DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The $1 Million Final: Part 3

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

And welcome back Challenge Nation... if you can stretch back last fall, that was when it all began for The Challenge: Ride or Dies when seventeen teams began Season 38 underneath that scorching Argentinean sun. Now, here we are in the first week of March to put a wrap on all of this as far as DCBLOG's coverage is concerned -- and we're not yet at the finish line to this latest MTV affair.

When we left you back earlier this afternoon (as we talk to you just before midnight on the West Coast before we reach March 7th & a day before the next chapter of this franchise kicks off), the rookie pair of Olivia & Horacio were on their way out after that now-infamous golf ball contacted with her eye, ending their bid to shock the three established veteran teams. That didn't mean that Aneesa & Jordan or Bananas & Nany struggled to make ends meet in the first day or so of a final that will have taken 100 hours to complete by the time this one wraps up. And they all had to look up to Tori & Devin, whose partnership has blossomed a bit during this season including during the time that matters the most: before the final.

But after what we saw with all those three teams having to put up with the most-excruciating component of any Challenge final of having to consume several courses of food like it's Thanksgiving night, now they have to muster whatever energy is left in their tank to tackle the last third of this Ride or Dies final... and let's face it: there's a certain reason why they stretched this final over the last three parts -- just ask anyone who works in the TV business & they'll tell you it's all a numbers game. But on another note, a few other numbers are popping up: around 30 hours remain in this four-day & four-hour ordeal, and $1 million awaits who wins. And all that separates the final three is a rite of summer & autumn: a corn field that serves as their final destination, two final eliminations and a last test of strength and intelligence.

Ahead, Aneesa & Jordan, Bananas & Nany and Devin & Tori decide amongst themselves who are the ultimate Ride or Dies as DCBLOG brings you our last installment of the Season 38 Challenge 'Pulse, along with our parting shot on these final 100 hours. Thanks for joining us this Monday night...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The $1 Million Final: Part 2

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

Twitter @TheChallenge

We bring you all back on what will be quite the week ahead for those of us who follow this MTV world in one big world championship to take place just a few weeks after another one of those was determined out in the desert... but more on that will be forthcoming on here. As for what we got between now and then, we have a doubleheader to bring you to wrap up Season 38 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies.

When we last left you on here back on Friday night, we commenced the longest final by length of time that the fifth major pro sport has ever had: Aneesa & Jordan, Bananas & Nany, Devin & Tori, and Horacio & Olivia. They gathered at the start line to begin the 100-hour finale, and through the first day it has already tested each and every one of them... but one choice to sabotage the rookie pair of Olivia & Horacio set up one of the most memorable moments in Challenge history: a golf ball got slingshot off of her face, leaving her with both her hand and her face in ruins as did their chances to cap off the greatest rookie season ever with an ascent to the throne as part of the show's next generation. 

With Olivia & Horacio sent off, the spotlight is now on just on the veteran teams to duke it out for the money: two champion men with multiple championships looking to add to their trophy case once again, together with their female partners desperate for their first titles, and a scrappy pair who haven't won one of these yet but who have already established themselves in this world over the past half-decade. They've just survived the first 30 hours of so of this 100-hour final, but what lays ahead will test them quite a bit as only a Challenge final can... and that includes everyone's least-favorite finals checkpoint: a dinner table full of food that would want to make them not look forward to next Thanksgiving.

Ahead, DCBLOG brings you part two of the Challenge Pulse finale special as Ride or Dies enters the midway portion of the $1 million, 100-hour final... and we'll also let you in on something big coming up this month. We're glad you're here with us again...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The $1 Million Final: Part 1

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

Twitter @TheChallenge

It's now the month of March: it's been a few weeks since Patrick Mahomes collected his second Super Bowl, Mac McClrug and Jason Tatum rule NBA All-Star Weekend, and we're now onto the Road to the Final Four which will take both the men's and women's fields to Texas. But as far as the fifth major pro sport is concerned, as far as the timeframe this site has on this third day of the third month a season 38 of The MTV Challenge that has seen plenty go down has reached its climatic point which, by the time we wrap this month's first weekend will have reached its conclusion.

When we last were in Argentina -- and it has been a long time since we last spoke to you just after that Super Bowl (real life & family responsibilities as the man of the house have something to do with it), it was what we at this site refer to as "Semifinal Week" -- our definition for the episode that features the season's last regular daily challenge and elimination that set the field for the final. There in the kind of freezing conditions of sorts that those out here in California have had to put up the past week, Tori & Devin won their way into the final and then opted to put Bananas & Nany into the last elimination against Feysal & Moriah. In the end, the former came away victorious -- and that has usually meant that it would lead to a Bananas title -- a few of his seven rings came by way of carrying that momentum from that last "Win or Go Home" battle to winning the whole box of crayons.

Those two teams have joined with Jordan & Aneesa and the unqualified Rookies of the Year of Olivia & Horacio, who have all emerged out of that pack of seventeen pairs that began this thing back in October, to becoming the four finalists who have made it to the season's final stage. They will all have to endure not just an ordinary Challenge final that will test everything that they learned in the game itself and also testing the bonds of their relationships with their partners. In this case, this is a final that is double the length of what five of our finalists have been used to in the past of it taking place over two days... it is the same length as most any golf tournament. And it's not just one that will take place over four days, it's exactly four days & four hours... which equates to 100 hours -- easily the longest final ever.

After the break, DCBLOG and our Challenge 'Pulse presents Part 1 of our coverage of the Ride or Dies Final, which includes one game-changing moment where one team doesn't have their eye on the big prize -- quite literally. And welcome to the weekend, folks...

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Ride or Dies - Global Invasion

Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, "Who Are These Newbies?" is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices. Some videos embedded contain adult language & situations, parental guidance is suggested.

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

Earlier this winter, the finest nations and the best players in the world's most popular sport converged on the Middle East for the 22nd FIFA World Cup -- a tournament that had everything. From controversy before the opening kickoff, to plenty of upsets and intriguing headlines on & off the pitch, it was capped by a classic final confirming the GOAT status of Lionel Messi. Qatar punctuated an 18-month stretch of global sport and world-class soccer that, for the first time, took place not in its traditional spot in June & July but in the fall & winter, following two Olympics held not too far away in Asia that brought the world back together. And it's with this in mind that we bring you into this second half of our traditional introduction to the newcomers of the fifth major pro sport of The MTV Challenge.

Five years ago, the competition show that was invented in America that was an offshoot of the shows that started the reality television genre began its expansion to becoming as much as a global game as the sport that those outside of North America refer to as football. To help spice up the field of prospective rookie competitors when both The Real World and Road Rules ran their courses, draft calls were sent out to some unexpected territory that foretold the eventual re-merger of their networks' respective parent companies when houseguests from CBS summer hit Big Brother began competing on Vendettas a year before the CBS/Viacom merger. Joining Natalie Negrotti & Victor Arroyo that winter of 2018 were not one, but five people with different accents hailing not far from Spain in the United Kingdom.

The entry into this world of Kyle, Melissa, Joss, Kayleigh and Rogan heralded the return to American shores of the Shore franchise (Kyle coming in between Jersey and Floribama), the arrival of their original series Ex On The Beach that came after that season, and signaled the start of The Challenge to becoming a truly global TV show where everyone in this wide world of reality TV are welcome to join in. Since then, those from the Isles, the European Union, the Middle East, the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America and outside the Paramount corporate stable have taken part in every Challenge since -- and that includes international versions of this franchise that's feeding into the Paramount+ World Championship which kicks off in early March.

As we have reached the final act on Ride or Dies, some of the rookie competitors have been more than hanging tough in this new game that is mixing both old and new... and it has given us plenty of worthy new talent that will sure carry this series forward into its next twenty-five years. But all the way back towards the beginning of this, DCBLOG conducted our annual tradition of introducing players participating on The Challenge for the very first time on Season 38. And after the break, Part 2 of "Who Are These Newbies?" shines the spotlight on the two rookies who have more than exceeded our expectations to make it to the end, along with the latest set of players to come to us from Germany.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - Semifinal Week

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

Good Sunday's evening to all of you on this second February's Sunday, better known as Super Bowl Sunday... and we have just witness one thriller of a final act of the 2022 NFL season. One who Challenger LaToya met a few years back, Patrick Mahomes, just led his Chiefs back over Jalen Hurts & the Eagles to claim his second Lombardi Trophy in four years... we're sure a few in Challenge Nation are whooping it up there in Kansas City. And with respect to Gordon Ramsey, we have a perfect nightcap to your festivities: DCBLOG's coverage of The Challenge, and Ride or Dies entering its very own postseason... that is, one that has a $1 million pot awaiting the challengers.

When we were last in Argentina last weekend (as this site has it on our own calendars), it was the time of season that always gives us the best clue of who is really up to the task of handling this late part of the season, the same way KC and Philly have earned their way to Arizona today. For this Challenge, the reunited Ride or Dies pairs got to endure a nighttime daily of dancing on top of a skyscraper, a wild ride solving a puzzle while riding a school bus, and going through the biggest twist yet of having three eliminated teams return for one more shot at winning their way back into the game... and also, watch the latest chapter unfold in the soap opera surrounding two former ride or die exes as well.

In the end, Jordan & Aneesa won their way back from The Challenge's own version of Redemption Island and now they, Bananas & Nany, Fessy & Moriah, Devin & Tori and Horacio & Olivia have made it into what at this site like to refer to as "Semifinal Week" -- our definition of the last regular daily challenge & elimination week before the final. For the week that will determine the field for the $1 million last act, the teams' puzzle & communication skills will be tested in a tub of cold water and where they will find who might be the most vulnerable. Whoever wins may have the biggest choice yet of who joins them in the final... and it may also bring to mind past history of one who knows what it's like to skate along to the end and also take momentum from the arena to Fort Knox.

Join us here after the break as DCBLOG brings you all the action, reaction and interaction to Week 16 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies... and we'll also let you in on who's joining the club of Challengers turned moms. Thanks for joining us, friends...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - Twisted by Balls, Buses, Knots and Terror

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

It's the first Sunday in February, where in past years this has meant Super Bowl Sunday... but with the NFL's change to a 17-game regular season that is next week as Kansas City and Philadelphia will duke it out in the Arizonan desert. But for those hungry for some actual competition outside of that new format for the Pro Bowl, there's LeBron's quest to become the NBA's newest scoring king, the NHL All-Star Game yesterday, NASCAR tonight at the LA Coliseum, golf at Pebble Beach, plenty of college hoops, and the network debut of Bellator. And then, there's The Challenge: Ride or Dies...

We are into the stretch run that will take the teams that are left in Argentina to the start line of the final challenge... but in the calendar of this DCBLOG site we are at the Week 14 mark. When we last left at the end of Episode 13 -- right at the two-thirds marker, there was a bit of concern for two couples: Nany & Kaycee on different teams, and Amber & Chauncey as during the week's daily he faced having to play for his team or playing it safe just to keep her out of elimination. At week's end, it was Fessy who had to face the music and have karma come back to him and Moriah for their burned vote gone bad as she went into elimination and fell to Nany.

Now, things are about to get crazy as we return down under: you, our readers, will get two for the price of one this week on here: a rare daily challenge taking place at night will come to terrify the pairs as they try to dance their way atop a skyscraper... followed by them taking on a sight synonymous with morning fun: riding a school bus while trying to solve a puzzle. We also have the latest saga to take place in the #Jori soap opera which may reach a potentially big breaking point... but that will pale in comparison with what the teams will have to endure: another Teej-bomb that may change the game again.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you a Double Shot of the Challenge Pulse: an expanded edition covering Episodes 14 & 15 of Ride or Dies. And thank you for joining on in on this Sunday Funday...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Blind Faith"

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

It's the last Sunday of this month of January... and we welcome you back to our DCBLOG coverage of The Challenge: Ride or Dies. Bear with us as we take all the time we need to get ourselves back into the groove of covering this season as we're in the midst of this busy first month of 2023 - and our tenth anniversary going MTV Reality... but for the sake of those who are just catching up on all this, we'll keep true of not spoiling all else until we get up to date on this site. But in any case, off we go...

When we last left Argentina -- and that is, Week 12 which we covered back on January 20th, TJ Lavin played the role of trivia master and Amber B. had taken out Nurys in elimination... and that caused Nelson to go into a state of panic knowing that his biggest ally had taken the flight back to La La Land. He and the rest of the challengers were feeling the heat as they went on a thrill ride aboard a chopper above the water... but his team did not take the win and they had to put someone in elimination. That would go to him... and the opposition chose Fessy -- thus, a rematch of that tense battle on Double Agents, but the result was the same: Nelly was en route back to Texas. But it was what happened before that which caused everyone to discuss the latest chapter in the #Jori soap opera.

Another couple came into this season with a title under her belt and her girl being one of the best to not win it all... as we return, the reality of Kaycee and Nany being on different teams means that, potentially, they may not make this season's final together as they did on Double Agents. The one lady who did reign on that season could be in a big spot of being saved by her boyfriend (and, as of this past week, a daddy to be) or playing for his team... just as one-half of the aforementioned people above could have karma get back to him -- and so does one of his rivals. Yes, it's quite a twisted puzzle we're trying to solve here... and there's also the matter of teams gambling in a game of Blind Faith too.

It's just under an hour from kickoff of Championship Sunday on the gridiron... but why not take some time out of your pregame festivities to join us for the Week 13 edition of the DCBLOG Challenge 'Pulse as the Ride or Dies enter the last two-third's of this season. It's all coming up after the break...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Frenemy of the State"

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA 

■ linktr.ee/dc408dxtr

Well, we have made it to the third weekend of 2023... and this has quite the week Inside MTV Reality: last night saw perhaps the last dance for our friends in Siesta Key as their time in Miami came to an end. We had the return of the show that made the word "Truth Booth" part of our lexicon, and a few days ago if you thought that you were watching an episode of Bad Girls Club, well you have seen just about everything in the Teen Mom universe. But, if you are one of those who is here for the fifth major pro sport, then dive in with us as we get back into covering The Challenge: Ride or Dies.

When we last left -- and we're still behind on our episode coverage here, the game had been turned on its head with the old-fashioned midseason twist: the pairs being split into two teams... and if you thought you've seen this before, then you have after what we saw on Battle of the Bloodlines. We also got to see another rite of any Challenge season which delighted those teachers watching after giving out those fall final exams: TJ Lavin becoming Alex Trebek but without the suit and tie as he unleashed his annual game of trivia to the players and them spinning out out of control on a wheel.

At the end of Week 11, Amber excused Nurys in elimination to add to a relatively understated champ's resume... but as we return to Argentina, Devin's team knows that they are in that mode to press that panic button, so does Nelson after seeing his Ride or Die take the next flight home. He and everyone else will be feeling the heat as they take off on the latest daily mission: a ride aboard a chopper -- or make that, a ride hanging out from that flying object. But what happens here might bring another chapter to the one pair here that were ride or dies a few years back, only to be this season's most prominent exes.

After the break, it's the 'Pulse of Week 12 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies as we cross the two-thirds mark on the trek to the final... and you'll also meet Challenge Nation's newest baby. Thanks for joining us and welcome to the weekend...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - Spinning Out with Trivia, Two N's & a Hooters Girl

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello to all in the blogosphere and if we haven't spoken as of yet, a belated Happy New Year to you wherever you are. And we are well into a 2023 that officially marks ten years of DCBLOG and our MTV coverage -- and this begins a big time where one of the reality world's biggest hits is moving to the channel, and a show that we've followed from day 1 is moving to stream world... more here later.

For those who are into the world of the show that we follow more than any other, it has been the new year in the world of The MTV Challenge for the past few months... and Ride or Dies rages on down in Argentina. And last we brought you all the action, reaction and interaction from the home of the World Cup champions, we saw the one sign that things are about to get a bit more interesting than anything else: a change-up at midseason... it's something we refer to here as a "Teej-bomb." A game-changing twist has split up the ride or die pairs into two teams -- something similar to this occurred on the last Challenge with a similar theme of sorts on Bloodlines. And we also had some duels above the water to begin the season's second half with the help of the Shrek characters, and Horacio enter rare air of winning in elimination four times in one season as a rookie.

The midseason shakeup is one tradition we take for granted in any Challenge season, but as we return to South America another is about to be unleashed on the challengers -- and it's one that the host looks forward to every time TJ Lavin and the production big-wigs have that it scheduled on their lineup. Of course, we are talking about trivia... and not only will the brains of our competitors get tested in their eleventh daily challenge -- they have to also endure going for a ride on a wheel like they're on Wheel of Fortune. And one pair of Ride or Dies will also find themselves in the hart of the matter: one finding himself on the outs with his new team, and his partner having worries that her budding relationship might make her the next target for that plane ride back home.

Straight ahead, our first DCBLOG post of 2023 brings you the 'Pulse of Week 11 of Ride or Dies... but that is hardly the only thing that dominated the pre-Christmas buzz in Challenge Nation: we'll also have more on the exchange a player on The Challenge: USA last year had about her day job -- and it's something we have covered before. Anyway, welcome to 2023... and a Happy New Year to you.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The Second Half Begins

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We have reached the 365th and last day of 2022... and if you are lucky to get to the finish line of this year like yours truly & his family, then pat yourself on the back -- we're all still here. And when it comes to where things stand in our main focus of this winter on this site of MTV's The Challenge, in the calendar of this site it is the halfway point of Ride or Dies, Season 38.

Last we talked to you on here back last weekend on Christmas Day, we offered a holiday present of covering two episodes on the same Sunday. First, we covered the latest instance of an airport tarmac and high-fliers taking to the skies on this show, and a choice which tested the loyalties of one Nelson as he went for friendship (a mended one, at least) with Feysal over a budding relationship with Olivia when it came to saving someone in the draw. And then, we reached the season's halfway marker with a grueling mini-final that combined endurance with carrying lots of weight... and it gave the aforementioned Big Brother & his Ride or Die not only week 9 power, but something much more.

It wouldn't be a Challenge without a midseason twist, and he & Moriah were split up into two teams that will face off against one another the rest of the way. And now that they are on opposite sides, it will now give another dimension to this season testing the loyalty and friendship of each of our teams... and it will also give another test to the pair that, though they weren't paired up to begin with, were the most high profile couple just a few short years ago -- just add the Ride or Die of one of the aforementioned people above to spice things up. And a movie that's lost in all the buzz surrounding the Avatar sequel plays a sponsoring role in the first daily of this second half: a good-old grudge match above the water -- but it's the stars of Puss & Boots that take co-headlining status along with the challengers.

After the break, DCBLOG rings out the old year with our ninety-third & final post of 2022 as we bring you the 'Pulse of Week 10 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies... and Happy New Year!

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - At The Halfway Point

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We welcome you back on this Christmas Sunday... and wherever you are, we hope you enjoyed this day with family and got to stay warm, too. We hope you're having a good weekend -- and most of you have tomorrow off for the observed Christmas Monday... and this year we're also in the same boat as our friends in the U.K. & Australia as it's already Boxing Day (no, the fighting sport is not what they're celebrating overseas, it's their nations' equivalent of Black Friday). But wherever you are, we're set to round off Christmas Day here with DCBLOG's continuing coverage of The MTV Challenge.

Earlier today, we picked things back up in our coverage of Ride or Dies with Week 8... and we saw everyone celebrate Johnny Bananas' 40th birthday and then take to the tarmac for a ride aboard some 18-wheelers. But the big figure of the week was one Nelson Thomas: if he thought that just choosing perfect matches on his very first MTV show in Season 3 of Are You The One? was tough, then that experience didn't prepare him for the choice he had to make in holding the choice of whether to stay loyal to Fessy or to save his crush Olivia... he opted for the former, but she stayed in the game anyway as she & Horacio took out the hat trick in their third elimination win, taking down Jay & Michele.

It has become a fact of life around here that something explosive will happen whenever we get to the halfway point of any Challenge season... that is the case as we return to Argentina -- and here, it's two instances. First, there is the true test of which teams are best capable of handling those two days of hell known as the last Challenge... and a mini-final will see the teams carry weight and endure endurance in the middle of nowhere. There's also both good and bad news: no one will be eliminated this week... but this is also the last week that the pairs will be together -- and whoever wins in this daily will be front and center in a midseason draft to determine who will be on two teams opposing each other. And there's also the latest episode in the saga that is #Torgan... another Challenge joining in on that soap opera.

After the break on the DCBLOG Challenge Pulse, we reach the halfway point of The Challenge: Ride or Dies and Week 9 in Argentina. And if you're staying up for this here on this late night, welcome back.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Born to Ride or Die"

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Merry Christmas to all of you out there in the blogosphere... we hope you're staying safe and warm after the huge blizzard that hit most of the country on this long Christmas weekend (it's not the case if you live in California, Florida or elsewhere that didn't get that dusting of snow, but we can take the sunshine any day). And what did Santa DC bring to all of you on this DCBLOG website on this Sunday Funday Christmas? We have a slew of Challenge posts to bring you as our gifts to all of you as we have plenty to offer from The MTV Challenge: Ride or Dies on here for your enjoyment.

When we last left Argentina in the timeline of this site -- and that's some eleven days ago on our calendar due to many matters including watching the host nation win the World Cup in dramatic fashion, we brought you not one, but two episodes being covered. Jay & Michele won a couple dailies during this game as well as an elimination, but the questionable choices they've made might put a target on their backs. We've also been privy to who might be the rookies of the year when we're all done in Olivia & Horacio in their elimination mastery... and two people who were part of that legendary Are You The One cast also found themselves right in the heart of things.

As we finally return to a nation still celebrating a week after that ultimate early Christmas present of a third World Cup and GOAT status for Lionel Messi, it's also a time of celebration for The Challenge's own GOAT: Bananas marks his 40th birthday in the big house once again. Our daily will bring the house to a runway... and that means it's time to strap in for a ride down the tarmac trying to maneuver your way on an 18-wheeler. A first half that's seen plenty of big moves might give one pair a tricky task of navigating through the crosshairs of various teams... but that pales in comparison to what goes down in the arena: one of those aforementioned figures might have to pick between friendship, love and playing smart... and he thought picking someone at a Matchup Ceremony was harder than this.

After the break, we bring you back to The Challenge as DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 8 of Ride or Dies... and after the journal, some analysis from this show's biggest fan at a certain four-lettered 800-pound gorilla. And welcome back, Challenge Nation -- and Merry Christmas.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - A November's Double Shot

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

And so, we welcome you back Inside MTV Reality at DCBLOG... and if we haven't spoken to you in a bit, a happy holiday season to you and yours. I was busy over the past month marking my dad's birthday on Thanksgiving with family, and doing a charity fundraiser that raised $500... and my family just caught the cold bug. That's why we've been off the mark on here since we last talked to you on Thanksgiving, but now we're set to get back to covering all the dealings in Challenge Nation.

It has been almost a full month since we covered the current season of Ride or Dies... and when we last left Argentina back on my birthday, for a moment at least to begin Week 5 it seemed that we were at the When We Were Young festival by the sights of seeing everyone wearing 90's emo styles. But a budding friendship that came about with Jay and Jakk soon became a thing of the past when they were at the heart of a big betrayal that came about when the former was in power and the ladder being paired with a certain champion beast... and we also saw further proof of how much a three-time champion is still valued in this new age.

And aside from a grueling swimming daily and arena, the effects of what happened there are spilling into what we'll be covering here of the next two weeks of this season: their questionable choices may see the Survivor team have to earn their way through the rest of the game, while one-half of the early favorites for Rookies of the Year may feel the charm of that elimination beast... and one other player may have to look for someone else to get cuddly with when it comes to cuffing season. And this doesn't factor in the game itself, where two from the same legendary MTV grad class may also find themselves in the heart of it all... and what would any Challenge be without a blindside that leads to a big elimination battle?

Just ahead, it's a mid-autumn night's double shot as DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of episodes 6 and 7 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies... and all the Twitter buzz from them. And we also have an additional note to share with you on here, which we will explain after the break...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Get Rich or Ride or Die Tryin'"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Twitter @TheChallenge

And so we welcome you back not only to DCBLOG and Inside MTV Reality, but also to the biggest day on this blogger's calendar: #DCBDay. If you don't know, that's the hashtag I use for my November 13th birthday -- and we're glad you're spending part of your Sunday Funday with us, as yours truly is taking a little break from today's celebratory festivities (albeit, somewhat subdued) to bring you this week in the world of The MTV Challenge, as we enter the second month of Ride or Dies down in Argentina.

As this website's editor in chief has been away from this site the last few weeks, we've taken advantage of this special weekend to catch up on all that we've missed during this time. And yesterday it was Week 4 of Season 38, which began with our third straight entry of a veteran mercenary pair: in this case it was Darrell & Veronica. But maybe, the 4-time champ would've liked something else for his first daily as he had to face his fear of taking on heights atop a skyscraper... and in the end it was the one he stalemated with on Vendettas, Nelson, who finally snapped his 50+ day daily challenge streak with his Ex On The Beach ex Nurys. They are, of course, MTV love show alumni and for a moment, they thought that the Challenge house was the season 2 Malibu beach house all over again by the way of hookups in that love shack.

At night's end there, Analyse & Tommy paid the price for their ways of not playing the game as rookies from a Big Brother should in a Challenge house as they lost out to Kim & Colleen. But as we return to South America, there is a party vibe going on in the house that would make you think that those from the When We Were Young festival of a few weeks ago in TJ Lavin's Vegas backyard were invited to this place... and so does a prince for a certain fast food chain. That will offer a backdrop to the latest act of when things could backfire as far as new friendships being made in this game, which this week sees a relay take place by the water and where costly miscues could turn the competition on its head... and the consequences could force some veterans to maybe face the music.

So why not spend some of this #DCBDay Sunday Funday with us as, after the break, it's the SocialPulse of Week 5 (this week, in fact) of The Challenge: Ride or Dies. Thanks for joining us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "O'liv'n on the Edge"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back Inside MTV Reality at DCBLOG on this blogger's birthday weekend... and while you probably have been focused on things going outside of the passions I follow -- and I have done what I can to stay focused in those in this manic world, about a month in The Challenge: Ride or Dies has been, shall we say, what we expect from this fifth major pro sport and Wednesday night escape.

If you were with us on here last night, we began to catch ourselves up on everything that has gone on as far as all the social buzz and all else is concerned... this blogger has been busy with other things since we last posted something on here since we spoke before Halloween. But in Week 3, Tori felt like she was on Ex On The Beach for a moment as she had to endure seeing Jordan as they had to look back on their failed relationship. As far as the game was concerned, a demanding barrel daily saw Fessy & Moriah take out the win, and an all-rookie battle in a double-decker Hall Brawl saw Olivia & Horacio take on the title that the Cowboys, the Braves and others boast claim to: "America's Team."

And if that wasn't enough, TJ Lavin had yet another Teej-bomb waiting: the arrival of yet another pair of mercenaries to the game... and as we return to Argentina it's multiple champs Darrell and Veronica who have come into the picture. But the four-time titlist would want to perhaps fly back to California as his worst fear is the subject of the fourth daily challenge... and it may represent a big chance for one of those who battled him in elimination a few years back to snap a streak that stretches back a few years, just as a rookie pair is staring down a target and must think big if they want to stay in South America. And what would any MTV Reality show be without some love being made? In a house full of those who have had some history in some way of finding love or falling in love in our living rooms, several players decide to pair it off romantically in the midst of the preseason to cuffing season.

Join us here after the break as the teams will find themselves going "on the edge" on the Week 4 edition of the DCBLOG Ride or Dies Challenge Pulse... and we'll also have a reflection on a pop star taken too soon from one who shared a boxing ring with him. Thanks for joining us, and see you here shortly.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "A Bumpy Ride"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It might be a bit late than we thought but on this 11/11 Veteran's Day (and Remembrance Day in Canada & Britain) we welcome you to the month of November around here, which also doubles as birthday month for this blogger -- and in fact, #DCBDay Weekend is now underway. And in the reality TV world, we're into the last weeks at the Bachelor in Paradise Mexican casa, the field for the live shows are now finalized on The Voice, and we are early into Season 38 of MTV's The Challenge: Ride or Dies.

When we were last in Argentina -- and trust us it's been a LONG time in the clock of this DCBLOG site, it was Week 2 of the new season when many a twist were thrown by TJ Lavin including him bringing out Johnny Bananas & Nany at the end of that first elimination... and they didn't waste any time getting back into the groove of things when they won that second daily game. For two players who were entering their third starts at this, there was more bad news for Nam to swallow when he couldn't even get to compete at all after the bolting of his partner... and Turbo returned from three years away resuming his old tricks, and he dared to go into elimination -- only to come up short in his first arena trip.

Also in week 2, Tori opened up about the struggles she has had with her mental health... but at night's end she was given the ultimate reality check when, after Olivia & Horacio sent Turbo home, she saw both her ex and her fellow podcast host enter the arena. It's that latest late & surprise entrance of Jordan & Aneesa that, as we return to South America, brings into focus what happened to them since we saw that proposal on War of the Worlds 2. On the game front, two totally rookie pairs try to find allies and survive a grueling trip up & down the countryside carrying barrels... while inside the house one player may find himself back in the love side of things. And we get a totally different take on a timeless Challenge classic: Hall Brawl being mixed with a symbol of the jolly folks across the Pond.

After the break, we embark on a bumpy ride through love and battle on Week 3 of the DCBLOG Season 38 Challenge Pulse... and we'll also let you in on another kind of love affair: a standout rookie from this summer's CBS Challenge who might've been a good candidate for this MTV season with her very own Ride or Die. Welcome back and thanks for joining us, and welcome to the weekend...

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Ride or Dies - The Ones Who We Do (& Don't) Know...

Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, "Who Are These Newbies?" is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices. Some videos embedded contain adult language & situations, parental guidance is suggested.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

On this last day of October and on this Halloween night we bring you into this week's MTV coverage... (offered a bit later than planned due to my YouTube work and other things) and just ahead we'll be delving into Week 3 of Season 38 of The Challenge. This is just part of a busy fall season in the reality TV world which also includes the just-premiered new season of Siesta Key which has moved down to Miami, among other things on the packed docket. But first, we offer this tradition that dates back to the beginning of this very site.

A decade ago, DCBLOG launched with a premise to offer something different in MTV show coverage by fan-operated blogs like this and then in the podcast world. One of those is offering a primer to those who are making their debuts on a Challenge or other shows with an all-star cast... thus was born, "Who Are These Newbies?" Our feeling is that, even though you might be tilted more towards those who you have rooted for on this show for a long time, those who are suiting up that uniform for the first time should deserve to have your attention... and we have given each and every single rookie their proper introduction -- background, context and the like -- to this franchise on every Challenge season in its various iterations since we began this site back during the second Rivals in 2013.

This year in Challenge Nation, we have seen part of two seasons of All-Stars and the show's first trip into the world of network television when CBS aired The Challenge: USA. Now that we are back in the MTV sphere for this fall's regular season, Season 38 brings us Ride or Dies... and the theme brings us a slew of newbies that this would easily count as another Fresh Meat season but that is not exactly the case: a few of them got to spend their time on other reality shows including a couple familiar faces to those of us who get to enjoy the whole MTV circuit beyond this Challenge world. And it also has elements of Battle of the Bloodlines and Exes too: there are siblings, significant others and friends... even a couple exes.

After the break, we begin this Rides or Dies edition of Who Are These Challenge Newbies?, starting with the ones who we know from doing these shows: a duo who comes to us from the most controversial season ever of Big Brother, those partners who have the tall task of having to tame more well-known names as their Ride or Dies, and a few others too.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Friend or Faux"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Right now, we are indulging in the 27th installment of the now-annual Sports Equinox with all four major sports in action and the second of these in a five-day stretch... and you now have exactly one week left to make your choice for what you'll be wearing on the first normal Halloween we've had this decade. But for a moment, let us at DCBLOG give you something else to think about here: Week 2 of this year's MTV season of The Challenge and Ride or Dies from down in soccer-mad Argentina as it counts down to next month's World Cup.

Last week saw us kick off the thirty-eighth season of this show with plenty on the docket: a number of returning champions coming back into action among a field of a dozen or so pairs of friends, siblings, significant others and more starting their journey. There was also a love triangle that formed that included a rookie who's had her fair share of drama in love on her two MTV shows and the one who comes into this pressure cooker after a full warm-up season on All-Star Shore. And there was also some action on the field as well: an opener in the mud that saw Johnny & Ravyn beat everyone else, a surprise replacement coming in before the starting gun, and Devin proving his elimination mastery again.

When he & Tori came up victorious in sending back to Britain Kailah & Sam, at night's end there was one more Teej-bomb that TJ Lavin laid on everyone: a game with a history of many twists and turns -- and one that laid plenty of those even before the first elimination began delivered one more of those. And it's the surprise entrance of this show's winningest player ever & his partner from seven years ago on Exes 2 that has no doubt shook the entire house... and this week that is an alarm to everyone to not dwell on the arrival of Banany as they try to maneuver a balancing act above the water. The lone returning champion male in the field that stood at the starting line last week seems to be picking up where he left off when we last saw him three autumns ago, and it may put him into a place he's never been to before. And as one player opens up about the struggles she's had to put herself in the right frame of mind when it comes to her health, she may find that you really can't forget about the past even in this game.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 2 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies, as this week the teams try to answer the question of whether they are siding with their friends or their foes... and we'll also get to the heart of the matter among one team who didn't even suit up to play at all. Welcome back Challenge Nation, and thanks for your spending part of your Sunday Funday Inside MTV Reality...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The Premiere

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We're past October's halfway point, and we hope you've chosen your Halloween costume & stocking up on that candy to give out in a dozen days. We're also having a full diet of sporting pleasures which, tomorrow night, will have the bars being full for the first of possibly three sports equinoxes in five days with the ALCS, Thursday Night Football, NBA Opening Week, NHL action and the MLS Cup Playoffs. But to get you in the mood for that busy early start to the weekend, we have this to throw at you: the opening act of Season 38 of MTV's The Challenge, and Ride or Dies kicking off.

As we noted in our season preview, this is a totally new game with familiar characters and a handful of fresh faces, and hopefully a fresh start after what we have to put up with on the televised versions of this show the past few years... and also with overtones of past seasons sprinkled in. We have plenty of worthy players from around the world, including fifteen players with finals experience and twenty-one titles between those dozen-plus of the entire field (including those who won't be present at the starting line when we begin this)... and they're all partnered up with their ride or dies -- friends, lovers, family.

They have all in Argentina with their eye on the $1 million that awaits in a few months from now in '23. And as it all begins, these pairs are all hopeful that their bonds will endure as well as outlast the rest of the field... but before all that goes down there is, of all things, a romantic rendezvous that creates one of our favorite scenarios in the wide world of reality TV: a love triangle. There's also the return of a popular winner who is picking up where they left off in trying to make a huge impression in their cockiness. And there are plenty of -- what we here like at this site refer to alternatively as -- a Teej-bomb: and it all begins even before host TJ Lavin sounds the airhorn to start the opening daily challenge and after we find out who will have the unenviable role of having that first flight out of South America.

So, grab that Under Armour jersey, that empty glass for that sparkling bubbly and join us here after the break as DCBLOG proudly presents the SocialPulse of the first Challenge Wednesday of this fall and all the the action, reaction and interaction of the premiere of Ride or Dies. And all of what you see below is how the cast saw it on October 19th and specially curated for all of you to enjoy in its uncensored and raw nature - that includes explicit language if you're mature enough to proceed with discretion. Thanks for joining in Challenge Nation, and welcome back... we're so glad to have you with us again.

DC SocialPulse Extra: The Challenge Ride or Dies - Prelude to the Premiere

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language and objectionable content. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello again everyone, we are at just about the halfway point of this month of October, which means we are a couple weeks from Halloween... and in my world, a month away from my birthday amidst the usual array of holidays in this last quarter of the calendar year. And after some time away from doing these posts all the time for much-needed family time after what has happened to us over the summer, we at DCBLOG are ready to get back into committing full-time to covering this ultimate feeling of escapism of covering the world Inside MTV Reality.

For the past decade, DCBLOG has proudly brought you what we think is the most unique and insightful blog coverage anywhere of TV's most-talked about reality programming... and when it comes to focusing in on the episodes themselves on here, we actually do things a bit differently. We'd like to both see and think of ourselves as the high-end supplement to the various array of podcasts, blogs, fantasy leagues and everything else in Challenge Nation... and one key aspect of the unique and differential nature of this fan site is something you're seeing right now: SocialPulse.

   Social media is a must-have nowadays when it comes to this show, and we assume that you were directed to us by one of my posts on social media by way of your phone apps. And whether you watch this live every Wednesday night or later on, you can only have your jaws drop at all the interaction taking place on your feed during the episodes and in between them... and that is where DCBLOG steps in to help sort it all out and provide you with this all of this interaction from Challenge Nation every step of the way since we started this site back in 2013 during Rivals II. Yes, that's every season of the show in its many forms for the past decade, where we have covered everything from CT's first title to the two times when Bananas and Ashley took all the money from their partners, and to the recent CBS final.

   We offer the 'Pulse as a public service to Challenge Nation -- cable subscribers, cord-cutters, avid fans and casual viewers alike -- in showing the other show that goes on concurrent to when the episodes air each week: the social interaction between challengers, fellow MTV & reality alumni and fans as viewed by them in the Twitter sphere. And these diaries are specially designed, curated & pieced together in its uncensored entirety (yes, explicit language included) to bring the competition, drama, hookups, jaw-dropping moments and more to you here as it took place in its original airings on Wednesday nights. But in in making it fair on everyone who watches these shows get a chance to catch up on it all, we abstain from covering the episodes until we get to the biggest time of the week: the weekend. And once it's Friday, Saturday or Sunday we'll have it all covered, along with traditional recaps when necessary and stories from all around this wide world through the prism of ExtraTime.

Straight ahead here, we'll be delving into the first act of Season 38 of the fifth major pro sport, as Ride or Dies takes off down in Argentina. But before we bring you all of that, we got this to take care of: there's nothing like the countdown to a new Challenge season... and in this case, the ramp-up to Wednesday night took place back on September when the cast of this season was revealed during The Challenge USA... and there was also the matter of something special as well: a look back.

   After the break, we begin taking the Pulse of The Challenge: Ride or Dies with this special pre-diary covering the kickoff of the countdown to its opening act, which includes a special three-week look back at the 25-year evolution of the show through a special 30 for 30-style documentary miniseries, Untold Stories... and there's also the matter of letting you in on some tea involving a friend of a past competitor. Welcome back Challenge Nation, and welcome to our weekly coverage of Ride or Dies.