DC ExtraTime: Alicia's Words to the Haters

From during AYTO Second Chances, shortly after after the Are You The One? Season 5 finale and months before Season 1 of Ex On The Beach U.S.

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

In some parts of the world including Great Britain, Are You The One? Season 5 has just wrapped up airing and are now into airing Second Chances. But as we head towards the end of this cycle, it's safe to say that the finale in the Caribbean is much better than the finale of The Challenge Invasion and favored for the biggest moment of this cycle when we give name season-end awards on the Debrief later this month.

On the Pulse of the premiere of The Challenge Bloodlines, we brought you the first words from Amanda after her fight with Mike on the AYTO Season 3 finale. She endured a lot of hate from fans for her behavior that season and then on her two Challenges, but her making it to the final underdog elimination bodes well for her future. We have, of course, seen a lot of questionable behavior from a number of castmates of the love experiment and an equal amount of people going off social media on them, including the man who we focused in above after what happened last year. And for the most recent one, she finally had the opportunity to respond.

This past season, we saw Alicia swoop in from nowhere to steal Kam's perfect match Eddie after their truth booth, then get beraded on the reunion by Kam's BFF Tyranny and made for some of very tense moments during the season. And we also saw her and Mike down in Australia make a deep run into the second half before being the most recent couple eliminated after what we had this week.

After taking some time off from social media to focus on herself while we watched her on AYTO Second Chances, she returned from her hibernation early last week to finally take a moment to respond to those who have been hating on her since what happened midseason in the Dominican Republic, and also revealed something very personal that happened just recently to her. Here's her post from Instagram.

INSTAGRAM @lavida.alicia: "You know what's so disheartening, is the fact that so many people believe to know what I'm doing or always wanting to see me fail. You know where I've been ? I've been in a hospital for almost 2 weeks getting CT Scans, poked & pronged for blood, tests, ultrasounds, multiple IV's, medication, and an emergency surgery on a mass,ruptured appendix & other complexities that lead to a drain being inserted & kept pinned to my side, consistently emptied & I struggle to even walk upright. I've lost 18 pounds total due to all of this,putting me at 102lbs. Because of this I was stripped away of an opportunity literally the night before that I had been training & looking forward to with my ticket in my hand. I love my family & friends that have came to visit, & extend themselves to me all the time not just during my difficulties of course. I'm in recovery for now until another surgery in 5 weeks due to the complexity of my case. My social media presence or disappearance shouldn't automatically be paired to my failure or success on something, nor should people continue to bash or clock my every move. I was a fan of AYTO before becoming an "alumni" & it's honestly really unenjoyable when the majority of the people are the source of negativity against me to prompt others to tag along. Some have come out of no where to text me simply to get information or to put me down, I haven't spoken to you since New Years why text me now...or all the bullshit on blogs you guys keep up with & believe but, when does anyone have the decency to just text me "Hey how are you?" on the regular. If so many "don't like me", why now....because you think you're going to get information or closer to something you're all feening to be apart of, that's why.Respect that sometimes people actually go thru shit Everyone's always got something negative to fucking say, it's annoying af..GROW UP."

DC ExtraTime: AYTO Takes Over The Proposal

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As a new season of Are You The One? takes shape right now, love is in the air for those in reality land. This year saw the arrival to America of MTV's international franchise Ex On The Beach, where many AYTO alumni fell in love again, as did new Challenge baby daddy Cory and three other reality alumni -- Paulie, Angela and Faith -- who joined Team MTV in Hawaii and then made their way to The Challenge Final Reckoning. Two other non-MTV reality alums, Chase McNary and Jasmine Goode, came to EOTB USA from The Bachelor franchise, which continues to dominate midweek water-cooler talk and Twitter buzz.
   This year in Bachelor Nation is most remembered for what we saw with Arie Luyendyk Jr. and him turning from winner Becca Kufrin to runner-up Lauren Burnham that left everyone shook. While a state legislator signed a bill to keep the former IndyCar driver from entering the former's home turf, Becca then had a second chance on The Bachelorette, where she gave her final rose to Garrett Yrigoyen. And after a Winter Games spinoff miniseries, we're now onto this summer's Bachelor in Paradise, where AYTO alum Kathryn Palmer's friend Robby Hayes is among the castmates. And if word on the grapevine is true, he may take his talents to next year's American EOTB sequel.

This summer has seen a new addition to romantic reality television in a totally different show produced by the same team behind The Bachelor. The Proposal has been described by many in the press as one of the oddest reality shows ever conceived, with Bachelor alum and former NFL QB Jesse Palmer hosting a series described as a mix of his original show, Miss America, and The Dating Game. And like the ladder which has been around on TV for decades, the contestants vie to win over the affection of a single man or woman whose identity remains secret from them until the end.
   Each episode features ten eligible daters who compete in four pageant-like rounds with the common goal of trying to do what they can to woo the person of their dreams, known as the "suitor" or "suitress." It begins with first impressions and continues with hopefuls being eliminated a few at a time before the final stage, where the night's leading mystery man or woman is revealed to the two remaining daters who make it to the end. They then make proposals to that person, before he or she chooses the one... which then sees them go on a date and try to make things work long-term in the romance department.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - D-ROC

From during AYTO Second Chances & the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and

before subject appeared on two Challenges and Ex On The Beach USA

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

From: The Post and Courier

This weekend is the climax of the three-week miniseries known as NCAA March Madness as North Carolina, Oregon, Gonzaga and South Carolina duke it out at the NCAA Final Four just outside of Phoenix, AZ. Yesterday and last night in two thrillers, it was the Tar Heels and the Zags who emerged victorious and will now have a date tomorrow night for college basketball's National Championship.

With this in mind, we'd thought we'd like to bring you this latest installment of Before They Were MTV Stars, and to focus in on one of the guys on this season who we also got to see execute a strategy that worked in the Caribbean but saw one person screw it all up and give the Are You The One? Season 5 cast the first-ever loss a few weeks ago. Of course, we're talking about Derrick, who before he went on Season 5 - and bringing to the world the hashtag #TeamChocolate - was a college basketball player.

L: D-ROC in last year at Winthrop;
R: in senior year at The Citadel

Those enthusiasts who follow more of the mid-major and minor conferences of Division I college ball - those who often serve as Bracket Busters in March, might be interested to know that Derrick played for four years at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC - in the Charlotte metropolitan area. However, a torn ACL sidelined him for his fourth year where he red-shirted his would-be senior year, and then transferred south to Charleston and to The Citadel, the military college, for his fifth and final year. That season, Derrick led all Bulldogs with 16.2 points per game.

Despite all that, he never got the taste of playing in the ultimate stage of the biggest event in college sports during those three weeks of March Madness. But instead of looking at joining the NBA D-League or traveling abroad to play in the European leagues, Derrick decided to just stay where he was in the Carolinas, until MTV came calling to be part of the Season 5 cast. Below are two highlight reels from his final two seasons, along with a feature story from when he was at Winthrop.

►UPDATE... 

In 2011, Derrick recorded a career scoring night against the Georgia Bulldogs in a non-conference matchup between the SEC and Big South in Athens, GA. Highlights of that game is below featuring a very young D-ROC who played in front of family where he grew up outside Atlanta, along with The Citadel's '15-16 highlights reel when he played his senior year at the military academy in the Southern Conference.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

DC ExtraTime: A Rose City Reunion of Romance

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Instagram @NurysKMateo

Five years ago, the nation's 25th largest metropolis welcomed eight strangers to what turned out to be the last Real World season to use the formula it used when it debuted more than a quarter-century ago: seven strangers picked to live in house and see what happens when they start getting real. There in Portland, Oregon, we saw an Oklahoman with one whole hand endure tough love to eventually become a two-time Challenge champ, a romance between a Bostonian and a Hooters girl, and a piece of poop from her pet dog spur one of the most jaw-dropping moments in MTV Reality history of a fight with her and a girl they call "Hurricane Nia."
   Fast forward to 2018, and since that time MTV has added two series from a subgenre synonymous with roses, love and heartbreak: romantic reality television. At the same time that the reality OG embraced the theme of love and drama, Are You The One brought the MTV reality formula to a genre synonymous with The Bachelor, and the terms Perfect Match, Truth Booth and Boom Boom Room joined our lexicon. From quintessential perfect match Amber & Ethan of Season 1 right up to what went down in its most recent chapter last year, the series has already made quite a mark in bringing something new to this subgenre.
   And overseas, a new MTV International format took what Real World Ex-Plosion did in San Francisco and turned it on its head into a twisted tale. It brought several Brits including one from Jersey Shore's UK equivalent Geordie Shore to an island paradise for a good-old holiday vacation by the beach, only for their exes to crash the bash. Ex On The Beach has delighted MTV's international audience the past few years, and after four British alumni invaded America for the first time on The Challenge Vendettas, a new U.S. version introduced what they call "the ultimate relations*** show" to America, and gave those reason to stick around after Jersey Shore this spring.

What we saw in the Big Easy and Hawaii the past year has been nothing short of exciting in the MTV Reality spectrum. Shortly, a new group of twenty-two single girls and guys will take their place when a new season of AYTO takes center stage, while one of those who were in Hawaii this spring has already made his mark on a much bigger stage.
   But earlier this summer, a group of those who lived out the experiences of being on AYTO Season 6 and on Ex On The Beach got together for what was certainly not your daddy's quaint little get-together to catch up on old times. It was a memorable weekend of reliving that feeling of living in the same house at the same time in the same place before one of them debuted on The Challenge Final Reckoning and the torch being passed from them to a Season 7 cast with big shoes to fill when it bows in 12 days from now.
   Unlike the first time, no MTV cameras were present to capture it for those in our living rooms, but thanks to social media everyone had a front row seat on their smartphones to watch this epic Rose City Reunion of Romance go down in the Willamette Valley.

DC ExtraTime: Angela Strong

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Last week, Challenge fans who have been on this ride for the entire 20-year run were given a special gift when the competitor with the longest lineage of anyone on Final Reckoning, Shane, asked old-timers from back in the day to pop in on his Instagram takeover. If you haven't had a chance, open up the IG app on your phone and check out those we haven't seen on these shows in years say hello to fans for the first time... and chances are, we have featured them in our posts here.
   Next month will be five years since the most devastating news ever for Jay G. from Real World Ex-Plosion when a call he got from his dad back home left him in tears: his mom, Lucy Mitchell, died unexpectedly after a several years' battle with Breast Cancer. Last week came two devastating pieces of news from two people from different worlds: first, one-half of the duo who made Olympic history becoming the first Americans to win cross-country skiing gold, Kikkan Randall, announced that she had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, five months after she and teammate Jessie Diggins won gold in Korea when Diggins' last-second sprint finish netted them Winter Games history.

The other person who bravely announced a prognosis with this disease is someone who older MTV fans can remember from long ago. Angela Trimbur appeared on Road Rules X-Treme in summer 2004 as a replacement roadie who joined Challenge Mania's Derrick Kosinski and the cast who rode that RV in South America, was part of the series' last-ever handsome reward, and then competed on Battle of the Sexes II.
   But for someone whose aspirations was not on spending the next decade with Bananas and co., her MTV stint served as a springboard to success for her in the entertainment industry afterwards in following through on her dreams to be an actress. She got to do improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade, guest spots on CSI, Entourage and Workaholics, playing Harley David in Halloween II, Tina in The Final Girls and various other TV and movie roles. And she's on a celebrity basketball team alongside Aubrey Plaza from Parks & Recreation and Legion.
   More than a week ago, Angela took to Instagram to share a photo from the doctor's room before she went for a regular checkup, and the news she received would change her life. The caption on @AngelaTrimbur read, "My dear friend Josette took this photo of me moments before the doctor came in to tell me my biopsy results: that i have breast cancer. I am still in such shock and extremely nervous for the journey. I will need to have my breast/s removed soon and eventual implants to replace. Possible post chemotherapy tbd hopefully not. I want to share this life event to feel less alone and find strength in the love & support of others who care."

Like so many others who have gone through an experience millions of American women have gone through, Angela was in stunned by this prognosis but like anyone who's been in many comedic roles in her post-MTV career has remained upbeat - even having some Starbursts candy. As of now, her eggs have been freezed ahead of having surgery early next week to have her breasts removed, followed by treatment and waiting for the doctors to tell her if that cancer has spread. And if needed, there's the always excruciating process of chemotherapy and radiation that, no doubt, will be her toughest challenge yet.
   Angela launched a GoFundMe effort to ask for the public's help in helping to foot the bill on everything related to the next several months, from surgery to recovery and everything before and after. And nearly 1,500 people have pitched in over $100,000 in the past week to help to these efforts, and the effort is still active at that website. Our thoughts are with Angela as she goes through these next few months with this battle she has ahead of her.

My dear friend Josette took this photo of me moments before the doctor came in to tell me my biopsy results: that i have breast cancer. I am still in such shock and extremely nervous for the journey. I will need to have my breast/s removed soon and eventual implants to replace. Possible post chemotherapy tbd hopefully not. I want to share this life event to feel less alone and find strength in the love & support of others who care.

A post shared by Angela Trimbur 🌳 (@angelatrimbur) on Jul 10, 2018 at 8:58am PDT

Bawled on the drive to the prep-op double maseptomy implants meeting and bawled right after...but this was in-between! (Gotta get the highs when u can 🎢 ) vid by @amandafunbuns

A post shared by Angela Trimbur 🌳 (@angelatrimbur) on Jul 18, 2018 at 5:24pm PDT

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

DC ExtraTime: It's A Small (MTV) World After All

From after Episode 8 of Are You The One? Season 6,

and while Ex On The Beach USA was filming

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

On the very day The Challenge XXX was revealed at the Austin TV Festival back on June 10th, I was at Disneyland celebrating my niece's 9th birthday with Mickey Mouse and friends. A must for everyone who visits The Happiest Place on Earth is taking for a ride through the lands of the world, with a cast of 300 audio-animatronic kids in costumes from nations and cultures around the world that reminds everyone of global unity and peace. By the time you get off that ride, one song will no doubt stay in your head for days in "It's A Small World," and that offers the bridge to this story...
   If you are part of Team MTV -- whether you're part of what we call the Trifecta or any other show outside of the ecosystem, you are part of a broader family. Those who are part of the casts of any MTV show get the perks: membership, promotion, chances to do events (even shows) with alums, attending the channel's biggest events, and the list goes on. So many times, we have brought you those instances when those from shows from across the MTV spectrum meet, from the Trifecta meeting Farrah from Teen Mom, to recently at the VMA's. And other times, there are those times where all of these people cross paths, sometimes in the most random of circumstances.

IG @PrinceOfNorway

The latest instance of these odd connections among the hundreds who have done these shows over the last 25 years came on Are You The One? this past week: Joe and Taylor dated for some time before breaking up, which led her to AYTO Season 5 earlier this year and was in that romance with Andre as well as flirting with Bostonian Tyler.  And those who watched them together and both talking to the rest of the roommates, we saw a different side to Taylor than the one we saw earlier this year... and no doubt they've made a play to get on Battle of the Exes 3.
   It's the first time that someone came to this season with ties to a previous AYTO castmate, and her stepping foot inside the Season 6 house brought us back to earlier this year. And it was at this time of the first week of November last year that the cast had went through the ringer of that 10th and last Matchup when they filmed that in the Dominican Republic, and swung and missed the night after Gianna's hometown Indians fell in Game 7 of the World Series.
   But as much as seeing them together was both awkward and awesome for us, strangely enough Taylor and Joe aren't the only ones with a Season 6 and past season connection. Before being cast on this season and as late as this past spring just as she was waiting for that call, Nicole had done several projects with AYTO Season 1 original and a member of the Exes 2 cast, fellow Bostonian Brittany. They did several web videos together for a New England video site, as well as a TV show airing on regional cable in the Boston area, a region that's produced so many MTV alumni.

These are the latest in a line of stories that link the many people of this community, something we have showcased a lot here since we began blogging in summer 2013. In a post he did for the defunct Real World Dailies site, longtime executive producer Jim Johnston - who took over for the late Mary Ellis-Bunim as production co-pilot along with Jon Murray, discussed the many links among the MTV/BMP ecosystem, for which he offered two examples of something that has occurred a few times in that show's history: roommates casted on the OG of reality TV who knew each other before entering the house.
   First, it was nineteen years ago that the first such odd occurrence of this MTV world being as small as it is came when two students at the Virginia Military Institute applied to be on the same season of The Real World Seattle. It came as a coincidence that Bostonian David Burns (who later became known with his forbidden romance with a casting director and his meltdown upon breaking up) and fellow Cadet Nathan Blackburn had not applied to be on the cast but were casted together, and both entered the house by the Pier together. Who can forget the joy they had unlocking the doors to the house as if they were entering Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory?

   More than a decade later, the same thing happened on Real World Cancun: Jonna and Derek were waiters at the same bar in Tempe, AZ, near Arizona State University. Neither had any idea that they auditioned for Season 22, and it was only at the final casting interviews that they realized about this strange coincidence. The both were chosen to head down to Mexico, and eventually made it all the way to the last elimination battle on Battle of the Seasons II. And there are many stories of castmates from various seasons being friends or social media buddies before going on Real World.
   Romances among those from different seasons of the Trifecta are common, most recently that of Dario and Ashley K., who met on The Challenge Invasion and are still together. But the most notable of which is one that began on what's now seen as be the very first season of The Challenge. When Real World Boston's Sean Duffy and RW San Francisco's Rachel Campos went onto that RV for a special trip across the country among Real World alums, it was love at first sight, and eventually they got married, became parents, and he became a Congressman. And getting married and also having kids is also the case for Challenge alums Tori and Brad, who we last saw winning Cutthroat.

Being part of what we here at DCBLOG refer to as Team MTV is something that is afforded to only a tiny percentage of the American population. Those who've been on AYTO, Real World, The Challenge or shows outside of the Trifecta and spanning shows still airing or were one & done shows number in the hundreds, and it doesn't include those who do series on its international channels. Yes, the chances of getting cast and having those millennials who watch MTV are about as remote as winning the lottery, which explains how small this world of the MTV community really is.


- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

DC ExtraTime: A Party Under the Electric Sky

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

Last weekend, two parts of the world became the epicenter for multiple events that brought hundreds of thousands to their neck of the woods spanning pop culture, sports and music (the three things that revolve around the world of this very blogger).
   In England, thousands descended upon Windsor Castle and St. George's Church in the county Berkshire - an hour east of London - for the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as the world watched an American actress tie the knot with a member of the Royal Family. Hours later in London itself, Wembley Stadium hosted the most prestigious day in English football as the FA Cup Final saw Chelsea defeat Manchester United in a titanic clash of Premier League powerhouses.
   Across the pond, Las Vegas took on the role as the capital of the country for several reasons. This year's darlings of American sports, the Vegas Golden Knights, clinched the NHL's Western Conference title as a journey of being the newest major sports franchise continued in magical style. Just hours after they posed with the Clarence Campbell Bowl, the MGM Grand hosted the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, as Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Christina Aguilera & Demi Lovato took the stage, Salt N Pepa and En Vogue brought everyone back some 25 years earlier, and noise levels reached its zenith when BTS performed a year after they were introduced to America on the BBMA's - and ultimately scoring their first #1 album in America.
   And a half-hour's drive up the way from the Strip, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the latest installment of what is one of the largest music festivals in the United States, and the rite of summer to the ever-increasing legion of fans of electronic dance music, or EDM. It's the one they call the party "Under the Electric Sky" -- the Electric Daisy Festival.

DC ExtraTime: Empire and STAR

Excerpts from DCBLOG posts during Real World Bad Blood and The Challenge XXX

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

If you may have noticed by the sight of the season finales of Survivor, The Voice, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars in the past two days and just now, tonight wraps up the traditional September to May television season. And while it would be easy to for fans to have plenty of time to recover from this big time rush of our favorite shows coming to an end (for the season or for good), there's the bevy of summer series to take center stage starting on Thursday on the broadcast networks - including next week's premiere of America's Got Talent and next month's debut of the 20th season of Big Brother. Of course, that doesn't bring into account cable series such as the ongoing seasons of Ex On The Beach and Champs vs. Stars which we will cover here this weekend, as does a new season of Floribama Shore and Season 32 of The Challenge which should be around the corner - among other things.
   Tonight also saw the season finales of FOX's popular Wednesday night music drama series, Empire and STAR, and both were the subjects of separate ExtraTime stories that appeared during Real World Bad Blood and The Challenge XXX. Enjoy...

DC ExtraTime: Team MTV's Postcards from Coachella 2018

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

For those who had had to put up with having to wait out yet another week for the eventual final result of Cara Maria winning Vendettas, and those anticipating the premieres of both Champs vs. Stars III and Ex On The Beach in the same week, there was one thing on the minds of most everyone in mid-April. For those who are die-hard music fans like yours truly, those who just love just the pure spectacle of big events and those just obsessed with the celebrity life, there was one place you would rather want to be at for not one, but two weeks. And on a mid-April's weekend that had the NBA Playoffs, a country awards show, The Walking Dead finale and a high profile interview in relation to the biggest soap opera in this country, the Inland Empire in Southern California was the home to the spring's biggest happening... an event commonly known simply as Coachella.

DCBLOG Look Ahead: 4/10/18

A Word from the Editor
BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

Well, after what we saw tonight with Part 1 of The Challenge Vendettas reunion, just as it was last year - the bad news is, we have to wait one more excruciating week to find out who wins all of the half-million on offer for this season. Yes, it is a frustrating feeling that a lot of you have been venting a bit, but as Mike the Miz got to say at the end of it, "It will be worth the wait." And it will be the beginning of a big two out of three nights for those of you who watch and follow the MTV Trifecta,
   But, the good news is: anytime episodes like that end without resolution, it historically has meant that we at DCBLOG would alter our plans on how we get to do our weekly posts. And this week is no exception, as we have a busy slate coming up ahead as we now head into the spring cycle of the MTV schedule. And man, do we have a lot planned for now and during this entire month with next week's launch of two new series... all coming on the heels of last week's record-setting return of Jersey Shore. So, here's the plan...

● First -- storytelling, as always, is both a cornerstone and a distinctive element of this site's MTV coverage, and tomorrow ExtraTime will be featuring one of those stories that, I'm sure, you will be touched by. And as we head back into watching romantic reality TV a week from tomorrow, someone who was featured the last time MTV had one of those shows from that subgenre on their air will be featured, but it's not for what he did in the AYTO house - but for him meeting someone one who is extraordinary. You'll want to check that out in its own post here, and as always ExtraTime has a bunch of great stories still to come that this site is working on and should have up soon, and those like that which may come up out of nowhere.

● On either Thursday or Friday, we'll post the first of two preview posts of this spring's MTV slate as we'll be looking ahead at Ex on the Beach USA, a show which I'm looking forward to watching so much, it will actually take precedent in this cycle over the other one that debuts at this time next week. For that other show, we'll have our preview of Champs vs. Stars III later over the weekend, and both will feature our capsules of the cast, look at how the show works for the former and analyze what to expect in the ladder.
   We'll even take a cue from our preseason Challenge coverage to do a special EOTB installment of "Who Are These Newbies?" to introduce the five reality TV veterans from outside the MTV universe who are coming to Hawaii next week. As I teased about on Twitter the other night, wait until you find out what's inside this ultimate bachelor/bachelorette pad, which famous megastar & entourage once rented that treasure by the Hawaiian coast, and why one of those coming to this vacation from hell isn't the only link between his original show and this new series.

● After the Ex preview post goes to air -- and if you're one of those who prefers not to wait until next week to watch tonight's first part before next week before the double shot that follows, the Pulse will cover tonight's Vendettas Reunion... all after we give everyone who didn't watch it live to get caught up on tonight's drama. Depending upon how long this preview process goes, it will either be posted this weekend as usual, or just before the real finale airs next Tuesday. But, as we told you last week, our recap of this season's final won't appear until after the reunion next week. And that will have implications on how I will be handling the original portions of my weekly episode coverage.
   With that in mind - and as is tradition for a season finale, the WRAP for next week will be devoted entirely to The Challenge Vendettas final, with a review of the final, one more visit to the Strategy Room for final analysis, parting shots from the cast and much more. The week after that, we'll begin recapping the episodes of this spring's MTV schedule with a recap of the first two episodes of Ex on the Beach. The following week, we'll begin our reviews of Champs vs. Stars with a review of the first three episodes, and starting with Episode 4 of both shows we'll commence our Double Shot WRAP posts in combining our weekly write-ups on both shows into one post... our custom for when two shows that we cover air at the same time. Also for Week 4, it will coincide with the 5th Anniversary of DCBLOG, and we plan to have great stuff planned to mark that milestone here around the time.

● Then, there's what else is going on this month. Going into this spring, the plan was that I would not be covering Jersey Shore Family Vacation because of the fact that that show gets so much coverage all to fit how big that show is about, and that it would've been pointless to give a show that already gets plenty of buzz a decent amount of coverage on this site. But in a change of heart, I have decided that I would be covering that spinoff on the provision that posts covering that show would be bi-weekly, and that the diary we do would feature just the episode interaction and not the leadup and aftermath of it. I am also working on one or two posts covering that show's rise to saving MTV then, and continuing this channel's renaissance with their record-breaking return last week.
   And for the show that served, at least for a brief time, as a prelude of sorts to the madness that will be going down in Miami, there's Winter Break Hunter Mountain. Yes, everything's been going on all over the place with that show and we've covered the first few episodes of that, but even with all of that we won't stop covering that. All the tweets from the season marathon, or a Binge-Fest as I call it, have been archived from March 31st, and there will be a series of back-tracked posts covering that later this month to coincide with ski resorts closing up for the summer.

● Lastly, there's the thing yours truly has been promising over the course of the past half-year or so. As you know, I have been touting on social media and on here that I would be having my Reality Debrief review of what we have seen on The Challenge the past year since after Dirty 30 ended. But because of some hurdles that I, and my longtime cohort covering this beat Andrew Kirk, have been encountering a bit, we did not post our review of 2017 on that show in time to beat the early deadline of a month into Vendettas. But as always, we would never mislead you or give up on it because so much happened there, and so much has happened here... along with what else has been going on during the traditional September-to-May TV season that also had AYTO, Celebrity Big Brother, Survivor and much more... and of course, Ex on the Beach begins next week.
   With all of that in mind, Andrew and I are once again making a try to get our Debrief in as we inch towards the end of the TV industry's regular season. As always, you can tweet us your questions on all of those shows or whatever reality series you're interested in (please, no questions on Teen Mom or anything on Bravo) to us at @DC408Dxtr & @CSUGradAKirk and include the #AskDCBLOG hashtag in your posts. Any question you fire at us on there or via our DM's, and we'll be sure to include them in our two-part recap that should start as soon as we can. We appreciate your patience and invite you to join the conversation there... hopefully, the end is near to finally putting 2017 in bed with that much-anticipated Debrief, and look forward to a good summer of 2018 ahead of us.

Along with that, during this week in between for the reunion finale of Vendettas, I will be going on various Facebook groups devoted to The Challenge to promote selected posts from my DCBLOG MTV coverage as a way to help drive fans from a platform that's been in the news a bit today, to this site and to provide an introduction to the outstanding content this site provides. As always, your feedback is welcome and your support is always appreciated. And you can always tweet to me, respond on this site and offer your thoughts... I'm always here to hear what you have on your mind.

So, there we go. Hope you enjoy your Hump Day... we'll see you here then.

- I AM DC

DC ExtraTime: Babies and Remembrance

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

 THE MIZ, MARYSE & MONROE 

A week from now, a man who's had one of the most successful careers after starting off on The Real World will be all over our MTV screens. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin from RW Back to New York, four Challenge seasons and two-time champion of the fifth major pro sport will host installment #2 of The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars as well as next week's reunion for The Challenge Vendettas... all as he also films a reality show at the same time as all of this. But before he proceeds into taking on a leading role of this spring cycle of the MTV schedule, there is the biggest news to occur in a life that's seen him become WWE Champion long after his MTV days have ended. And all of this takes place during the week of the biggest week in pro wrestling -- WrestleMania, and him presently holding the Intercontinental Championship belt.

   Last fall, the news was revealed on Monday Night Raw that he and his wife, fellow wrestler and star of E!'s Total Divas Maryse, revealed that they are expecting their first child, and at a birthday party that also doubled as the gender reveal event, it was announced in a cake that they would be having a baby girl. And he captioned on Instagram, "The #ItBaby is a GIRL!!!!! As soon as I saw pink I saw red for any guy wanting to take her out. Lol. If this little girl gets half the brains, beauty, confidence, and strength of her mother @marysemizanin then she’s gonna grow up to be a powerful woman. Sorry Maryse but you just became the second most important woman in my life. I love you. ❤️"

IG @MikeTheMiz

The couple brought the social media crowd into their pink-themed baby shower on Valentine's Day which, if you saw the pics and video on their Instagrams resembled those lavish parties we see on My Super Sweet 16. their family, friends, Avril Lavigne, Ryan Cabrera, fellow Total Divas star Rose Mendes and WWE star Dolph Zigler all got to do all the usual things to fete the coming new addition to the Mazanin family... that includes chugging. And during the last month of this 9-month journey to parenthood, Maryse kept a blog diary for People Magazine during the pregnancy process to provide a firsthand view of the always excruciating last few weeks before water is broken and a new era begins.
   The process of the last month of the third trimester is always the toughest part of any pregnancy, and those women who read Maryse's diary know exactly what it feels like -- and there's no need to explain that. But in addition, the family has had to juggle filming a reality docu-series, Mr. and Mrs., for WWE rights-holder USA Network, with the process of moving from Los Angeles to making the 1,500-mile, 2-day drive along I-10 to Austin, TX -- where they'll have good company with other MTV parents: Are You The One royal couple Amber & Ethan, and Madison of Real World 30.
   And one week ago at 20 minutes to midnight on Tuesday, March 27, Monroe Sky Mizanin was welcomed by mommy and daddy to everyone and was announced to the world just afterwards. The caption of a photo of them clasping around the hand of their newborn read, "Of course our little girl arrived early. Welcome to the world Monroe Sky Mizanin 3/27/18 11:40pm."
   And a further Insta photo from The Miz, which has been posted above, offered another moment of he & Maryse's first day as new parents, which he captioned: "Thank you to all of our friends, family and fans for the continued love and support. We love you. Welcome to the world, Monroe Sky. We can’t wait to be your guides through life. You will be one spoiled baby. ❤️"  Our congrats go out to Mike and Maryse and look forward to him taking over Challenge Tuesdays starting next week.

Of course our little girl arrived early. Welcome to the world Monroe Sky Mizanin 3/27/18 11:40pm

A post shared by Mike "The Miz" Mizanin (@mikethemiz) on Mar 28, 2018 at 3:02pm PDT