For those who are into the world of love, there's no shortage of that in the world of reality TV: we are two weeks into 2023 in Bachelor Nation as Zach Shallcross looks to land his love on The Bachelor -- where one of the worthy suitors is Kimberly Gutierrez, podcast colleague of Are You The One? alumnus & Challenger Amber Martinez. We're sure that Amber gave some advice to Kim on how to handle the heat of a reality dating show, the same way she got to experience that back in 2019 on Season 8, and for which her successors are a few weeks into the MTV show's return engagement on Paramount+. And in Britain, the focus there reality-wise is on an winter series of summer favorite Love Island.
It is the jolly folks there in the United Kingdom that also gave the world MTV's other romantic reality entry Ex On The Beach... and this year marks five years since it made its American debut with Cory, Taylor, Paulie, Angela and that original batch of reality all-stars. Each cast of the U.S. show since then has had a similar makeup: a who's who of familiar faces that we and the broader reality fandom know from AYTO, The Challenge and any global reality franchise you can think of -- and that includes that land of roses -- has had to endure that dreaded moment of them seeing their exes invade the dreaded Beach of Doom as answers to the question, "Whose Ex is Next?" We've seen plenty go down.
Like AYTO, the EOTB villa and the sands on the beach were getting rusted up by the pandemic... but last year Ex USA returned as Big Brother and Challenge queen Da'Vonne headlined the Season 5 cast, joined by Double Shot at Love suitor Derynn and a competitor on that season's CBS Challenge Kyra... along with a slew of other reality alumni from both within and outside the Paramount corporate fold from Love Island to Too Hot to Handle. But the spotlight was stolen by the up and down romance of a VIP of the Lindsay Lohan Beach Club in Mike and his trans supermodel ex Arisce.
Now as we are just a few days out from V-Day '23, things are about to be switched up big time by the Beach: this time for the first time anywhere in this global franchise, it's couples who are about to go through the ringer. In time for Valentine's Day, welcome to Ex On The Beach, Couples Style.
