DC WRAP: The Challenge Bloodlines - Bad Blood

BY DC CUEVA                           
> @DC408dxtr / @DC408dxnow

Welcome again to DCBLOG as we wrap-up last week's episode 2 of The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines. Through two episodes, we've been entertained by some huge drama in the house and some interesting competition as well. And this is all ahead of a game-changer coming ahead.
   Last Wednesday, we saw the competitors literally face their fears in snakes and bugs aplenty. We also saw a game of rock-paper-scissors get caught on camera into becoming something more, which has an inadvertent impact on the week's elimination result. And after what happened to them last week, the elimination winners from last week begins to crack under pressure by way of personal attacks and a meltdown.
   We'll have the Five Things to Know recap of the key moments from Episode 2, and our Winners of the Night, for which there are several of them. And on DC ExtraTime, we'll show you pictures from two different kinds of reality TV gatherings among our Team MTV friends. Join In after the jump for our WRAP of Episode 2.

 FIVE THINGS TO KNOW 

> Rock, Paper, Scissors, Kiss(?!)
We begin the Wrap with the group heading to the beach for much-needed time to unwind at a nearby beach in Bodrum, Turkey. Given Johnny Bananas' favorite hobby with taking selfies, he was provided with his own GoPro and while on the van going back home Bananas Cam caught Cara Maria and Thomas getting a bit cozy. Then, that coziness would turn into a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and then into nose-to-nose contact. And then, it turns into what many feel was some kissing action, but both parties deny that any thing other than that favorite game of ours as kids was played, considering Cara is still together with her Challenge love Abram in Montana. More on that in a bit...

> Creepy Family Dinner
The week's mission saw a flashback of sorts to Battle of the Sexes 2 from all those years ago, and as I tweeted it is Fear Factor being brought into this world. although the challenge itself was called "Family Dinner." Yes, it's an eating & fear contest: one will chew bugs and put it into a cup, while the other partner has to deal with a snake - a last minute change as it was intended to be a tarantula inside the boxes that both players put their heads inside. This scared most everyone, especially Jenna & Brianna who didn't even try to go through this challenge and did nothing. As Candice & Tony had a good bounce-back week and Shane screamed, in the end Cara Maria & Jamie would take the win.

> Jenna & Brianna's Bakery Drama
As for Jenna & Brianna, the cousin didn't even bother to chew the bugs at that challenge, and despite lack of effort they had to kiss their lucky stars that they didn't get scolded by TJ Lavin or had to go into the Pit for a second straight week. Still, drama would take place between the both of them when the house got back from a night out at the club. There, Brie would make it clear that she doesn't want to be in Turkey and she lets it known to everyone. She and Jenna have it out as the cousin calls the Ex-Plosion ex selfish, then Jenna responds in claiming her boyfriend cheats on her back home. And then, Brianna jabs with slamming her for having a job at her dad's bakery. This thing swings back & forth putting their relationship at risk, but then Bri decides to stick it out later on for the sake of this game.

> Backstab! & Cohutta's Choice
As for what happened earlier with Cara Maria & Jamie becoming power team and her session with Thomas, it didn't prepare us for what would happen when it came to deliberations. She came to Cohutta, this week's last place finisher, with ideas of who to put in. His recommendation is to put in AYTO's Dario & Raphy which was a safe choice, but when the Boston twins find out about it they quickly pounce and they get angry to the point that he will hear from them loud and clear if they get chosen. This leads Cara to do the last thing she wanted to do: throw in Tom & Stephen to protect Cohutta. And later on the After Show, Cohutta sat next to Nany as they discussed what happened to their Free Agents relationship, which ended on a sour note.

> Statement Pit Win
With that vote in mind, Thomas & Stephen are sent to the Pit, and Thomas volunteers himself in to face Cohutta in a sort-of hybrid of Hall Brawl and Balls Out. Given how Tom is slightly more stronger from a physique level than Cohutta, he was favored in the elimination. It was, in essence, more of a wrestling match than what we saw in the many times we've seen in the former (which will be the subject of the ExtraTime piece before episode 3 on Wednesday), but Tom does sweep the best-of-3 matchup to knock off what many had as a probable dark horse to make a deep run this season. The Buell twins made quite a statement in him winning the first guys Pit this season. But much credit to Cohutta for hanging in there and proving you don't have to be strong physically to compete.

 WINNERS OF THE NIGHT 

● Thomas: Last season, he was the first castmate to get the boot on Exes 2 when he lost the first Exiled battle. This week, Thomas was at the heart of the week's activities with the activities with Cara at the beach and then him being voted in by her afterwards. Against the backdrop of being thrown in - and also being given some Twitter shade by RW Ex-Plosion love and now-ex Jamie, Tom had his finest Challenge moment yet in proving to everyone that he can compete here by beating Cohutta in the Pit. Yes, as Brian & Ali noted in their RHAP that his favorite athletic activity is a sport as genteel as tennis, but being Division I champs with brother Stephen they are able to make a decent run here.

● Dario & Raphy: As the remaining AYTO representatives in the house and the house's other set of twins, Dario & Raphy really made a strong point when they were considered for the Pit. They made, as EW wrote in their recap, "a power move" by abstaining being put in by Cara by using anger and forcing her to reconsider them and backstabbing Tom & Stephen. Like them, they have the advantage of competing & living together all the time, they too have a chance to not only make a good run into the finals, but also be the one AYTO group that can become regulars in Challenge world. Now, it's up to them to back that talk up with competition, but what a huge move.

● Candice & Tony: Sure, they weren't featured as much as everyone else and they weren't voted in or won this week, and Tony found himself again in the doghouse for many because of his comments. But after what we saw last week, they did have a good bounce-back week competition-wise after her having a tough go last week and him having his emotions get the best of him too.

● Jill: Sure, we didn't get to know her as much as we wanted to. But for what's probably her only Challenge appearance (though she's eager for another shot), Jill does have something as good as winning a Challenge final. Per her pics on Instagram, the lady who got engaged and postponed her wedding to be on this season finally got to tie the knot with her fiancé after she got home from Turkey. This might not have net her a cut of the money she wanted, but a romance with the one you love is just as coveted as the jackpot. Congrats to Jill-Billy.

 #DCExtraTime 

REALITY REUNIONS

Now, a couple of reality TV reunions with two teams of Team MTV. During are AYTO 2 coverage last year, our first glimpse of Real World Skeletons came, not from the trailer, but when Bruno's brother Briah got to mingle with Angelina & Deena from Jersey Shore and other reality stars at a New York party just before the buzz for Season 30 began. This week: two instances.

Credit: TW @GinaMarieZ

   First, also in New York, some of MTV's reality elite gathered to mark the holidays with Farrah Abraham from Teen Mom OG, for which the trailer to the new season dropped last week ahead of its January return. Jay from RW Ex-Plosion & Exes 2, and Nicole & Bruno from RW Skeletons represented the BMP bunch, while joining them from Are You The One? were Jessica from Season 2 and Kayla & Mike from Season 3. Other reality personalities joined Farrah and Team MTV including Gina from Big Brother and castmates from VH1's Love & Hip Hop and Oxygen's Bad Girls Club. My fellow follower and MTV fan, Dave Olmann (@BigTymers228) got to meet them at that party (pics are here: Jay, Jess, Kayla, Mike, Nicole, Bruno, Farrah), and later that weekend while UFC 194 vaulted Conor McGregor to mega-stardom by way of his KO win over Jose Aldo and seven months after meeting Ronda Rousey, Big Dave added to his celeb list Jon "Bones "Jones and was even featured on the champion's Instagram too.

Credit: IG @AustinSheets

   And reunion #2 took place all the way out in Hawaii. As we told you here last week, there wasn't a AYTO Season 3 reunion, but it didn't stop three of this year's castmates to gather once again at the scene of where this ride began. Last week, a entrepreneurial business trip saw Austin fly back to the Big Island of Hawaii, and after taking care of business he got to enjoy much-needed relax time with two familiar people and visited the same house that was site of their finest hour in the "Miracle in Hawaii" comeback a month ago this Friday. First, Austin's perfect match in the game itself Britni, and her actual perfect match Chuck, who of course we saw them mingle in the house after the Hawaiian player hooked up with Hannah before the blackout and before she became her own perfect match with our favorite Italian Canadian Zak. Austin wrote in his IG post, "This Hawaiian vacation has been amazing. Getting to spend time with Chuck and Britni was much needed! Plus we got to visit the house where this crazy journey started! Until we meet again Kona! #MTVFam"  Austin himself will be the subject of a dedicated ExtraTime post here in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

Finally as this article is being posted, this past weekend tragedy struck overseas while filming of the final challenge season 28 of The Challenge took place. A crash took place down in Argentina involving a helicopter over a lake en route to where the final is taking place, and two people were killed in both the pilot and a technician. And thank goodness the cast and the crew of the show were not affected by this terrible tragedy, but again our thoughts are with those affected and hope everyone returns from overseas this coming week safe and sound.


And that will bring to an end to our episode 2 posts for Challenge Bloodlines. Now, I was devote the DC ExtraTime feature above to looking back on the epic Challenge elimination battle from Battle of the Seasons 2 between Zach and CJ from three years ago. But because of how important & pivotal it was to me in becoming a permanent viewer of the show, it will now be a dedicated post that we'll have for you here before episode 3 on Wednesday...so stay tuned for that right here.

   In the meantime, there is plenty of discussion across the network of fellow webcast hosts and bloggers to talk about from this episode, as well as added content for those who are AYTO fans, and here's where you can find them...

● Check out the MTV RHAP on Rob Has A Podcast with two of the best in the business: Brian Cohen (@BusDriversRoute) and Ali Lasher (@LashsTweets). This week, they discussed at length this week's episode, from the creepy challenge to Cara & Tom's session to Jenna & Brianna's bakery drama. Listen to that podcast here, plus check out this week's fantasy draft point totals at Brian's BDR blog, and all of their webcasts at robhasawebsite.com & YouTube.
● AfterBuzz TV (@AfterBuzzTV) is again covering The Challenge with hosts Jesse Janedy & Roxy Striar being joined for Bloodlines by newcomer Paulina Aguilar as discussed this week's episode and more. Check out that recap, plus all the other after-shows from past seasons, and AYTO coverage as well, at afterbuzztv.com.

● Challenge season means that once again, you get to enjoy Ace Nichols (@AceNichols33) and her recaps. She reviewed episode 2 which you can check out here with a cameo from one of this week's Winners of the Night, plus the premiere recap and all of her previous recaps on her YT channel.

● And for my Reality Debrief co-host, before he rejoins me for part 2 here in the coming days check out Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk) and all of his Trifecta coverage on YouTube, SpreeCast & BlogTalkRadio. With the unique advantage of having talked with so many of Team MTV in his now 4 years doing webcasts, they are, as always, a must listen...so check them out at those sites, and of course we'll review the rest of the year in reality TV here over the holiday break.

● And as the eventful finale has just aired in international territories, if you're an Are You The One? fan check out two interviews that college radio station WICR at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY did in the wake of the finale. First, the station spoke to Zak around the time of the finale airing, and then last week, the aforementioned Austin called in to talk to the crew there. Check out both of those shows and episode recap shows on WICR's YouTube channel.


Again, be sure to follow DCBLOG and all my social platforms for full MTV Trifecta coverage: Pulse diaries, Wraps, dedicated ExtraTime posts and all. This site is home to "The Blogosphere's Most Unique and Insightful MTV Show Coverage," providing a complement to all of those webcasts & sites above in bringing you coverage of this Trifecta world like no other site can.
   Be sure to follow my live tweet hub - DCNOW @DC408DxNow for live & real-time tweets of episode 3 on Wednesday, plus tonight a special Grammy edition of DC Playlist, and sports & entertainment events. If you're watching the episodes with me out west, join the conversation both on DCNOW and my primary TW handle @DC408Dxtr with my custom hashtag, #DCChallenge, and your thoughts may make my weekly posts here. And as always, follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @DC408Dxtr, Tumblr and other social platforms.
   For now, thanks for reading and until we talk to you here Wednesday, enjoy your week ahead.

- I AM DC