DCBLOG: The Look: The Caucus Challenge

Sunday, April 30, 2023

The Look: The Caucus Challenge - "Resurrection"

CAUTION: Videos Embedded Below Contain Adult Language and Content Intended for a Mature Audience. Viewer Discretion is Advised.

BY DC CUEVA

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NOTE: As my family and I continue to go about life without our patriarch, the increased duties this blogger has as man of the house has forced me to step back a little from blog work. But rest assured, DCBLOG has been working on what we got on offer as far as covering all the weekly action, the stories behind the story and everything else from in and outside the world of MTV Reality. So, stay tuned for all that coming up during this spring and summer just ahead... but for now, here's this.

The month of May that we are about to enter will mark exactly ten years since DCBLOG first came onto the blogosphere for the first time with a simple introductory post. During this decade, we have seen through countless numbers of shows, seasons, episodes and personalities covering the world of television's most-talked about reality programming of the MTV Reality scope. However, there is one thing that we have closely followed during the past several years that doesn't even come from that community we cover the most, but one inspired by the shows its creator watches religiously as I do.

Twitter @DreMediaa / IG @dre.media

Almost six years have now past since we first came across a then-high school student from Secaucus, New Jersey and his friends spending a summer day across the river in the Big Apple working out with the cast of the very first season of MTV's The Challenge that offered $1 million in prize money. But the one thing that intrigued us about Andres Rodriguez and co. was they not only got to meet up with Bananas, Tori and co. of that Dirty 30 season, but also for that they had done a made-for-YouTube version of the big show that they got to do for fun at the place he calls home in the same part of town sports fans know for its role in the media space.

This homemade version of the show is so one-of-a-kind, you'd think that The Caucus Challenge is just as good as any other iteration of the show we cover the most on here... and a lot of people who watch his show and spinoffs (including various MTV'ers) seem to agree with that sentiment -- not surprising considering how skilled the man at the heart of this is at, both on camera and coordinating things off of it. And since we first discovered Dre, DCBLOG has followed every step of the evolution of Dre.Media ever since: every season of Caucus that's emerged since, plus Real World-like spinoff The Life We Live, and a summer with his friend group... over twenty seasons worth of YouTube reality guilty pleasures.

And this spring, there's the fourteenth and latest chapter of The Caucus Challenge: players who have come to Dre's backyard with a chip on their shoulder, and a mission to finally win the big one.

As we have just celebrated that holiday of Easter a few weeks ago, the word "resurrection" is described in the dictionary as "the action or fact of resurrecting or being resurrected... the revitalization or revival of something." The world of television has seen so many of those in the past decade, and in the case of this Caucus Challenge season: each of those who come into this game at the beginning find themselves with something to prove in having gone through so many seasons of being on this show, only to come away without hoisting the top prize at season's end.

The Season 14 show description reads as follows: "Resurrection is the 14th season of The Caucus Challenge multi-format season features 20 players who have yet to win competing against each other for the title of “Challenge Champions.” 20 Underdogs battle across a series of competitions - Just when they get comfortable, they’ll find the game is far from over. The smartest and strongest will have to face some of the best Champions to play TCC. With new twists, devastating elimination rounds, true friendships and rivalries, Season 14 may just prove to be the most unpredictable and challenging yet! The rookies started an uproar and the revolution is far from over…"

To get to the thing that helped to inspire this fourteenth Caucus Challenge, think back to what we saw six years ago at this time: MTV Challenge Season 27, Invasion of the Champions, saw the likes of Ashley, Amanda, Cory, Nelson and Dre's pal Kailah begin as what they thought was a season just to themselves as they felt eager to come away with the win... only for Darrell, Cara and the champs to come into view just as they were getting accustomed to their Thailand surroundings. In the end, CT and Ashley came away victorious, setting themselves up for the rest of their Challenge careers to win another one all as the show you all love was expanding itself into its next generation.

The crop of this season's Challengers sees an assortment of old- and new-school competitors take to the field, from veterans Kevin, Amanda, Clay, Kristen, CT and Jaylen; to longtime stalwarts Lauren, Camilla, Oscar, Mayelin and Michaela. But just as we've been seeing on the big show, one thing that stands out in this Resurrection cast is the huge assortment of newbies that have come into Caucus from around the Tri-State Area and from as far as New England, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas.

Alyssa, Ash, Bradi, Demian, Jay, Joel, J.West, Ozzy and Tello come into this game as rookies... but like the others who've done this game before they've come with a mission to try and prove that they can hang with the rest of the cast. But what everyone is not expecting is that there are some mercenaries who are waiting in the wings just ready to rain on their parade... and they're so big that we won't even bother to mention them in this post.

You'll just have to watch what happens as all of these players will join Dre in his familiar surroundings as they tackle a game that is just as wild and unpredictable as any in the history of this show, as they all have their eyes set on the big prize with an assortment of twists and turns serving as hurdles. Below, enjoy the season in its entirety including the explosive reunion that was just posted tonight (April 30).

EPISODE 1