DC SocialPulse - The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies - "Truce or Dare"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

This is the last weekend of August 2021, and we got just one more week to savor of, to an extent, our first summer of normalcy in two years -- and that includes yours truly getting to mark my nephew's 12th birthday on this summer's Saturday. But the nicer things are now getting into full swing: college football kicking off today as the NFL is into its last week of its preseason, football of the global kind getting shook by Cristiano Ronaldo's shock return to Manchester United, and Season 37 of MTV's The Challenge also getting underway in Europe.

The first two weeks has been dominated by one thing: the premise that those who have done this game before being in control, and the rookies having to go by that rule of the land - just as it always is in Challenge Nation. And last week, the challengers went for a ride aboard a helicopter for a heist that saw not only action in the air, but also on the ground when Lauren's withdrawal prior to it saw Amber B. come in to replace her months after winning Double Agents. Even with that, the rookie crew couldn't manage to crack that vets' stronghold in Croatia, just as a love triangle dominated the house buzz involving Nelson, Ashley and Berna.

And at that second elimination, another replacement - Ed - teamed with an Emy who was spent at the daily to excuse Tracy & Kelz in the Lair... and whenever you win in that arena, you'd usually gain a bit of momentum in this game. Well, this week he and partner Tori will try to take the season's first mission to involve anything related to the water, and the task of having to dive in that H2O may be as harder as it seems. And something that's also hard to overlook, the fact that the vets have the upper hand, and the truce that's kept things in tact may be challenged when a desire for revenge gets to one of the agents, while another may find themselves in the hotseat over which side they favor in the house.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you the Challenge SocialPulse of Week 3 of Spies, Lies & Allies, as well as what one of the players are planning to do for their autumn ahead. Thanks for joining us...

DC ExtraTime: Sexy and These "Beasts" Know It... (Including That "One")

*** CAUTION: This Post Contains Spoilers for Those Who Haven't Caught Up with Watching This Series So Far, Please Read with Caution Below. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

   ESTIMATED READING TIME: 16 Mins.

Along with offering weekly episode coverage of the shows you love as we've gone Inside MTV Reality on here for eight years, DCBLOG has also been able to bring you the other side of television's most-talked about reality programming. Whenever something that pops up on the social feeds that opens our eyes a bit, or when this ecosystem crosses at the intersection of pop culture, then we get to tell these stories through the unique vantage point of ExtraTime... including this first one of the fall 2021 cycle.

All Sexy Beasts Screencaps Courtesy Netflix

The world of reality television has offered us plenty of memorable moments, personalities, shows and formats that have become staples everywhere you go. In watching The Challenge the past three years an aspect that didn't exist years ago, and one that no one could have envisioned, is now par for the course: those from other reality franchises (most of which air on an MTV or ViacomCBS-affiliated outlet in any territory around the world) now compete on the show along with your longtime and new favorites.

Of course, you got MTV to thank -- or to blame, depending on whom you ask -- for making it possible for networks to devote a decent amount of their primetime evening entertainment programming to non-scripted content part of our 21st century television landscape. Same goes for the many over-the-top streaming outlets that have become a hot commodity in our year-plus at home in pandemic life, where they have also invested in reality programming around their elaborate budgets on scripted content.

And as we have been seeing three reality alumni from shows that actually air on internet platforms that compete with Paramount+ for our eyeballs in this new age, over the summer that new world and that of the MTV Reality ecosystem collided, at least for one episode. It all came in perhaps the most bizarre of all dating and reality shows that's come along during the past two decades... and for the root of all this, you have to go back to the last summer of the old normal.

DC SocialPulse - The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies - "Bertha"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back on this Sunday, and the last weekend without a meaningful football game to be played until the month of February when college football returns. And MTV's The Challenge has just returned from its relatively short summer vacation as Spies, Lies & Allies is now underway in the nation of Croatia as the other multi-national competition after the events in Tokyo.

Yesterday on here (a result of various factors), we at DCBLOG brought you the 'Pulse of the premiere: thirty-four competitors in all began the competition in the heat and ended as seventeen pairs of American & international agents. But one of them would not make it to that night's elimination as Nam was deemed unfit to continue and was replaced... and another one, Michaela of the same Survivor season that gave us Jay S., brought out a list -- and that proved to be her undoing in the game as she was the first one eliminated in an all-rookie battle with her & Renan going home to Corey L. & Michele.

That one who replaced Nam is Ed of The Circle, and as a replacement who came to this game late he will have to get his bearings straight, but also brings with him the kind of exuberant energy this game needs. And this week, he and the competitors are taking to an airport tarmac for a heist-style challenge -- but they don't know that someone else is accompanying TJ Lavin to join in on the festivities. There's also some love in the air as a love triangle stirs up some feelings in the house and at the club, and could a choice be a crack in the veterans' alliance at the elimination chamber?

Just ahead, our opening weekend doubleheader continues with all the reaction to Week 2 of Spies, Lies & Allies... and after the diary, some bad news for a Challenge finalist who had eyes on joining fellow Champs vs. Stars alumni at next year's Winter Olympics. Thanks for joining us again...

DC SocialPulse - The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies - 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. ***

 BACKTRACKED EDITION  

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Whether you're at the venues watching it live in person or just viewing them safely in the comforts of home, it's safe to say this has been a more eventful 2021 sporting summer... and now that so many of your favorite sports are (or about to be) back in action - and following a global gathering of the world's best that headlined these eventful past few months, it's time for America's fifth major pro sport to join the other four major sports and a plethora of other competitive wonders on our calendar. And it's with this in mind that we at DCBLOG now officially commence our weekly coverage of Season 37 of MTV's The Challenge... and its latest venture entitled Spies, Lies & Allies.

Earlier this year, the momentum it gained from being the only competitive sport to air on American television during the pandemic-induced sports shutdown continued to not only Europe but also South America as we had two seasons of the franchise overlap with one another. Double Agents brought the elaborate nature of a spy-thriller blockbuster but also saw plenty of drama both on and off the field... and at season's end CT had attained his fourth title and Big Brother alum Amber B. became our newest member of the Champions Club. And All-Stars debuted on Paramount+ as some of the biggest icons in its history returned with plenty of flashbacks and just as much action in Argentina.

Now just three months after All-Stars wrapped up, just like the NFL, NBA and hockey is right now, The Challenge returns from its summer vacation as it commences its own global competition with players from eleven countries competing in Croatia. Spies, Lies & Allies, like last season, will have players be paired up into two-player duos from both the U.S. and overseas, and where the competition on and off the playing surface and the many twists host TJ Lavin will throw at them serves as hurdles towards a wintertime race for $1 million. And both the Global Activation preseason special and our four-post preseason series have acquainted all of you with the rookies, the vets and the returnees for what's ahead.

And whenever an opening act warms audiences up, it always leads to the main event: after getting to know one another at their amazing new house, the competitors are heading over to the site of their first challenge. There, they'll battle their way through the heat and each other towards who will be partnered up for the first week of this new season. There will be plenty of wheeling and dealing to come before our first trip to the elimination chamber known as The Lair and where we'll find who will be the first to go home and how things will shape up. And in between all of that, there's a secret waiting to be told about an offseason hookup, and of which rookie is trying to upend everything else with a piece of paper.

After the break -- and delayed by one week due to my backloaded schedule (which was explained on here back last weekend), all the action, reaction and interaction of the first Challenge Wednesday of this fall... all as the cast saw it over a week ago last Wednesday, August 11th and specially curated for all of you to enjoy in its uncensored and raw nature - and that includes explicit language and if you're mature enough then read with discretion. Thanks for joining in Challenge Nation, and welcome... it's so good to have you with us.

DC SocialPulse Extra - Road to The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies

*** 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. ***

 BACKTRACKED EDITION  

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Well, hello everyone... after taking time to not only put together an exhausting series of preseason posts -- and only after binge-watching the Olympics and spending quality time with family, welcome to what should be a big rest of 2021 ahead as we return to going Inside MTV Reality on DCBLOG, and cover the main course of this autumn in The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies. We kicked off this cycle after the flame was extinguished in Tokyo, and we then brought you our traditional intro to the first-time players on Who Are These Newbies?. And straight ahead here, we'll be delving into the first act of Season 37 of the fifth major pro sport, as it takes the baton from the world's best in providing global competition now until winter's best (including possibly a few familiar faces) take center stage in February.

   It's our best guess that you were likely directed to this page by one of my posts on social media, and maybe you have a Twitter app on your phone. And whether you watch this live every Wednesday night or catch up later on, you can only have your jaws drop at all the interaction taking place on your feed during these episodes and before and after it airs. That's what those of you who call yourselves part of Challenge Nation and of the fandom that watches MTV Reality shows do as part of your obsession with television's most-talked about reality shows, and we at DCBLOG have been your tour guide through all of this interaction surrounding The Challenge and other matters since we began covering this world in 2013, and it has now become a vital component to the MTV Reality experience.

The SocialPulse franchise that you are viewing here is both a signature component to our MTV Reality coverage on here, offered as a public service to all fans - cable subscribers, cord-cutters, avid fans and casual viewers alike. This is our way of showing you the other show taking place 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, part of the communal experience watching the show as it airs on TV, and the leadup and aftermath too. We've been taking the Pulse of Challenge Nation for every regular and spinoff season in this franchise since CT's first Challenge title on Rivals 2, and every big moment since then has been chronicled on here as a public record.

   These exclusive running diaries are specially designed, curated & pieced together in its uncensored entirety (yes, explicit language is included to retain the heat of the moment, provided that it is not of an offense to certain readers) 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. 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, you're covered... and staying true to that ladder audience, we abstain offering our episode coverage until here at the weekend. And we'll be here each week 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.

   And along with those, we also offer our take on the traditional weekly episode recaps with opinions & analysis, and we spotlight the people and stories of MTV Reality, both on- & off-camera, and in & outside the bubble as only seen through the scope of ExtraTime... all with the outstanding content you come to expect from this site. And if this is your first time visiting us, welcome and get comfortable.

But before we bring you the 'Pulse of the premiere of Spies, Lies and Allies which will be featured here tomorrow, we have this to take care of: there's nothing like that day when the buzz officially starts to a new season of The Challenge (or to us, any new season or show that we feel is of interest). In this case, the ramp-up to Wednesday night took place back on July XX when the cast of this season was revealed as was our first look at this season.

   After the break, we begin taking the Pulse of The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies with this special pre-diary covering the kickoff of the countdown to its opening act, and the start of Challenge week with a preseason introduction to the rookies. And welcome to the weekend, Challenge Nation...

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies - Part 3

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

For the second time in less than a month, a global athletic competition has just begun with its first piece of action on the field in a true international setting with competitors from different nations competing. No, it's not the Olympics - it wrapped up over a week ago... but something just as exciting: MTV's The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies is debuting with plenty of action to look forward to over the next several months.

Wherever you are, TV is a global phenomenon that has bonded generations of viewers since it began in the 1930's with relatively primitive technology that has evolved into today's 4K HD screens and viewing on every screen you can think of. As evidenced by what transpired for 19 days by them tuning into Tokyo 2020 like this one here, four billion viewers around the world got to see a record number of countries win medals and have the honor of hearing their national anthems on the victory podium... and you can't imagine the joy commentators everywhere had calling the biggest moments for viewers at home.

No matter which language people speak around this world, one thing that is common everywhere you go nowadays is reality television, with franchises we here in America know and love being adopted and customized by networks around the world featuring ordinary people. And chances are, once you're able to travel again around the world once we're over this pandemic, you might find yourself in your hotel room seeing the shows you love airing on overseas networks... but it's likely that you'll hear a different language when it's being translated by local voiceovers. Well, that's pretty much the idea behind this third & last edition of our season-opening primer on the rookies called "Who Are These Newbies?".

Leading into the premiere, we did deep dives into thirteen of the first-time contestants competing in Croatia spanning both U.S. and overseas installments of Survivor, Love Island and Big Brother; local variations of MTV reality franchises Ex On The Beach and the MTV Shore series, and even two guys from outside the MTV ecosystem and shows on rival streaming outlets. Now, Part 3 turns our attention to nations where English is not the preeminent language but who come from those above-mentioned series... and we begin with those that come from nearby in Continental Europe.

DCBLOG Look Ahead: A Busy End of Summer Coming Up...

A Word from the Editor

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We hope you are enjoying this last month of summer so far, and if you are stressed out about having to go back to work or to school tomorrow amidst the crazy world we're in, just be okay.... you'll be alright. It also applies to those who don't want to worry about the next wave of the pandemic coming, the events that are ripping apart the world elsewhere or, if you live out here in California, the upcoming gubernatorial recall. After all, you've come for a moment at least to "The Escape You Deserve."

For me, I got to spend the past few weeks up until last week getting to enjoy the only thing I get to binge watch: the Tokyo Olympics. And as I write here on this Sunday evening, my family and I just got to do one thing we've not been able to do since Christmas last year and the holidays the year before that: get together for a family party with my relatives to celebrate my aunt's 80th birthday on both Friday and yesterday. And need not worry -- we've all gotten what I like to call our "flu" shots, so no need to panic about that, although she did have a health scare just recently in spending a week in hospital not related to the pandemic, but she is fine and okay and we are all thankful for that.

It's with all of this in mind that, because of this busy past month I've had watching the Games and having this quality time with family, the DCBLOG content we've been planning to do on here to cover what has gone on since been away from the MTV Reality world and the first act of Season 37 of The Challenge will be offered to you a little bit later than first planned. I know it is of a big inconvenience to those of you who visit this website, but this is also worth taking this opportunity to explain it here.

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Spies, Lies & Allies - Part 2

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

Tonight, the man who has been the one constant of the show we call "the fifth major pro sport" over the past decade & a half, retired BMX rider TJ Lavin, will sound the airhorn to kick off Season 37 of MTV's The Challenge... his twenty-seventh as host of the first reality-based competition series in the history of our television industry. Spies, Lies and Allies will bring together reality stars that we know from our journey Inside MTV Reality television, with those from ten foreign countries as they battle for $1 million on the coast of northeastern Croatia.

There was a time back many decades ago that the program schedules of TV networks based outside the United States were filled with imported shows and movies from America, the UK and languages related to the native tongue -- it's still the case if you fly up to Canada or watch those nighttime telenovelas on Univision. But starting in the '90s, overseas channels looked to something that MTV pioneered -- a genre it had the field to itself for years when The Real World premiered, but where the need was necessary to offer content that was locally produced, inexpensive to create than a scripted drama or comedy, and featured ordinary people who speak the same languages as those watching viewers at home.

Ever since, non-scripted television and the reality genre have taken over the global television landscape, with hundreds of formats being introduced, shopped around the planet and shown in dozens of nations from The Bachelor and The Voice to The Masked Singer and beyond. MTV, its once-again sibling CBS and channels related to them in the ViacomCBS company have long been leaders in the reality genre, and where some of its biggest franchises are shown on its numerous U.S. & overseas channels. And it's with this global takeover of the genre that offers the context to Part 2 of our traditional introduction to the rookie competitors of this season of The Challenge which we call, "Who Are These Newbies?".

Earlier, we focused on reality personalities familiar to the English-language speaking audience and to those in America, with two Survivor champions, the castaway who was blindsided by the show's first alum to compete on The Challenge, two from last year's Love Island in Las Vegas and two from the streaming universe. Now, the second installment of this primer on the Season 37 rookies heads across the Atlantic Ocean to introduce the first set of International Operatives... and after the break, we take a deep dive at those who come to us from foreign versions of MTV and CBS' biggest reality franchises.