Inside MTV Reality: Welcome to The Challenge All-Stars

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Just over a month ago, the man who serves as the co-host of the definitive audio talk show for perhaps the most revered show for those of us who watch and worship this world of MTV programming, Scott Yager, tweeted that those of us who have grown up with a cable channel known historically as Music Television should expect 2021 to be an amazing year. This is, after all, the 40th anniversary of MTV, and we are smack dab in the midst of what's shaping up to be a memorable spring in this world of reality television's most-talked about shows.

Right now, we are in the midst of the serious business just beginning on The Challenge Double Agents as it winds its way towards thinning out the number of competitors left in Iceland before it contests the season-end marathon for $1 million. One of the figures still left in the running is also going about being part of the universe surrounding Cheyenne Floyd on Teen Mom OG as she awaits the arrival of her second baby and third in the group that represents Challenge Nation in that sorority. And in Montana, Season 4 of Floribama Shore is well underway with plenty of drama having gone down as the Bam is getting used to being in lockdown in the north.

And then, there's the main event of this spring: this Thursday is the launch of The Challenge All Stars as it commences the Easter holiday weekend. And where it seems that the wide world of reality television has been represented on recent seasons of the fifth major pro sport on the conventional MTV cable channel, this spring those who you grew up with are returning for one more shot at pride and glory. And it will be airing on a totally new platform compared to what we're used to: ViacomCBS' entry into the streaming wars of Paramount+, which launched earlier this month to much fanfare.

Over twenty of those who have done either one of the two series that began the MTV Reality story three decades ago -- Real World or Road Rules, along with a Fresh Meat alum mixed in, will gather down in Argentina for another chance to scale the peaks of the Andes Mountains and the heights of this game to earn a shot at a half million dollars. And if what we've seen of late on the main Challenge series has been thrilling as far as the action goes, then we should be in for just as much when those who have not been on this series since a certain streaming competitor was just delivering movies through the mail take to the floor for a season unlike any other, though some things don't change down the years.

After the jump, DCBLOG takes our first look at The Challenge All-Stars as the OG's take center stage one more time. Thanks for joining us, Challenge Nation and welcome... we're glad you're here again. 

DC SocialPulse: Floribama Shore - "All Copacetic"

*** 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... you do need those, after all. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back... earlier tonight, we brought you the Pulse of hour 1 of an early spring's double shot of Floribama Shore where something that's been an all too frequent occurrence in this world turned into something a bit more. An argument between Candace and Gus over him stealing her hairdryer saw him bolt out of the Montana cabin with just his shorts on... an ideal sight during the heat of summer, but certainly not in the winter's chill. It initiated a city-wide search for him by his housemates and those in production (including Shore impresario Sally-Ann Salsano), but he was found safe & sound and is in quarantine at a hotel as a precaution.

As we make our way back to the cabin, things are just about back to normal in the house... and that includes Codi deciding to add more to his highlight reel when he fell off of a recliner. And he's about to take off all of those clothes off once again, as the house vibe turns from a state of despair to something much different... and that includes Aimee's favorite dish that also doubles as the least favorite of the house considering what happened the first time they tried it. And the house is about to welcome a special guest to their bubble: a childhood friend of one of the housemates flies into town for a visit.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you the back-half of Montanabama Shore's double shot, as we wrap up this weekend dose of action, reaction and interaction of this week Inside MTV Reality...

DC SocialPulse: Floribama Shore - "Door Dash"

*** 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... you do need those, after all. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If there is a place you would want to be on this late March's weekend, chances are you would want to be in Florida, in California or in Las Vegas -- they were in the 70's and 80's in the midst of Spring Break. But if you are in need for some winter fun at the end of the season of snow and just being isolated from civilization, you'd probably be spending some time in a cabin with those who are not used to the cold in the kids from Floribama Shore, as we're about to bring you a Double Shot of the Shore Pulse.

A month into our return engagement with our favorite Southerners, and we have already had plenty of drama going down in the Montana cabin, and previously we saw an attempt to bring the house together with a game night while being snowed in turn into something a bit too close for comfort for everyone. But given the group's new locale and getting used to anything but warm and pleasant conditions outside didn't deter Codi from taking a dip in the freezing cold wearing just his Speedos... it wouldn't be a season in Floribama without him going for a dive.

But it would also not officially be a season of this show without an argument about something so simple that it didn't need to be more than just a blowup. That would come to pass once again with Candace and Gus getting into it over her thinking that he stole her hairdryer. And at night's end, he bolted away from the house with just his shorts on in the 20-degree cold, and this week the roommates are suddenly finding themselves in more than a state of panic as they (and even those behind the fourth wall in production) go around town to search for him and to hope that he gets home safe and sound.

After the break, the DCBLOG Pulse brings you the first of a two-hour dose of the Floribama Shore as the house goes Searching for Gus...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Double Agents - "Never Say Never Again"

*** 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... you do need those, after all. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello friends and welcome to the last week of March... a year ago at this time, we were in the early stages of what seemed to be a never-ending deluge of bad luck, but do count your blessings if you're lucky to be alive as we wrap the first quarter of 2021. And if you're lucky to be following MTV Reality as much as we are here, we're on the verge of some marvelous stuff to come in the next few months. But before that, we have the business at hand of the serious stuff starting up south of the Arctic Circle.

In short order, The Challenge Double Agents will approach the starting gate for the marathon to the $1 million, and last week the spies took to the water yet again: this time to find puzzle pieces beneath the surface that saw most falter and others find that they are a good team... and Kyle & Aneesa took back agent status in the house. But the focus of Week 14 would turn to the man who has many more partners than we can count, and Cory earned a shot at a skull which he took down Darrell to put himself into position to perhaps make his best shot at the money and secure the future for his two kids back home.

Also there, the daddy got to switch up the team order again and where now, CT and Big T are back together. And this week, they find themselves with a full plate on their desk: him having to deal with an arrogant sophomore while at the fun of an 80's dance party, the other trying to take off a rather unwanted distinction this late of the game of not being eligible as of yet to go for the money. And if that is not enough, one of them will also have just as terrifying a task as anyone will have in their lives: going for a dive from 15,000 feet above the ground to solve a puzzle as the agents inch closer to the final.

Ahead, DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 15 of The Challenge: Double Agents as we head towards crunch time... plus, we inch ourselves closer to next week's launch of The Challenge All-Stars. And welcome to the weekend...

DC ExtraTime: Two Rings, A New Mom (Again) and Two New Dads...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Along with covering every episode of the shows we cover here and those occasions when this world of television's most-talked about reality programming crosses at the intersection of pop culture, it's always been a priority for us at DCBLOG to acknowledge just about milestone the people who've starred on these shows mark off camera. And in the past couple of weeks came several more of those: three MTV alumni from different sections of the generational gap getting to embark on that one sign that we are officially old, and three past Challengers saying their "I do's."

Courtesy: People Magazine

Say what you might about them, but there is probably little doubt that the current power couple in The Challenge community is Zach Nichols & Jenna Compono... it was six years ago at this time that we saw them first click on Battle of the Exes 2 just off of relationships with fellow Real World alumni which brought them to Costa Rica. And though there have been some bumps along the way they are now, as we love to say around here, each other's perfect match.

   This has been quite a past sixteen months for #Zenna since they went to Rockefeller Center on the pre-Christmas Saturday in 2019 and stole some buzz from Eddie Murphy's return to SNL when he proposed to her at the base of the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree and got engaged just after she got home from competing on Total Madness. But while we've been watching Double Agents, it's most especially been an amazing winter for the couple when they announced their impending entry into parenthood when, on Valentine's Day they posted a picture of a sign with the words "Baby Nichols, Coming 2021." Then came a small, private gender reveal just a couple weeks later, where they popped a big balloon to find the color blue, emblematic of a baby boy.

DC SocialPulse: Floribama Shore - "Dude, Where's My Hair Dryer?"

*** 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... you do need those, after all. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back to the first full day of spring, and wherever you are you probably had a chance for a brief moment to head outside and enjoy the start of that annual season of renewal, most especially now. If you are lucky enough to had a chance to do that, you can be lucky that you aren't the Bam of Floribama Shore as they are finding themselves stuck indoors in relatively different settings than they are used to.

The reason for that reasoning is, of course, that they are in Montana and not in Florida for this portion of Season 4, as they are getting accustomed to much cooler conditions... and last week they found themselves getting snowed in by a winter blizzard. Being stuck inside means that the Bam have to find new things to do with no beach to go to, and that meant Candace having to call her parents back home to mislead them that she and Codi are engaged. But they also have to deal with what's gone on in the past - and that meant some brewed up feelings between Gus and Jeremiah, as well as allegations that our resident playboy may have cheated over in St. Pete Beach.

That argument turned fisticuffs between the former bromance more than foiled the plans by the house to try and bring the house together through a family game night... and this week the lingering effects of that game night gone bad will continue to radiate through the chateau. The snow that fell outside during the madness gives the house reason to do something they have either never or have rarely been able to do: have a snow day... and it also gives reason for the Puke & Rally King to let it all out in the freezing cold. And what could be a Floribama season without one of those odd fights involving something as simple or as essential to our life in lockdown as what you use to dry your hair after being in the shower?

We'll have all of that after the break as we at DCBLOG bring you the 'Pulse of Week 4 of Montanabama Shore... and thanks for wrapping up your busy spring day with us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Double Agents EP. 13 & All-Stars Countdown Begins

*** 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... you do need those, after all. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We have made it to the third weekend of March... and today, the madness we're accustomed to this time of year in American sports has returned in the form of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. At this time last year, there was another kind of madness that served as the only game in town in Total Madness, the season that proceeded this current one of MTV's The Challenge. The fifth major pro sport does have company this time around in terms of what we all can enjoy competition wise, as Double Agents rolls along up in Iceland.

Last week, the agents had to literally tough it out through pulling off an all-nighter as they had to survive a rough go of it by having to drink weird mixes, eat bad food and endure a night of hell in a cell. But even before they entered the voting chamber, the matchup in the Crater was already set in stone where, at night's end, Nany took her first elimination win since Rivals III... and this came on the 10th anniversary of her debut Real World season debuting at what will become the new Virgin Hotels Las Vegas come next weekend.

As the number of players are now dwindling towards single digits, this week the agents will turn their focus back to the water to try and solve a puzzle with pieces lying beneath the surface between something that might be of particular interest if you happen to know your geology. And while this daily challenge will determine whose communication and ability to handle the water will be better equipped to handle the marathon for the money, one man is eyeing to overcome having lost as many partners as any in any Challenge season ever and hope he can finally get back on track towards his first crown.

However in the minds of many of you, this week's thirteenth episode might as well serve as an afterthought of sorts to the week's main event: the official unveiling of the cast for the next chapter in Challenge history: the All-Stars spinoff season to begin concurrently with the homestretch of this Double Agents season and will eventually have the spotlight on its own this spring when it debuts during the Easter holiday weekend on Paramount+. And it leads off this week's edition of Challenge SocialPulse, which begins after the break... and thanks for joining us and welcome to the weekend.

DC ExtraTime: Someone You Should Know - Lexy Panterra

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Along with this ongoing global pandemic, it was back in the early summer of last year that things as we knew it when it comes to the casts of some of reality TV's most vaunted franchises were upended by the Black Lives Matter movement when the police-initiated murder of George Floyd ignited the firestorm of protests that gripped the world's attention during a most chaotic year. And along with it affecting both The Challenge and Siesta Key, the past undoing's and actions by reality personalities also shook one of Hollywood's most well-known hangout joints.

Three years ago, Faith Stowers found herself as one of the ten entrants to the Ex On The Beach house in Hawaii and then competed on two seasons of The Challenge... but she was also someone unique in the environment of Vanderpump Rules. She was the only Black cast member of the Bravo series, being known before crossing into MTV space for her brief affair on Jax Taylor and causing him to cheat on Brittany Cartwright. And it was last year that a 2018 off-camera incident was brought to light where original VPR castmates Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute sent local police a false police report involving Faith. After it made waves in British red top tabloid The Daily Mail, Stassi used racially insensitive language when sharing that article while also discussing it on her podcast... but the damage had been done, and she & Kristen were booted from the show.

Faith is now plotting her own course in the world of reality television as she has been shopping around her own series to other outlets following her career in owning her own business in addition to following her life as a mom after beating out everyone else in the SUR world (including Scheana) to parenthood. And last week to kick off a different than usual Grammy Week, she got to hang out with one who has ambitions on becoming a household name as she got to drop some new music...