DC ExtraTime: T.J.'s Road to Recovery

BY DC CUEVA                           

> @DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow

We are two weeks into a new cycle of what this longtime fan refers to as the MTV Trifecta, bringing you social interaction, stories, opinions and perspective of the three shows that matter most to this longtime, passionate MTV fan. Yes, Season 3 of Are You The One? is our focus here right now, but before you know it we'll be into covering Season 27 of The Challenge and Season 31 of Real World. And of course, all of them are given extensive, wall-to-wall coverage right here on DCBLOG.
   But before we move into an all-new episode tomorrow night as the AYTO cast deals with an early game-changing, money-losing blackout, for me there's also anticipation growing for my trip to Las Vegas coming up in over 100 hours from now. It's not only my favorite city outside of the Bay Area, it also happens to be the hometown of the subject we are covering here.

Something that makes our coverage of these shows different from other sites and forms of media is that we focus in on the stories and people of this ecosystem, and provide a unique angle on the Trifecta you probably can't find anywhere else. I'd like to think of this page as a complement to the recaps, rankings and interviews of other pages, in that there's more to these people than what you see on TV. After all, no kind of programming is best suited to this kind of coverage in thoughtful insight, analysis, reflection and perspective than MTV reality shows. And there's no channel out there with a deeper, intimate and more closer relationship with its viewers than MTV as well.

   It's with this in mind that DC ExtraTime offers the chance to go beyond the hookups and the drama to cover this franchise in a unique & interesting way. In the past, we've brought you a slew of stories through the prism of the Trifecta, from a Canadian teen inspired by the volunteer work of the RW Back to New Orleans cast post-Katrina to castmates Nany and Jay dealing with untimely passings of members of their family while filming their RW seasons. It's telling the stories of the Trifecta that brings a different side of the people that makes them relatable and prove that there's more to them than pretty faces and moments of drunken drama and conflict that reality TV is known for.

In this first dedicated edition of ExtraTime of this new cycle, and a special one in fact, we'll focus on one of Team MTV's most-revered members and the man who's the face of the so-called "fifth major pro sport." For TJ Lavin, he has been host of The Challenge for a decade now, seeing the show's growth from just a simple friendly battle of two sister shows to the great program it is as something unlike anything else in the reality TV world. But, it was something that happened five years ago next week outside the MTV cameras that became the greatest challenge he has ever endured. And it was how he was able to not only come all the way back from a horrific, life-threatening accident, but also be brave enough to host a Challenge season just months a fateful night in his hometown that nearly changed his life forever.
   We told you his story before in brief during Rivals II here two years ago, but this time on the 5-year anniversary of that fateful night in October 2010, this story is more than deserving of a second look in an expanded form. Taken from interviews he did in the months following the life-changing crash in the last BMX event he would compete in, after the jump TJ reflects on the most devastating time of his life, in his own words. Then, DCBLOG tells the story and provides reflection on, along with the late Diem Brown's battle with cancer, the ultimate comeback story in Challenge history.