DC ExtraTime: An AYTO Changing of the Guard

Following is an excerpt from DCBLOG's Pulse for The Challenge XXX Premiere from 
earlier tonight, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down.

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

If you were with us for the last Trifecta cycle, at the end of our first Pulse post for the last regular Challenge season - Invasion earlier this year, we went outside the MTV bubble and into the Olympic world. There, we offered an appreciation of longtime NBC Primetime host Bob Costas, who stepped down from that chair after 24 years and 11 Games as anchor of the world's greatest sports event, and passed the torch to fellow Syracuse grad and longtime ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico, who will take the reins for the first time in Pyeongchang, South Korea this February.

   As we begin this ride around the Trifecta again, there's another passing of the baton, and we here want to take a moment to offer some appreciation in this, the 25th anniversary of the beginning of MTV's realty TV odyssey. More than a week after the finale of Champs vs. Pros when this one month offseason began, there was a big bombshell that was dropped. And while we focus on The Challenge XXX, in the long term it will become more noticeable when the time arrives for us to welcome the twenty or so newest members of Team MTV towards the end of the summer.

Late on June 26th, a tweet was posted by the man who began on MTV a decade ago hosting Entertainment Tonight's weekend roundup around filming as part of the cast of UPN's Veronica Mars. But, he became a late bloomer of sorts because of him helming the addictive social love experiment known as Are You The One? and all that we've seen there since it debuted more than three years ago. Accompanied by a picture of him and ten beams, this was his announcement…

Behind me are 10 beams of light... & 5 seasons of #AYTO. Had a friggin blast but it's time to move on. To the fans, u r ALL my #PerfectMatch pic.twitter.com/JqSq0TjIkW

— Ryan Devlin (@RyanDevlin) June 27, 2017

After five seasons as host of AYTO, Ryan Devlin has decided to step away from that role to focus on the great acting career he's built up over the years as he'll now be pursuing that on a more full-time basis… not to mention his This Bar Has Lives venture. That tweet above garnered a lot of reaction from AYTO fans including myself and some of the 103 girls and guys he presided over during his reign as host. And showing how fan friendly he is, he got to personally reply back to just about everyone as they got to say thank you. That includes one who's been with this show since it all began in Hawaii.

● ME @DC408Dxtr: "@RyanDevlin Good luck w/ what the future has for you, been lucky to follow #AYTO from day 1 & it's been a tremendous ride. Best wishes again."
● BRANDON/Season 2 @Tindel10: "No! Are You The One won't be the same without @RyanDevlin… that freaking sucks."
- Ryan: "Thanks, my man. My hosting and your insane ability to win challenges will live on."
● CHRISTINA/Season 2 @MTV_Christina: "Blessed to know you. Thanks for being an awesome person and an amazing host! Love always, your one and only #Eleven"
● BRIANA/Season 2 @BlaCuesta: "What in tarnation"
● ELLIE/Season 2 @whaattaafoxx: "WTF? What is this bs?! They can't do this! You can't do this?!"
● AMANDA/Season 3 @MTV_AmandaG: "Bye Ryan hopefully I will see you never."
● DEVIN/Season 3 @MTVDevinWalker: "@RyanDevlin @AREUTHE1 cheers to 5 great seasons and 3.5 mil thanks to those suckers on #AYTOSzn5. Job well done my friend. U never gave up on love."
- Ryan: "Never have and never will give up on love! Or foamers."
● CAM/Season 4 @CamBruckman: "Bummed to see this! He's a great guy, go check out what else he does when he isn't hosting. Good luck with things Ryan!"
● NICOLE/Season 4 @Nuhcole11: "But, but, but… NO ONE will be able to say 'This is a blackout!' quite like you… you'll always be our favorite sass master."
● STEPHEN/Season 4 @StephenJohnII: "From the bottoms of our hearts, @JuliaRose_33 and I thank you @RyanDevlin, it was a blast #PerfectMatch"
● TORI/Season 4 @Tori_Deal: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
● GIANNA/Season 5 @GiannaHammer: "Honored to be your last hoorah."
● MICHAEL/Season 5 @MikeHalpern92: "Cheers to this guy, as cool in real life as he is on television."
● TAYLOR/Season 5 @TayloriasSecret: "We were so horrible even Ryan quit."
● OSVALDO/Season 5 @OzRomero_: "@RyanDevlin I will always remember your last words of advice… Thanks for never making a moment awkward."
● KAM/Season 5 @IamKamIam_: "I know what season those 10 beams didn't belong to… wish you the best though Ryan!"

Like those such as me who's watched every episode from when it debuted in January 2014, Ryan has seen the evolution of this show from when it started in Kauai. He was there at the beginning when he welcomed Adam, Shanley and the Season 1 originals, at the end when gave the Season 5 cast their doomed fate last spring, and every single getaway challenge, truth booth and matchup ceremony in between. He's taken a page from TJ Lavin's playbook to be brutally honest when the singles are not playing the game, and he's also had his moments as well. Remember when he got into it with Amanda in Season 3? Or when he told the Season 5 kids to "Shut the f... up?" Or even him dressing up for Halloween as a rapper on the After Show during Season 2? Ryan has been a great host and will be sorely missed when he and us will be watching Season 6 as viewers from our couch this fall.

At the same time, with the always unenviable task of having to replace Ryan and follow in his footsteps, you can't ask for anyone better suited to take over the AYTO host gig than Terrence J.  He hosted Season 5's After Shows as well as its eventful reunion in the aftermath of the shocking 10th round knockout loss that Derrick H. and his cast went through back in March. He's had experience before in romantic reality shows when, last year, Terrence hosted FOX's entry in that genre, Coupled. My Debrief colleague Andrew Kirk enjoyed watching him on that show as well as the After Match and is more than the worthy choice to take over for Ryan on AYTO. Hopefully, the now former host has passed along some advice to the new one on how to berate the newbies… obviously we'll be interested in how gets to scold the singles for not breaking up with their non-matches.
   Terrence has amassed a stellar resume covering TV, movies and other things, with a career that started across the Viacom lines at sibling BET as longtime host of 106 & PARK, among other things. This past week as he prepares to take over that spot on the matchup patio as well as other acting gigs in the pipeline, he will offer viewers a warmup for that as began hosting MTV's SafeWord with celebs joining him each week for a game of words after Nick Cannon's Wild N Out. In fact, to prove how busy he is, Terrence did press for that show in New York while taking a break from filming AYTO Season 6 which, per the grapevine, will take place for the first time stateside down in New Orleans. And having already glanced a little bit at the cast that's been uncovered so far, it should be a really good group who'll look to bounce back after last spring's unprecedented loss.

Being host of a show in and outside the Trifecta bubble takes on greater responsibility, and that includes having to police the cast, school them if they are not being honest, be great to them if they do something really awesome, and in this social media age to also be as fan friendly as the cast. Just a select handful of people have taken on that role since this ride began two decades ago, and out of all of them Terrence might be the most well known: proof being nearly 2 million Twitter followers, an Instagram following near that number and his resume.

   Are You The One? has been the guilty pleasure for many MTV fans for a few years now, and probably the one show that's emerged in the post-Jersey Shore era that's had the biggest success along with another series which debuted in the post-Teen Mom slot, Catfish. Those like me who've been there every step of the way have seen a lot of big moments, memorable hookups, dramatic breakups and so much more, and there'll be more in the seasons ahead. This show will no doubt be in good hands going forward with Terrence J. at the helm and the twenty or so singles as its stars.

- I AM DC