DCBLOG: The Look: The Caucus Challenge Goes Wintertime

Sunday, January 19, 2025

The Look: The Caucus Challenge Goes Wintertime

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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We have just had the merriest time of year to end the year that just past us, and for many of you the vibes of the coldest of the four seasons just continues on after the holidays. That includes the nor'easter that blasted through much of the East Coast that extended many school kids' winter break and saw a snowball fight outside the U.S. Capitol building... a far different cry from what happened in that very same place four years earlier. And for this blogger here who had a ball binge-watching last year's action in Paris, he is already feeling anxious and anticipatory for the yuletide blockbuster that is the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan & Cortina, Italy that begins in just over a year from now.

Pics Courtesy: Dre Media

Though activity around here at DCBLOG have been light in the course of the last couple years (man of the house duties, Vegas vlogs on YouTube and the like), there is one thing that has brought this site back to life to begin the new year and this first post of '25. And it is of the one thing that we have followed throughout the course of our now thirteen years' worth of posts that have gone Inside MTV Reality and beyond... and it has nothing to do with The Challenge or anything else. Rather, it's one inspired by the fifth major pro sport... and one who we first met back eight long years ago at a launch event for the controversial thirtieth season of a now 40-season old reality pioneer: Secaucus, New Jersey YouTuber Andres Rodriguez and the world surrounding his Dre.Media empire.

The long holiday weekend we are currently in -- and the time that all of us in Challenge Nation have on our side ahead of the next chapter in All-Stars Season 5 at month's end -- will perhaps give a lot of you a chance to sample one esteemed All-Star as he extends his reach to not one, but two shows on two totally different television platforms. But for those seeking something more competitive and more of our liking rather than just people having to play one of those social games inside of a medieval castle (and him also following in the footsteps of three of his distinguished colleagues who made us go wild last year), there's the latest thing from Dre: a first-ever wintertime version of The Caucus Challenge.

Top: Mike, Jaymes, Kevin, Steven, Zae - Below: Joel, Kam, Clay
Caucus is a show we have seen through every move of the journey of since that first post on this pioneer of the made-for-YouTube reality subgenre of "live reality games" back in the summer of 2017 when Dre was a high school junior in this New York City suburb best known as a major sports media hub not far from the Meadowlands. The most-recent iteration saw the series' take on Ride or Dies: Double Trouble on Season 16 last year... but with how things operate on the show, that season began streaming just after the filming of the season that we are featuring on here.

The many iterations of Caucus have seen players play as individuals, teams and pairs dating back to when he started the show many years ago... but over its whole history, three things had never happened until this seventeenth season. First: there was an earlier season of Caucus that only featured players from only one gender competing against each other -- Bad Blood back in 2017 featured only girls... but the guys have never had their chance to compete against each other in their own non co-ed Challenge. For number two, every regular season has been set against the backdrop of either in Dre's backyard or within the Secaucus city limits... but never had Caucus been filmed outside his hometown until Season 16. And because everyone is huddled up indoors by the cold weather from October until springtime (and also by work and school), there's never been a Caucus Challenge filmed in the fall or in the winter.

L-R: Siva, Koa, Jason, Imere and Nate

All three instances are coming true on Leader of the Pack, taking place on the outskirts of Gotham in the closest winter resort for New Yorkers: the Pocono Mountains in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is a familiar setting for Dre Media, having hosted two seasons of The Real World-inspired spinoff docu-series The Life We Live... but this time, his cameras and his friends have returned to this serene place for something rather different than just a weekend excursion: a competition amongst thirteen men to see who can best handle the frozen conditions of the snow, the ice and the cold of the Poconos.

This season's crop of competitors who aim to become leader of the pack are deep and ready to handle the wintertime conditions. Past champions Mike, Joel, Kevin and Jaymes are looking to add to their trophy case... while veterans Zae, Clay, Steven and Kam have played this game before and are hungry to upgrade their membership to the winners' club. And this trip to the Poconos marks the Caucus debut for rookies Imere, Jason, Sivo, Koa and Nate... and in Jason's case, the LRG Survivor alum comes in with a ring on his fingers -- the first married husband to ever compete on Caucus. And if you're scoring at home, Dre is neither the show's host nor competing but seeing it all from behind the scenes -- the first that has ever happened in this universe as TLWL alum Janiece takes over the MC duties.

With a total change of setting, scenery and conditions, this season of Caucus promises to be its most brutal yet... and with alliances, deals and drama taking place even before the first daily challenge takes place, there is sure to be a lot of twists and turns along the road to the final and the $1,000 that awaits the one who survives it all as the ultimate alpha male. See for yourself below...

EPISODE 1