DC ExtraTime: A Challenge Girl Meets NASCAR's Newest Champ

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Six years ago, the cameras of Season 30 of The Real World briefly ventured from the hustle & bustle of Chicago -- and those from the roommates' past making temporary visits to the house -- to the outskirts of the third largest metropolitan region in this country. For one day, MTV Reality intersected with one of man's biggest confrontations: that against speed and machine, all played out on a large speedway and in a stadium with football-sized attendances.

   It was there that the cast of Real World Skeletons spent a Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL south of the city to take in the 2014 installment of NASCAR's annual stop in Chicago for the opening race of that season's NASCAR Cup Playoffs. Tony, Nicole, Sylvia and their fellow castmates took a day out for a day at the racetrack, getting that first feel for competition that would eventually bring bring them to multiple Challenge seasons afterwards... they even hung out with a few of the drivers before they received the famous four-word command, "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!"

Motor Sports has been around for as long as there has been automobiles, and where competition ranges from motorcycles and monster trucks to rallying and drag racing. In the rest of the world, it's the Formula One World Championship that grabs the attention of fans everywhere with over 350 million tuning in during the season to follow several times' world champion Lewis Hamilton and others take to circuits around the globe. But it plays second fiddle in North America to its form of open-wheel racing, IndyCar, headlined by the Indianapolis 500.

   And yet, that too also doesn't have the kind of extensive year-round media attention that accompanies its stock-car counterparts: starting in the late 1940's, NASCAR has grown leaps and bounds from a regional happening throughout the Southeast to tremendous success across the country. Every weekend from its biggest race in Daytona in February through to the 10-race Playoffs in the fall, millions of fans follow the progress of what was, for a time, the most-watched sport in this country outside of the NFL. Though its growth has stalled somewhat, the top-tier Cup Series still remains strong, while the secondary national XFINITY Series and regional circuits showcase the next generation of drivers.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - Hooters Girls

Repost from during Are You The One? Season 4, a related story on this will be featured in the next DCBLOG post to come later today (Nov. 12, 2020).

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In my six trips to Las Vegas the past decade, my preferred way of going up & down the Strip has been of taking the LV Monorail. An air-conditioned tram behind the casinos takes many of the city's 40 million annual visitors to their preferred places quicker & cheaper than a taxi. When I head down towards its southern terminus at the MGM Grand, across the way within view of the station is an off-strip hotel & casino bearing the name of America's most renowned restaurant brands, whose logo bears the image of an owl and the name of his famous call.

Since it began operations in 1983, Hooters has grown from a hometown restaurant in Clearwater, FL to a national brand now spotted in over 450 locations in the U.S. and 25 other countries. The company's image is best personified by the waiting staff featuring primarily attractive, young ladies wearing a white tank top and orange shorts and having sex appeal too... Thus, the term Hooters Girls is the most notable feature of this restaurant that serves up American food. And it's only part of a Tampa Bay empire that's also included video games, airplanes and sponsorship, even with occasional legal history too.

Two recent alums of the Real World/Challenge franchise are former Hooters Girls. When we first saw her on the premiere of RW Portland three years ago, we met Averey from Tempe, AZ as the girl from Michigan who had who moved out to the desert with her only piece of home, adorable dog Daisy, to get a new start. Clever video techniques she used in her casting tape saw her go from wearing her typical outfit in the sun-soaked locale that is the Phoenix metropolitan area, to wearing the signature Hooter Girl outfit. She says in the tape, "I do work for Hooters - as funny as that is.  So this would be, 'Normal Girl Day' (typical outfit)... Hooter Girl (Hooters outfit)... Don't Be Jealous." 

Four years earlier, we had Boston'er Emilee on Real World Cancun who, too, worked at Hooters. In her casting interview, she discussed the perceived enigma that comes with working there: "I hate when people treat me like I'm ignorant because I'm not. I mean, I work at Hooters. And I was just talking to a girl the other day about how we have these customers come in, and they come in with these expectations of that you're going to be stupid. And I hate people like that; that's my #1 pet peeve. My self esteem isn't with what I look like, it's with my intelligence. And I hate when people be a little mean.  It's not even sometimes words...It's just a superiority. And it's like, especially with guys, who I hate when someone tries to tell me what to do or questions my ability. It really just p.....s me off. That's my #1 pet peeve. My friends know it, my mom knows it, it really irritates me."

Credit: Hooters.com

Recently, last year saw not one, but two Hooters Girls on Season 3 of Are You The One?. When we met Augusta, GA native Britni - who we featured here last week, she had worked for some time at a local location there before she found her own perfect match in Chuck. And second, while her AYTO 3 ex Devin has made rounds in the Rivals house, Kiki recently spent the past two months focusing on her own challenge: winning the 20th Annual Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant in Las Vegas. She won the regional pageant for the Mid-Atlantic region back in May, which saw her advance to Nationals in Las Vegas over a week ago.

While all we saw from her in Hawaii was of getting played by Big D during the season and being sent into the Truth Booth many a time, it's a much different Kiki when she's at her local Hooters in Fairfax County, VA outside of Washington, D.C.  Their description of her writes, "Kirsten is a spirited jokster from Chantilly who loves to pull good-natured pranks on her co-workers. She has a master's degree in special education and loved her internship with a self-contained autism class at an elementary school. Kirsten's hobbies include snowboarding, wakeboarding, spending time with her two dogs and going on as many roller coasters as possible!"

Kiki spent last week in Vegas and at the PALMS Resort & Casino taking part in the Pageant along with 78 other beautiful women from around the world, as well as all related matters such as calendar photography and the like, which included the vote for Miss Fan Favorite. With that always lucky number of #7, she received strong support from her fan base who's followed her the past 12 months in voting for that award, which unfortunately she didn't win but is still a sign of her popularity among AYTO fans. In the end, Fort Lauderdale Hooters Girl Sable Jade Robbert took top honors, but Kiki did enjoy the great week she had in Sin City to make memories with the ladies and add more to her appeal as one of the most-popular Trifecta castmates of recent years. Next stop: Challenge perhaps?

- I AM DC @DC408Dxtr

#TheEscapeYouDeserve