺπΈ πͺπΊ πΈπͺ
SURVIVOR Romania
Located in the heart of continental Europe is the nation of Romania, where 19 million call it home, and where in the '40s it fought in World War II and led to four decades of socialist rule by the Soviets that ended with a revolution in 1989 that saw it regain independence and democracy before the ensuing collapse of the Eastern Bloc. To Americans, it's best known in the athletic sphere for its longtime success of its female gymnasts at the Summer Olympics - led by Nadia Comaneci and seven perfect 10's forty-five years ago in Montreal. And now, we welcome two competitors from Romania to The Challenge.
EMANUEL NEAGU
π·π΄ Survivor: Romania
Coming into Spies, Lies & Allies, we can note a lot of resemblances that this rookie class has to others who have competed on here in the past: Tommy to Robb on Battle of the Seasons & Rivals 2, Corey to NBA player Kemba Walker, Gabo to Vinny of Fresh Meat 2, and Berna to the Kaplans on Devin's Ex On The Beach season. And then, there's this comparison: how about the first of the Romanians to Jordan just by how they share that same hairdo.
Emanuel Neagu comes to us from CocorΔΘtii ColΘ, a small rural county in southern Romania with a population of just over 1,000 residents. Seeing his photos, you can spot that he has plenty of tattoos... but he also loves to move: he's a dancer who has a growing YouTube following that has seen him do many dance videos set to the music of Chris Brown, Young Thug and self-confessed Challenge fan Drake. There's even a recent clip, as you can see below, of him on a local cooking show.
Getting to be as active as he is in the rehearsal studio or on the dance floor, it is necessary for any castaway to go on Survivor to handle the rigors of those challenges to determine rewards or immunity, in addition to everything else needed to be the one at the end. That's exactly what Emanuel got to do last year when he took part on the very first season of Survivor Romania... and unlike its U.S. counterpart & like Big Brother seasons here it aired live and recorded in real-time -- and right at the outset of the pandemic but in the safe environment of the Dominican Republic.
Emanuel was part of a group of twenty contestants who competed there in the Caribbean, and thanks in part of his expertise in movement not only in dancing but being an athlete himself as a former soccer goalkeeper he utilized those same skills he used on the pitch to make it all the way to the final three --- and he finished in the runner-up position. That pretty much gives him some separation from Jordan, too.
EMY ALUPEI
π·π΄ Survivor: Romania
22-year-old Andreea Emilia Alupei -- who goes by the alias of "Emy" -- grew up in the heartbeat of Romania: nation's capital and largest city of Bucharest, affectionally known as the "Paris of the East," and where 2.3 million in the metropolitan area call home. Even today, she still has a love for her mother who she still lives with... and the young daughter also holds dear to her heart someone who she loves just as much: in the Meet the Rookies video before this Challenge, Andreea's necklace she wears sports a pendant of who she calls her "angel" -- her late grandmother.
Emy earned her stripes in competitive reality television in competing on that first season of Survivor Romania a year ago, where she first boasted the kind of persona reality fans just love: a loud personality, finding out about all that went on in the tribes when it came to rumors and lies, and of course plenty of blow-ups. Unlike Survivor in America, the action takes place in real time as it goes down instead of being recorded and edited months before: almost five months... and despite that length she won thirteen total challenges en route to a sixth place finish in the Dominican Republic.
But had it not been for living in that chaotic atmosphere of the outdoors, Emy would still have become well known in Romania: four years earlier, she made her way to the stage of its version of The X-Factor, Simon Cowell's other big musical talent showcase that first made Fifth Harmony, One Direction and Little Mix stars. Pop groups aside, any music act in any genre can be eligible to perform on the show, and Emy successfully auditioned to be on season 6 in 2016, where she is both a singer & rapper and was one of forty contestants that year. But while she was eliminated before the final 16 phase of the season, she became a big star in her native homeland: a 200k Instagram following and viral status on YouTube.
π·π΄ π·π΄ π·π΄
BIG BROTHER NAIJA
On many occasions, Africa has played host to either a regular season of The Challenge, the final mission for the money, or in the case of both Final Reckoning and War of the Worlds, both. For the last two of our rookie field, both of them make history as the first to represent the continent on this show, and both of them come from the same season of Big Brother in their homeland.
While we take this summer tradition of ours so seriously where we are, it's also the case in most of the sixty other regions outside the U.S. where Big Brother has had a version air in their territory. But while the series has become a smash everywhere you go -- from Britain and the Philippines (which introduced future Now United member Bailey May) to where Asaf Goren won a celeb version in his native Israel and Canada (for which it will play a part in the coming months of our MTV coverage here), it's obsessed even more in TV-obsessed nations like Nigeria.
Its version of this series, alternatively entitled Big Brother Naija for the local market, began airing on African basic cable network M-Net in 2007, but it wasn't until 2017 that the show really took off when its sibling Africa Magic began airing it on a regular basis in the Sub-Saharan African region in Nigeria -- by far the largest populous country in Africa with over 211 million people. And it's on Big Brother Naija that we find our last two subjects here.
ESTHER AGUNBIADE
π³π¬ Big Brother Nigeria
Esther Agunbaide is a lawyer from Nigeria's largest city of Lagos, with a population of 14 million in city proper (second behind Kinshasa in DR Congo in all of Africa) and over 21 million in the metro area (larger than New York, Moscow or London). At aged 22 at the time of her national TV debut (and to turn 25 next week), she takes pride in both her brains and beauty, while also being athletic and showing off her figure... but don't get near her if you don't have good hygiene.
When she came onto BB Naija, Esther told Africa Magic that she loves competition if she still had a million dollars, and that she sees herself as "...real, smart and sexy." And two times in the big house, she earned the same designation we all rejoiced in when Da'Vonne won that honor last year in the All-Stars house: Head of Household... and she also won an additional challenge as well. Other than that, it was an uneventful summer for her in the house, being evicted midway through BB Naija 4.
"Simply" TACHA AKIDE
π³π¬ Big Brother Nigeria
Anita Natacha Akide, who goes by the alias of Symply Tacha ("Tacha" for short) is a half-year-old older than Esther at 24 years & 8 months. She comes from Rivers State in southern Nigeria (pop. 5 million, where unlike her counterpart Tacha is simply a "social media star." Just being a Houseguest on the biggest reality show not only in Nigeria (where it shares an AM schedule with local versions of The Voice and Next Top Model and a slew of dramas & telenovelas), but all of Africa was just another item on the to-do list of her continental takeover.
Her bio adds, "This spunky 23-year-old Rivers State native lives her life like her favourite musician Cardi B does: 'Do no harm but take no mess.' Talented at making strategic money moves, Tacha would pick her phone over sleep, any day. Although losing her mom weighs heavily on her, the experience has taught Tacha she is as strong as an eagle, one of her favourite animals." And when asked why should would be a fan favorite she got to say, "Because I’m SYMPLYTACHA. I'm spontaneous, loud, interesting, lively and fun."
As we've been covering this world since 2013, we're used to seeing those who tell it like it is and take over your screen with their presence the moment you see them. If we loved what we've gotten to see with Mama Day, Simone, Janelle on EOTB or Nikki on DSAL, than Tacha should fit that personality: her ruthless and over-the-top persona took over BB Naija -- whether the house liked it or not. EIGHT times did the house put her up for eviction, and every time the power of the people saved her in the public vote -- something that we don't get on our Big Brother on a weekly basis.
She didn't win HOH or even a Power of Veto challenge, but thanks to the show having additional challenges she took home over ₦540,000 in the Nigerian currency of naira, which despite the nice ring to it in six figures, translates to just over $1300 in USD. But also, there's what led to her exit similar to what befell Monie and Janelle: her getting into a physical fight with fellow houseguest, music video vixen and eventual winner Mercy Eke.
Now, the reason why we've branded Tacha the rookie headliner: of those who are and still compete on The Challenge, no one -- Bananas, Cory, CT or any one else -- has a Twitter following in the seven figures, though the second one has on Instagram thanks to being his MTV King status & being part of the universe that surrounds Cheyenne Floyd on Teen Mom OG. We now have our first active Challenger with a 1 million Twitter following: Tacha has 1.1 million, true rarified air with The Miz and Karamo Brown in that category, with Kyle having half of that thanks to his Geordie Shore status.
Tacha, Esther, Emy, Emanuel, Logan and Bettina... they join Corey, Jeremiah, Michaela, Michele, Tommy, Berna, Gabo, Hughie, Priscilla, Tracy, Kelz, Lauren and Renan in this battle for supremacy on the world stage that's now taking over our attention for the next several months after another global competition that just took over our attention the past month. All of these alumni of reality shows in eleven countries spanning shows in and outside of the ViacomCBS universe comprise our class of nineteen rookies of The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies.
This group represents a reflection of both the growing appreciation and reach of this MTV icon that became the first show in its genre of mixing a reality-based format with competition, and the growth of the reality genre from one that was spawned by MTV itself giving networks worldwide the idea that non-scripted programming can work on local television, regardless of how big the market for these kinds of shows are. It's truly a wide world of reality TV that's taking to Croatia... and to this group all we can say is, welcome to the family.
π π π
Our apologies for getting this third & last part of this "Who Are These Newbies?" article up after the premiere of Spies, Lies & Allies... but you get the idea -- this blogger has been trying to get himself back into the swing of things of blogging on MTV Reality and The Challenge after spending the past three weeks binge-watching the world's best, and marking a milestone birthday within our extended family.
But as it turns out, in truth this is not the last part of this introduction to this season's rookies: the fourth & final part of these series will be up after we bring you Season 37 premiere edition of the DCBLOG Challenge SocialPulse next week as part of an expanded slate of blog content to mark the start of a new season of the fifth major pro sport... details on all that are located here.
- I AM DC
#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).