DC ExtraTime: Swayleigh Says Yes to the Dress

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Screencaps Courtesy: TLC

As much as pretty much all of us can loathe this lost year of 2020, there are a few people who are, in fact, loving this year more than others - for good reasons, at least. They include the NFL's reigning king Patrick Mahomes, YouTube's notorious brothers of Jake & Logan Paul, sports fans in both Los Angeles and Tampa Bay, and two people who've been featured on this site a few times before. And those two are those who have continued to ride on Cloud 9 after being among the latest to cross from the most closely analyzed summer house to a reality house of a different kind in the reunited ViacomCBS umbrella.

We're talking about Bayleigh Dayton and Chris "Swaggy C" Williams -- better known to those in the reality TV community and the fandom that spends their summer watching Big Brother as Swayleigh. It was two years ago that they were riding a high after getting engaged on finale night of BB20 just after his early exit and her being the first member of the voting jury... and 48 hours later they and the cast of that show flew up to Las Vegas to celebrate their engagement with their fellow reality TV community. So began their amazing ride that's taken them to a number of places around the world and back including getting to know so many people along the way, including the boss lady of the NBA champs.

After stops at the 2017 Miss USA Pageant pre-BB and Family Feud post-BB, this year Swayleigh broadened their reach beyond just those who follow Big Brother to other places on the TV dial: they, along with BB20 winner Kaycee Clark and Fessy Shafaat, were rookies on The Challenge Total Madness. Three of them made it to the final but fell short of the top prize as the summer sensation continued its MTV takeover two years after it began on Vendettas... but we all remember the huge blowup in the bunker involving the two ladies.

Along the way - including having just hosted a large but COVID-safe housewarming last weekend at their new digs across the street from the Staples Center, there was another stop on the Swayleigh World Tour in 2020: a pit stop from the Total Madness final in the Czech Republic en route to the Big Brother All-Stars house brought them to the Big Apple, and another milestone towards becoming official in wedded bliss thanks to putting on a wedding dress.

DC ExtraTime: A Real World'er "Says Yes to the Dress"

 FOLLOW-UP  Triplets, Dresses & A Situation
BY DC CUEVA                             

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

As most of us who planned on having an elaborate wedding this year now are revising those plans to have it take place once COVID finally leaves the room, a lot of you have been looking to a popular program on cable for a way to think about what to war on the big day. And it's 99% likely that you have more than enough time to make those choices as everything has been getting out of control in our world, with the hope that things get back to normal once COVID finally leaves the building.

Back in March during Ex On The Beach: Peak of Love, we focused on two MTV family members - one of the singles from that winter-themed season and a member of the Jersey Shore cast as they got to walk into the New York home base of TLC's hit series Say Yes to the Dress. For Real World & Challenge alum Nicole Zanatta, she joined with her triplet sisters Ashley and Samantha as they and their mom helped the ladder choose her outfit for the big day. And for Mike The Situation, he and the Sorrentino crew joined sister Melissa as they, too, also went wedding dress shopping a year before he tied the knot with his fiance Lauren prior to his prison sentence.

And as it stands now, there will be not one, but two instances this summer & fall where more MTV alumni will be making a trip into Kleinfeld Bridal's wedding dress saloon along West 20th Street in Manhattan. The second one features a married Total Madness rookie couple where one-half of them is back where it all began for her, and we'll be featuring the couple known as Swayleigh - Chris "Swaggy C" Williams & Bayleigh Dayton when they walk into Kleinfeld's then. This takes place while she's again taking up residency in the BB All Stars house with fellow 2-time houseguest & Challenger Da'Vonne Rogers.

The first aired last Saturday night on the lucky date of 8/8, and where someone who is now a radio host and who helps those get their day started in one of America's great cities make the trek down from New England to help out with her wedding dress planning. But a decade ago this summer, she was living down in The Real World right by the Bayou.

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - Triplets, Dresses... and a Situation

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

In the midst of this Valentine's Day weekend, soon the sun will set on the fourth installment of the American adaptation of MTV's global reality dating phenomenon, Ex On The Beach. But unlike the first three seasons of this version and over forty other different seasons of the show that have aired in the U.K. and thirteen other global territories, Peak of Love has taken place not on a sandy beach under a scorching sun, but at a winter resort with snow, colder conditions and plenty of heat coming from heaters and a sauna to keep everyone warm during cuffing season.

For a series that was introduced to us here two years ago by having four of its alumni from the originators of the EOTB franchise in the United Kingdom, each U.S. season of Ex On The Beach has had representation from competitors from The Challenge. Several seasons' veteran Cory Wharton starred on that first season which debuted after Vendettas in 2018, soon followed by his fellow Young Buck Nelson Thomas, Bloodlines alum Nicole Ramos and Big Brother transplant Jozea Flores on Season 2, and Cory's Final Reckoning partner Devin Walker & his ex Marie Roda in Season 3.

Peak of Love has had four past Challengers taking up residency in the chalet: Rivals 2 finalist and Real World Portland roommate Marlon Williams, his ex and several times competitor Jemmye Carroll - also an RW alum from its second trip to New Orleans in 2010, and Free Agents champ Laurel Stucky, who was the first ex to arrive when this season debuted back in December. Laurel is the ex of the fourth Challenger of this season, Nicole Zanatta, who was on The Real World Skeletons five years ago and who has made it to the final of both her seasons on Invasion of the Champions and Vendettas.

When we first saw her in Chicago at this time in 2015, Nicole forged friendships with her roommates, had a rough fight one night with one of them (Jason Hill) near the end of that stay in the Windy City, and was part of a long line of Staten Islanders to make their way to reality TV. We, of course, got to see Nicole on Invasion and Vendettas where she forged that now infamous relationship with Laurel, which in turn brought them to New Zealand during this Challenge offseason. And she's found time to do these shows in between what is always a proud duty in her part of the Big Apple: being an EMT and a firefighter, and where she also works alongside one-half of SI's most well-known reality duo: Angelina Pivarnick of Jersey Shore.

You may or may not like her, but while Ex On The "Peak" is her fourth different series she's done for MTV (having also starred on last year's U.S. adaptation of European reality format Game of Clones), you probably don't know that Nicole was on national TV before she made it onto The Real World. And before becoming the most well-known person in her household, this Staten Island native found herself in a totally different environment than when she's been in her MTV life: with the ones she's known her entire life going through picking a key element to the one magical day where love wins. By chance, this installment of Before They Were MTV Stars also stars a fascinating man with abs who returns to our TV screens with his crew once Nicole leaves the Peak at month's end.