Adult Language. Viewer Discretion is Advised. ***
By DC Cueva
So, fall has officially arrived, and we are just two days away from the finale of The Challenge: Rivals II. This will then be followed up by a live reunion show, a first for The Challenge. And this is also worth giving one of our fans in my Real World/Challenge fan clique a shout out.
Brian Cohen of @BusDriversRoute, another one of those RW/Challenge fans who I've become good twitter friends with, will be attending that reunion on Wednesday, just as he and two of my followers Kevin & Kaitlyn did for Real World Portland (as seen in one of my previous posts). As TJ Lavin would say, Brian has killed it with the interviews he has had with many of the biggest names in the Challenge world, from those on this season - Johnny, Frank, Marlon, Jordan, Zach, Leroy & Knight - to those serving as armchair analysts in the screening room in Kenny & Laurel, to landing the man at the heart of this - yes, TJ. Like what Team Rookies have achieved this year, Brian has had a stellar rookie showing in doing these interviews, having also talked to Averey, Anastasia, Johnny & Nia during RWPDX and Roylee's buddy Mike before this Challenge began. Check them all out at www.busdriversroute.com.
And it hasn't just been just Brian who's done a great job with these interviews: another RW/Challenge fan who I discovered when I joined twitter last year, Andrew Kirk (who also lives right here in NorCal), has done a tremendous job talking to more than 30 alumni on his podcasts & later on his SpreeCasts for RW St. Thomas & Portland, and both BOTS & Rivals II; follow him at @CSUAKirk. And also Alex Govere from RW Back to San Diego, who's talked to a whole slew to alumni as well on her SpreeCasts, follow Alex at @AlexGovere.
What's the purpose of these DC SocialPulse articles? Well, I've become actively engaged in social media, from talking to my close friends every day to being involved in the things I'm interested in. And as I talked about in my very first SocialPulse post for the premiere back in July, social media has definitely played a huge role in not only drawing people to The Challenge, but also to other shows too. I'm doing this as a service to those who might not be up on the social media interaction of major events or favorite TV shows such as The Challenge, particularly those on the West Coast.
Of course, the Eastern & Central time zones, where the majority of the U.S. population lives, get to watch it first, so often folks out West stay off social media until it airs here. And when Westerners finally get to watch the shows here, they wouldn't have the benefit of being able to enjoy the great & spontaneous social interaction that cast & fans have each week that they had for the Eastern airing, particularly from their favorite cast members since most of them are likely in bed by the time we watch it here.
That's why I retweet the cast's tweets when the episodes air out East at 7pm PT on my twitter (yes, flooded TL's) so then when I can go into my archives, I'll be able to compile all of their tweets into posts like these, so that everyone coast to coast can check out the comments of the cast & fans as the drama unfolded in real time on television, so you get a good sense of what it's like to watch this show & see how everyone reacted to every moment as it takes place.
So with that, to the business at hand...On our last DC SocialPulse post on Sunday, we covered the tweets of the cast as they saw episodes 5, 6 & 7, where we featured Zach & Trey's heartbreaking jungle DQ, the new voting method rearing its ugly head in more ways than one, and Marlon & Jordan's stunning jungle win over Leroy & Ty. In part 3 of our season in review, we'll look at episodes 8, 9 & 10, where the Challenge's most well-known couple renew their love affair, a fight among three of the Challenge's biggest names in the last guys' elimination vote, the latest meltdown for our favorite Brazilian Challenger, and much more as the competition intensifies.
As we begin, note there's explicit language in many tweets below, but I am keeping it uncensored in order to retain the heat of the moment. Please read with discretion if you are mature enough. :-) So, here we go, beginning with Episode 8 and it's déjà vu all over for a couple competitors.
