BY DC CUEVA
Here, we always like to think of ourselves as a supplement to other sites that cover these shows so many of us watch every week and discuss online and around the water cooler. While you might go to other sites to read, watch and hear discussion and recaps on the episodes every week as well as interviews with castmates, we offer you a supplement in focusing our coverage on all the social reaction to every episode, and bringing you those kinds of stories relating to the people and these shows that might otherwise not be told. ExtraTime enables us to bring you those stories, long & short and on & off-camera, at the end of all of our multiple weekly posts, and often in these dedicated, long-form's we call ExtraTime In-Depth.
We have brought you a number of these In-Depth posts since we began covering MTV shows back in 2013. This includes the pinned tweet I had up for a few days this week of the inspiring story I did on the bond between Johnny Bananas & Kasey Harvey which was originally posted on Thanksgiving last year and for whom he gave a shoutout to this week. And as a consequence of this week's episode of The Challenge: Invasion of the Champions ending with a cliffhanger in the middle of one epic elimination between Bananas and Darrell - which by rule we will be discussing that here on next week's posts, this week we are presenting two of those stories here.
First, one of the most fascinating stories to come out of the Trifecta in the past decade has been of the struggle of one of one Challenger who personified what a lot of people in Generation X and Y have had of spending more time doing anything but be active and having a healthy lifestyle. Then, after being a central figure to one of the most memorable moments in Challenge history, it served as a reality check for him to finally get down to business, lose the fat and become more active, no less be able to compete more on the show considered by many the "fifth major pro sport."
This is one person's story of someone who was able to make a not so easy transition from the guy who weighed 300 pounds at the time we first saw him as part of a renowned Challenge class of Fresh Meat, to one who's made a strong transformation by losing nearly 100 pounds. He's one of the most unique and well-liked people in the Challenge community and has gained a ton of respect for being able to overcome one of modern life's greatest obstacles and biggest challenges. On this edition of In-Depth, the story of Eric "Big Easy" Banks: A Challenge Against the Odds.
