DC ExtraTime: A Bachelor and a Big Brother Battle with the Bulls

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

IG @Chase_Brody_McNary & @BrettWRobinson

Ten years ago, MTV's The Real World headed to Las Vegas for the second time, where it gave us an iconic Challenger who has just hung up his uniform for the last time. Leroy Garrett made his way from being a Detroit-born garbage man to being a beloved & respected competitor in his decade-long career, despite leaving this chapter in his life as one of the best to never win a title... though having a great girlfriend in "Killa" Kam Williams doesn't hurt either after falling short on Double Agents.

When Lee made his debut on Rivals down in Costa Rica a decade ago this month almost off the plane from the desert, the one who had the enigma of being his partner was Michael Adam Royer. He might rank as one of the least-liked people in Real World history due to his obnoxious behavior, which after destroying the suite at the now-former Hard Rock Hotel (now Virgin Hotels Las Vegas) and falling in love with Nany Gonzalez. And Adam's bad boy ways continued on Rivals where he got kicked out for a second straight show for getting into it with Ty Ruff after he & Lee shockingly won that first daily challenge.

During the midst of his stay in Sin City -- and a far cry now as he's now a Orange County, CA-based lawyer, both Adam and the one who he tipped to Nany about that now infamous scandal, Dustin Zito, tried their hand at an activity that's as Americana as apple pie, blue jeans, country music and a summer's day at the local fairground. And earlier this summer, one who got to compete with Nany on War of the Worlds but who made a name for himself two times in the romantic reality television, joined with a guy who shared the same Big Brother house with four future Challengers for a night at the rodeo.

DC ExtraTime: Someone You Should Know - Bachelor Nation's John Paul Jones

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

All Photos Courtesy ABC

The wintertime means one thing to this blogger's parents: spending a couple hours on Monday nights watching the start of the annual trilogy of Bachelor Nation. Two weeks ago post champagne-gate, my mom & dad and those who are reality nuts got to enjoy a staple of everyone's slumber parties being brought to a whole new level when pillow wrestling appeared on The Bachelor, and it was called by none other than Fred Willard and Chris Harrison a week after the former left Modern Family. And this past week, Cleveland hosted "The Bachelor Bowl" while Victoria Fuller revealed to star Peter Weber than country crooner Chase Rice is an ex boyfriend of hers.

It is that time of year again for those who are part of the granddaddy of all romantic reality TV series to begin the week... same goes for those at the Revel Social bar in Denver, CO to hold its weekly viewing parties of The Bachelor. Similar scenes will be repeated for The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and the new music-themed spinoff Listen to Your Heart at where Chase McNary from JoJo Fletcher's now-renowned 2016 Bachelorette class works at after taking sojourns to MTV (where three other suitors from his season followed in his footsteps to both Ex On The Beach and to Siesta Key), and then last year returned to familiar surroundings on Bachelor in Paradise.

What makes Chase's Bachelor Nation viewing parties the happening in town for those in the Mile High City obsessed with the show is that of alumni and current castmates from the ABC franchise join him weekly as special guests of honor to watch roses, romance and rosé with fans. The most recent guest of his to Revel Social is our latest Someone You Should Know subject... one who was with him in Mexico last summer, and is probably the only alum of his show where people must refer to him by his full name, which also happens to be a historical namesake.

DC ExtraTime: Wonderful Christmastime in Ex Land

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As the holidays of Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and New Year's are now officially behind us on this back to work & school day, the cold weather hasn't left us in most of the country here in this "Blue Monday" - the Monday after the holiday break for kids and adults everywhere. But that doesn't diminish the magic of the coldest time of the year as "Cuffing Season" is in full bloom in January, and retailers' focus turns now to supplying the candy for Valentine's Day, which this year falls on a Friday among many holidays that will take place on or during the weekend this 2020.

Ex On The Beach has been playing into the theme of love ever since its debut on British telly's six years ago, and it arriving in America two years ago. Its fourth season of the U.S. iteration, Peak of Love, rolls along with big name stars from around the reality world having their winter vacation crashed by their exes, while over in Britain the show returns with a Celebrity version this month as Love Islander turned Challenger Georgia Harrison is part of that series' cast along with Georgie Shore vet Sophie Kasaei.

And over the holidays, three of those who were cast onto the U.S. version as singles who moved into the house at the beginning -- and a fourth who came as an Ex a few years after he made his MTV debut on Are You The One -- got to mark the magic of yuletide with two things that are a common sight at Christmastime: decorating and giving back.

DC ExtraTime: Chase in Paradise

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

If you ever hop by my house and join with my parents on the couch on a Monday or Tuesday night from January to September, it's for the one purpose that gets my parents interested in reality TV the same way I do: watching people fall in love. But unlike this fan who keeps his obsession with Are You The One and Ex On The Beach to a guilty pleasure level without them ever knowing about it, my mom & dad are completely obsessed with Bachelor Nation... and it seems I have also fallen into that spell for a few times this year in eavesdropping on my parents to watch some of the drama.

The engaged BIP 6 couples w/ Chris Harrison (ABC)

Two weeks ago, the 2019 finale of the year in roses & romance went down when Bachelor in Paradise concluded with its 3-hour finale, wrapping up a year that began with Colton Underwood jumping the fence on The Bachelor and continuing with Hannah Brown endure her final two suitors cheating on her on The Bachelorette. But those who give the fandom two nights of magic of begin the work week, they always seem to save the juicy drama for the last act of each annual cycle when the weather is at its hottest and when the focus shifts from the Villa in the Southern California hills and beyond to the Hotel by the sands down south of the border.
   In the wake of Jed Wyatt being caught in a back home relationship and Hannah turning to Tyler Cameron, Season 6 of BIP began in early August with those rejected by her, Colton and other leading men & ladies for another shot at love and roses. There were rumors about goings on with some of the suitors when they went to country music's own Coachella, Stagecoach after the main event in Palm Springs before they went to Mexico. There was L.A. recruiter Dean Unglert leaving paradise in mid-August, only to shockingly return two weeks later to ask model Caelynn Miller-Keyes to take the first flight out of town with him... and there was the one & only John Paul Jones and him with Tayshia Adams.
   Of course, no battle for love would be complete without any sort of physical activity: bad blood still boiling from batting to score Becca Kaufin saw Jordan Kimball and NY actor Christian Estrada get together next to a pinata and then proceeded to get into fisticuffs in the Mexican night, and both had their hotel keys swiped away from them. Blake Horstmann encountered a tangled web with him, Caelynn, Tayshia and Kentucky dental assistant Kristina Schulman and led him to also quit. And yes, Hannah B. came by to the villa for a brief visit before going onto Dancing with the Stars.

In the end, three couples made it all the way to the engagement phase by the beach: San Diego tech entrepreneur Dylan Barbour & Alabama model Hannah Godwin, and Chicago entrepreneur Chris Bukowski & L.A. medical sales representative Katie Morton joined Chris Harrison to cap off the summer with engagement rings adorning their fingers... so did another couple that helped to highlight this breakthrough year for the LGBT community.
   For only the second time on BIP, a non Bachelor/Bachelorette alum made their way to paradise when L.A. video production assistant Kristian Haggerty joined the villa in week 3 in Mexico in having had a relationship with Dallas interior designer Demi Burnett. Their relationship marked the first time a same-sex relationship had been seen on the original U.S. version of The Bachelor franchise during the same summer that Are You The One? embraced the LGBT crowd, and Demi & Kristian joined the other two couples in getting engaged to wrap up 2019 in Bachelor Nation. And on the reunion, Bachelorette 15 suitor Peter Weber was named the next leading Bachelor star for 2020.