DC ExtraTime: From Vegas to Paris - Scandal & Style with the Zitos

 CAUTION:  This story contains brief references to an adult entertainment enterprise that is not suitable to a younger readership, though with our utmost respect to sensitivity no imagery related to it is included in this article. Parental Guidance is Suggested.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

    ESTIMATED READING TIME: 24 mins.

As we just had our first truly "normal" Thanksgiving weekend since 2019, something that's always prevalent whenever we all get together on November's fourth Thursday & its accompanying four-day weekend each fall is the importance of family. It's with that in mind that the story you're about to see bumps off what we'd normally offer on DCBLOG every weekend of covering the weekly episodes of The Challenge, and we'll feature the past couple episodes of Ride or Dies on here next week instead.

Twitter/IG @VictoriaLZito

Back in 2012, this MTV fan who had been just a loyal viewer of just one regular show on the channel and who had just joined a public social media platform in Twitter got baptized for the first time in the modern-day version of what was called back then as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which was ultimately shortened to just the first & last two words of that mouthful of a title. There, he got to interact with the cast of the former show being based in the Caribbean, and then stayed around to give the fifth major pro sport a try for a change... I've had a weekly midweek date with TJ Lavin & friends ever since. 

One of the most memorable moments of my decade following this Challenge beat came ten years ago this month during that first of what's now twenty-one seasons of this show in its many forms that I have watched during the past ten years: a fight between various castmates that had one of my late followers just feeling startled as to how my Twitter commentary on that solidified this newfound love affair. It came a year after one of those many involved in that fracas found himself in the heart of a scandal so big and so scandalicious that it actually put him on the cover of a supermarket tabloid magazine -- a status that was usually reserved for the likes of The Hills, Teen Mom and Jersey Shore.

And during this fall -- well after one of our co-subjects did his last Challenge and while you're busy watching this current season of Ride or Dies, the adage that good things just "run in the family" took on a whole new meaning: his sister was cast in another cable network's newest reality show taking place far away from where that story began in the capital of Sin. But thanks to one of the many themed hotels that sprung along the Las Vegas Strip during the boom decade of the '90s, it was only fitting that Paris would play host to the return to TV land of a fellow sibling. And now you can officially say that the Zito family can now lay claim to having two of their own on national TV... not many can boast that unique status. But to understand this story, it's worth rewinding the clock back a bit to more simpler times.

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Takes Over a Super Bowl Commercial

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

   ESTIMATED READING TIME: 18 MINS.

In over a week from now, the focus for many fans of the MTV Reality world will be fixated on the first offering in 2022 of the fifth major pro sport of The Challenge. But once matters settled on Season 2 of All-Stars back in January, this blogger who loves his MTV shows took a break from covering them on here to follow another of his biggest passions: sports - and the two biggest events of them all... and it's one of the reasons why I've not been posting as much on this DCBLOG site in these first five months.

February gave me reason to join everyone else in the sports world and be both a fan and a viewer in enjoying the nineteen days of the Winter Olympics... and if you saw my Twitter feed during that eventful fortnight in Beijing, then you know how much of an Olympic super fanatic I am as I do any MTV show. But along with seeing Champs vs. Pros competitors Lindsay Jacobellis, Gus Kenworthy and Louie Vito, as well as Chloe Kim, Shaun White and Team USA, one other thing took place in the sports universe in the middle of the Games in a past and future host city an ocean away.

A year ago, the National Football League chose to take advantage of the massive popularity of America's favorite sport by adding a seventeenth regular season game to its schedule. As a result, the 2021 NFL campaign was expanded by one week to eighteen weeks of regular season play, a three-week preseason beforehand, and a thirteen-act play in January & February that was perhaps the most dramatic series of playoff games in league history. It also pushed back the season's last game, Super Bowl LVI, by a week to Sunday. February 13th -- the middle Sunday of the XXIV Winter Olympiad... and it made for what the network of both those events, NBC, to call it a "Once in a Lifetime" Super Gold Sunday.

And while we were caught up in the Los Angeles Rams' dramatic championship win as they nipped the Cincinnati Bengals by a late touchdown in their spectacular home of SoFi Stadium — plus hip-hop's finest hour in its biggest stars headlining a legendary halftime show and before the postgame bombshell of the ladies figure skating fiasco, there was an appearance by one who once appeared on a few seasons of The Challenge and got her start as part of a renowned Real World class. That person also just so happens to most notably be the ex-girlfriend of one of the All-Star competitors competing next month, as she took part in of the most unique aspects to every Super Sunday.

DC ExtraTime: Here's to Zach and Jenna (Once Again)...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

IG @JennaCompono

For most of us, this tough time in our world and our lives have seen us take two -- even three -- straight years of having to put off so much for the sake of our health & safety... that includes this weekend's return of arguably the biggest live music event in America: Coachella in Southern California's Inland Empire, an hour's drive east of Los Angeles. But for so many, the global pandemic caused a massive ripple effect when it comes to planning out that ultimate of life-changers that simply say the ultimate Saturday (or any day of the week) where a couple goes down the aisle, say their "I do's," share a first kiss as a married couple and party the night away with family, friends and their fellow invited guests.

The return of American normalcy means that after two years' worth of delays but also lots of extra time for planning, the dream days of brides, grooms and their families alike are finally coming to fruition -- and at a historic pace. A whopping 2.6 million couples are expected to tie the knot this year, the most in almost forty years... all as a result of the lockdown preventing most weddings from taking place in 2020 and early 2021. Wedding vendor companies, which had a light work load the past few years, are picking up the pace in prepping for both the main event in those expensive dresses, and those lavish after-parties known as a wedding reception with a larger number of guestlists after all this time being apart.

Two years ago when a lot of us had to put up with all of this delaying the grandest day of anyone's lives, we featured five people who got to try on wedding outfits at the most renowned parlor of its type in the world: The Challenge's Nicole Zanatta, Big Brother 20 and Total Madness finalist Bayleigh Dayton & husband Swaggy Chris Williams, Real World Back to New Orleans alum Ashlee Feldman, and Mike the Situation of Jersey Shore & the Sorrentino clan all paid a visit to Kleinfeld Bridal in New York City, home to TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. Just a few weeks ago, Nicole herself got engaged to her girlfriend Lauren... and it came before she got invited to 2022's first big wedding day in the MTV community... well, make that the second wedding day for one of Challenge Nation's biggest couples.

DC ExtraTime: Say Hello to Baby Nichols and Baby Christie

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If there's some sort of silver-lined serendipity to the last 20 months we've had to go through, it's that there's been a big boom in the number of babies being welcomed into our world. If you're reading this, it's likely that you, a family member, a friend from high school, a fellow co-worker or an acquaintance has given birth to a young boy or girl during the pandemic... and you are not alone. When this blogger gathered with family and friends for our aunt's 80th birthday during the summer, one of my cousins announced that he & his girlfriend were expecting weeks before they made that public on Facebook.

For the MTV Reality community in the past few years, so many of your favorites from The Challenge and other shows of interest to us on here have had their moments not just during this time at home, but even before mayhem took over our world. For four veterans on Spies, Lies & Allies, they are not only competing for themselves but also for their growing families back home, for which if they do go on and cash at season's end a cut of that cash would obviously go towards building a future college fund or buying a year's supply of diapers to help in their newfound challenge of being parents.

Of course, one of those still in the running for the $1 million is part of the inner circle that surrounds the one who represents not just The Challenge, but the rest of the MTV Reality family in the Teen Mom sorority just as Cheyenne Floyd's road to welcoming her second kid is being documented on the current season of the OG series. But this past month, three of those Cory Wharton has competed with on the show -- and in the case of one of them, lived in his Real World house -- got to join him in the category that a growing number are joining him in: being both a Challenger and raising kids.

DC ExtraTime: Surviving Hurricane Ida

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It's safe to say that things about this fall season of The Challenge have been a bit unusual to say the least... but we will save that discussion on here for another day. But good thing that there's other seasons of this show that we can relieve if you are one of those who forges over a few dollars to watch them on Paramount+ or watches them for free on its Pluto TV channel.

It was seven years ago at this time in the autumn that Season 30 of The Real World was filming... and as it was the previous season in San Francisco and then later with its returns to Las Vegas and Seattle that it would be anything but the ordinary "seven strangers" format. One good thing that came out of the "Skeletons" season in Chicago was that got to introduce us to Tony Raines: the Louisianan falling in love with one of the roommates there would eventually bring him into something that's become old hat the past few years: becoming a dad much earlier than he expected and before most of those of the show he would join afterwards would join him later on in that occupation.

And it was a much documented career that Tony had on The Challenge post-Real World: it began with him getting into it with his brother Shane just after he cheated on his baby mama in the bathroom and before a bad spill that forced him from Battle of the Bloodlines. After early exits on Rivals III (a non-physical fight with his partner), Invasion of The Champions (first to lose in the elimination after the merge with the champs) and Dirty 30 (a surprise loss to Amo in elimination), and we could have looked at another also-ran... but the Redemption House proved to be a blessing in disguise: #TonyTime won his way back to make the semifinals there, executed a move on Bananas on Vendettas and made a deep run on Final Reckoning, along with winning Champs vs. Stars and a proposal with his girlfriend Alyssa.

But this past month saw something so life-changing happen to him, it once again reiterated that there are few things that are bigger than television, and also proves why that despite all the dysfunction that frequently takes place within that community that Challenge Nation is indeed a family. One thing that can bring them all together: a devastating disaster.

DC ExtraTime Flashback - 9/11 In The Real World: The Day That Changed It All

BY DC CUEVA                                

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

    ESTIMATED READING TIME: 27 Mins.

The story of MTV Reality represents the history of the non-scripted genre as it is recognized by fans and the industry, encompassing three decades of some of TV's most unique programming. As MTV marks its 40th anniversary this year, during 2021 DCBLOG's ExtraTime franchise is proud to offer this special Flashback series as we look back at some of the most memorable moments, greatest shows, incredible personalities and unique backstories that has shaped this entire genre.

   And due to this story's poignant nature, the reflective mood this country is in now on the anniversary of the events of what happened twenty years ago and the date that this is being posted -- as well as the time that was needed to put this detailed & in-depth story together, DCBLOG's normal weekly coverage will not be presented this weekend. As a result, our content covering this week's fifth episode of MTV's The Challenge will instead be offered on here during next week's series of posts.

Photo: Getty Images

Right now, we are living through some extraordinary moments in our lifetime here in the first two years of the 2020's. We've had to endure such a divisive and intense time in this country spurred on by last year's game-changing election, sandwiched in between a tumultuous prelude and stunning aftermath that came along with a change of occupancy at the White House. A year ago, a post-Memorial Day weekend shooting in Minneapolis set off a coast-to-coast firestorm of riots and racial tension that reignited the Black Lives Matter movement. And there have been many other events -- disasters, deaths and the like -- that has seen plenty of bad news dominate our headlines & our social feeds... and then, there's this.

On March 8, 2020, just four days after the cast & trailer was revealed for season 35 of MTV's The Challenge: Total Madness, a startling announcement by the World Health Organization jolted the planet as the spread of the coronavirus from the nation of China to all around the world would have a lasting effect on our way of life. COVID sent just about everything we take for granted and our plans for both last and this year into a state of panic and perhaps being either postponed or put aside altogether... and it still is affecting all of us as the Delta variant and vaccination has been on most people's minds of late, and where it has continued to be a hot-button topic on the road back to pre-pandemic normalcy.

All of these events have joined those days and moments where, every so often, you'll know exactly where you were when it took place, and you'll tell your kids about it once you get up there in age. If you have a grandparent in your family who's still alive, they'll probably tell you where they were when Pearl Harbor was bombed, when JFK was assassinated, when man stepped foot on the moon and when Nixon resigned. For your parents, it's likely they remember when Challenger exploded, when the Miracle on Ice happened, when the Berlin Wall fell and when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty.

And for us in this generation, there's the times when Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma and Ida hit, when Michael Jackson, Prince, Muhammad Ali and Kobe Bryant died, when same-sex marriage became law of the land, when the Red Sox and Cubs won the World Series, and when the last three Presidents were elected, among so many other things that have happened in the first two decades of this third millennium. And there are personal events and tragedies near and dear to us that didn't make national or global headlines but became days we would never forget... that includes the deaths of Challenge alums Diem Brown and Ryan Knight, and Are You The One's Alexis Eddy last year.

Living through such ordeals like what we're in now above is something that we all have gone through in the course of the last twenty-one months. But there's one person in the MTV Reality family who has gone through the surreal experience of the one moment scarred in the memories of most of us in these last two decades that was captured by the cameras of The Real World twenty years ago on this very day stuck in our collective memories. It's the person who takes on the role of being the senior competitor of this fall's Challenge season who has had the enigma of having her birthday on September 11 being scarred by the memories of that unforgettable Tuesday that changed this world.

DC ExtraTime: MTV Reality Takes Over Jake Paul's Triller Fight Night

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

    ESTIMATED READING TIME: 21 Mins.

Imagine... one year ago at this time in our world, we were all without the presence of sports in both this country but all around the world. Good thing all of you out there who visit this website -- and those who wanted something to take place on your TV screens -- had MTV's The Challenge to keep you company on the competition front. But a year later, things are back to normalcy when it comes to the human drama of athletic competition: NBA and NHL playoff positioning, baseball just starting, and the All-Stars spinoff on Paramount+.

When American competitive sports returned on that Mother's Day weekend last year, Champs vs. Stars competitor Michelle Waterson was part of a UFC card in Florida that gave us something to take our minds off of the pandemic. And last Saturday night, the attention of those who love a good fight were on several venues: ESPN aired a full night of UFC action as Robert Whittaker decisioned Kelvin Gastelum in the night's marquee bout, while on FOX Tony Harrison and Bryant Perrella drew their main event in a Premier Boxing Champions card.

But the nightcap to a Saturday Night Fight Night tripleheader came in a totally different and unusual setting for a sport that, once upon a time, was on the same footing as baseball as a major sport and where bouts featuring the biggest names were as anticipated as the Super Bowl or World Series. And the bout that was much more anticipated than either of its established counterparts brought into focus the poster boy of the YouTube generation and one of the most dominant competitors in his sport. And among the fight crowd at home and in person in Atlanta, a girl who is the former's ex and a three-time Challenge champ who rubbed shoulders with the ladder in the leadup to the fight that broke the Internet.

DC ExtraTime: Remembering Bootstrap

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Instagram @WestonBergmann

Sixteen years ago when they tuned to the premiere of Season 16 of The Real World in Austin, MTV viewers first discovered a 19-year-old young fella whose audition tape that got him casted showed him sporting a mohawk while attending Arizona State University and being depicted as that stereotypical frat guy in college. But once you got to really know him a bit more, you knew that Wes Bergmann was anything but: someone who was an aspiring entrepreneur who would eventually become the most prominent face of his own business incubator company back in his home base of the Midwest.

The Wes most of us know is the one who has evolved greatly from his college days to being part of Challenge royalty: falling in love with a Latina in Texas, getting heated in The Duel elimination arena en route to the first of his two titles, the countless times where he has put his political playbook to work, and of course the dealings he's had with a seven-time champion including its most recent chapter last year. And whether you like him or not, you always had to respect what this guy from KC has done over the years -- there's perhaps no better ginger man than him in the world of MTV Reality television.

He's not quite yet at the level of many of his fellow contemporaries in this world of the fifth major sport... that is, in the rapidly-growing category of those who are parents and those who are about to welcome new babies. But in a way, Wes has spent much of this time outside of the Challenge house also being a dad... and last month, he got to say farewell to his own "man's best friend" and the one who's his biggest fan -- his beloved dog.

DC ExtraTime: The Barbie Beast & Thor Are Challenge Parents! And So is a Vet, Too...

 FOLLOW UP  

Jenna & Zach: A Challenge Love Story

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Over the past few years, something that has been keeping those who follow MTV's The Challenge talking from Wednesday to Wednesday has been what's been going on with your favorite competitors when the cameras aren't rolling. Just browsing the social media platforms of these players, both regulars of this series or those who've done any of the thirty-six seasons of this, and you are treated to what their lives are like when we're not scrutinizing their moves in the bubble of that Challenge house.

A popular item for all of us to buzz about over the years -- and also give us plenty to send our congrats to them for -- has been of when the people we know and love either get engaged or married, or when they celebrate the impending and eventual arrival of the newest member of their family: a baby. And despite having to go through an ordeal of having to go through so much bad news in what will soon be a full year since the announcement of COVID becoming a pandemic - and it coming shortly after the cast was revealed for the fittingly titled Total Madness, there has been a lot of positive stories involving pregnancies and engagements with those who we know and love in the fifth major pro sport.

And last Sunday on Valentine's Day as we are in the midst of the ongoing lockdown as well as the current season of Double Agents airing, we had the biggest profile reveal of an all-Challenge baby as not one, but two new parents to be made it official on top of them planning to get married. We also can't forget that there is someone else in Challenge Nation also expecting, and one who also knows what it's like to be part of a high-profile couple in the public limelight of this show we love. And two of them competed on the very same (and last rare non-Bananas) season on Battle of the Seasons II.

DC ExtraTime: More Baby News for the New Year...

BY DC CUEVA                           

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In this world of MTV Reality which we follow 24/7 on here, the first month of 2021 hasn't been just about covering The Challenge: Double Agents wall to wall. What made 2020 eventful on the more positive side in this beat was that a number of those who we've followed on these shows we cover became parents, and there are more bits like this to share with you here. First, a postscript to what went down on Episode 5...

Two weeks ago, a surprise sending home stunned just about all of us watching in a season that's seen a number of comings & goings outside of the elimination Crater. Survivor champ Natalie Anderson won the season's first elimination against Ashley M. and where the house's strategy that wanted their veteran partners to square off against each other backfired. And then, she was sent home before competing in the Week 5 daily... but there's a story behind that.

   Last year on Total Madness, Melissa Reeves flew under the radar in not getting into the explosive drama she's had during her MTV career (two Challenges plus two series of Ex On The Beach UK) as she went all the way to the final. She had to withdraw from the two-day marathon to the cash citing that her body just couldn't keep up with everyone else in the snow, and as we would find out earlier last year that she had just begun the early stages of her pregnancy while competing in the Czech Republic.

While she was disappointed that she couldn't continue on in the quest to add more to her legend, it was after being sent home from Iceland that Natalie had found out that she was pregnant while competing on The Challenge -- more than a month into that, in fact. At first, there was the excitement and the joy of finding out about this with her significant other when she returned, but then something absolutely terrible happened to her... something that another fellow Challenge rookie on this Double Agents season, Liv, also had to go through just recently.

   Natalie wrote in part on her Instagram below, "A week later I unexpectedly had a miscarriage. I wanted to share my story for those who have gone through a pregnancy loss or grieving any other loss. You can overcome! Life has a way of testing us and you owe yourself kindness though the hardest times. I am proud to be healthy and happy after overcoming the emotions of leaving the show early and the loss of my pregnancy.

   "I am grateful for my adventurous life! One that has given me the ability to harness my mental fortitude and also forced me to cultivate positive practices for dealing with loss and regret. I am so proud of Devin and I for letting this experience make us not break us. I am grateful for his strength and support though these challenges. Could not have done it without you. love you 😌🤎"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Natalie Anderson (@natalieeand)

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Comes to a Bar's Rescue

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Tyrie (right) w/ Jon Taffer (center) & staff of
Oasis/Taza bar [TW @Susie_Gentleman]

While this year of 2020 has seen far more negative headlines than positive ones, one bright spot in this has seen the one show we wrap ourselves around more than any other in the world of MTV Reality, The Challenge, finally receive some overdue recognition in being the first of its kind reality competition series in this industry. Not only did so many of you look to the most recent season of Total Madness for a weekly escape in what was for a time the only major pro sport that was going on this year, it has also shined a light on the people who have competed on this show at one time or another.

A recurring instance in recent years has been of many past Challenger (or an alum from other series we cover) making an appearance on shows outside of what we cover and appearing with big names in the entertainment industry, and we here at DCBLOG have always made it a point to spotlight each and every one of those cameos. In the past year, those who have competed in the past have shown up on Dr. Phil, Married at First Sight, Say Yes to the Dress, Holey Moley, HGTV's House Hunters, and of course Bayleigh & Da'Vonne returning to where it all began for them on Big Brother All-Stars, among others. Better yet, we just might as well call this spinoff: The Challenge: Invasion of Other Networks.

In the instance of what we have for you next here, this is the first of a two-parter involving two members of one past Real World season from a decade & a half ago: the second will feature a lady who was part of a shower threesome when she moved into that house, then went from competing two times on The Challenge to now heading up one of American sports' biggest organizations... and we'll be featuring a member of the cast of the Denver season spying in on what goes on in her job as head of a bowling company when we'll feature her episode of CBS' Undercover Boss to come later.

But before we tell that story, there was that other time where someone from her same cast that lived at 5,280' above sea level found himself on national TV. But this one didn't involve finding himself in the middle of a hot-tub threesome, or when he was hit at by his Challenge partner. But rather, he was a bit part player in the time where the cameras from MTV's then-male focused & now-more premium sibling came walking into his workplace at the time back home in America's heartland, and a show that might be considered a cross between Extreme Makeover and that place "where everybody knows your name."

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Joins The House Hunters

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Pic Courtesy: HGTV

If you spend some time at the Cueva household in this world struck by a pandemic, then you might find me on the desktop or my mobile devices putting together vlog videos and blog posts like this one, just as I have been doing even before this lockdown began in March. But while I have long been used to working at home before it has been commonplace, I've also had some company at my house while we have been stuck here in the past six months under this quarantine.

Both of my parents who are now retired, including my dad who worked his last day at NASA last month, have plenty of things to do now as they don't have to worry about those early wake-up calls other than for frequent casino hops. Aside from our mix of sports, YouTube slot videos and Bachelor Mondays among other things, something my mom & dad have been enjoying watching on TV a lot of have been home improvement shows. And inspired by that, they have been doing a lot of work in our backyard, from gardening & manicuring our plants to making new things in the same house I've spent my whole lifetime in.

And as those of you have been enameled with rumors of those cast on the next Challenge around staring at the live feeds of America's most closely watched summer house, last week the influx of MTV Reality alumni appearing on shows outside of the ones of their origination continued after stops this summer on Married at First Sight, Holey Moley, Say Yes to the Dress, Chris Brown's "Go Crazy" video and of course, Big Brother. But this time, this was something totally different: one alum actually doing her day job, all in a city that's been enjoying what's otherwise been a twisted 2020.

DC ExtraTime Special: The Many Sides of Johnny Bananas - Part 2

 FOLLOW-UP  The Many Sides... Pt. 1
BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Last month, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio marked his twentieth season competing on MTV's The Challenge with adding another jewel in the crown with his record seventh title on Total Madness. Him besting the men's field of crossover MTV star Cory Wharton, defending champion Rogan O'Connor and Big Brother 20's Fessy saw Johnny cross the $1.5 million mark in career winnings - more than another challenger. And this win also places him in the top-tier of some of the biggest names in the entire reality television genre, not just the MTV section of it.

Johnny has been an omnipresent staple of most every Challenge season since he debuted on The Duel in 2006 after he first came into our lives when Key West, Florida welcomed The Real World, and a Challenge doesn't really begin until he proposes a toast to begin the proceedings after the challengers move in. And it was four years ago this week that he pulled out the most talked about Challenge moment ever: him stealing all of the money of partner Sarah Rice on Rivals III - which brought him much notoriety ever since... although he didn't have to deal with much hate being spilled his way after conquering the Czech Republic for #7.

But along with being part of Team MTV, in the past two years he has also had a very good side gig of being the host of 1ST LOOK TV, NBC's weekend lifestyle & travel show that enjoys the coveted spot of airing after Saturday Night Live. This has allowed him to get out of his comfort zone of being around The Challenge community 24/7 to log in even more frequent flier miles around the globe to go on unique adventures that allows us to venture along with him like what we see on his Instagram stories whenever he's not competing or training.

In Part 1 of this ExtraTime Special yesterday, we looked at most of Johnny's first season of 1st Look that brought him to Scotland, the Desert, Coney Island and to Alaska to explore what this world really is about when you get to live freely as he does. And now here in Part 2, we join him for even more of these nice adventures, including traveling to the Caribbean for fun in the sun, a venture to one of the world's most guarded borders, and more special guests that you may be familiar with. That includes the precursor to the Total Madness ice-breaker with that gingerman from the Midwest.

DC ExtraTime Special: The Many Sides of Johnny Bananas - Part 1

 FOLLOW-UP  A 1st Look at Bananas

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Three weeks ago tonight, Johnny "Bananas" Devenanzio plowed his way through the snow in the Czech Republic to stamp his place as the "Greatest of All Time" in the annals of MTV's The Challenge in upping his record number of titles to an untouchable seven in winning Season 35 of Total Madness. It feels only fitting that in his twentieth regular season on the fifth major pro sport that he returned to his rightful place on the throne at season's end, reclaiming the overall money lead with over $1.5 million in career earnings. And just as we did after his last title four years ago and after the chaos that surrounded that subsided when we spotlighted his friendship with #1 fan & cancer survivor Kasey Harvey, Bananas is the subject of his own postseason DCBLOG ExtraTime post -- make that, two posts.

By the time we reach the end of this summer, it will have been fifteen years since Johnny found himself in a similar situation so many of us have been through while watching this Challenge: in lockdown and stranded in a hotel room waiting to enter The Real World Key West house during Hurricane Katrina. It was a more than chaotic start to his MTV journey where, as he basks in the glow of another Challenge championship, he has now become of a household name in more homes than those of us who have followed him for at least part of this ride. And the reasoning for this rise in his stock comes in two shows that air outside the MTV channel, reflecting the fame and notoriety he's garnered since he infamously stole Sarah's money on Rivals III four years & two days ago in the first Wednesday of August in 2016.

This spring, Bananas competed on the sixth celebrity installment of Food Network's Worst Cooks in America, where he joined Full House's Dave Coulier, Mike Tyson's ex Robin Givens and New York Real Housewife Sonja Morgan in the kitchen. He made it all the way to the final two, where in the end he finished runner up to Bachelor Nation's Wells Adams of JoJo Fletcher's Bachelorette class (the one with Ex On The Beach alums Chase, Chad & Daniel and Juliette's Siesta Key ex Robby Hayes). It's also the same show that the man who was eliminated first on Total Madness, AYTO alum Asaf Goren, also competed on as has Gina from 2017's Stranded with a Million Dollars.

The other show is the one that gave him his mainstream big break: in May 2018 while the last non-Bananas Challenge was airing (Champs vs. Stars 2), NBC's weekend late night series which airs after Saturday Night Live, 1ST LOOK TV, dedicated an entire episode to Bananas as they handed the hosting reigns for one week to him on the free to everyone universe of local broadcast television. From sumo wrestling to gentlemanly matters to dressing up in drag, those who didn't hear of him got the opportunity to see another side of a person who is known for just about everything that we love and hate about The Challenge, and showed another side of this unique man.

Execs at the Peacock loved him so much after that guest episode aired, that they gave him something that another proud Real World alum, CVS host Mike "The Miz" Mizanin also has: duel citizenship from different networks, just as they have with the WWE champ in the Miz having both his own USA reality show with his wife & baby, and hosting its new competition series Cannonball. And starting with the 2018-19 season, Bananas has become full-time host of 1ST LOOK... and he relaxes with Challenge title #7, we'd like to share with you his adventures around this wide world of ours as only he can, with plenty of fun and special guests joining him on this two-part ExtraTime.

DC ExtraTime: A Real World OG Gets "Married at First Sight"

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Back in May, we focused in on the only time that Challenge Nation made an appearance on one of MTV's biggest hits of the 2000's. It was in 2003 in the midst of the single most scandalicious season ever of The Real World that Trishelle Cannatella of the original Las Vegas season was invited to come to a meeting at MTV's west coast offices only to be stopped at the gate by security guards and was stuck behind a metal detector. It's only when Ashton Kutcher came by as did her castmate (and fellow occupant of the 28th floor Palms hot tub) Steven Hill that she got Punk'd.

Her being part of that memorable first season of the prank series that escalated the stock of the former That 70's Show star to all-time highs came during in the midst of the season that changed it all for the show that taught everyone in the entire industry how to do reality television. Sex, drama and everything wild from the capital of adult freedom saw this MTV original truly come of age as reality television as the channel saw it before it came to Sin City was never the same again. Thanks to what went down in Vegas, Trishelle started to show up on many other TV shows afterwards from Celebrity Fear Factor with a well-known Real World alum to hanging out with Steve-O and George Takei.

And now, you can add another show to that list, and thus the many shows that various MTV Reality alumni of young and old have appeared on. And it just so happens to be in the now ubiquitous world of romantic reality television, and one of the biggest hits in this sub-genre.

DC ExtraTime: New Babies Galore! Summer 2020 Edition (Challenge Version)

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As we are now getting closer to crowning our thirty-fifth season champion on The Challenge in a few days' time, the fittingly-titled "Total Madness" has provided us with at least 90 minutes of much-needed escapist television from what has been going on in our world. Those of you who have been watching that during this time of being at home and with not much else in the world of competitive content out there have been definitely entertained, with the last act still awaiting us.

You have no doubt heard about the growing movement going on with those who you got to enjoy watching on The Challenge for many years, and those who entertained you before I got to begin watching and covering this show on a permanent basis. Some of them are inching to have one more chance at this with the help of one Godfather of MTV Reality named Mark Long, but others are now into the daily challenge of life after MTV.

One of those things that we can be happy and smile about is when those who we've gotten to enjoy over the years get to tackle what we often call around here life's biggest challenge: parenting and raising kids. And while we have been busy following what's been going on both on the big show itself and off of it, two Challengers who made their debuts ten years ago on both a regular season and a special one during an annual season of renewal are now two of Team MTV's newest parents.

That special one during what has long been a tentpole event for MTV since the channel's early days came during Spring Break 2010, when casting directors were scouting prospects all around a town in Mexico to see if they could take part in a special Spring Break Challenge. Camila Nakagawa came down to the beach from the University of Nebraska, but she had no idea of what she would get herself into, or what the future would lay ahead: seven years of doing twelve Challenges in total, winning two of those, creating memorable moments both on the field and off.

Back in February before things got out of control in this world, Camila revealed first to People Magazine that she would be expecting her first kid... something that she or any of us totally did not expect, but she has joined a slew of other moms who have given birth not just to new babies, but also in the world of COVID. Because of all the panic going on outside, she had move her gender reveal party to a virtual one over the Mother's Day weekend for her Instagram followers. The connection gave out just as the big moment arrived, but the result came out blue - symbolic of a baby boy.

And last Tuesday with the below Instagram post, she introduced everyone to her new kid and with this caption: "He’s here. 🧡 meet baby Kai Aiden, the love of my life."  She wrote later, "Words cannot express the feelings and emotions going through me right now. ❤️ Thank you to every single one of you who supported my pregnancy journey leading into this new phase of my life. Thank you to my beautiful family who have been there for me every single step of the way, through the ups and the downs, for always reminding me that I am strong and capable of anything in this life. Thank you to my friends who Have provided me with great advice, love and laughter when I needed most. ... Thank you my baby boy for choosing me as your mother. I love you so much more than I ever thought possible. Just thank you, thank you, thank you. I have never felt so blessed in my entire life. 🥰🥰"

Fellow MTV'ers gave her congrats from Ashley K., "Oh my goooooodnessssss!!!! Obsessed, he’s soooooo cute! Congratulations beauty! Super happy for you. 💙", to Tori: "Ohhhhhhhh myyyyyy god 😍😍😍 congrats Camila and baby Kai!!! What a perfect name 💗", and Brain Candy Podcast's Susie Meister: "I trust he’ll have a Tik Tok in no time. Welcome to the world, Kai! Happy birthday!! 💕💕💕"  Fellow Challenger turned mom Paula wrote, "He’s utterly perfect!!!!! No surprise there! Welcome to motherhood officially. All the love in the world!!!", while Rivals champ Tyler added, "Omg, congrats!!!! So precious."

DC ExtraTime: Cameran Eubanks - From Real World to Southern Charm

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

When you glance over at the entire television landscape in whole by seeing those listings and in online clips, current and past MTV Reality personalities are now just about anywhere you go in the broader universe. And whether you watch just one show or the whole palette - or have been watching MTV for a long time or being new to its programming, you can see how much of an impact the channel has had inventing a new form of entertainment.

As we speak to you, we have Johnny Bananas on TV three times a week on three different channels: the new season of Worst Cooks in America on Food Network on Sunday, hosting NBC's 1st Look after SNL on Saturday, and of course MTV's Total Madness at midweek. Next month, Karamo Brown & his Fab Five return for Season 5 of Netflix's Queer Eye in where his journey began back in where his Real World season took place in Philadelphia. And the list goes on for everyone from Mike The Miz and Jamie Chung to those we're watching on the current Challenge being on anything from The Blacklist and Big Brother to Teen Mom to How Far is Tattoo Far?, even Dr. Phil.

Jamie has arguably one of the most successful media careers of anyone who's done a Real World season or a Challenge as after her winning Inferno II she has gone on to a successful acting career including The Gifted, The Hangover movie trilogy, being part of Disney's Oscar-winning Big Hero 6, starring alongside The Hills' Audrina Patridge in Sorority Row and many other roles. And she also shares the same freshman class of Season 14 of The Real World in San Diego as one who, this past week, has called time to her time on TV - and one who was the same age as Siesta Key's main protagonist Juliette Porter when she entered our lives a year short of the roaring twenties.

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Invades The Blacklist

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Three years ago during the final of The Challenge XXX, we featured two of the finalists who made it to the end together and who two years later would become together out on the elimination floor of War of the Worlds 2. For Tori Deal, we featured her getting to talk to some of the biggest names in hip-hop just after she clinched a spot in the $1 million final as a rookie. And for Jordan Wiseley, we featured what he got to do during that few seasons' break after his first Challenge title on Exes 2.
   After the first of what would be three of those championship rings, Jordan got to dip his toes into the world of acting, and with the addition of shows produced by one of entertainment's most powerful executives Tyler Perry already paying dividends for BET & its BET Plus streaming service, we featured Jordan's time playing a rookie policeman on the OWN series If Loving You is Wrong. More than a week ago, Jordan returned to his acting ways, if only for a bit, on another hour-long drama series - this time on free-to-air broadcast network television.

The show we're talking about is one that embraces crime instead of being part of the entire drama as it was on ILYIW. And it also has something in common with a TV industry trend, where networks have used some of its most-watched shows as a launchpad to new rookie series. And due of them airing in the prized spots of following Teen Mom, Jersey Shore and other series, we all have the likes of Catfish, Are You The One, Floribama Shore, Siesta Key, Ex On The Beach and How Far is Tattoo Far on the MTV schedule.
   That strategy of using tentpole programming as have new rookie series air afterwards has been embraced lately at NBC, which has long used the platform of The Voice to help launch new shows at the start of the week. It airing after the Tuesday results show on the ladder has helped catapult This is Us into a pop culture phenomenon, while there's another show on the Peacock that it can thank for premiering its first season after the Monday performances.

The crime thriller series The Blacklist debuted in fall 2013 as NBC began its ratings turnaround, and it follows the character played by James Spader, Ray "Red" Reddington, as the former Navy officer turned a criminal who then surrenders to the feds after being out of sight from the hands of the FBI. In turn, he gives them a list of wanted fugitives lurking around across the planet that he got to compile while they were hunting him, and who does his best to work for them as a way to not worry about going up against the judge.
   As expected for a series that airs in the spot after up-and-coming musicians take their turns to impress Adam, Blake and the judges in the famed rotating red chairs, The Blacklist benefited from The Voice to have aired for what will now be eight seasons on NBC, and like its aforementioned shows it has also aired in the coveted post-Super Bowl spot. And on Friday night, its Season 7 finale embraced a hybrid of live action and comic book-style animation, a behind-the-scenes compromise among producers Universal and Sony after late-season production was shut down due to COVID-19.

The episode that aired the week before saw main character Dembe Zuma, played by Hisham Tawfiq, have to make a choice of whether or not to stay loyal to Red after kidnappers decide to ask for secrets about him, all while he offers to hand over his empire to special agent Liz Keen, played by Megan Boone. And Jordan had a cameo in one of the scenes there, as he was asked by authorities if he happened to have been at a crime scene. In referencing to his deformed hand and the camera pointing down at it he replied, "You're asking the wrong guy. When it comes to fingerprints—I'm no expert."

Got to watch @jordan_wiseley on @NBCBlacklist tonight. What a great surprise to see him on one of my favorite shows. Excellent job @jordan_wiseley Luv to you @tori_deal pic.twitter.com/hFuctv1Edw

— Ronald Startzel (@neidermeyer) May 9, 2020

After the season's penultimate episode a week ago last Friday night, Jordan gave thanks on Twitter and if he ever decides to step away from The Challenge, the acting gigs are already there for him for the taking. It adds to what's been an eventful week for the new MTV power couple.

Absolutely blessed and grateful for the opportunities!! @NBCBlacklist cast and crew were top notch and we had a blast shooting! Catch up on all of this season’s episodes!!

— Jordan Wiseley (@jordan_wiseley) May 9, 2020

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