Summer of Sports '21: A Swaggy Weekend at the Fights

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

As a result of the unprecedented shutdown of all sporting activity last year, this 2021 Summer of Sports has seen plenty take place: Giannis Antetokounmpo taking his place as the NBA' new king by way of an epic Finals MVP performance, the Lightning denting the Stanley Cup in their celebrations of back-to-back NHL titles around Champa Bay, England getting stung again in penalties while Lionel Messi tasted his first major trophy for country with Argentina, and golf's new generation taking over in Jon Rahm and Colin Morikawa winning the U.S. and British Opens after Phil Mickelson's PGA Championship win. But the world's eyes are now on Tokyo as The Games of the XXXII Olympiad have taken over our attention a year later than scheduled due to the pandemic.

Two years ago, Giannis opened more than a few eyebrows in another aspect of our entertainment landscape: reality television. When asked by the media of what his plans were in getting set to lead a team of NBA All-Stars against LeBron James, the Greek Freak gave a namedrop to three MTV shows in the genre: Are You The One?, Ex On The Beach and The Challenge. And when he reported back to training camp before what would become a successful campaign to the NBA title, a face mask he wore bore the symbol of 7-time champion Johnny Bananas who won the season of the ladder that was the only game in town when much of Season 35 of the fifth major pro sport was the only sports event on primetime television in a COVID-stricken America.

The Challenge more than filled the void for both the MVP and athletic-hungry sports fans alike, who joined with reality viewers and those who've been with the show from day 1 for Total Madness. A person who competed with Bananas in that $1 million final a year ago this month was Bayleigh Dayton, who forms one-half of Big Brother showmance Swayleigh with husband Chris "Swaggy C" Williams, who she met on BB20 in 2018. Chris himself is a basketball fanatic who, along with Bay, met Lakers boss Jeannie Buss when Dwayne Wade & LeBron James played one more time on the court. And earlier this month, Swaggy got to pay it forward to the one member of his family he's known all his life as they experienced one of the summer's biggest sports events: the climax of a UFC trilogy in Sin City.

DC ExtraTime: Swayleigh Says Yes to the Dress

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Screencaps Courtesy: TLC

As much as pretty much all of us can loathe this lost year of 2020, there are a few people who are, in fact, loving this year more than others - for good reasons, at least. They include the NFL's reigning king Patrick Mahomes, YouTube's notorious brothers of Jake & Logan Paul, sports fans in both Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, and two people who've been featured on this site a few times before. And those two are those who have continued to ride on Cloud 9 after being among the latest to cross from the most closely analyzed summer house to a reality house of a different kind in the reunited ViacomCBS umbrella.

We're talking about Bayleigh Dayton and Chris "Swaggy C" Williams -- better known to those in the reality TV community and the fandom that spends their summer watching Big Brother as Swayleigh. It was two years ago that they were riding a high after getting engaged on finale night of BB20 just after his early exit and her being the first member of the voting jury... and 48 hours later they and the cast of that show flew up to Las Vegas to celebrate their engagement with their fellow reality TV community. So began their amazing ride that's taken them to a number of places around the world and back including getting to know so many people along the way, including the boss lady of the NBA champs.

After stops at the 2017 Miss USA Pageant pre-BB and Family Feud post-BB, this year Swayleigh broadened their reach beyond just those who follow Big Brother to other places on the TV dial: they, along with BB20 winner Kaycee Clark and Fessy Shafaat, were rookies on The Challenge Total Madness. Three of them made it to the final but fell short of the top prize as the summer sensation continued its MTV takeover two years after it began on Vendettas... but we all remember the huge blowup in the bunker involving the two ladies.

Along the way - including having just hosted a large but COVID-safe housewarming last weekend at their new digs across the street from the Staples Center, there was another stop on the Swayleigh World Tour in 2020: a pit stop from the Total Madness final in the Czech Republic en route to the Big Brother All-Stars house brought them to the Big Apple, and another milestone towards becoming official in wedded bliss thanks to putting on a wedding dress.

DC ExtraTime: Swayleigh Meets The Lakers Boss Lady

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Instagram @SwaggyCTV

When MTV's The Challenge: Total Madness began on April Fool's Day night, it was in the midst of something not seen by our generation: a pandemic shutting down just about everything we had in our plans for the start of this decade of the 2020's. Concerts, weddings, graduations, trips, major events and just about everything else that was scheduled to take place this year have either been called off or pushed back by the COVID crisis, something that, unfortunately, is starting to pop up once again, as America is also facing the racial tensions spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Something that's been affected deeply by COVID has been of the sports world being put on hold everywhere from America to Europe to down under in Australia. A boatload of major events were nixed for the first time since World War II, and one event that was supposed to be going on right now, the Tokyo Olympics, have been postponed to next summer. And it's only now that sports is getting back to normal: UFC, NASCAR, soccer and golf started things out, and by this weekend three of the four major sports will be in action, with the fourth in the NFL to follow shortly after.

Of all that's happened at the intersection of sport and COVID, it can point to that March night in Salt Lake City where a player from the Utah Jazz was hospitalized before a game that ultimately was abandoned, sparking an unprecedented domino effect. It has been a key moment in what has been a rough season in the National Basketball Association, including the passing of a former lawyer who helped turn the league into a global powerhouse in former commissioner David Stern. And his successor, Adam Silver, has faced the tough task of restarting things, like all other sports, although he may an upper hand thanks to placing everyone inside the bubble of Walt Disney World.

But the passing of Commissioner Stern pales in comparison to what has to be one of those days that's burned in the memory bank of every sports fan the world over of that gloomy last Sunday in January, where the tragic death of one of the most iconic athletes of our time united this divided world. The untimely passing of Kobe Bryant has overshadowed everything else, other than the virus, of the NBA season... but thanks to two weeks of training camp and scrimmages at Mickey Mouse's house, things are finally set to get back in motion this week with all eyes set on crowning a champion.

And while NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been able to spend this lockdown watching The Challenge & other MTV Reality matters without missing a minute on the court for the Bucks, there's one other important link between the Association and the fifth major pro sport. And as hoops fans everywhere prepare for the NBA restart this Thursday night, you can thank a guy who's a basketball enthusiast through & through and his Big Brother wife to help us introduce you to one of sports' most powerful women: the Boss Lady of the Los Angeles Lakers.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - Big Brother Takes Over A Television Game Show

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

On a few occasions at this site, our ExtraTime lens have zoomed in on a staple of American life that has existed for as long as there's been television: the excitement and fun of game shows. They've been around since the medium's golden age of the '50s, and survived the ordeal of the quiz show scandal that brought about change and transparency in the entire TV industry. Us being quarantined and spending time at home in lockdown have seen us spend much more time at home with your family, and shows like this still delight people of all ages with hours of endless entertainment.

Here, we have featured those two times where Are You The One? alumni and a girl from an often-forgotten Real World season have donned a Disney outfit, Christmas dresses and got down on the dance floor on the modern-day revival of Let's Make A Deal. There was that time where we saw a guy who was there when I began following MTV Reality on a social basis go onto The Price is Right but used his original name instead of the name on the back of his two Challenge jerseys. And there was that time when a future Hurricane and a Brooklynite fell in love on a Voice-style dating show.

For the next two nights, MTV will take center stage on ABC when we get to see how it all started for Chad Johnson, Chase McNary, Daniel McGuire and Robby Hayes when they were on JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette before they invaded Ex On The Beach and Siesta Key. But before that trip down memory lane tomorrow night with plenty of roses & rosé on offer, tonight the casts of Jersey Shore and The Hills face off on one of TV's most enduring programs whose lineage dates back over five decades and before all but one of the contestants were even born.

And that brings us to this latest edition of Before They Were MTV Stars, where one notable member of this year's Challenge cast took her talents to after she was part of a Big Brother season that debuted two years ago this weekend. This story also involves someone who she was at war with on Total Madness the other night, who also had her own moment on a couple of the occasions of when Big Brother Takes Over a Television Game Show.

DC ExtraTime: Someone You Should Know - Big Brother's Swayleigh

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Chris "Swaggy C" Williams & Bayleigh Dayton,
with BB host Julie Chen (center; from CBS)

As we enter the Christmas portion of what is referred to in the social media verse as "cuffing season," love is in the air for reality TV fans. A new season of Ex On The Beach begins in a matter of hours from now with an Are You The One? love triangle and reality villain Chad Johnson being part of this season's cast of singles. Former NFL receiver Colton Underwood is waiting in the wings as the next leading man on The Bachelor, while one of the most controversial reality shows ever created, Temptation Island, will return in the new year.

Finding a couple who met on a reality show and them making it work after the cameras turn off is about as rare as the matchmaking process that those who follow AYTO as much as this site does can attest. But when true love is found, everyone has reason to celebrate: Amber & Ethan Diamond are the epitome of relationship goals to fans who handicap who are perfect matches while their original show airs... and they're one of a handful of those who have made love work in the long run among couples that met on a reality television series.

For 2018's romantic reality success story, the couple of our focus here met inside the most scrutinized summer house in this country: dozens of cameras and millions of eyeballs fixed on every move, televised and edited to viewers every year. One was a representative from the Midwest in an event ExtraTime focused on back on Tuesday, while the other is (like just about everyone in this blogger's family) an avid basketball enthusiast who shares a nickname as one of the NBA's most celebrated non-megastars. Their story of them meeting in the house and everything that occurred since has been well documented, and it's what happened when they left the house that is sure to be one of 2018's biggest reality TV moments.

And with the help of another couple who also met on reality TV and are still together a year later which they met last week, here's our chance to introduce you to Someone You Should Know: the couple from Big Brother 20 known simply as #Swayleigh.