DC ExtraTime: A Challenger's Brother Takes to The Real Love Boat

CAUTION: This Post Contains Spoilers for Some Readers

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If you're new to DCBLOG, a vision of going Inside MTV Reality here is that we more than just cover the weekly episodes of the shows you love... we also put a great deal of our efforts into in-depth storytelling -- and we've been doing that for the last ten years. ExtraTime gives us the chance to focus in on "The Stories Behind the Story" that go beyond what you see on TV, and to go deeper into exploring this world through the prism of reality TV's most talked about shows. It's no different for fall 2022's first story, but this is also the first of two bits involving not the stars of these shows, but actually their fellow siblings.

All Photos Courtesy Paramount Global

This past week saw the kickoff to a brand-new season of The Challenge with a totally new format but one that might be familiar in some ways... and the cast makeup might make it enough to make it a Fresh Meat season, although it's not exactly the case. Ride or Dies is bringing together friends, exes, siblings, significant others and familiar Challenge faces under one roof in Argentina for the passion and glory of $1 million at the very end. And though the format is fresh, it does have some traits of past formats that are sprinkled into this year's MTV Challenge show: Rivals, Exes and Battle of the Bloodlines.

There's only one pair in this fall's Challenge field who are blood-related: defending champion Kaycee & her brother Kenny... but in a way they aren't the only siblings to occupy hump day in the Paramount Global reality community. The week before Wednesday's premiere saw another bloodline with a link to Challenge Nation take to national television... but it came in a totally different environment in this world of reality competition shows than what his sister got to endure seven times in her career on the big show. For the root of this story, we have to rewind the tape all the way back to before the both of them were even born to some simpler times in TV land.

DC ExtraTime: An MTV Reality Night at the 2022 VMA's

Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, this post is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

This year of 2022 was branded by yours truly & his secondary Twitter channel DCNOW as "Back to Music Season" -- the first time in three years that we've been able to have a full year of major festivals, summer tours and the usual array of summer songs that dominate the hottest of the four meteorological seasons. It all began, as it usually does on the festival front, in the springtime in March with the first holding since 2019 of the electronic dance music extravaganza that is the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. A month later came the return of the Coachella festival, which saw Harry Styles, The Weeknd and Billie Eilish headline America's highest-profile weekend of live music in the California sun... followed by EDC in Vegas, Bonnaroo in Tennessee, Lollapollooza in Chicago, and countless tours by the biggest artists.

Every year, the traditional and spiritual conclusion to the summer music season has always been the MTV Video Music Awards, which began in 1984 when the channel hired one of the TV industry's most respected executives, Don Ohlmeyer, to produce a sendup of traditional over-the-top award show galas. That night at Radio City Music Hall became well-known for the infamous performance of "Like A Virgin" by the quintessential MTV icon of her time, Madonna... and who two decades later planted a smooch on both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in front of their former Mickey Mouse Club mate Justin Timberlake. It has grown to become one of the biggest nights of the year in the music industry, and it's one of the few times nowadays where the cable channel's original moniker rings true.

Last month marked the thirty-ninth renewal of the VMA's, which took place across the river in Newark, New Jersey... and where the last time the NHL Devils' home arena of the Prudential Center welcomed this summer music gala, the casts of Floribama Shore and Siesta Key walked the red carpet together before they shared the winter 2020 MTV stage. And this time around: no different when it came to those big names who took to the big stage, and those from Team MTV who walked the black carpet.

DC ExtraTime: Tyson's Wide World of Pickleball

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

     ESTIMATED READING TIME: 15 MINS.

Tyson's Pickleball Pics Courtesy
Facebook & IG @TysonApostol

As we enter the home stretch of this inaugural season of The Challenge's very first foray into the world of network television after years on MTV and now on Paramount+, it's very much clear that there's one CBS reality alum who's in line to perhaps add more to his legend. It's a story that traces its starting point to when he began as a former cyclist and triathlete just trying to see what it's like to endure an ultimate marathon of stamina in a totally different setting being marooned on a desert island.

This summer on The Challenge: USA, Tyson Apostol has been enjoying a reality TV renaissance in beasting several of the daily challenges to the point that he is the favorite (if not, one of the favorites) to win it all once we get into the serious business of approaching the start line of the final & the big money that awaits just a few weeks from now. For a guy from Utah who spent the early years of his adult life competing in endurance sports before making his national TV debut, Tyson had already proven his competitive worth before going on that boat ride to the first of his four Survivor seasons back in 2009. And it is as if he was made for The Challenge: him getting the attention of the fandom and the establishment including a 7-time champ has made it almost an inevitable prospect that he may be well on his way to joining the MTV show itself.

This has been quite the summer for Tyson, which in addition to what we've seen so far from him on the show has also seen him represent this latest spinoff in throwing out the first pitch on a Major League Baseball diamond. But outside this game, you'll likely find Tyson in a most unlikely place but one that's now become a popular hotspot in 2020's America: a recreational sport that was one that I got to play a bit in his high school days back then, and where he has embraced it to the point that now it has gotten the attention of this sports nation used to having the same old same old, and now is looking to diversify that diet in a simple little game known as pickleball.

DC ExtraTime: It's a Vegas Fight Night on Raiders Opening Night

*** CAUTION: Videos Embedded Below Contain Content Not Suitable for a Younger Audience. Parental Guidance is Suggested. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

In a few short years, a city that had long been sitting on the sidelines has emerged into the big time as the new hub of American sports, although it had already forged a reputation for the world's fight capital. Las Vegas, Nevada's place of being in the desert and as the epicenter of American gambling has long placed it on the outs for major sports outside of boxing, UFC, college sports and events ranging from rodeos to auto racing. But changing attitudes regarding one of its biggest draws -- sports betting, along with Southern Nevada being among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in America and it being a top tourist destination, saw the flood-gates open to Sin City to finally join the big time.

Four years ago next month, the Golden Knights became the first major pro sports franchise to call Vegas home when they took to the ice as the National Hockey League's thirty-first franchise, but it couldn't come at a more poignant time. An emotional home opener on October 10, 2017 came ten days after the deadly massacre at the Route 91 music festival just less than a mile from T-Mobile Arena, and that highly-charged night marked the beginning of a historic inaugural season that saw the Knights make the Stanley Cup Final in their first try. And the Golden Knights have become consistent contenders for hockey's holy grail ever since, making the playoffs in each of their first four seasons in the NHL.

While the pride of Canadian sport has been continuing its growth in the U.S. thanks to both the NHL's expansion in the last three decades and as a cornerstone of the Winter Olympics, ice hockey is trumped by the popularity of the National Football League. There's no denying the tremendous power of the most-popular sport in the world's most-coveted sporting & entertainment market... but until recently the NFL had somewhat different feelings about legal betting on its games -- after all, you wouldn't go to a casino on autumn Sundays seeing fans huddled around TV sets to watch every game like we do in our living rooms. But two things changed everything for the better.

Inside MTV Reality: The Look Ahead - This Spring and Summer Will Be Good...

CAUTION: This Post Contains Potential Spoilers, Please Read with Caution Below. But No Worries, It's Only Small & Minor Ones with Just Cast Info. To Prevent Trolls from Spoiling Things Below, Comments In This Post Have Been Turned Off.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

And here we are... the third weekend of April and more than a year & a month into this new normal. And while things might still be not back to normal just yet, it's no doubt feeling nice and pleasant when it comes to the world of MTV Reality - and not just because the channel is turning the big 4-O.

If the sentiment given by Challenge Mania co-host Scott Yager is holding true, then 2021 as MTV sees it has been so good so far... but it hasn't just been about just the beat he (and us) covers the most. After we saw her baby gender reveal party on this week's finale, Teen Mom Tuesdays are transitioning from Cheyenne Floyd and the OG ladies to their TM2 counterparts with a friend of the mommy to be, Jade Cline of the Young & Pregnant 4th generation, taking the spot vacated by Chelsea Houska. And we've just wrapped up an emotional Homecoming trip down memory lane with the cast of the first season of The Real World in New York on Paramount+, three decades after they launched this entire genre.

Right now, we are in the final stages of Season 36 of The Challenge as the four sets of Double Agents are contesting the $1 million final up in Iceland, just south of the Arctic Circle. As it has been in every regular season since Rivals I, this finale is a two-day final split into two parts, and with our utmost respect to those who are cord-cutters and who are preferring to watch both parts back-to-back, we'll be carrying over our usual weekly SocialPulse diary of episode interaction into next week during an expanded weekend of episode content. But that doesn't mean that this week hasn't been eventful: this week has week 3 of The Challenge All-Stars on Paramount+ and another visitor to the Floribama Shore bubble in Montana... and we'll have those ahead in this week's set of goodies.

And as far as what we've got now and what we have coming up in this, there is plenty... drama, love and a first look at who we'll be getting to see when we get set to cover a regular Challenge season later this year. And we'll have the chance to gather around our crystal ball to take a Look Ahead at what we got in store in the spring and summer in the world of MTV Reality just to come...

DC ExtraTime: And Another One Joins Challenge Parenthood...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It was three years ago this winter & spring that MTV's The Challenge as we knew it shook things up a bit, as the draft list of prospective competitors expanded exponentially. What began with the addition of four Are You The One? originals to Battle of the Exes 2 and other alumni of love in the Truth Booth coming onto Bloodlines, Rivals III, Invasion of the Champions and Dirty 30 would lead up to just about every reality show participant being eligible to go into battle along Bananas, Cara Maria and others.

This month's launch of Paramount+ serves as the kingpin to the second corporate marriage of Viacom and CBS, but where the roots of their re-merger were planted when The Challenge invited along past houseguests from Big Brother to the show when Natalie Negrotti and Victor Arroyo (who will tie the knot soon enough with Season 18 champ Nicole Franzel) competed on Vendettas. MTV's other entry into romantic reality television bliss, Ex On The Beach, began the road to its American arrival when Joss Mooney, Rogan O'Connor, Melissa Reeves and Kayleigh Morris of the UK version, also suited up in Spain with three of them eventually making a final and the second becoming a champ.

Also on that plane in taking that short hop from the British Isles was a man from Newcastle in the Northwest of England, who was the first from the global Shore franchise to make his way to The Challenge, and represented the bridge of sorts between the return of the Jersey OG's and the arrival of the Floribama newbies to MTV. And it was almost from the get-go that Kyle Christie would get himself comfortable in Challenge Nation when he befriended Cara Maria en route to going to the Vendettas final and eventually becoming the enemy of her man Paulie Califiore on Final Reckoning and both War of the Worlds seasons. And you can't deny that he's made quite an impact on The Challenge: a second finals appearance on Total Madness, a few hookups and plenty of memorable one-liners, among others.

Kyle is still in the running for the $1 million, which translates in British pounds to just over £722,000 as the United Kingdom goes about life outside of the European Union. But you could say that, though he has just those two finals appearances and winning almost £15,000, he is already a winner just past the halfway point of Double Agents. That's because of the following announcement he made on Instagram last week...

DC ExtraTime: Rihanna and Drake Are Challenge Fans?!

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

On this DCBLOG site, along with the usual weekly episode coverage we have also made it a point to cover just about every link of sorts between the people who star in these MTV Reality shows and the broader world of pop culture as part of our ExtraTime franchise. It's through this that, over the past eight years, we've featured many of the biggest figures of our time from around this complicated world of ours and those who aren't as well known but who still feel you're gonna want to meet.

It was a year ago this week that the world as we knew it changed, and for those of us who wanted sports in our lives we had to revert to not having any of those for a period of time. And it led to The Challenge to take on the mighty task of being that one sport that was going on in the American landscape, and Total Madness no doubt clicked with diehard fanatics, reality viewers & sports-hungry fans during the unprecedented shutdown of athletic activity in stadiums, arenas & other sporting venues in this country.

Among those who have been on The Challenge in the past few years, we have featured so many of these link-ups of pop culture and the fifth major pro sport. There's been NFL and NBA MVP's, the baseball Hall of Famer who's just broken up with his global megastar fiancé, reality stars, musicians and beyond. It represents perhaps proof that this show is getting more of the overdue recognition it deserves after the attention it's had in the past twelve months, and it has even garnered two just as recognizable fans -- just as we tonight got to mark the annual celebration of Music's Biggest Night: the Grammy Awards.

DC ExtraTime Funny File: Swimming and Snowballs in a Snowpocalypse

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Texas State Capital in Austin

This week, something that has happened quite a bit in the past dozen or so years shut down most of the country: a punishing winter storm called Uri crippling the Midwest and the South, and snow also falling in the Northeast and other parts of the U.S. - you're lucky if you live in California, Florida, Vegas or Hawaii.  But this latest episode of an American Snowpocalypse has been most felt in a place notorious for its sky-high temperatures during the summer and its frequent bouts with severe storms.

The ravages of this latest bout with the snow and the cold has been most felt in the state of Texas, where every county in the country's largest state by terms of size was put under various winter storm warnings. It has led to most residents having to spend considerable time in the dark without electricity or have clean water, put local power authorities on blast for its lack of access to the national power grid, and placed its most prominent Senator in the firing line for bolting away on a vacation to Mexico.

But whenever the white stuff comes down from the skies, it no doubt has seen the kid of us come out of our shell to enjoy the sights, sounds and smell of it, despite this taking place a year out from when things got out of control. And that gave reason for two now-departed players from MTV's The Challenge: Double Agents and someone else who calls their town home to take advantage of this Snowmageddon out in the outdoors: one in the epicenter of the storm; the other in the big city to the east.

DC ExtraTime: From Athletic Islander to New Challenge Dad

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Two years ago this week, Tom Brady was basking in the sixth of his now seven NFL titles in what turned out to be the last with the Patriots & head coach Bill Belichick. And three nights after that Super Bowl LIII triumph, MTV's The Challenge kicked off Season 33 with War of the Worlds as a slew of global competitors joined in on the action. And three of those to come from outside of the U.S. eventually made the final in the springtime, with Turkish Survivor star Turbo taking home the crown.

The two non-American representatives in that WOTW final represented what would eventually be the new kid on the block in American reality TV that summer of 2019: Love Island USA debuted shortly after that Challenge aired, and both came from its original British series - arguably the country's biggest summer guilty pleasure. Those who have been keeping up with the Brits' adventures overseas during this pandemic know what has happened to Georgia Harrison during this time, but she started her reality journey in that famed Casa in Spain, and who was also on the 2020 installment of Ex On The Beach UK.

Also there in the third series of the British Love Island series was Theo Campbell, who took a break from sprinting and aspirations on Olympic & world championship glory in track & field (athletics to them in GB) for love on the British telly. In the WOTW final, he finished 2nd to Turbo but didn't make the WOTW 2 final later on Thailand, where Theo was also with Georgia and Bear during their post-Challenge escapades. And you might also have heard of the scary incident in summer 2019 of him poking his eye with a champagne cork leaving him almost blind in that eye.

But this past week, Theo brought out into the open a secret he's kept totally to himself and his inner circle until now: an Instagram picture posted by him at midweek revealed that he is now a new dad, as he carried the newborn out of a London area hospital after the unidentified mum gave birth to the new baby boy. Theo now joins Ashley C., Esther and Melissa as fellow members of The Challenge's British Invasion to ascend to the role of being parents... and it's something that surprised everyone in the reality community and those who's been with him since he was on the athletics track.

The new father wrote, "Dam, my replacement is here 👶🏽 - 21 hours later and he’s here 🎉 I can’t believe the joy I had looking into the eyes of my baby boy ❤️. I only told a few friends and family so for most people will be massive surprise seeing this 😄 Over the past 4 years having a private life isn’t really a thing so being able to keep this private has been so nice. Massive well done to his mum as-well, the process of having a baby is crazy I literally didn’t have a clue how strong a woman has to be to go through this! Aries Campbell 07/02/2021 ❤️ #minime #daddy"

So many of his fellow Brits and Challengers have welcomed him into this new life of his (as evidenced by the Pulse of this week's Challenge posted earlier), and it was led by Georgia who wrote, "i’m so so proud of you my heart could burst, wish i was home to cuddle my new nephew amd i love the name ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ so proud balling my eyes out 💜." And Jenny added, "Oh my gosh WHATTTTTTTTT Congratulations Theo and baby mama!!! Life changing experience! Massive well done! 💛💛💛🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💯💯💯💯👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💯💯 so happy for you!!!!!!"  And our congrats go out to the Islander.

DC ExtraTime: Remembering Garnett

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Courtesy: IG @MissCaraMaria

As MTV's The Challenge has successfully provided us with the only source of competitive sporting action for much of the last ten months, there's been one notable absence from not just this current season of Double Agents, but also the preceding one of Total Madness. It's something that been welcome to those many detractors and perhaps robbing us of quality competition on the female side of things... but it's a hiatus that has been very much needed after going through so much drama while winning two Challenge titles, the first leg of the Champs vs. Stars trilogy and everything else that's gone along with it.

Of course, we are talking about Cara Maria Sorbello... who received the rookie treatment of going home first on Fresh Meat II over a decade ago, but who went on to becoming the prominent female face of the fifth major pro sport. She and her recently married cousin Jamie Banks stood atop the victory stand in venerable Berlin Olympic Stadium when won Battle of the Bloodlines in 2016, then two years later won all the $500,000 to herself on Vendettas... and she has been a consistent visitor to the final during her career -- ten of them in all. And of course, she has had to go through a lot of drama along the way -- from relationships with two bad boys that split up Challenge Nation, to dealings with so many competitors that are too many to count during her 10-year career.

Since leaving the War of the Worlds 2 final having to watch Team UK race off with the $1 million in Thailand, Cara has quietly gotten back to the serenity of the Frontier North of this vast nation of ours. And it's being far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city that Montana has been an ideal place for her to enjoy quality time with the most important figure in her life.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - Joseph's Golden Moment

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

   ESTIMATED READING TIME: 16 Mins.

The year that will soon pass us by of 2020 has been quite a memorable one in the one section of our American society that sees people like you be the stars of their own TV show. But earlier this summer while you were probably busy following the serious business of the last MTV Challenge season of Total Madness, if you happen to be an overall reality TV fan besides just watching this show you might've spotted someone familiar on one of the biggest shows in the non-scripted universe.

All AGT Photos Courtesy
Trae Patton/NBCUniversal

Kaycee Clark was perhaps nowhere to be seen outside of competing under the radar in the Czech Republic, getting into that huge blow-up with Bayleigh Dayton in the bunker last season, or briefly flirting with Nany Gonzalez in that Prague club. But thanks to some alert viewers who always keep an eye out for whenever people from Team MTV invade other networks' shows -- something we feature a lot on here, the Big Brother 20 champion was spotted in the audience of a show that airs on a different network not related to their newly expanded company. But Kaycee would have absolutely no idea that her sophomore Challenge season that she is on right now would feature someone from that very show that's so much different from being put into that ringer of competing against houseguests in the summer house, or being trapped with other challengers in a war-style bunker... and where that show she was on is all about performing in front of a large audience, and where it's been a launchpad to some incredible careers and a venue for some amazing & inspiring moments.

Last week, we saw a second representative of a series airing on a competing traditional TV outlet outside of the ViacomCBS walls be the first rookie to bite the dust on The Challenge: Double Agents. But while it's the manner of which he was sent home that had us talking at night's end, the latest person to make the ride from the Peacock at 30 Rock down to this cable TV icon based in Times Square from is one who, a year ago this summer, provided viewers with a great performance that proved that you can inspire anyone to follow their dreams and become an overnight sensation. And that golden moment Joseph Allen went though is the focus of this edition of Before They Were MTV Stars.

DC ExtraTime: Idris in the Ring

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

For fans of the sweet science, 2020 in boxing has largely been devoid of the big-name competitive fights featuring those in their prime that they've come to expect. But in a sport that HBO's Larry Merchant refers to as "the theatre of the unexpected," there have been a couple notable headlines this year from the weird file: the emergence of the Paul brothers - Logan and Jake as legit boxers in addition to being YouTube's most notorious siblings, and the big fight between legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones.

To salvage whatever was left of this lost year, this pre-Christmas weekend has some weekend for boxing fans: last night saw Kazakhstan's Gennady "GGG" Golovkin score a TKO win over Poland's Kamil Szeremeta to retain his IBF middleweight belt, and his 36th victory by knockout. And tonight, the man who beat him two years ago in a rematch of their disputed drawn first fight, Mexico's Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, will takes to the ring to face Britain's Callum Smith in defense of his two 168 lbs. titles.

Those in Challenge Nation who have been following this franchise over the past two decades know that Darrell Taylor was an amateur boxer prior to going onto Road Rules Campus Crawl and then winning his first Challenges. And another fighter who has made his way from the ring into the fifth major pro sport is one who comes from the current epicenter of the heavyweight division: Idris Virgo was part of last year's War of the Worlds 2 rookie class two years after he was a latecomer on the 2018 season of Love Island UK, and made it to the halfway point in what became a weekly British elimination festival until the very end.

When we profiled Idris in the WOTW2 edition of our Who Are These Newbies? series in fall 2019, some notable tidbits about the man from Birmingham in the West Midlands of England included choosing over eventual Winter Ex On The Beach single Georgia Steel for his first date after arriving midway through the season, winning a challenge while wearing a fireman's outfit, and a Twitter user sharing some of his cringy pick-up lines. But outside of reality TV, Idris is a boxer having begun fighting professionally just months before going the Love Island casa. He won his first three bouts, drew the fourth just before going onto The Challenge, and after our post went to press on fight #5 he beat a journeyman club fighter with 100+ losses, followed by another unanimous decision.

In Britain, the pandemic forced matches in the Premier League and other action across the English football pyramid to being played behind closed doors without fans in the grounds. But like its UFC counterparts, boxing was one of the first sports to pick back up following the sports shutdown, and once he was able to compete again Virgo signed with independent promoter Hennessey Sports - who helped launch the career of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. And since the promoter has a deal with ViacomCBS sibling Channel 5, it has meant that his bouts are shown free-to-air in all of the UK instead of on pay-per-view or a streaming platform along the lines of DAZN.

Inside MTV Reality: The Look Ahead - A Challenge in a Whole New World

CAUTION: This Post Contains Potential Spoilers, Please Read with Caution Below. But No Worries, It's Only Small & Minor Ones with Just Cast Info. To Prevent Trolls from Spoiling Things Below, Comments In This Post Have Been Turned Off.

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

It is now September and usually, those in the world of television look forward to this month more than any of the twelve months that make up one particular calendar year. It is that this is traditionally when all of the networks launch new programming for this new fall season, but things have changed thanks to the COVID pandemic that halted TV production back in the spring and has backtracked this year's autumn slate by just a few months.

The slate of programming we're usually accustomed to as far as our primary beat here at DCBLOG of covering MTV Reality has been altered a bit: usually we'd be knee deep in covering its take on reality dating, but instead of covering Are You The One? and Ex On The Beach it's A Double Shot at Love that's taking center stage this summer (and we'll have the Pulse of the current episode coming up in a day or so) as well as Season 2 of Love Island USA taking place also in Las Vegas. The same situation goes for what brought us into MTV's biggest global franchise, as there hasn't been a fourth season of MTV Floribama Shore due also to the pandemic - but we do have a nice throwback story on that soon just after a dramatic third season of their cool neighbors over in Siesta Key.

But despite all of these challenges, production is now underway on Season 36 of The Challenge as the show will provide us with what we come to expect from the series while it now begins to adapt to new safety measures in production and standards as well, while staying true to what we love in every other aspect of the fifth major pro sport. And it's not too early for us take a look ahead: after the jump, we'll take a seat around the hotstove for a small peek at who is rumored to be on the cast and some aspects of what we should expect without of course spoiling things... and thanks for winding up this busy Sports Sunday with us.

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Goes Holey Moley

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

All photos except The Challenge courtesy ABC

Usually, sports fans this time of year would be thinking of action on the diamond, on our own soccer pitches, on the free agency front and a slew of major championship events during this Summer of Sports. But 2020 has been totally different: a global pandemic has dramatically altered our athletic schedule both here at home and abroad, but where something called MTV's The Challenge has served as comfort food to sports & TV fans alike with Season 35 of Total Madness having just crowned its two worthy champions from America and Britain.

One sport that has been part of the relaunch of live competition globally in the past month & a half is one which traditionally sees many of its biggest tournaments take place during the summertime. Golf generally shines the brightest as does the weather when the last three legs of the game's four major championship tournaments take place between May & August. But this year has seen one of them, The Open Championship in the U.K., get nixed because of COVID, and two others in The Masters and the U.S. Open have been moved to the fall to follow the PGA Championship that's slated for next month in San Francisco.

Last week saw these two worlds of the fifth major pro sport and this quaint little game collide in time for the conclusion of Total Madness. But instead of a place as breathtaking as Augusta National, Pebble Beach or St. Andrews in Scotland, the venue was something more different where it's much shorter and where you have only one club to play with. And it's also the toughest one in all the land... and one of those who took to that course also went through the same kind of brutal conditions that Bananas, Jenny and the Total Madness final nine had to put up with... say hello to Holey Moley.

DC ExtraTime: The Challenge Meets... The Juice (?!)

*** EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of the controversial & subjective nature of the subject featured, comments have been turned off in this post. If you have thoughts, just tweet me to Twitter @DC408Dxtr, but do please be kind to us. :-) ***

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This spring while live sports have been in an unprecedented lull, something special has been going on for those who are fond of nostalgia. Cable sports channels on the national, regional and league-specific levels have used this time to present encore presentations of many of the most memorable moments in sports history... so has the traditional time for sports on television of weekend afternoons on the broadcast networks. But for those eager for something fresh - and as live action is starting to make a gradual return this spring, they have been offered a treat.

For the past month, ESPN has dedicated what would've been its Sunday night timeslot for Major League Baseball for the 10-part documentary miniseries The Last Dance, chronicling Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls of the 1990's and what led up to its last chapter of the 1998 NBA Finals. The Last Dance has been a critical, ratings and pop culture success as we have gotten a deep dive into one of sports' greatest dynasties - a time for those to dust off those memories of Jordan, Scottie Pippen, coach Phil Jackson and those involved in that magical time.

It has been part of ESPN's successful foray into sports documentaries with its 30 for 30 franchise of films, continuing in a legacy of storytelling rooted in ABC's Wide World of Sports and when it pioneered coverage of the Olympics with its "up close and personal" focus on the athletes. And another defining moment of the '90s that took place in between the Bulls' two three-year reigns as champs saw ESPN and their new siblings FX take viewers into a saga that gripped the world's attention just a few years ago.

And believe it or not, there is a strange link of sorts between this and the beat we cover on a weekly basis in the world of MTV Reality and The Challenge, for which one member of the group pictured to your right in the cast of what some consider its most memorable season ever, Rivals of 2011, had a chance to spend a moment with the person who is considered the most famous serial killer of our generation who now calls the same place home in what will be the new home in the NFL come this fall. That offers some context to the story were looking back at the ordeal surrounding the man who those who saw him play in both college & pro football still call by the nickname, "The Juice."

DC ExtraTime: A War of the Worlds Girls' Only Weekend

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This first week of March in MTV Reality has seen excitement spill over in several parts of this vast community of ours. For the first time since the season 2 birthday brawl, on Super Tuesday Siesta Key played host to a Double Shot of back-to-back episodes (which we'll cover tomorrow & for the first time as our sole, main focus). Last night saw Mike The Situation was finally released from prison on Jersey Shore much to everyone's relief, along with the premiere of the newest rookie series to land the prized slot of being launched out of MTV's biggest shows in The Busch Family Brewed.
   Wednesday, however, was the big day as far of a lot of us was concerned - especially if you visit this site regularly. There, the month-long countdown to April Fool's Day began in full swing when the title, format and all-star cast, and the accompanying first look, was revealed for for Season 35 of the industry's original reality competition series: The Challenge: Total Madness. We'll be saving our first look at it for later this month when we'll offer our thoughts and insight in our traditional preview and introduction to this season's class of newbies. But to get you in the mood for what goes down in a few weeks' time, here's something a bit more fun to begin our ramp-up to day 1 of 4/20 Month.

At this time last year, War of the Worlds was helping The Challenge get over the long, dragged-out trilogy of Dirty 30, Vendettas and Final Reckoning with a season to remember. New blood from all around the wide world of reality television joined some of our favorite vets and new gen players for the first of two seasons of global warfare. We were introduced to more of the Brits who have made a big impact on our shores, while former houseguests of Big Brother translated their summer game to a whole new stage. And in the end, the toughest final ever contested in the Namibian desert saw Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran of the global Survivor franchise emerge $750,000 victorious as a popular winner.
   Since Invasion a few years ago, The Challenge has also seen some new worthy female Challengers emerge on the scene: Ashley M., Da'Vonne, Kam, Kailah, Kayleigh, Melissa, Ninja, Sylvia and Tori... the first one of this list has won two Challenge titles, in fact. Three of these people will get another crack at the cash this spring & summer, along with the first girl eliminated last season in Big T., British fitness star Jenny and some new rookie girls we'll be getting to know more about as we start this journey. We may even see one of them help sell a house on national TV later this year, also.

Our focus for this post is on three of those who competed with them on last year's two War of the Worlds seasons: an Australian who will come to Total Madness as a defending champion, an alum of Britain's Love Island who's also on another U.K. original, and a girl from the South who's made this Challenge offseason more manageable for us thanks to joining her friend by the Shore. And they're joined by a pair of Big Brother twins and a slew of guest stars here, including one of the most hilarious actresses today who, thanks to some inside connections, became part of her Girl Gang.

DC ExtraTime: Team MTV and Tigers at the College Football Playoff

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

For as long as we can remember, there is something about turning the page to the new year and a sport that has been ingrained in Saturday Americana for what is now a century & a half. Sure, the sport of college football has changed quite considerably in the course of the past several decades: conference alignment pushing traditions aside for more money, universities taking advantage of that financial reward in a landscape where the highest hierarchy of the NCAA has often frowned upon student athletes being paid, and many other intricacies that put college athletics in the front page for things that happen outside the courts and fields.
   But when you get to the heart of it, it's on the field where it all counts. And once the calendar turned to December, so began the assortment of the many bowl games which punctuate a college football season that began in the heat of summer. They are, in essence, exhibition games that give teams with a decent record a reward at season's end to relax in its host city, and play in front of a national TV audience with NFL draft prospects as well. But once the last weekend of 2019 came, so began the juicy stuff: the College Football Playoff and the New Year's Six -- the Cotton, Orange, Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Peach -- which, on an annual rotating basis, serve as semifinals to determine who plays for the National Championship, and the fourth iteration of college football holding a true championship game in the only sport in the entire NCAA system not governed by the collegiate bureaucracy, and thus not have the same kind of sanctioned national championship as their basketball counterparts.

The 2019 college football season marked the 150th anniversary of the first college football game between Princeton and Rutgers that took place in 1869, and this season began back in August with Florida beating Miami and Auburn beating Oregon in a split week of opening games before Labor Day. Off the field, laws were altered in college athletes' battle for compensation and for fair pay for play, while Missouri and Ole Miss paid the price with probation being handed down for off-field violations, and UConn flee to the Big East. But as always, the attention was on the field where Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Louisiana State and Oregon won the conference titles of the Power Five conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, PAC-12), while Georgia and Wisconsin were the victims of major upsets as were Central Florida when their nation-leading 25-game winning streak was snapped, and Nick Saban's Alabama faltered in the annual Iron Bowl against Auburn.
   For this season's College Football Playoff postseason, top-ranked LSU was matched with Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl and the first semifinal in Atlanta, while Ohio State and defending national champion Clemson faced off in Phoenix in the other semi of the Fiesta Bowl. In both games, the two teams whose nickname of Tigers would win those battles - the ladder in a thriller, to then go up against one another in the CFP National Championship Game in New Orleans at the Superdome, the home of the Sugar Bowl. On Monday, LSU and Clemson faced off in that national championship, and on the back of an impressive performance by Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, his Tigers bested the defending champions 42-25 for its fourth consensus national championship and first since 2007, all the while completing an undefeated perfect season along the way.
   Louisiana State University is located in the state capital of Baton Rouge, a 75-minute drive north along I-10 from New Orleans, and as it was when the Tigers won their last two national crowns in '07 and '04 (a disputed split national title with USC during the maligned era of the Bowl Championship Series) this year's National Championship amounted to a mere home game for those by the Bayou. The state capital is also home to two of those who've made their marks on The Challenge in recent years as both a regular and a special guest athlete, and a third member of the MTV family also has experience covering the Tigers along the sidelines at Tiger Stadium during the football season.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - The Lighter Side of the Ninja

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

When fans look back on 2019 in The Challenge, they can think of this year as one of redemption. After the long, dragged out trilogy and the bitter taste of its last act on Final Reckoning last year, many longtime viewers were just about ready to move onto other things. But after the first & second installments of War of the Worlds, and both producing third titles for C.T. Tamburello and Jordan Wiseley and a popular rookie champion in Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran, we leave this year a little more satisfied with The Challenge than we were twelve months ago around the Christmas tree.

War of the Worlds represented, to a certain degree, a reboot for this show, and it & its sequel introduced us to a slew of people from outside the MTV system in continuing to stretch its wings beyond just its American borders. Those from Britain continued to pour into this show after debuting on Vendettas including that fascinating personality known as Bear, while the Big Brother universe expanded in the same year of CBS & Viacom's reunion as Season 19 champ Josh Martinez showed that you can be emotional as he is and still back it up to be a consistent contender.

This year's female Challenge rookie contingent saw promise for this next generation: Georgia Harrison went from being on Love Island to be a finalist on WOTW1 and also put up a good sophomore season. Someone who competed with her in the final this spring, Mattie Lynn Breaux, will join fellow rookie Challenger Gus Smyrnios and the rest of his southern mates tonight on Floribama Shore. And another woman who made it all the way not just there in Namibia was also the only rookie of that season to get another crack at the cash on WOTW2 in Thailand.

It's because of The Challenge's winningest player as far as rings are concerned, Johnny Bananas, and him trying his luck at the most treacherous obstacle course on television for his first season hosting NBC's 1st Look, that the MTV fanbase opened their eyes to American Ninja Warrior. An alum of two seasons of ANW and a few spinoffs of the franchise, Natalie "Ninja" Duran, competed with Georgia, Mattie, Turbo, Cara Maria, Hunter, Theo and Wes in what was called the toughest final ever on the show, and she was the only female to make it to the end despite not cashing in 4th place.

Ninja made quite a mark in her two seasons competing on The Challenge, and she knew that she had to adjust to a whole new mindset being in the house itself, in addition to doing what she does best and compete. She was part of the fall's most-memorable elimination when she and Laurel went toe to toe in a closely contested battle that, for a moment, thought that the one-time queen of one-on-one battles had won... only for receipts to prove that Ninja had gotten the puzzle correct - and she won. And Ninja then made it to the WOTW2 final on an U.S. team with Ashley, Cara, Kam, Leroy, Paulie and Zach, though they fell short of the top prize to the Brits... though she no doubt felt happy for the one she grew with the strongest being part of the winning side in fellow Asian Dee Nguyen.

The Look Ahead: The Challenge Season 35

CAUTION: This Post Contains Potential Spoilers, Please Read with Caution Below. But No Worries, It's Only Small & Minor Ones with Just Cast Info. To Prevent Trolls from Spoiling Things Below, Comments In This Post Have Been Turned Off.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Welcome to the weekend, and the first full one of December in this last month of not just 2019, but also of this second decade of the 21st century (if you can believe that). This week has been big in TV land as the company that was originally created to syndicate & distribute CBS programming in the prehistoric age of analog black & white TV, MTV corporate parent Viacom, has just reunited for the second time with the "Eye"-conic broadcast network, putting reality TV's biggest franchises like Jersey Shore, Love & Hip Hop, Big Brother, RuPaul's Drag Race and beyond under one roof. That is only part of a smorgasbord of content encompassing broadcast, cable, streaming, movies & more across all genres.
   Another one of those shows that take up marquee billing in ViacomCBS' newly expanded resume of fan favorites, MTV's The Challenge, is this week determining the champions of War of the Worlds 2, as the battle is on for Teams USA and UK as they contest the $1 million final. Once again, it is a two-day final split into two parts, and out of respect for those who are cord-cutters and who are preferring to watch both parts back-to-back, we'll be tabling our usual weekly SocialPulse covering that final act for an expanded blog wave next week. Our focus for this week is on the premiere of Ex On The Beach: Peak of Love, and a change in the air as season 3 of Floribama Shore rolls along from the Sunshine State, and we'll have those coming your way this weekend. And yesterday also saw the launch of the countdown to a new season of Siesta Key, as Bachelor Nation's MTV invasion continues in one of their own headed to Florida.

Our lone Challenge-related post here this week is not on what's taking place there in Thailand, but on something to gather around the crystal ball - and something we don't do much on here in doing some speculation of sorts around our usual double shot of weekly episode coverage from the social media side of things and the always entertaining ExtraTime stories we do each week to supplement what you already get from your favorite podcasts and other sites.
   It's not too early to begin to take a look at what's ahead for the fifth major pro sport, as while we have been watching War of the Worlds 2 during this middle & late part of the fall (and in the case of yours truly, taking a few days' break before Halloween for the annual trip to Las Vegas), Season 35 of The Challenge has been filming out of country. And after the jump, we'll have a chance to take a spoiler-free look ahead at what the season may be about, and who has been chosen to contest the proceedings we'll see in the new year. So, grab some tea or hot chocolate and we'll save you a seat around the hotstove.

DC ExtraTime: A Challenge "Pro" Comes to American Horror Story

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Two years ago, two trilogies of The Challenge that ran parallel to each other began: the long, dragged-out one of the regular series worth $2.5 million, and the shorter, more lighter version whose true winners were the charities its competitors competed for. The ladder was Champs vs. Stars/Pros and saw champions & so-called champs take on formidable opposition from the sports and entertainment worlds for charity. And in a team of pro athletes that included CM Punk, Candace Wiggins, two NFL defensemen and eventual breakout star Louise Hazel, Team USA was well represented on the first season of that trilogy, Champs vs. Pros... and a few weeks ago we focused on Olympic snowboarder Lindsay Jacobellis and Tokyo 2020 hopeful, surfer Tia Blanco.

But the one Olympic athlete with the biggest profile that spring 2017 was none other than Gus Kenworthy. As a freestyle skier who was part of only the third American medal sweep at a Winter Olympics in claiming silver in the men's slopestyle in Russia, Gus became a star figure back home in the U.S.  But it was after the afterglow of Sochi 2014 faded that he became the first action sports athlete to come out, and the latest in a long line of Olympians who, in addition to flying their national flag, also boasted the pride flag... symbol of the gay and lesbian community. And he was the subject of an In-Depth post that looked back on his time on Champs vs. Pros which appeared before he competed in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, where he made it to the gold medal final but didn't make it to the podium.

Last week, while the attention of Challenge fans were fixated on an eventful night on War of the Worlds 2 including that most memorable elimination, the newest season of a cable staple premiered its newest season, one that will see Gus bring his talents to a whole new world and audience in time for Halloween, part of the continuing rise of LGBT representation on mainstream TV.