Just over the horizon, MTV fans on both sides of the Atlantic will be greeted by a sight they haven't had the chance to experience since things spiraled out of control in our world: the sight of beaches, bikinis and the scary moment when people from the romantic pasts of those unsuspecting singles reemerge. Like many other franchises in this genre, Ex On The Beach was affected by the pandemic and had no season of the American or British versions being filmed in 2020. But thanks to careful planning, it and any other productions have been taking place during this year of 2021, and both the original and U.S. adaptations will be on our screens in the months to come.
When Ex On The Beach first premiered on MTV UK across the pond back in 2014, it brought to the British tellys a totally different and uniquely twisted take on the classic romantic reality dating genre. Four years later, it became the first MTV franchise to originate overseas and then be translated into an American version of it, one of the many nations to do so from Europe, to the Americas and beyond. And when we got to witness how twisted this show would be in the spring of 2018, an all-star lineup of reality TV's finest were summoned to the same mega-mansion on the Big Island of Hawaii where Justin Bieber spent a summer vacation to a love reality show that is truly unlike any other.
And plenty of familiar faces from Taylor's Are You The One? show -- both from her infamous season 5 cast and others from MTV's other reality dating entry -- comprised some of the season's exes. But the rest of those who invaded Hawaii were relative unknowns, as were the three other original singles who didn't hold a membership card to a prior reality show appearance. But last weekend, one of them who came to the house as its resident musician and who was on his way to a promising future at a DJ and a music producer met his unexpected end in a shocking and truly senseless manner.
Shortly after he graduated and heading back out west, Pearson adopted his musical alias of Creatures Ferris as he continued performing in Vegas and Arizona as he also began work on his first EP album. His drive, talent, ambition and motivation would lead him to a greater standing in a musical community that was gaining steam in the mainstream as Off Key would hire him as his DJ, Vince Staple featured him in his album and taking gigs at the Avalon Hollywood club and other exclusive parties in the city of the stars.
But one bigger thing was lying ahead for Chris -- something that didn't have to do with going behind the decks: Ex On The Beach as one of those singles -- the aforementioned reality stars above plus basketball star Tor'i Brooks and fashion blogger Victoria Alario. His bio read, "21-year-old Chris AKA Creatures Ferris is an international house DJ and a ladies' man who boils everything in his life down to whether it’s 'Gucci' or 'Not Gucci.' Despite his apparent goofiness, Chris is a hopeless romantic who has fallen in love more than once, and had his heart broken as a result. Needless to say, when Chris's Ex arrives in the house, it will NOT be Gucci. Can Chris's Gucci-ness overcome the predicament he’s about to enter?"
In taking his life's slogan and magic word from the handbag designer and Lil' Pump's breakthrough track as well as its meaning of being, "good, fine, excellent, great, fancy and fashionable," Chris fit the description of being class clown in this show's yearbook of its freshman season. But by the time the second wave of exes came rolling in, he would contribute his part (albeit a small one compared to his reality counterparts) in the drama when his exes Chelsko Thompson (later of Encore on Disney+) and Haley Reid flew to our fiftieth state to get even with him... and even creating a few things for the meme department.
In fact, it was in the summer of 2019 that Chris hosted gigs in Colorado with some of his fellow EOTB alumni, including Nelson Thomas -- himself an alum of both Ex On The Beach as music video vixen Nurys Mateo's ex on Season 2, and Are You The One? as part of the legendary Season 3 cast in addition to being a Challenge staple. This was all before he had to fly out to California afterwards to face his ex Angela on the most-notable appearance of EOTB alumni on national television outside of the series itself: their now-infamous appearance on Dr. Phil.
But last weekend, this happened: Chris and his girlfriend were just enjoying their late Saturday night fun into early Sunday morning in their apartment complex in the San Fernando Valley north of downtown L.A. in the heart of the entertainment district. However, when those who have to share the same living space as so many others, they must be courteous of their neighbors a bit more than if they owned a house in the suburbs -- especially late at night when those who are not fond of twenty & thirty-somethings' behavior while having to have a peaceful night sleep... and that was the case here.
In this case, according to TMZ the couple was down by the pool area making a bunch of noise at 2AM in the morning and supposedly Chris was yelling at one of the residents and ignoring theirs and others' request to knock it off. One of those occupants on their balcony decided to take things to another level when he raised their voice at Chris and he responded by yelling back. A TMZ follow-up added that he went inside the building to try and confront him... and after the altercation he was stabbed in the chest.
Pearson was promptly rushed to a nearby hospital after paramedics were called to the complex, but efforts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at 3:30AM from those fatal injuries. The man who stabbed him reportedly fled from the scene prior to police arriving, and even a week after this heartless incident no arrests have yet been made. But the authorities remain on the case as they continue searching for witnesses and any visual evidence that may lead to the capture of the suspect at large, and there's a reasonable chance this investigation may go on for weeks or months, well after his funeral.
After the news was made public, friends of his started a GoFundMe appeal for his Colorado-based family to help to heed the bill for their son's funeral expenses, which as of press time has raised over $7,000 of its $30,000 goal. The effort's organizer, Veronica Garcia, eulogized that he was "...the most determined person there could ever be," and was one who not only brought love to everyone he ever met up with, but put those in his inner circle ahead of his musical passions and to make his family proud.
THE MTV FAMILY REMEMBERS
As it was for the last death that involved a MTV reality show alum, TMZ was the first media outlet to report and confirm the news of Chris' death last Monday around 1:30PM Pacific (4:30PM ET), and only after his next of kin and those closest to him were notified of his death before the news was made public knowledge. And as it was for when after Alexis Eddy of Are You The One? Season 6 was found dead in West Virginia last year, the reaction of Chris' death immediately made waves among those who have done Ex On The Beach, still a relative newcomer to reality TV and thus not having the kind of enormous impact as when Diem Brown or Ryan Knight died prior to their last Challenge in 2015.
For obvious reasons, other than for his immediate family & friends no one in the MTV family knew Chris better than those who lived with him in Hawaii back in the winter of 2017 when the first EOTB season was filmed, and those who got a chance to cross paths with him in the four years after. And no one had the kind of close relationship with our now-departed member of this community than the two women who came to get closure in their failed relationships with him.
"I'm at such a loss for words. We started this beautiful musical journey together. You believed in me before anyone else did. I can't believe you're gone but I know you're up there dancing and DJing with The Lord and Tyler now. May your music live on forever. You will be so dearly missed sweet boy. 😔"
● CHELSKO THOMPSON - IG @ChelskoMusic
SEASON 1/Chris' Ex & Disney+'s Encore!
"Rest in Peace 💔🕊️ My heart hurts so much. Such a beautiful soul taken from us too soon. I'm so thankful to have known you and you are going to be so missed. Your memory will live on and you will always have a special place in my heart. fly high chris 🤍"
● HALEY READ - IG @HaleyReadXOXO
SEASON 1/Chris' Ex-Girlfriend
"We are deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Chris Pearson. Our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."
● MTV Statement - IG & Twitter @ExOnTheBeach
"Damn I was literally just going through all of my @exonthebeach memories and got this news. You were a light and always the life of the party on set bro. RIP CHRIS"
● ROMEO MILLER - IG @RomeoMiller
HOST/Seasons 1-4 & Champs vs. Stars
"Wow. So sad, RIP Chris."
● ANDRE SIEMERS - IG @andre.siemers
SEASON 1/OG Single & AYTO Season 5
"Rest In Peace Chris ❤️. our little Ex On The Beach family won't be the same without you."
● ANGELA BABICZ - IG @AngelaBabicz
SEASONS 1 & 2/OG Single & 1x Challenger
"RIP BRO!! ❤️"
● CHARLES DAVIS - IG @iamcharlesdavis
SEASON 1/Faith's Ex & YouTube Star
"RIP Creatures. 🙏🏼"
● CHASE McNARY - IG @chase_brody_mcnary
SEASON 1/OG Single & The Bachelorette
"RIP 🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️"
● CORY WHARTON - IG @CoryWharton
SEASON 1/OG Single & 8x Challenger
"RIP BRO!!! YOU WILL BE MISSED 🙏🏾"
● DERRICK HENRY - IG @ImDroc15
SEASON 1/OG Single & AYTO Season 5
"Rest in heaven Chris. I am so glad I was able to meet you. Love you forever my guy! Your memory will last forever. See you there in the next season 🙏🏾"
● FAITH STOWERS - IG @KingFaithHope
SEASON 1/OG Single & 2x Challenger
"Wow omg RIP chris."
● JASMINE GOODE - IG @JasmineGoode_
SEASON 1/OG Single & The Bachelor
"My heart is broke. We were a part of each other's loves for every short snippet of time, but being locked in a house for weeks - you really get to know someone. Your heart was pure, your energy was infectious and the world is not as bright without you here. May you rest in peace @CreaturesFerris 🤍"
● LEXI MARSELLA - IG @LexiMarsella
SEASON 1/Ex
"Damn. RIP. Sending prayers and live to his loved ones."
● PAULIE CALFIORE - IG @PaulCalafiore_
SEASON 1/OG Single & 3x Challenger
"We woke up to some very heartbreaking news... Rest In Paradise @creaturesferris 🙏🏻 We love you forever!"
● TAYLOR SELFRIDGE - IG @Taylor.Selfridge
SEASON 1/OG Single & AYTO Season 5
"🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿"
● TOR'I BROOKS - IG @PaulCalafiore_
SEASONS 1 & 2/Single & Ex
"Rest In Peace to my old friend Chris. he was one of a kind to work with and we have amazing memories together. 🤍🕊️"
● VICTORIA ALARIO - IG @Victoria.Alario
SEASON 1/OG Single
"Sending love to his friends and family during this horrible time ❤️"
● ALEXIS HANAA - IG @alexishanaa
SEASON 3/Ex
"❤️ Sending all my prayers"
● ALLIE DiMECO - IG @handle
SEASON 4/OG Single & Temptation Island
"We lost a great human 🤍🤍🤍 R.I.P. @creaturesferris thank you for always showing love and for all the great nights we had in Hollywood."
● ANTHONY MARTIN - IG @handle
SEASON 3/Ex & AYTO Season 6
"RIP bro!"
● JAY STARRETT - IG @jqskim
SEASON 2/Ex & 2x Challenger
"❤️🙏🏼"
● JOSS MOONEY - IG @jossmooney
EOTB UK/2x Ex & 3x Challenger
"RIP my brotha"
● MALCOLM DRUMMER - IG @mackemdrummer
SEASON 2/OG Single & AYTO Season 6
"So sad. He was awesome.❤️ RIP Angel"
● MARIE RODA - IG @mar8e
SEASON 3/Ex
"RIP @creaturesferris 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽"
● NELSON THOMAS - IG @_nelsonthomas
SEASON 2/Ex, AYTO Season 3 & 8x Challenger
"🥺🙏🏼🤍"
● SHANNON DUFFY - IG @shannonmaeduffy
SEASON 3/Ex & AYTO Season 5
"Rip 🕊🙏🏽"
● KAREEM FATHALLA - IG @kareem.fathalla
AYTO Season 6
While the stars of the show are the cast themselves, there's the other side of the programs you love: as evidenced by MTV integrating more of the interactions between casts and behind the scenes personnel starting on Cory's original Real World Ex-Plosion season (with an eerily similar theme to that of EOTB) and then on Teen Mom OG, any reality production takes a whole team behind the scenes to make it all happen. And while they are legally bound to not interact with the cast members when the cameras are rolling, they nonetheless develop the same kind of relationships in some sort with the cast the same way we see things clique as it did for Cory and Taylor.
And it's here that the most poignant of all the tributes & remembrances of Chris comes from someone behind the fourth wall: Abby Singer has been part of EOTB's production team from day 1, having worked as a producer while on site in Hawaii and beforehand in helping cast that original class for both MTV and its producer, Purveyors of Pop. She wrote in her eulogy, "He was happy, he had a big heart, he was someone who wanted to love and be loved. His interviews were often incoherent and hilarious. On a show filled with nasty ex relationships, Chris was a dopey golden retriever puppy that was there to have fun, make friends, and laugh - and everyone loved him for that."
And she summed up the feelings of all of us when she concluded her tribute by simply punctuating with his magic word, "Rest In Gucci @creaturesferris, you will be missed by many."
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
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