DC VEGAS XIII: And The Countdown Begins Again...

BY DC CUEVA 

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A little short but sweet reveal here: as I return to active duty on this website, not much has changed in my world. Two years have now past since my dad's passing and funeral, and that has forced me to take a sabbatical from regular blogging and video work to tend to being the big man in my family... and we continue to feel his absence every day since, even as my kids, sister & bro-in-law are with us along with my cousin & her hubby from L.A. for this long weekend.

As this summer concludes today with that first Monday of September known as Labor Day, it was just another 104 days of sorts. I spent nineteen of them watching the world's best, and the Paris Olympics represented a chance for all of us to take our minds of everything going on in our world to watch what became one of the most memorable Games ever. The time before all of that with all the division and everything else going on made wanting to escape all that much more worthwhile... and if you know what the slogan I got to preach during that awful time we just got out of is one thing, then there is that time where the need to escape out of that shell of being at home is very much needed. That's the basis of this.

More Pix at IG & Facebook @dc408dxtr

Thirty years ago came the year when OJ became a murder suspect, soccer and skating creeped into our consciousness just as baseball was going on strike, and I got a first glimpse into what the internet would be like as I was about to enter 6th grade. But 1994 was also when the first opportunity for me came by to visit Las Vegas, when it was a city that was still on the outskirts of sorts of not being in the big leagues just yet. The city had gone through a slump of sorts during the eighties as the lure of Atlantic City and new forms of gambling became commonplace... but thanks to the opening of The Mirage, Excalibur and MGM Grand which brought the tourists back to town, things began to turn the corner towards this town becoming a major player.

My very first Vegas trip was during that summer of '94 when my family, cousins and relatives flew to the Desert... and when you have a lot of kids too young to roam the casinos, you pretty much are resigned to having to stay at Circus Circus, which we did for one long weekend. And it was in that playhouse of a resort complex where I actually got lost, and was separated from my party for a couple tense hours before we reunited in our hotel room. But that was just an inauspicious prelude to a relationship with a city what would ultimately join music, sports and reality TV as a major passion of mine by the time I returned to Vegas, not as a wide-eyed kid but a 25-year-old adult in 2007.

So began what has become an annual to biannual tradition of coming to Las Vegas that has now lasted for more than half of the last thirty years -- twelve trips in all during that time, and eleven in this current era. My trips to this city have become just as anticipated for me personally as waiting anxiously for the Olympic flame to be lit, and where every one of the twelve trips in the twenty-nine previous years have been memorable in producing many stories worth telling and documenting. And just about everyone in my whole family have come with us at one time or another for the best time of our lives, which is almost always the case when you take a 90-minute flight or nine-hour drive to the desert.

The past few Vegas trips have brought me a better appreciation of how important Vegas is to me and what it is also to my family: the tenth in 2019 came months before both the world and Vegas shut down by the pandemic, while the eleventh in 2021 came months before my world came crashing down by my dad's cancer battle... and the twelfth last year was the first Vegas trip I ever took without him at our side with me and mom. There was also some drama with momma and our third member of our traveling party that led to a falling out afterwards... but that's not of anything else to elaborate much more here.

Earlier last year, I officially severed the last contractual tie I had before the lockdown where I officially transitioned into becoming a full-time and self-employed content creator... and I have always seen my Vegas trips as a playground for me to put those video and camera work to great use. Just a glance over at DC YouTube and the hundreds of videos I've posted there in the eight years, and it is perhaps a major reason in why Sin City has grown in stature on a personal level -- and it doesn't put into account the thousands of hours of Vegas content I've watched from various YouTubers just about every day in the past several years as our family's daily escape.

It was obviously no surprise that a few of my favorite moments of the last trip came when I met not one, but four Vegas YouTubers in Jaycation, Norma Geli, The Other Me and Sin City Angel. The first two came as it happened live on his YouTube channel as he celebrated reaching 100,000 subscribers, and the other two came during what has to be the single most memorable of the forty-four days of my Vegas experiences: Freakmont Friday on Halloween weekend in downtown at the Fremont Street Experience. And even now, because of my inactivity the past several months the entire YouTube vlog series from last year has still remained stuck on that Friday... but need not worry, work will resume on getting new videos from that trip prepared to be produced for the next couple months ahead.

That is because, by the time that the season finale of that series covering DC VEGAS XII is finally published, that will be just at when I will be COMING BACK to Las Vegas for trip #13. The dates on which that trip will go down are now set in stone as far as the hotel is concerned (that place we're staying in shall remain a secret until before we leave), and all that's left is to just book plane tickets... then, the countdown will officially begin for the week of NOVEMBER 11th, just after everything from that thing the week before should finally die down. It will be the second time that I will have celebrated a birthday in Vegas: the last came in 2009 when Manny Pacquiao fought Miguel Cotto, and where I went by myself to the MGM Grand to soak in the fight night atmosphere... and also, when my late dad came back to our hotel room completely wasted after seeing the Pac-Man win.

As the promo video that proceeded my 2021 trip can attest (and unfortunately, there is no such clip to accompany this reveal), Vegas represents that ultimate of all escapes from both the world and our lives. And as I get to work on both the blog (recaps on the first elimination and team challenge on Battle of the Eras are forthcoming here, among other things) and the DC Vegas XII vlogs, the preparation for this 2024 trip will get underway. I have started mapping out the best laid plans for this year's extravaganza which will only begin once I walk through the terminal towards the baggage area at Reid International - from putting together my arsenal of technology (six cameras & other gadgets) and fashion, to the playlist and possibilities for the many experiences there... don't be mad if I get behind on the content schedule -- it's likely I'll be busy getting set for four days in the desert again.

And there is a reason I why come to see these trips as, what I always allude to, my very own Super Bowl. And as we are a few days from the start of the pro season as far as football is concerned, now Vegas is on the clock: it's now seventy days until #DCVegas XIII... may the countdown begin again.

- I AM DC

@DC408DXTR

DCBLOG ExtraTime: A Big Brother Looks for The Anonymous... with a Survivor and a Meme King

BY DC CUEVA 

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The Cookout with Big Brother show host
Julie Chen-Moonves on BB23 finale night (IG)

Of the group that comprises this year's MTV Battle of the Eras Challenge cast, three-fourth's of the field had their start as MTV'ers on The Real World, Road Rules, or were initiated on the two Fresh Meat seasons. The entire Fourth Era group comprises of only one native MTV castmate, while everyone else came to us from either Survivor, overseas shows, Love Island U.S. prior to its breakthrough on Peacock, or in this case a summer tradition in Big Brother as it rages on with its twenty-sixth season.

Season 22 three years ago came during a pandemic, tense times in this country, and in a new era for the show: the events of the prior year and of previous seasons beforehand saw CBS make a pledge to make their reality show casts be inclusive and reflective of our diverse society. And it was almost right out of the gate that Big Brother made history: six houseguests - all of whom black -- all secretly worked together as a team to make it to the end together... thus, The Cookout made reality history by the time they partied away at the wrap parties and at Todrick Hall's house after that Fall 2021 finale.

The past couple years have seen four members of that group compete again on the CBS iteration of The Challenge USA, and only one of them in Kyland Young graduated onto the MTV version... and after debuting on Battle for a New Champion he is now on Season 40 alongside two champions in Kaycee Clark and Josh Martinez, and the posterboy of this crossover in Paulie Calafiore. But they are not alone when it comes to Big Brother alumni extending these 15 minutes beyond summer: a fellow member of the Cookout also returned to TV a week ago... this time somewhere else on the cable dial.

The DCBLOG Challenge WRAP: Battle of the Eras - The Premiere Part 1

BY DC CUEVA 

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Photo: Instagram @TheChallenge

Hello and we have sadly arrived at the last week of these dog days of summer '24, and for many of you -- we hope you are going through things just fine after summer vacation from your hometown school or college. And after this blogger got to enjoy the world's best in Paris, the focus for those who love competition have turned their attention to many other things -- football of the oval & sphere varieties, baseball (and its overseas cousin of cricket), The W, and the fifth major pro sport of MTV's The Challenge, and the fittingly titled Season 40 of Battle of the Eras.

This year marks a quarter-century since the very first proper edition of this Real World and Road Rules spinoff series began when alumni of those two pioneering shows faced off while traveling the country, and things have changed quite a bit since. This year's MTV Challenge is marking its fortieth iteration as those from that first era of the series are joining those from other generations for this ultimate version of the show... a true all-star cast where the most recent rookies of this group - Nurys, Horacio and Olivia - were so young back then when the likes of Mark, Katie and Darrell first competed.

And as they and the rest of the forty competitors come to Vietnam for this historic season, they are about to embark on a journey that has the largest cast in Challenge history with $1 million going to the victor once the winter comes around. But first up, they have to navigate their way through something that has been a rarity throughout this series but for the first time it's a night challenge that kicks off this season - a paired challenge taking place on the lake. Whoever comes away not with power will face the ultimate prospect of being sent home first -- and this time, there will be a handful that will ultimately fly home.

Though it's later than planned due to my high priorities away from here, DCBLOG is properly marking our tenth anniversary season of Inside MTV Reality with this fortieth Challenge. And we are entering a new era here as we are reimagining the way we cover the episodes every week: yes, you'll still see the best of the reax from the former Twitter to the episodes and big moments... but we're combining that with looking in at the week's top moments and other things as we present this first proper edition of The DCBLOG Challenge WRAP. Well make that, the first two weeks of this season -- see you after the break as we kick things off with part 1 of a two-parter as we kick things off.

The Look: The Caucus Challenge - Double Trouble

 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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Though it's coming later than planned for reasons not to be elaborated here, this fall DCBLOG is finally getting this chance to properly mark our 10th anniversary season... and we're expanding our horizons to feature not just MTV coverage, but other pop culture content too. But some things just never change in the course of the past decade on this beat, including getting to add more to covering our most recurring subjects from the YouTube world, of all things.

Pics Courtesy: IG @Dre.Media

As the milestone fortieth season of MTV's The Challenge takes place in the current Battle of the Eras, it's worth noting that it was only seven years ago that we commemorated the thirtieth season... and had things not turn out the way they did then it could have been better for how it turned out. But even with that controversial summer & fall, we at this site can still thank the Dirty 30 Challenge for letting this blogger be introduced to one of the most loyal friends I have never met in person, but one I'm good friends with in the social media world -- and he can thank the internet for that fame too.

That would be Andres Rodriguez, who we first met not just when he that Challenge XXX cast back in 2017, but for what he got to do in his spare time before premiere week: create a homemade YouTube franchise where he serves as creator, host, producer, editor, sometimes competitor and the figure which this world revolves around. The Caucus Challenge began all the way back in his high school days, and which has continued well after he got that diploma in his New Jersey hometown. It is only part of an empire that also includes docuseries The Life We Live and a pandemic-stricken summer with his six best friends, but the original project is one that we featured a blog review for each season that's come on since that first post.

And as this summer winds away, it was back during the pre-Super Bowl week earlier this year that Dre once again invited everyone back to Secaucus for the latest chapter in his magnum opus: this time, for something totally different. Here, it's his show's own take on that Challenge of two years ago that introduced us to new power players in a game that he likes to call, Double Trouble.

Summer of Sports '24: An Appreciation for the Best in the Biz

BY DC CUEVA 

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All Photos: My Own, from both Thanksgiving 2014 and DC Snapchat

For most of the time on here over the past ten years, DCBLOG has dedicated time, resources and effort to cover the world of MTV Reality TV, and becoming a gold standard in covering The Challenge and so many other shows that I watch as both an avid fan as well as one who's covered it for the passion project that you're seeing here. But one of the key aspects of how I've gotten to cover this world for this long is actually something that comes from a surprise source... so much so, it is actually one of the small handful of content I am most comfortable in along with those guilty pleasures -- one that was been on my mind for two weeks we got to experience this summer, and for which gave us that good feeling inside of watching the world's very best.

Sports represents one of my four biggest passions (along with music, Las Vegas and our primary beat - for which a new season of it just began), and one that's been embedded in my blood since I was a kid growing up as a '90s kid. In this case, the facet of how things operate on this site doesn't come from a particular favorite pro team -- not even the Bay Area teams that I passionately follow, but from of all things -- a company that covers the action at the venues as both an observer and as a giant in its field. And here, they also happen to share the same vision and philosophy that I have with these posts: creating quality work and telling great stories like those they got to tell from that event.

And for one who would only read a book provided that it would fall into any of the big four subjects above, last year I discovered that I could buy those same books I love to read in an eBook form and not have to worry about filling up the library in my room as much. There, the first digital book I've ever purchased was from the man who helped create a dynasty in sports media... and where his influence was felt on the only time in my life that I spent at least part of the one holiday every year where the feeling of family is most prevalent. And that's only the start to an appreciation for the best in the sports media biz -- one that's taken a full decade for this story to marinate until its publication ten years later.

Summer of Sports '24 - Inside The Biggest TV Event of All

BY DC CUEVA 

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If you know me personally or through social media, it's no secret that for these two weeks or so you'll have to get used to me being crazy about that one event I look forward to more than any other in the sports world. For 17 days every two years, fans, viewers and an entire world come together to watch the excitement, human drama and the spectacle that is the Olympic Games... and we are at the halfway point of its latest version in Paris, France amidst so much anticipation for what could be the most memorable Olympiad ever -- one that has had the world buzzing since it began even before the Opening Ceremony.

A tweet years ago by longtime TV medical correspondent, Bay Area native Dr. Nancy Schneiderman sums it up: "More people watch The Olympics in the US than the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL combined. Amazing." From a broader standpoint, it's the only sports event with an equal viewership ratio split of 50-50 among both genders, and both the Summer & Winter Games are one of three major sporting events on U.S. television (the Kentucky Derby the other) to regularly have a larger ratio of viewers among women than men. And considering the enormous interest in women's sports in the past year being coupled with so many storylines coming in, a record viewing audience is anticipated for Paris 2024.

Like many other sporting properties - unlike most other TV programming, The Olympics is one that brings families & friends together: both those who are avid sports fans like myself, and those casual viewers who might not know everything about sports but are suddenly thrust into it all just by the pure spectacle. This includes those who might not be into football & historically preferred Downton Abbey or the Puppy Bowl than the game (but who were drawn in by the romance of the world's biggest pop star and a tight end), but are into gymnastics, figure skating and the athletes' most inspiring stories. In fact, the Olympics typically is the only event that come close to the NFL as far as TV ratings & viewership go in the fragmented television landscape... and no matter the country, Olympic broadcast rights are among the most-coveted anywhere in the media world.

But when you go inside the broadcast operations either inside the International Broadcast Center or at the respective venues, there's so much more to what viewers see on television, on radio, on their computer and on their mobile device. It's the finished product to as much as seven years' worth of planning, four years of preparation and hard work by thousands of people working for both the host broadcaster, Olympic Broadcasting Services, and the respective rights holding broadcasters from countries around the world. Their mission: capture the power, strength, speed, skill and spirit of competition at its best; tell the stories of athletes who most might not know but out of nowhere become the most well-known people in the world; and to provide viewers the best seat in the house, thanks to the most complex and dynamic broadcast operation anywhere.

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome to The Challenge 40 - Battle of the Eras

BY DC CUEVA 

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And so on this summer's Sunday night, we say Bonjour to all of you... away from this site -- and I have been away for most of this past year-plus, this blogger has just enjoyed his biannual sojourn into enjoying his absolute favorite event, and the only one that I truly binge watch. And just as it was as the world gathered together again after all that time apart three years ago, yours truly is not easing up a bit from the Closing Ceremony of the just-concluded Summer Olympics as he now makes that transition from Paris and the non-stop Games viewing marathon that just ended, straight into his favorite TV show whose newest season is taking place half a world away from the City of Light and love. Most fittingly, the subject of this post just marked the conclusion of these wonderful two weeks by hosting its premiere party at where the Summer Games flame will next be lit in four years from right now.

Photos Courtesy: Jonne Roriz/Paramount

A dozen years ago after years on MySpace and my private Facebook page for family and friends, I began my public social media life signing on my presence on the former Twitter platform the same week of the U.S. Olympic trials and of the most chill Real World season ever. It was after all that that I decided to take a risk and get myself into watching MTV's The Challenge... and like anyone curious as to what he was getting into, the fifth major pro sport and I almost immediately clicked. Here we are twenty-seasons later -- main MTV show and many spinoffs, and now we have arrived on the verge of perhaps the most-anticipated season yet of the reality television world's original & longest-running competition series.

Over the time that I have been following this show since that 2012 Battle of the Seasons, the abundance of competitors who have come onto the scene have been many: big-name legends who were there at the start of this show back in 1999 and the early 2000's, right up to those from all around the world who have come onto this franchise in the past few years... and plenty who I have followed the entirety of their eras. With that deep a well of talent, it was perhaps only a matter of time before a season like this was conceived to mark this milestone season: players from different eras of the show coming together for a season that is surely a can't miss this fall -- and worth it to buy a conventional TV package just to watch it all live.

Imagine... a season that has all (if not, most or many) of your favorites all in one place: one who's won this seven times, another with five but who comes here having placed Challenge Nation's flag atop the house of The Traitors, and those from an earlier time who got their start riding in a recreational vehicle across America. There's also several Challengers who are well-rested from their springtime battle down in South Africa -- from two frenemy rivals to one still in search for title #1. And we even got those who we have followed the entirety of their MTV runs since this site began: a video vixen who came close to winning it all last time out, a master manipulator & his much-derived partner who've come in to defend their titles, and one playboy who made headlines even before the buzz for this season began.

You've enjoyed a good deal over the past two weeks of the world's very best... now, get yourself set for the dessert and the fourth meal. After the break DCBLOG takes our first look at Season 40 of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras... but first, this little teaser of what's ahead over this fall and winter.

Summer of Sports '24: That Other Bat N' Ball Game

BY DC CUEVA 

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Many years back, someone who's established himself as a leading podcaster on this site's primary beat of the MTV Challenge over the past decade, Brian Cohen posted a phone screenshot of an alert from one of his sports apps that read, "Sri Lanka beats India by 6 wickets with 13 balls remaining to win ICC World Twenty20 cricket title." In the caption Brian wondered, "I don't know what any of these words mean...", and this one responded in the comments on the former Twitter platform, "I know more than you about the sport of cricket," and gave the fellow Yankees fan a brief primer of what the sport is about...a sport that some fans here would like to refer to as "That Other Bat N' Ball Game."

All Photos Courtesy Wikipedia Commons

When the International Olympic Committee gave the green light to the sport program for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles last fall, so much attention was deservedly given to the inclusion in the Games' return to America of flag football. There, a number of NFL players stated their intention to go for gold... same went for the return of baseball and softball to the Games and the inclusion of lacrosse and squash for the first time. But lost in the hoopla of that announcement was that the changes to the slate that will be included on sports' greatest stage will have a greater benefit outside of the United States. It's most especially the case in the British Commonwealth countries, and particular one nation that hosted the latest edition of its biggest championship event in a sport most of us don't follow at all.

As one of the world's most-followed sports, cricket is a sport that's totally different than the one we take for granted here in America. Unlike the World Series and baseball, cricket is a true world game that is played in all six continents instead of just primarily the Americas and Asia. The premise is the same in both cricket and baseball: hit a ball with a wooden bat on a grassy field, fielders and those tossing the ball to those batters, and score more runs than your opposition. But when one looks at the game much more closely, there are many differences between these two games... which is why the international game is so much different in many ways than our national pastime.

In addition to its upcoming Olympic appearance in L.A., this past month it hosted by far the biggest event that's ever been held on the North American continent -- and a preview of coming attractions in four years: a bite-sized version of the game that once again revolutionized this once genteel game played by privileged British gentlemen. And all it took for this sport to finally gain at least a footstep in the biggest sports market on earth: a team against the odds taking down a Goliath of the game that made sporting headlines everywhere with shades of what happened in upstate New York a generation ago.

The Look: Coachella

BY DC CUEVA 

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Whether it's buying songs piecemeal to create my playlists for every major trip, having a brother in law who's done DJ gigs for a long time, or experiencing a meet & greet with my favorite band two decades ago, music is something that is a vital part of my daily life -- even though I am someone who doesn't sing or play an instrument. But live music is a different story: only a small handful of times that I have ever been to a concert -- most recently, a free live show by a local cover band on Fremont Street in downtown on my most recent trip to Las Vegas last Halloween weekend.

Every other time that I've seen musicians perform live has been through television or YouTube, most especially when we had to go through that dark time in our world that is thankfully now in our rear view mirror. It took for that long pandemic pause for music fans everywhere around the world to really and truly understand how vital concerts and live music are to the industry, and it took for the biggest summer blockbuster the music world had ever seen to bring that magic of performing of all of us once again. The immense impact of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour continues to cast an immense afterglow a year after it took to stadiums across America, shattering records and bringing her to greater superstar status.

However, it is only part of a live music story that features thousands of gigs -- large and small, chart-toppers and up-and-comers, and stadium tours to club shows -- that crisscross the country and the world every year... most especially when the summer comes around. As the live music season gets underway once again, music fans have something to look forward to: major festivals from EDM events in Miami and Vegas to Lollapalooza in Chicago and Bonnaroo in Tennessee... not to mention major tours, stadium shows and lots more. But over time, one event has grown to becoming THE event in American music.

It may not be the largest one of its kind... nor does it take place during the actual summer months themselves. But like golf at Augusta signals the arrival of springtime in the sports world, it's the annual gathering of hundreds of thousands of music fans, fanatics and those lucky to get those precious tickets to an event at a polo ground 120 miles from the country's second largest metropolis that has grown from humble beginnings to become the single most highly anticipated annual live event in American music. That is the case with Coachella -- now twenty-five years young.

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome Back to The Challenge All-Stars, Part Four

BY DC CUEVA 

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May we say hello to all of you, and welcome back Inside MTV Reality at DCBLOG with the hope that 2024 has been good to you so far. As we wrote here Saturday, this site has been on a hiatus for most of the last year & a half to something more important to me than everything else: helping my family after our biggest heartache, and also growing my reputation as a YouTuber. But with a new appreciation for what's really important to me, we're set to resume regular activity and to properly mark our tenth anniversary of covering the shows you love and a lot more than that - although it'll be a little different.

The year as far as MTV Reality television is concerned has seen a first for that longtime staple of Thursdays in that everyone who has called Jersey Shore home is now under one roof, as we await what happens when Ronnie & Sammi see each other for the first time in forever as the franchise marks fifteen years young this summer. Also turning that age is the Teen Mom sorority, where they and the one who represents this world there of Cheyenne and her fellow MTV'ers, are out of country again for their third Vacation down in South America. And then, there's the one things that what we follow the most...

Poster & Pics: Paramount+/Andy Reeves

As much as this site is marking a belated birthday season here, fans like yourselves are marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of The Challenge as a regular MTV series when alumni of The Real World and Road Rules went on that first cross-country road-trip. The show has changed quite a bit since then, and plenty has gone down in the course of what has been thirty-nine seasons of the MTV show, along with a slew of spinoff shows in its many and various forms. And we have been following this world ever since CT won his first career title, except for the past couple seasons including its second season on network television last summer on CBS with Big Brother, Survivor and Amazing Race alums competing alongside MTV Challenge alumni.

After that, this past fall and into the winter -- and prior to it eventually turning the same age as me, the show gave the opportunity for those who have not won one of these that chance to have the stage to themselves unabated. Battle for a New Champion saw a slew of new competitors and familiar faces take to the floor in search for win #1, and we saw plenty go down: a friendship of love show alumni going the way of the dinosaur, two who have mastered 39 days of outdoor captivity have control of the regular season until the finals, and even a few champions try to crash the whole thing without being mercenaries entering the game. And it was a Romanian who followed in the footsteps of a Big Brother champ in proving that those don't have to produce the big time drama and still be competitive enough to win it all.

What went down there will set up what should a most compelling battle for the ages when the fortieth season of the MTV Challenge comes our way once the autumn air hits after the heat of this summer. And this comes at a time where TV's longest-running reality competition franchise has once again hit the mainstream just as it did having the stage to itself when the world lost its mind. One GOAT and a fellow reality icon just claimed the season 2 crown of the streaming world's most buzzworthy reality show, coming after a 7-time champ also took his world tour to The Traitors just after joining fellow Villains elsewhere on the dial, one that will soon have a longtime nemesis joining in too. And we cannot forget about two other Challenge alums joining a battle of reality show GOAT's over at Jeff Bezo's place.

And it's also in the world of streaming, and in the entry of MTV's parent company into that world, that provides us with the stage to the main event of this spring... a bit later than planned, but it's one thing that's been in the rear view mirror of so many of you in Challenge Nation for some time. When Paramount+ launched back in 2021 the MTV Reality world was sure to be a major part of its offerings, and it's no surprise that The Challenge would play a big part of it. The result of that: the most exciting thing to happen in this world in years of the All-Stars spinoff series... and after the break, we bring you our first look at Season 4 as South Africa welcomes back legends, power players and more to a star-studded season that promises to be quite a season. And to Challenge Nation, welcome back again.

DC FORUM: Welcome Back Inside MTV Reality

A Word from the Blogger

BY DC CUEVA 

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This week officially kicks off the tenth anniversary season of Inside MTV Reality on DCBLOG -- something that's a little belated but still something that we have been looking forward to for some time. It is a celebration of sorts that, like what we had to go through just a few years ago at this time, was something we had to put off for various reasons. One is for matters that affected the showbiz industry when Hollywood was shut down during the dual writers' and actors strikes last year... but the most important one, for this one at least, was of gaining a better appreciation of what I have and for the people around me when family time has been needed after our ultimate of heartaches.

I might have been late to the party somewhat, considering that this fan has been watching these shows since 1998 -- and who has a vault of memories of watching over this world even before I join the social platform formerly known as Twitter. But the advice I got from a fellow fan and NorCal'er in Andrew Kirk gave birth to this very site back in 2013 (yes, this celebration is later than we had planned and now during the first full year of blogs)... and there was no better time to get ourselves initiated in this world than in the midst of what had to be one of the greatest times that any fan of these drama-filled, trash TV has ever had the pleasure of enjoying. 

That time in the first quarter of 2014 provided a glimpse of what the next generation of MTV Reality would offer over the rest of the decade and in the Twenties: the first-ever major alteration of the longest standing format in the reality genre and the channel's first entry into the modern reality dating show subgenre both here in the U.S. and overseas. There was Season 25 of a first of its kind reality competition series, more tabloid-friendly drama among the most scrutinized group of young moms, a pair who roamed the country to expose online love, and other samplers of the life of being young. And all of this took place while most of the OG's of the biggest MTV series ever were on their first hiatus.

What took place both that year and the one before that in the last half of 2013 in the last pre-twist Real World in Portland and the Rivals II Challenge helped set the stage for our amazing run that followed of covering the shows, the people, the moments and the stories that turned this person from just a fan who watches these shows like you, into going on a path of fulfilling a lifelong dream of being in the journalism and media worlds -- albeit for a fan blog like this and later my own YouTube channel documenting my annual trips to Las Vegas. Those two shows above would be joined by the aforementioned Are You The One, a few years later here by the U.S. version of Ex On The Beach, and by a few other shows that expanded my MTV horizons even further in this wild and wacky world.

Even before joining social media in the public form of it (this one had a MySpace to start out and joined Facebook for just his inner circle in the '00s) I've already enjoyed a wide variety of MTV content, which made getting into the sultry drama of the Florida version of The Hills and Laguna Beach of Siesta Key outside Tampa Bay more easier. The same held true for their wild party-hard counterparts in Floribama Shore up in Panama City Beach, which got me into the door of the global Shore franchise marked by the Jersey originals when their bromance of Pauly and Vinny went for love... and where anyone who has a P+ subscription can see its international versions too. And there's many other shows that might not have reached their level of being on multiple seasons, but we have covered them too in and around those.

It was only fitting that I signed on my presence on the social platform formerly known as Twitter on the night of a Real World season premiere a year before DCBLOG began in 2012. And in addition to getting to directly interact with cast members (which I did a lot of in the early years), it became the platform to see how everyone -- they, you and the fellow MTV fandom -- saw the shows take place online, and our Social-Pulse presentations in well over hundreds of them became a signature of this site. And we have seen a lot of memorable moments go down over the past decade: from two steals of the entire money Challenge prize purse, and the controversial final night of the only AYTO season to go broke, to when we comforted a Bronx ladies' man when he lost a parent half a continent away... and so many others that made our jaws drop, got us talking on social media, and made the next-day water cooler talk.

The people who we've met in the MTV world over the past decade have been many by the hundreds: there's the 7-time champ whose theft on the Rivals III finale cemented his legend status that's taken him beyond The Challenge the past few years. There's a leading lady of that show's new generation who was part of an AYTO cast who overcame the mightiest odds to the money, and made friends of the music world en route to her debut. And there's a man whose imprint is on virtually every MTV Reality show we've followed the past ten years, which has taken him from the Bay to Hawaii, to many Challenges and even the Teen Mom franchise. And Bananas, Nurys and Cory are a few of the plethora of personalities who we've followed over these ten years, both on these shows and crossovers into the mainstream that's helped to keep MTV relevant in a way even today.

The approaching of this summer's Paris Olympics sees not only my favorite sporting event and binge-worthy guilty pleasure, but also an aspect DCBLOG takes part of our inspiration from: the many human stories among the thousands of athletes competing told during the Games by the world's networks using a decades' old playbook by one of sports television's greatest icons of going "up close and personal." And the ExtraTime series has told so many of those stories over the years as we've gone beyond the shows to cover this world at large through the MTV Reality prism: from Cory's perfect match going for a dip with the world's most notorious "problem child", to an alum of a forgotten winter version of Jersey Shore and his quest to reconnect with his perfect match half a world away during the pandemic... and hundreds of others that have taken them to other shows, pop culture, and those stories sometimes that will make you laugh out loud, shed a tear, make you feel pressured to go after someone perhaps.

That first full year of our blog coverage ten years ago was also when we tearfully lost two Challengers in a span of just two weeks after they competed together on Exes 2. It's that same feeling that we all went through together saying farewell to Diem Brown and Ryan Knight that November of 2014 is one I also went lived through myself eight years later... and that has had a reason with me taking that hiatus. But if he can talk to me in my dreams, then my dad will obviously tell me to keep doing what I love doing... and I feel refreshed and ready to return to this hobby, which we are proud to do here this spring a decade after we started this thing.

For the last year & a half, I've enjoyed this relatively limited slate of the MTV schedule as just a fan and interested viewer before the idea of becoming a content creator came about... as well as broadening my viewing options by doubling the number of streaming services I've subscribed to compared to a year ago. But when we get this all restarted all over again, it will be as if we never left... but going forward as our original intent was to provide, it's the role we've embraced as storytellers that will become more of a focus on this site, while still offering timely and traditional episode recaps. We'll also expand our focus to my other passions of sports, music, other shows, Vegas and other things... and in every instance, we will maintain the high level of standards and quality commitment that this site has set forth over this run, even if I might be a bit too rusty getting back in the groove -- but just leave me some slack.

Ten years -- it has been quite the time in our world since early 2014 when the journey we've taken inside this fascinating world of reality television and its pioneer began to take full shape during that amazing time. When we all needed that escape from the chaos of everything going on in this world especially the past few years, watching this timeless genre has represented that ideal respite. And while there's a lot that has changed, others have weathered that storm to still be here... and we are, after some time away. And what does the next decade have in store? We'll find out when we preview The Challenge: All-Stars Season 4 in a few days... and Welcome Back as we once again go Inside MTV Reality on the BLOG.

- I AM DC

@DC408DXTR

The Look - The Caucus Challenge: Love and War

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

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

This past month & a half has seen plenty to devour for those of us in Challenge Nation -- the fandom of MTV's longest-actively running series. There's the finale & ensuing reunion of Season 39 of the MTV show that crowned a new champ, the reveal of the cast and first look at the fourth iteration of the All-Stars spinoff on Paramount+, and the traditional speculation around the hotstove for its landmark 40th season... plus love for Nelson after his recent foot amputation surgery. But as you await the next chapter in the fifth major pro sport -- and for which our season preview of that comes next week, we'd like you to sample for your enjoyment the following made-for-YouTube goodie here on this Easter.

Instagram @dre.media

Though it is a year late for reasons bigger than this passion, this DCBLOG site will be commemorating the tenth anniversary of our first full year of going Inside MTV Reality this spring, coinciding with All-Stars IV which features many competitors who we have followed throughout the duration of our time together with you here. But our most recurring subject in these ten years is something that we first came across back in the summer of 2017 during the first $1 million Challenge... and it's something that doesn't have to do with an MTV show itself -- rather it's a show inspired by it, and whose most important figures got to meet those Challengers during premiere week in New York so very long ago.

Secaucus, New Jersey resident Andres Rodriguez and his clique of friends got to do a workout session with Kailah, Tony and the rest of the XXX: Dirty 30 cast just before the season premiere of what became one of the series' most controversial seasons. But what brought us to Dre was that he was the host, producer and sometimes competitor of his very own live reality game show entitled The Caucus Challenge. We have followed every step of the Dre.Media story ever since that original story on the franchise seven years ago, which also expanded into Real World-like series The Life We Live and a summer with his most important members of that group, six of his closest friends.

The most recent season of his magnum opus saw a harbinger of what we just saw on MTV with a Caucus Challenge season that gave those who haven't ascended to the top step of the victory podium a chance to have a season to themselves with no champion in sight to ruin their road to the top. And for this latest edition of the ultimate backyard battle: it's also a last stand -- Love and War.

Summer of Sports Special: The Big One, First Hand

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

As we embark on the next decade of DCBLOG, in our new generation we are broadening our focus to covering more of the other big passions of this blogger beyond our traditional focus on all things Inside MTV Reality. That includes our frequent posts on the sports world, which we plan to put into overdrive during this year's Summer Olympics and other events taking place this year... and that includes this following post that's been years in the making -- and fitting enough for what this blogger is going through as a Bay Area kid is looking forward to what's to come in around six hours from now.

Soon enough it will be the biggest sports event in the United States, as all of us are counting down the final hours to kickoff of Super Bowl LVIII. There, a dream matchup and a rematch four years in the making will go down when the Chiefs and 49ers will clash once again, this time in this blogger's happy place of Las Vegas. The first time they met came four years ago in Super Bowl LIV, San Francisco's apparent sixth title was snatched away in an epic comeback as Patrick Mahomes claimed the first of his two rings as Kansas City claimed their first title in fifty years -- the first in what would become a gradual power shift towards the next generation of rising star quarterbacks in the league... and his opposition was once "Mr. Irrelevant" -- Brock Purdy was drafted last in the 2022 NFL Draft, also held in Vegas.

   On the occasion of Super Bowl 50 eight years ago -- held in 2016 in Santa Clara, DCBLOG looked at the week of preparation an NFL team goes through before game day... which certainly isn't the case when it comes to the two weeks' buildup to Super Sunday and all of its assorted events leading up to it. We also looked at the long, great marriage of football and television, one that's far and away the most consumed piece of real estate in the broadcast universe. And we even delved into that time where The Challenge made its way to the big game when a Real World alum appeared in a Super Bowl commercial a couple years back. And now, we have a story that's been years in the making even before this rematch.

Pics 1 & 2 Courtesy: USA Today

There will be upwards of over 300,000 people who are coming to Vegas for Super Bowl week festivities that began with the teams arriving one week before the game last week on February 4th and continue all the way to game day Sunday, February 11th. It's even more so the case now when one of the player's girlfriends is the biggest pop star in the whole entire universe who is flying in from the first stop on her 2024 tour in Asia... and the possibility looms large that the Taylor Swift effect and her relationship with Travis Kelce will escalate this year's game into the most-watched program in American television history -- one that's further cemented the NFL's powerful position in sports, media and entertainment.

   However, there will only be some 70,000 people who will have the honor of possessing tickets to Vegas' biggest sports event on this Super Sunday. It will be played in a stadium that didn't even exist a decade ago when no one thought that the town could support a major pro sports franchise, let alone multiple among a slew of major events all perpetuated by an act of the high court to make betting on sports more accessible to fans on these shores. You can add Super Bowl LVIII to a Formula 1 Grand Prix, a Stanley Cup, back-to-back WNBA titles and a pending move of a baseball team to the stature Southern Nevada has gained in the sports world after sports betting became legal in the U.S.

   But while this one here got to experience what it's like to walk within walking distance of a Levi's Stadium that hosted Super Bowl 50 in 2016, it is nowhere in comparison near getting to experience, first-hand, the biggest sports event held in this country. That is, until this one found on social media through his fan connections with MTV's The Challenge one of those lucky people to have had possessed tickets to a Super Bowl that doubles as the sports fan's equivalent to a Willie Wonka chocolate factory pass. And he can tell all of experiencing a Super Bowl first-hand... and one that had a GOAT and a pop queen written all around his weekend in the Central Arizonan desert.