DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Total Madness - The Premiere

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

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Hi everyone, and welcome to the first weekend of April... and for the first time in what seems like forever, for a lot of you there is finally something you can look forward to if you're into action and competition, with side orders of drama too. And it's time for us at DCBLOG to kick off our weekly coverage of the main event of the moment (or at least, the co-main along with a certain wrestling event taking place this weekend), and for most of you the only one that really matters: The Challenge Total Madness. And given our attention here has been on fun & drama in Florida and love Down Under plus everything that's gone on in our world, it feels almost like an eternity since winter.
   It was there back in mid-December that the final of War of the Worlds 2 was being contested in Thailand. Team USA had a strong regular season but Team Britain received two lifelines in the fall's only trench-coats joining their side late in the season, and Jordan & Tori joining them shifted power to the Brits. As it turned out, it proved to be the difference maker, and by the time the final was all done & dusted, he was sipping champagne as a 3-time Challenge champion along with CT. And first-time winners Dee and Rogan joined them as the second & third international title-holders relishing in $250,000 checks for the four of them.

Now, the focus shifts westward to the Czech Republic and Prague for the thirty-fiftieth chapter of the very first book on reality competition shows, and this time it's not a war but all-out madness in the heart of Eastern Europe and behind the former Iron Curtain. This season will return back to the solo format of all the players competing individually, and seven champions, seven rookies and old-line and new generation veterans in between are competing together... and once again the folks have upped the ante in the amount of insane challenges in the quest to see who will share in $1 million.
   And given how everyone's expectations are astronomically high after what we had last year, this week it all begins in this Mad World of ours... and the players will find themselves encountering an intimidating opening challenge that, luckily, will see everyone still be in the game as they won't have to deal with an opening purge. But the bad news awaits them after the fact, as they will have to take up residency in the most shocking living conditions they have ever encountered. Plus, something out of the ordinary takes place inside that new place in a new alliance, and something of the ordinary takes place during our first trip to the elimination chamber... all of that is coming up ahead.

As we start things off, if you're new to this site -- and we know a lot of you are, then welcome for the first time, get cozy and indulge yourself in DCBLOG's unique, insightful and distinctive look at The Challenge and everything MTV Reality has to offer. SocialPulse is our signature component of our MTV coverage - and something we've been doing for it and other series since this site began in 2013. This allows all of you to check out the other show taking place concurrent to when the episodes air each week: the social interaction among castmates, fellow MTV & reality alumni and fans as viewed by them in the Twitter sphere, part of the communal experience watching the show as it airs on TV, and the leadup and aftermath too.
   These exclusive running diaries are specially designed, curated & pieced together in its uncensored entirety 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 as a service to all fans each weekend. Whether you're reliving it all over again on your DVR or on-demand, or if you don't have cable, satellite or streaming & have just caught up, we have you covered. Along with those, we also offer our take on the traditional weekly episode recaps with opinions & analysis on the WRAP, and through the lens of ExtraTime we spotlight the people and stories of MTV Reality, both on- and off-camera, and in and outside the bubble.

Now, the following is the action, reaction and interaction, and the actual posts of the cast of Total Madness, fellow reality alumni and fans like you as they watched the premiere on Wednesday, April 1st, along with the aftermath to that first episode.
• As we begin, please note there is explicit language in many of the tweets below, but they are kept uncensored in order to retain the heat of the moment. So if you are mature enough, please read with discretion. :-)
• Plus, if you haven't watched the episode yet, then do not proceed with reading this post. But need not worry...DCBLOG will compile all of these tweets into these posts after every episode so you won't be in the dark of how your favorites saw this all unfold.

After the jump, twenty-eight worthy competitors begin their journey towards a million in THE game of all games. Welcome to the premiere Pulse of Season 35 of The Challenge: Total Madness, and thanks for joining us Challenge Nation (and staying up for us this late Saturday night)...

DC SocialPulse Extra: Road to The Challenge Total Madness

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Hello again and Happy Saturday to all of you out there... we welcome you to the week Inside MTV Reality, as we at DCBLOG kick off our weekly content covering The Challenge: Total Madness. We had our season preview of it last week followed on premiere night by our traditional intro to the first-time competitors, Who Are These Newbies?. And just ahead, the Pulse of this week's premiere with the action, reaction and interaction of the first act of Season 35 of the Fifth Major Pro Sport.
   In all likelihood, you have a Twitter app on your phone and you were likely led to this by that app of 280 characters or less. And whether you watch this live or do it later on, you just gasp at all the interaction taking place during these episodes and before and after it airs. That's what those of you who are part of this MTV fandom do as part of your obsession with the most-talked about (and now, some of the most-watched) shows in the reality TV genre, and we at DCBLOG and our SocialPulse franchise have been your tour guide through all of this interaction surrounding The Challenge and the shows linked in a way to this since our coverage began seven years ago next month, and it has now become a vital component to the MTV Reality experience as well.
   SocialPulse is a public service to all fans - cable subscribers, cord-cutters, avid fans and casual viewers alike... but staying true to one of those segments of the audience, it's only now that we bring you these posts... and we'll be here every weekend to bring you how the cast, alumni and fans see each episode from their POV, and the buzz before and after the 90-minute episodes of this series, the first weekly MTV show to air in this expanded format. And it's only a part of our weekly coverage, with so much outstanding content covering The Challenge and other shows of our interest, so you can "See For Yourself."

After the jump, we begin taking the Pulse of Total Madness with this pre-diary covering the countdown to Wednesday's premiere, and that opening episode will be covered later tonight here on DCBLOG. Welcome on in...

DC ExtraTime: A Different Kind of Being Ghosted

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Whenever the leaves start to fall and cooler weather begins taking over, it means that the year's most exciting time is about to begin: the holidays between October and January. Retailers and those who like decorating houses love autumn & winter, as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's all fall in the course of sixty-days from October 31st until two months later. As 2020 is a leap year, all these holidays will fall over the weekend... and the ripple effect of this year's pandemic now means two of music's biggest festivals, Coachella and EDC, are now pushed back into this fall.

It's with the first holiday of the 4th and last quarter of the calendar year that is based around this ExtraTime story about something a bit unusual but linked in some way to what we've been having on Thursdays for the past couple years, and the nostalgia movement in the world of TV where networks are realizing that their viewers are so much tied to their past and are rebooting programming & starting new content based on their most valuable intellectual property. And this story also mixes in something that would make you want to, as the saying goes, "go bump in the night."

Two of those who are featured here have had encounters with the downright paranormal: one in America's heartland who made up with her ex after a fling with the new MTV King, and the other who is a Challenge champion from a renowned cast of an erstwhile MTV show of years gone by who invited some investigators to look over her house in the Pacific Northwest. If you love those stranger occurrences we have in this world of ours, then this post is just for you as we're about to go on this trip into the weird, and A Different Kind of Being Ghosted...

DC ExtraTime: Didi "Makes A Deal"

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Pic Courtesy CBS

Tonight, our attention has been on the premiere of The Challenge: Total Madness, but it was six years ago on this date of the 1st of April that we had a memorable MTV Reality moment take place: Are You The One's ultimate perfect match of Amber & Ethan Diamond getting engaged on the reunion. They remain the quintessential couples goals for the show that gave us the terms "Truth Booth," "Boom Boom Room" and a few of The Challenge's big names. And it's at one of that season's Matchup Ceremonies that gave us a memorable outfit.

In what turned out to be the second-to-last matchup the Originals had en route to $1 million (the eighth one, as they closed the deal in their ninth of the ten tries), Denver native and Game of Thrones fanatic Ryan Malaty decided to dust off a costume he wore to a local Comic-Con a few years earlier depicting the title character of Disney's Aladdin. A couple years later, Ryan was chosen to be on CBS' modern-day version of the classic game show, Let's Make A Deal... and of course he became Aladdin once more. And just last year, another MTV face from years gone by, Ashley Lindley of The Real World D.C. of ten years ago, appeared on a Christmas in July episode of this daytime staple.

As it is now enjoying record viewership levels as we're all staying at home right now, yesterday for those who got to catch it on CBS (provided that it wasn't interrupted by news coverage of the ongoing pandemic), Let's Make A Deal had its second AYTO alum come onto a show that's been around since Monty Hall was its host in the '60s and well-known for making every day feel like Halloween with its contestants dressing up in those zany outfits. This time, the person who made their way to the big stage with host Wayne Brady was one who, three years ago, was part of a renowned MTV cast who has made marks on both of its entries into romantic dating television.

Three years ago at this time, New Jersey girl Diandra Delgado was auditioning to be part of Season 6 of AYTO, and she made it onto that cast of twenty-two singles who went down to New Orleans with the task of having to follow the only cast to not win the jackpot of the preceding season and to get back into the winner's circle. Her bio stated of her jumping frequently into relationships with guys almost instantly and not slowing down when she got down with one guy.

By the Bayou, she would ultimately get close to Florida party boy Malcolm Drummer, who would become the man in the middle of the good old love triangle with Maine girl Nurys Mateo. That threesome was settled into the Truth Booth when he & the ladder were not a match and they were matched with other housemates by the time they pulled out their unlikely ascent into "eleventh heaven" and that record comeback in that 10th & last matchup.

But that wasn't the end of the Didi/Malcolm/Nurys triangle: that continued into Season 2 of Ex On The Beach last year and that too, didn't turn up any favorable outcome - though the two girls in this are now rooming together. And in a new twist to this post-MTV life: it was revealed on Instagram most recently that Malcolm (who dated EOTB single Maya Benberry during and briefly after) had just gotten his current girlfriend, an adult entertainer, pregnant.

Instagram @LetsMakeADeal

Didi reappeared on our screens yesterday on Let's Make A Deal, but unlike what Ryan had when he went on there, she was just herself in wearing just a sport jacket and shorts, fitting for the sunny climate for a region where the show is taped in Southern California. When Wayne chose her to be on the bidding floor, she was given a choice of a big box by one of the show's models and a small box held by the show's announcer, Wayne's fellow castmate on The CW's Whose Line Is It Anyway Jonathan Mangum.

But the choice of which box she wanted was given in a interpretive dance challenge by both gentlemen right after she showed off dance moves of her own... Didi opted for the smaller container, and she was given small action figurines to probably give to the youngsters back home for next Christmas. She passed up a bigger offer: the bigger box had something that might suit her & Nurys if a Challenge call came about in a home gym as well as a trip back home to New York City. Oh, what might have been...

But an additional consolation prize for her appearing on Let's Make A Deal (and adding to the many appearances other Ex On The Beach alumni have made on a slew of other television shows outside the villa in addition to Nurys being in Cardi B's "Press" video) was of taking a selfie with the show's host. When yesterday's episode was taped all the way back in August of last year, Didi captioned on Instagram @DiandraDelgado_ (and with Jon even photobombing in the pic above), "Hey @mrbradybaby ! Let’s make a deal, shall we? 📸💃🏽"

View this post on Instagram

Selfie? ✅ Photobomb? ✅ Chosen to play at #LMAD? ✅

A post shared by Let's Make A Deal (@letsmakeadealcbs) on Aug 2, 2019 at 10:59am PDT

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Total Madness

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Tonight, it all begins as we get to enjoy at home with reality TV and sports fans like the start of the "most dangerous season ever" of the competition we all deserve more than ever, as The Challenge: Total Madness takes shape with the beginning of its thirty-fifth season. Things will no doubt heat up in the heart of the battlefront of Eastern Europe as twenty-eight competitors both familiar and fresh will take to the grounds of the Czech Republic capital of Prague for a season to remember as they compete for $1 million.
   Every time we start a new season of some of the major series we cover here, we at DCBLOG give ourselves the assignment to go around the World Wide Web and social media to answer a question on the minds of most of you: "Who Are These Newbies?" This is in reference to first-time rookies making their debuts on The Challenge, when notable reality personalities come on Ex On The Beach, and most recently when The Bachelorette's Robby Hayes invaded Siesta Key. We make sure to give everyone the proper welcome and respect they deserve to help you, our readers, know them a bit better in us adding background, perspective, insight & context on who they are. And those we've profiled on here in our nearly eight years blogging numbers in at just around 130 people.

This Challenge season will take place in both familiar and fresh undertones: for the first time since 2005, MTV is under the same corporate umbrella as CBS, the network credited with bringing reality TV to the masses in the U.S. Despite top execs conceding the possible long-term effect that the current uncertainty of the pandemic will have on them and the media industry in whole, the corporate synergy of the new ViacomCBS will nonetheless be on full display for the first time with this Challenge as those who have appeared on shows that air on the parent broadcast network and a pioneer in the cable sphere will be competing here together. And Total Madness will commence amidst an upcoming milestone for the entire genre.
   Twenty years ago after the two companies were first aligned, a then-desperate 3rd place network trapped in the ratings cellar for over a decade looked to, of all things, reality TV, as a last resort to regain its footing, and Americanized versions of two shows that started in Europe. That gamble paid off big time as Season 1 of Survivor became a pop culture sensation with over 50 million viewers tuning into that memorable finale. Summer 2000 also saw the launch of Big Brother, which had some growing pains that year but eventually grew into an eventual American summertime staple. And a year later, the Eye asked the creator of its CSI franchise, Jerry Bruckheimer, to create a reality-based global journey along the line of Road Rules, which became The Amazing Race.
   What happened there with CBS' launch of those three shows which ultimately helped it regain title of "America's Most-Watched Network" offers the backdrop to this year's class of Challenge rookies, where a Survivor castaway, four Big Brother houseguests, and a TAR alum comprise six of the seven first-timers on Total Madness. And the seventh is an MTV alum who made waves four years ago on the same season of Are You The One? as a girl who's now part of an MTV power couple and another lady who made news last year for a World Series striptease... and he's also appeared on many other reality shows as well both in America and overseas.

As we always do here, we'll take the chance to introduce these newbies for you here with how their original series' bios described them when they began to dive into the reality field, what happened on their original and subsequent shows -- including offer clips of those shows, and any extra info on them that might be of particular interest. But, there are two interesting twists to all of this: First, the policy we have had in place since Final Reckoning states: if a rookie challenger appeared on a prior MTV series or if we wrote on them previously, then they're exempt from being featured in that season's Newbies post.
   In that case, you won't be seeing either Asaf Goren or Jay Starrett on here: we featured the AYTO alum in his own post back in 2017 -- including his time on MTV and So You Think You Can Dance and his cameo in a Britney Spears video, plus another post on him on Food Network's Worst Cooks in America... and we'll be looking at more of his reality resume later on. And in the case of the Survivor alum, Jay was featured in our Newbies post on the exes of EOTB Season 2, plus the time where he was part of the viral moment of Bradley Cooper photobombing a beach workout of him and BB18 alum Corey Brooks -- both exes of Morgan Willett, now Johnny Bananas' girlfriend.

   But in addition, there's another one: for the first time on here, someone who we featured in our Someone You Should Know posts pertaining to when MTV Reality personalities meet up with those outside the community bubble meet up will have actually been case for an MTV show. In this case, in 2018 we featured a couple from AYTO Season 6 meeting up with two other rookies, Big Brother 20 romance Bayleigh Dayton and Chris "Swaggy C." Williams. In their case, we will be featuring #Swayleigh in showing just footage from their Big Brother season and their time together, and that will appear later on.

   But after the jump, we begin with two of Swayleigh's other houseguests in the BB20 house who pose a big athletic threat to perhaps follow in what an alum of the global Survivor franchise did of winning it all in his first try, as we are only hours away from getting this all started once again...

DC ExtraTime Funny File: Love in The Midst of Madness

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Ordinarily, we at DCBLOG tend to be a place of escapism, much like the reality shows that you enjoy and we cover here. But this feeling of wanting to take a break for this has been more needed for those of you to take your minds of what has been a chaotic month of March which fortunately ends tomorrow. Of course, this has been dominated by one word and classification: the coronavirus and COVID-19. This story is just a small exception in add a lighthearted way to the madness going on.

There is no doubt that all of us have now taken our health very seriously in the past few weeks since the startling announcement of the coronavirus becoming a pandemic, placing everything from what the President does to organizers of events planned for this middle part of 2020 in a microscope. It has turned your local grocer into scenes straight out of Black Friday mall madness as those across the country have binge-shopped before being told to stay in, as we all are right now with seemingly no end in sight. Yesterday, the lockdown order was just extended for the next month, while the stock market is on the verge of a deeper recession that that of 2008, as unemployment claims are jumping and businesses are trying to survive.

All of us being in quarantine has seen the term "social distancing" become a buzzword this month -- even this blogger did his best to do that when I walked to the bank near my house earlier today for my first outdoor activities in almost three weeks. But, it has also seen at-home activities become an everyday part of this new life we're in as we're all trapped with family, friends, loved ones and the kids. That also includes more of us using the internet to do whatever we want, and where TikTok has seen everyone from those who we follow around the MTV world here to even my niece doing dances... as well as another staple of late night in this universe: live Instagram sessions where tea is usually spilled after an episode airs.

Being in love while also being at home is something couples are used to in living together, eating together and sleeping together... but this also means that as lockdown orders are in place in cities across America it also means that dates can't take place at a fancy restaurant, among other things that are commonplace on a weekend or after work. And that has seen those who are married or who are together romantically look to other things to keep themselves cuddled up during "cuffing season."

Pic: DWECK on YouTube

Back before Ex On The Beach's winter season in early December, we spotlighted an alum of MTV's fellow romantic reality series, Kathryn Palmer of Are You The One Season 5, as she had to deal with having her Facebook account get suspended and had to travel back in time to the '50s to get help. That sketch is part of DWECK, a YouTube comedy channel that aims to take a different approach to mixing humor with the current events of the moment, compared to its late night counterparts.

As production of late night talk shows such as Stephen Colbert's Late Show has been scaled back to mixing reruns with fresh at-home content with its hosts, the outlets for original comedy in this tough time have been limited. But the DWECK channel, led by its lead actor Victor Dweck, has been able to find a way to strike the right mix to wanting to make us laugh when there's not much out there as everything has been on hold... its latest sketch does exactly that.

Here, Kathryn and Victor are enjoying a date in the comforts of their own apartment instead of being out and about. And they find that it is a bit different than what they are used to with them wearing masks and using hand sanitizers. Below, find out how they handle all this in a video that a YouTube user wrote in the comments below, "This sketch jumps all over the place. You never know what is going to be the next punch line. Just as ridiculous as hoarding toilet paper or buying 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer. Thank you for keeping up with the content in these troublesome times, it is nice to see something funny when you are in lockdown!"

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

DC ExtraTime: Real World/The Challenge Meets The Rookie

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

On last summer's third installment of Ex On The Beach, for us MTV fans most of our attention was on a slew of alumni from The Challenge, Real World and Are You The One (the "Trifecta" as we call it here), as well as the #Melena showmance from Big Brother and the queen of Making The Band, Aubrey O'Day. But much of the focus in that Malibu mansion was on someone else.

The cast of The Rookie. (Credit: ABC)

Multi-talented entertainer Cameron Armstrong, who first made waves on the 2017 music competition series Boy Band, found himself juggling exes Alexis and Ariana, and his complicated relationships with the both of them was a talking point in last year's summer of love. When he was the first one eliminated on the show that eventually produced the group In Real Life (who have since disbanded as its members are now pursuing solo careers), Cameron turned his attention to acting. And on the same network that aired his debut on national television, he played a small role of a nurse at a local hospital on the ABC police drama The Rookie, which centers around 45-year-old John Nolan (played by Nathan Fillion) in his first year serving in a cop in the Los Angeles Police Department, a far cry from being a former contractor in Pennsylvania.

In its second season and accompanying the very first timeslot occupied by Grey's Anatomy (10PM on Sunday nights on ABC), The Rookie has had some notable guest stars, including Shark Tank master Mark Cuban, Ali Larter, members of the L.A. Rams, Seth Green and Jeremy Davies. And earlier this month, Wild N' Out & Guy Code alum and Ariana Grande's ex Pete Davidson played the role of Nathan's half-brother who he met after the death of their dad, just after the release of his first comedy special for Netflix and the movie Big Time Adolescence on Hulu.

Someone else who's familiar to at least some in the MTV community has also made an appearance on Season 2 of The Rookie, and for this one you have to go all the way back a decade to find someone who almost pulled out one of the most impossible feats you can ever possibly do on The Challenge, as we await the new season of Total Madness to take shape in five days from now.

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome to The Challenge - Total Madness

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Hey folks, we welcome you and thanks so much for joining us... without making any mention of all that's gone on, we know these first three months of 2020 have been a tough and extraordinary time in so many ways. However, something that makes the hobby and pleasure of watching television so enjoyable for you, me & all of us is that, for any length or period of time, you have reason to escape the worries of the world outside your window for something that pleases you. This has never been more prevalent than in these uncertain times we are in at this moment as we're all are spending time being stuck at home with our families, friends and loved ones right now, and an aspect of our society that best fits this feeling of escapism is reality television.
   The past several months in MTV's portion of a genre it's pioneered has seen the Sunshine State of Florida take center stage with Seasons 3 of both Floribama Shore and Siesta Key sharing top billing. The former brought us a broken bromance, a familiar friend joining the crew, and lots of fun in the sun; the ladder saw the showmance of Juliette Porter & Bachelor Robby Hayes and plenty of red-hot drama. And Ex On The Beach on this side of the Atlantic gave us a franchise first: British lovebirds Georgia Steel & Callum Izzard becoming the first ever couple to get engaged; while Celeb Ex has been delighting U.K. fans with Challenger & Rebel Wilson's new BFF, Georgia Harrison, and VH1 diva Tiffany "New York" Pollard among the seasiders.
   And while some of you are enjoying the Thursday night company of a newly-released Mike The Situation and his Jersey Shore friends as well as some newbies over in the Lou and soon & again over in Staten Island, for many of us 2020 in MTV Reality will begin for real on Wednesday, April 1st. It's not just the start of a month that we hope will bring health & happiness to all of us -- along with it being 4/20 month on top of that, but for that a new season of what's called the fifth major pro sport will commence exactly one week from tonight.

There, The Challenge will kick off its 35th season as the first of its kind reality competition series will again take over the attention of its fans with what should be a compelling and captivating season of action and drama that will glue you in the minute it begins. And with most everything in the athletic world at home here in America and overseas in an unprecedented standstill because of the panic that's going on - including yesterday's postponement of this summer's Tokyo Olympics among other things, for the first time ever this show will take on the daunting and tall task of being the only game in town in this country when his trademark air horn to start off the first competition of the new campaign is given by its now 25-season host, former BMX rider T.J. Lavin.
   Last year, The Challenge finally put to rest a much maligned trilogy and got a fresh new start as it welcomed entrants from around the wide world of reality television from both the U.S. and across the globe. War of the Worlds I and II helped to reinvigorate this franchise as two veterans added to their trophy case with their third titles, and a Turkish rookie & two second-year competitors with English accents joined them atop the victory podium as they relished in $2 million in prize money. We also had a franchise power couple getting engaged on the elimination floor among other things in the past year, enough for the NBA's reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, to take notice of his favorite guilty pleasure as he awaits the resumption of action on the hardwood.
   This time, it's Total Madness: a season described as "The Most Dangerous Challenge Ever," and with good measure as this season will unleash mental warfare like never before. For the fifth time in the last four years, this Challenge will be every one for themselves as each man & woman will compete solo, rather than with a partner or a team. Among this class are seven past champions, seven fresh rookies, and many other candidates worthy of that first crown... including a daddy who, this spring, will be a star on not just this show, but also on MTV's most tabloid-worthy series as he awaits baby #2. This is also the first Challenge season to take place under the new ViacomCBS, and CBS reality alumni will be well-represented here, two decades after the debuts of two of its biggest shows.
   They've all gathered in a fitting host city of Prague in the Czech Republic, where the last time this Eastern European capital played host ten years ago, Cutthroat was the venue for the most memorable Challenge moment ever: this series' winningest player getting manhandled by the show's resident beast on his back. On the radar for those two men and the rest of the competitors: some of the most-insane challenges ever devised, plus the pitfalls and twists that will serve as the roadblocks en route to $1 million at season's conclusion.

Total Madness will be more than just the main attraction for many of us MTV fans -- it's also one of a handful of things fresh & competitive that will be on TV this spring. And we at DCBLOG will be your tour guide to the madness from when it premieres to start April off, right on through to the final come summertime. And ahead in this season preview, we'll have a look at what awaits us behind the former Iron Curtain, give our look & guesses at the format, and of course we'll meet the challengers. This is the first half of our first look: our traditional introduction to the rookies of this Challenge will follow later on, as they look to emulate what Turbo did and win first time out.

​   So, come on inside, welcome and get comfortable... And if you're new to this, hop aboard too. Our first look at The Challenge: Total Madness awaits after the jump. We're so glad you're here.