DC ExtraTime: Celeb-Exes On The Beach Go Dating in the Caribbean...

 FOLLOW-UP  Angela and Nelson's

 Couples Therapy (October 2019)

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In where some of DCBLOG's very best work lies, we have uncovered many of the most interesting and fascinating stories involving the people of MTV Reality television. A lot of these posts have covered appearances those who star on shows ranging from The Challenge to the Shore world and beyond make on programs outside of the linear MTV channel itself, along with music videos, movies and even YouTube. But one of the most notable -- perhaps the most infamous, even -- of these appearances in recent years took place on the one form of TV anyone & most especially those who are strapped for cash can receive with a rabbit ears antenna and don't have to pay a single cent for, even in this streaming world.

While we were going about what turned out to be the last full year of the old normal, there was one romance that garnered much attention in this community of D-list celebrities who star on TV's most buzzed about shows in this genre. A guy who began his rise to fame on arguably the most-renowned alumni class of his original show six years ago found his perfect match not on Season 3 of Are You The One, but on MTV's other entry to reality dating goodies when he fell in love with a Season 1 original of the U.S. version of global franchise Ex On The Beach. And in a world where couples in this field come and go as often as clicks of a remote control, so began the kind of relationship that was tailor made for MTV, and perhaps even more as it turned out.

While Season 34 of The Challenge, War of the Worlds 2 was airing in the fall of 2019 as did Season 3 of EOTB, Nelson Thomas and Angela Babicz stole both the show and the buzz from those two shows by coming onto a two-part episode of Dr. Phil to air out their off-and-on relationship with America's favorite psychologist. They first met up in New York two years earlier when they shared a room with four people linked to them by those several degrees of separation in Derrick Henry, Tori Deal, Jordan Wiseley and Cory Wharton, along with many of their fellow Challengers. Our two subjects would later compete alongside those four on a future Challenge... and that's where the twisted story of #Nelgela begins -- one that we never even thought we would do a follow-up on two years later.

It took a while, but the Bad Girls Club alum and one-third of The Young Bucks trio would click when she became EOTB USA's only two-time main single, and he walked onto the beach as an ex to AYTO alum & music video vixen Nurys Mateo on that same Season 2. There would be a lot of things that would await Angela and Nelson, starting with when they had that relationship in Malibu, which then saw them break up when they came together for the reunion for a sophomore season that also starred Bachelor villain Chad Johnson, Teen Mom's Farrah Abraham, Nurys' AYTO mates Diandra Delgado and Malcolm Drummer, the one who's now Johnny Bananas' ex, Big Brother's Morgan Willett and her ex & future Challenger Jay Willett of Survivor fame, among an all-star group of reality stars.

For Nelgela, they would break up and get back together again almost on a weekly and monthly basis -- thirty times in all -- in the months that followed being our Ex On The Beach's first high-profile couple that was worthy of the tabloids (with respect to Cory and Taylor Selfridge but we love them also). Their relationship cost her a close friendship with Season 1 OG Victoria Alario, while there was also a lot of other drama involving this couple that not even this paragraph could squeeze into... and it was inevitable that their relationship would get settled on, of all things, daytime television and an potential audience that is larger than what a cable channel or streaming outlet can deliver behind a paywall.

Angela and Nelson went onto Dr. Phil in late August 2019 and aired a month later, and all after he flew in from a party with other fellow MTV alumni in Colorado thrown by Chris "Creatures Ferris" Pearson, who was tragically killed in a senseless stabbing last month. The couple got to share the many aspects of their relationship with the talk show host that, in the clips below, was part reality show and part cringe fest, and talk show on the side too, that exposed a new audience to the kind of relationship that would make those in Bachelor Nation feel a bit jealous.

The couple got together remarkably once again after being on Dr. Phil, where she had to spend some time by herself when Nelson joined Cory on Total Madness, just as it would be later on Double Agents and this current season. But while Season 35 was filming, he and Angela once again split... this time for good, and he discussed what happened on the virtual reunion with Vernon Davis.

We fast-forward over a year to what's transpired on his eighth Challenge start, Spies, Lies and Allies: after losing his biggest supporter last week when Cory lost to Survivor Spain's Logan Sampedro in elimination, this week Nelly found himself in the drama surrounding his AYTO Season 3 mate and Rivals 3 partner Amanda Garcia and her dwindling fan support. It also included her WOTW partner Josh Martinez, the one who mastered that comeback in Hawaii six years ago next week Devin Walker, and the surprise, puzzling and still unexplained ejection of Amanda's biggest ally, Ashley Mitchell. And even now, Amanda has been linked to the most notorious of the current batch of newcomers to this show, two-time finalist Fessy Shafaat.

But hours before that Top Gun-themed episode 13 aired back on Wednesday night, a most telling video of sorts was posted on YouTube and in the subscriber feeds of over 175,000 followers.

Angela turned 31 years old last month, and the Bad Girl marked her second birthday in this new world by taking a holiday trip down to Puerto Rico. It was a rocky beginning to that excursion when her belongings were left out in the open as she complained to those at the customs desk for keeping her waiting, and what would have been a recipe for disaster. But after all that was sorted out, the birthday girl was on her way to enjoying the American territory, from walking the streets to enjoying the peacefulness of this amazing island.

As this goes on, Nelson also decided to take a trip himself -- in this case, an early birthday vacation two weeks before turning 33... ironically enough, the last time he & her were together was for another vacation out of country for spring break last year, just before things in our world spiraled out of control just like a night for the Jersey Shore kids turned parents. This vacay to the Caribbean was just before he jetted off to this season's reunion: once the final verdict of who reigns victorious around the holidays, Amsterdam, Netherlands will be where the fireworks of the very last act of Spies, Lies & Allies will go down... and he and many of this season's cast also got to dress up for Halloween overseas.

For the hourlong vlog, it wasn't until towards the end that Nelson was on camera for this weeklong episode of "Celeb-Exes Go Dating." After she posted that video Angela reiterated to her Twitter followers, "To be clear, I am still very much SINGLE. I’m just cut from a different cloth & do crazy shit like go to PR with my ex 😂 he didn’t want me to be alone for my bday & neither did I. I could meet the love of my life tomorrow. Until then I’m doing w/e I want. Girl power ✌🏼Thank yeww." 

Anything can happen in this world of reality dating couples... ask two others who they competed on Final Reckoning of what it's like to go from dating to broken up to getting engaged & being parents. But for now, we end this bit with these other few glimpses of #Nelgela.

- I AM DC

#DCBLOG