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It is the last day of September, and as we experience this change in months this autumn's weekend, welcome again to DCBLOG's look Inside the MTV Trifecta, where we have a busy next few days of posts to share with you. And after yesterday looking at two AYTO alums making their way to Dr. Phil, we're now into the gist of this week's posts as we focus on Episode 11 of The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30, the first of a Saturday SocialPulse doubleheader.
Last week, the Redemption House took center stage as its latest occupants -- Aneesa, Cory, Hunter, Marie and Nicole -- all competed for a chance to regain their spot in the Main House... not exactly - Marie bailed out early as Hunter regained his spot in the game, and Aneesa converted on her vow to come back after discovering the player had deemed her the devil. And Tony found out from his girlfriend back home Alyssa about his hookup with Camila through, of all things, the web.
This week as the game turns back to the main house, a call from back home in the States turns the game of one player upside down, as a surprise development sees them question whether or not to press on in the game. The week's challenge sees the players become their own Ninja Warrior (and of course lots of falls), while unresolved tension between two players escalates into words in the club. And one Challenger's morals get tested as things get tense in the Colombian day and night.
Coming up, all the action, reaction and interaction from this week's episode and the day before and after Challenge Tuesday. And after the diary, if there's one person who helped to trigger the trend of pranks in MTV reality show houses, ExtraTime will step back into the memory bank and ask, "Whatever happened to The Chosen One?"
Falling down, breaking up, a drunken punch and Pretty Boy... it's all ahead on the 'Pulse of The Challenge XXX, as we roll along on our weekend trip through the MTV world at DCBLOG.
Following is an excerpt from the DCBLOG Pulse diary from last week's Are You The One? Season 6 premiere, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down, and has been updated to include new media including its trailer.
Earlier this year, ExtraTime went behind the scenes at a filming of an indie flick involving four generations of the MTV Trifecta: the movie first named Habit, then Blight, and now called Raving Lunatics by New England filmmaker Johnny Hickey. The film's premiere date has been pushed a bit and now slated to now drop during the ultimate time of celebrating all things scary: Halloween. In that film are two-time Challenge champ and Hickey's childhood friend CT, Kailah and Ammo's Real World Go Big or Go Home roommate Sabrina, RW Cancun and two-time Challenger Emilee, and Are You The One? original Brittany. Now, Brittany's fellow Season 1 castmate and one was also her roommate in SoCal is now entering the acting world himself.
If you watched saw AYTO Season 1 three years ago, you saw Ryan Malaty, who came to the house from Colorado in need of love and found himself in a love triangle with future local news journalist Kayla Lusby and funny guy Wes Buckles. Like other romances in the show's five seasons, this triangle was settled in the Truth Booth, with the lasers eventually favoring her and Wes.
Besides being a fan and webcast host for Game of Thrones and Teen Wolf (which concludes its MTV run tonight) and having just traveled up to Wyoming to witness the recent eclipse, he's best known for wearing an Aladdin outfit in what was the Originals' next to last Matchup before they won the $1 million. And earlier this year, we looked back at the time when he dusted off that outfit to go to the one place where it seems to be Halloween every day: the CBS daytime game show Let's Make A Deal.
We're bringing up Aladdin once again because of something that was just released in the past week, but sadly that famous outfit won't make its way to what he's doing next. But if you know of someone who loves to binge-watch -- even some of you perhaps, then it's likely that they do so on Netflix... and in addition to them offering more and more of the most unique original shows, offering an assortment of other shows from other networks and studios - and what began the service in the first place in offering movies, something that was recently released was an original Netflix film.
Last year, Ryan landed a supporting role in the movie #RealityHigh, which many media outlets are calling a modern-day, Instagram-influenced take on the classic 2004 teen comedy flick Mean Girls which turned Lindsey Lohan into a household name. In Reality High (its official title includes the hash symbol), the movie focuses on the mere reality of going to high school with someone with millions of social media followers. And considering those like Rachel Levin, Jake Paul and other social media influencers with a strong presence on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms while they are in their teens, this brings this idea to when it comes to the hometown high school in your area.
The main characters of the film are of protagonist Dani Barnes, played by Nesta Cooper, and Alexa Medina, played by Alicia Sanz. The former in this case is in control in school and has very little support, and that leads her to gett a makeover to make herself more attractive to the social media crowd and Alexa's 9 million followers of Alexa. This, in turn, ignites a huge rivalry between the two where Dani finds herself in the battle for internet popularity and likes, which distracts her from volunteering and getting into college. This even involves Alex's ex, who also happens to be Keith Powers of Famous In Love fame, and whose character is a swimmer, student and finds himself in the middle of the war. This also leads to when a potential friendship Dani has with closest ally may falter when this is done, all as Dani tries to realize that maybe being truly yourself is likely better than asking someone else to alter her image for the sake of Insta-attention.
Ryan has a supporting role in the film, which brings into focus the ever-present dangers of bullying, social media and how being truly authentic one can be and being true to yourself to everyone is better than someone else to drastically alter their image, most especially taking place in the always intriguing battle for high school popularity. It also, in a way, reflects the times we are living in with a diverse cast and it taking into account interracial couples and gay couples as well.
It also caught the attention of my fellow MTV fan Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk): "Saw @ryanmalaty was in a movie on @blacuesta ig story had to see this! #realityhigh great movie one of the actors @ryanmalaty made a cameo on one of my podcasts with @brittany_baldi two years back."
Reality High was released on Netflix more than a week ago, and if you're into social media and big time teenage drama, do check it out when you can.
Welcome to the weekend, and to this week's look Inside the MTV Trifecta at DCBLOG. Coming up, we'll be covering this week's episodes of Are You The One? Season 6 and The Challenge XXX, along with the incredible backstory of a Dirty 30 competitor. But first as an appetizer to all those, we'd thought you might like to enjoy an updated version of an ExtraTime story from earlier this year.
This story involves not a high profile romance that took place inside the six houses that have hosted television's guiltiest guilty pleasure or the bevy of hookups that we have seen in the first two episodes of our new season in New Orleans, but two members of the same cast and America's most well-known psychologist, Dr. Phil. And it seems that he's become as well-known in AYTO circles as the 120 or so castmates who are now part of the show's alumni circles, host of the show's first five seasons Ryan Devlin, and his successor in new host Terrence J.
Since we first posted this bit during the Second Chances spinoff earlier this year featuring an alum from the Season 2 cast being spotted in the audience of the popular nationally syndicated daytime talk show, this past week in a rather strange twist, his fellow cast member from that sophomore class was also seen in the audience of the one who got his TV start by way of the queen of daytime. And ironically, those two castmates have a common history of sorts, though not as well-known as the ones he had on that season, which debuted three years ago this coming first week of October.
What follows after the jump is our original story from back in May, followed by a new follow-up in showcasing a second member of that very same cast being featured on an episode of Dr. Phil which aired earlier this week, and the common link between our two subjects. Enjoy this bonus installment of DC ExtraTime… we know you're gonna get a kick out of this.
Following is an excerpt from a DCBLOG Pulse diary during The Challenge: Invasion from earlier this year, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down, and in relation to our subject being a key figure on this week's episode of Dirty 30, which we will cover on here this weekend.
Back in January, we looked back at the time when two fairly recent MTV alums: Trey from Real World St. Thomas and two Challenges, and Ryan from Are You The One? Season 1, tried their hand at winning themselves some more money after winning some money on MTV when the two went on CBS game shows The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal. There, Trey went to TPIR under his actual name of Walter and won a surfboard, and Ryan went to LMAD wearing the same, signature Aladdin outfit he wore to one of the matchup ceremonies from that original AYTO season.
Well, you can add a third person from the Trifecta to that list, which also brings us to a piece of 90's nostalgia that's still with us today, and worthy for us to share with you in this first piece of ExtraTime this weekend and this latest edition of Before They Were MTV Stars. And if you're into daytime television, then you know that there are a lot of talk shows that air each and every day, and one of them is our co-subject.
Jerry Springer may have been born in London to two Jewish refugees who escaped from Poland to Germany, but it's safe to say he is one of America's greatest treasures. After serving as a campaign adviser to Robert Kennedy before his assassination and being a lawyer, Jerry turned to politics and in 1971 was elected to Cincinnati's city council. He was forced out three years later when he admitted to have hired a prostitute, but won back his seat the following year, which then turned into him becoming mayor in 1977, then running for governor of Ohio and two times for a U.S. Senate seat.
In the '80s, local NBC affiliate WLWT hired Springer as first a political reporter and commentator, but then became its main news anchor. During his tenure, he occupied a spot once held by Cincinnati's best-known newscaster Al Schottelkotte and then by George Clooney's dad Nick: #1 in the ratings. Much in the same manner as it is today, the final segment in each newscast gave Jerry a chance to do commentary which would morph into his "Final Thought." And it ended with the same phrase at the end of each newscast and show since: "Take care of yourself, and each other."
In 1991 came another bold venture: The Jerry Springer Show. WLWT developed the show and format to match that of the iconic talk show Donahue...both of which were produced by the station's then-parent company, Multimedia, Inc. It began in much the same manner as the show of the longtime talk veteran in being more focused on politics and current issues, playing off the subject matter of Jerry's commentaries... and where Jesse Jackson, gun politics and family reunions were the norm. They even shared both the hair style and glasses, too.
A year after Springer left the anchor desk to focus on his talk show, in 1994 new executive producer Richard Dominick shifted the format to more tabloid topics and sensationalism. Out went serious topics and highbrow issues... in came controversial subjects like prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, being a cross-dresser and being part of a hate group, all featuring everyday people like you and I. Being a '90s guy, I remember watching Jerry's show every day during those summer school breaks off and seeing highlights of it on E!'s Talk Soup, and couldn't get enough watching all this unfold.
Also in were the kind of stuff that's par for the course in reality TV nowadays: plenty of screaming and on-stage violence, plus sights of the bald head of security guard Steve Wilkos, and the audience chanting "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!" The result: enormous viewership that rivaled (and in some cities, out-rated) Oprah, and substantial attention that even led to a short-lived commentary gig in Chicago. There was even a musical on London and the U.K. based on the talk show itself, with Jerry's role played by Harvey Keitel.
Around doing a show still around some 26 years and 3,900 episodes later and as he's into his 70's, Jerry also served as one of the many who have hosted the summer sensation America's Got Talent over the course of that NBC show's past decade on-air. He's also done some talk show work for the jolly old folks over in Britain, and yes, he's also one of the hundreds who have also competed on one of that country's great TV exports: Dancing with the Stars when he appeared in 2006. He even hosts a show on WWE Network, and even recorded an album of country covers (if you can believe that).
This brings us to why we brought up Jerry in this bit: for five years, Jerry hosted a show on the Game Show Network called Baggage. Like AYTO, it was a dating game show and was one the highest-rated original show in its five seasons on the air on a niche network that has shown just about every TV game show since it went on the air more than two decades ago. Baggage gave three contestants an opportunity to win a date, much like the show that gave the world these romantic game shows, The Dating Game. There was a catch to all this: the contestants brought on set three suitcases: small, medium and large cases with a proposition that is either unique, weird, gross or embarrassing depending upon the story. This necessary piece of travel gear came to represent the "baggage" they had to confess and to defend, and the bigger the case was meant the bigger of these secrets, and likely the most hilarious or shocking the revelation. The three players were then played down to a single one, and the date would then have to reveal something if they wanted the date.
For one of those five seasons Baggage was on GSN, the show went on the road to colleges across the U.S., and in one of those episodes of Baggage on the Road it went to Austin, Texas. It also happened to be home base for Nelson, and he auditioned to be one of those contestants to try their luck on going on a date, just as it was for fellow AYTO alums Brittany and Scali on The Choice.
In another Instagram post, Nelly captioned, "Everybody tune in to the show called "Baggage on the Road", featuring Jerry Springer as the Host and me as one of the contestants. It's a Blessing and I thank him everyday for each opportunity that I have received to reach my Dreams🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏✈️✈️✈️🎬🎬🎬🎬🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥📺📺📺 #GGG #Family #PhotoOfTheDay #Dreams #Love #Selfie" This also happened to be one of his few TV appearances before he made it onto Are You The One: years before that, he also appeared on a drama called The Lying Game, and took a selfie from the set of ABC's American Crime.
We do not have a video of Nelson's actual appearance on the show, but embedded below is one of those promos for Baggage on the Road, which still airs on Game Show Network in reruns (the channel is, by the way, a favorite of my younger brother), and beneath that is a screen cap from the show's Twitter account which shows the actual answer inside his suitcase in which he admits that, "I'm a sex addict." Quite fitting for someone we saw in Hawaii and then here on Invasion seeing him go under covers with Latoya in the Shelter.
Following is an excerpt from last week's DCBLOG WRAP for Week 10 of Challenge XXX and Week 1 of AYTO Season 6, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down.
It was about at this time two years ago that Kailah was one of those finalists for one of those seven spots in the Real World Go Big suite in Downtown Las Vegas' Gold Spike, and the experience of having been on that Road Rules-inspired season has surely helped her in her first two Challenge seasons. And since she first made waves on The Challenge last season on Invasion, she has rapidly become one of the key figures in the house... whether she follows in Ashley's lead and walk away with the crown is still a long way out.
Two previous times, we have showcased her meeting two who've made a name the past 12 months: her musical idol Halsey before The Chainsmokers came a calling, and perhaps the most jealous of all celebrity meetings we've chronicled here - being invited to Floyd Mayweather's 40th birthday all thanks to her boyfriend Mikey P. being friends with the man who just became 50-0. Now, you can add a few more to those joining Team Jailah to the mix...
Twitter @IamMikeyP
Last month, those in the reality TV world were buzzing about a reunion of the cast of the most successful series in MTV history. Eight years ago, eight people from New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island traveled down to Seaside Heights and things were never the same, as Jersey Shore became a massive cable hit, replaced The Osbournes as the channel's highest-ever rated show and turned its cast members into household names. The show began as just a mere reality series documenting its castmates partying at night, doing "Gym, Tan, Laundry" during the day, hanging out by the beach and everything in between in their iconic timeshare house and the Shore Store. But it was a punch of all things that brought the show short-term outrage but long-term success as Snooki, Mike the Situation, J-Woww, Pauly D, Ronnie, Sammi, Vinny, Angelina and Deena (the ladder two meeting Bruno's skeleton Briah before RW Skeletons) became pop culture icons.
Last month, there were two reasons for Jersey Shore fans to get nostalgic: first, the entire cast (sans Angelina) filmed a Burger King commercial, and then E! aired a short but sweet regathering of most but not all of the cast who turned the seaside town into heaven for several of the show's six seasons, along with trips to Miami and Italy too. Since Kailah moved to Las Vegas, she has been a beneficiary of Mikey's contact list in getting to meet The Money Man and those in the entertainment world thanks to having done some side work in the Vegas clubs when not busy with promoting his music, for which she has a cameo in his latest music video. And earlier this summer, she got to meet Pauly D, who we first saw in Seaside as that party DJ and was cast on the show not because of his music but his blowout look after receiving a MySpace message. Pauly now has a permanent gig in Sin City along with traveling across the country to do DJ gigs too. And he was also one of the stars who was up for a date on the summer 2012 show The Choice, which we covered here last year, as was the E! show Famously Single where he had a brief relationship with Danity Kane's Aubrey O'Day.
Twitter @IamMikeyP
And on Labor Day weekend at one of the hottest pool parties on earth, the photo to the left describes this in one word from Mikey: "Squad!" Kailah got to meet Pauly's roommate in the Shore house, Ronnie - who we best know for his on-again, off-again relationship with Sammi Sweetheart and was one of the key stories that reverberated throughout the show's six-season run. He didn't make it to the filming of either reunion not because of being around his ex, but because of him following in Pauly's lead and being part of the cast of season 2 of Famously Single which also includes Tiffany "New York" Pollard of VH1 fame and Hayden of AYTO's new famous friend Chad Johnson.
Also at that pool party is someone who's not only famous but famous on another level: Kevin Hart spent his childhood with a single mom and a dad who spent much of his time in jail on cocaine charges, but who would then find a refuge in stand-up comedy in his hometown of Philadelphia. It took time and hard work, and even getting run off the stage at local gigs, but eventually Kevin would develop his style inspired by Chris Tucker and delving into his life struggles. Nationwide comedy tours would follow for him, which translated into two of them making it into movie theaters and his own iTunes game. On the movie front, he first made his mark as part of the Scary Movie franchise, then, among others, Soul Plane, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, This Is The End (for which Averey and Joi from Real World Portland did a commercial parody of), Ride Along with Ice Cube, The Wedding Ringer and Get Hard with Will Farrell.
And then came TV: VH1's Real Husbands of Hollywood, a guys' take on the Real Housewives franchise, along with the 2011 BET Awards, the 2012 VMA's and the 2016 Movie Awards for which Kailah attended along with her Real World cast. We can't forget about his musical alias Chocolate Droppa and his collaborations with Trey Songz, Migos and T.I., not to mention he is about to become a dad later this year.
It's not only Halsey, Floyd, Pauly, Ronnie and Kevin who are on Team Jailah: they have also crossed paths with (either alone or together): Dolphins QB (and Laguna Beach's Kristin's ex) Jay Cutler, Farrah from Teen Mom, MMA fighters Rampage Johnson and Cris Cyborg, boy band After Romeo, and a girl who we'll be seeing in that Voice chair tonight, Miley Cyrus.
Tonight, the game gets back on again on The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30, and tomorrow sees the first matchup on Are You The One? Season 6. But before we head into those all new episodes starting tonight and after Sunday's series finale of Teen Wolf, MTV heads into this fall slate off of a summer of increased viewership thanks to a number of hit shows including the sultry summer soap Siesta Key, and ahead of next week's return of a true MTV Icon: Total Request Live - TRL. And things are about to heat up with not just new seasons but also new shows, and this past weekend I revealed two of them which will join what I call the Trifecta in my viewing schedule.
For one of those two shows, it'll come later... after their shortcomings against Bananas, Leroy, Aneesa & Laurel last week on Fear Factor, there's a consolation prize for Alessandra, Brewer, Carissa & Marc in one of those two spots. Shredders will document them and four other young friends who will travel up to a ski resort in New York's Catskill Mountains for the time of their life. During this long winter break, they'll be snowboarding and skiing during the day, and at night they'll party it up like they're Olympic gold medalists. Think, Jersey Shore and Real World being combined with one of the other shows I enjoyed in my MTV run of Slednecks, and you have the recipe for Shredders, and we'll be looking more into it when their time comes when winter rolls around.
The other is a show that will celebrate the joys and the nostalgia of a decade none of us will ever forget and one that a New York Times columnist calls "The Best Decade Ever," and that is our focus of this installment of The Look: MTV's 90's House.
This is a short but sweet post here, but this is a very special one for yours truly here. This is the 500th overall post this DCBLOG site has published since this ride began on May 11, 2013 with the same two words that started my Twitter account five years ago: "I'm Here." What was first intended to be just a place for me to write about my passions and my experiences is still the case in a way, but over time it has become the site a lot of you who follow a passion of mine in MTV's reality TV ecosystem known as the Trifecta go to each week.
I have discussed this in the past before the last two Trifecta cycles and it would be a bit ridiculous to rehash things in this post, but for the gist of it: During the past four years, this hobby on the side has turned into my primary focus whenever there's free time available to me -- and the amount of time I have devoted to blog work each week has seen me lose hours of sleep and sometimes spend long days binge-working on my computer, all to offer you this unique and in-depth coverage. Along the way, I have nurtured this site, made it better and expanded my focus a bit, yet continue to devote the same level of passion and energy and a commitment to excellence I have into offering the exceptional posts you get each week.
Yes, this site offers a public service to everyone with all the 'Pulse play by play of every episode and recapping them too, but also realized an untapped market and a need of wanting to get to know the people you're watching on these shows a bit better through a unique manner of storytelling that's entertaining and engaging. Those three aspects all come together at this intersection to make the formula by which this site goes by, and helps to distinguish this site from others that cover The Challenge/Real World franchise and Are You The One too. I always like to think that this site sets the standard for blog coverage of this MTV world, and from the feedback you all have left me is proof of that notion and this passion.
This past week - as I approached this important milestone for DCBLOG, we showcased two fans who share the same passion for the fifth major pro sport as me and who got to meet the Dirty 30 cast when they were in New York. There, we saw one of them meet his idol while the other worked out with the cast and showcased his web series inspired by The Challenge. ● @Clarence_Pryor: "Thanks so very much! I'll keep this article!" ● @obey_andrezz: "Wow! Thank you so much! This is great! I really appreciate this article, you have no idea! 😍😭 "
Those words from Clarence and Andres are the latest in a long line of acclaim and appreciation a lot of you, both from fans and castmates, have shown to me in my time writing on the Trifecta. This helps to drive me in being able to continue to offer the high-quality content synonymous with this site, offering an all-encompassing blog experience that you can't find anywhere else. And there's still a lot to come with stories, social reaction and much more coming up.
Again, thank you for your continued support as we continue to glide along in our journey of taking you around the world of The Challenge and Real World, Are You The One? and whatever next big reality show MTV brings to us. And as a treat to all of you, below after jump are the See For Yourself advertisements which have been posted on social media the past year in promotion of this site -- all designed in-house. See you for the next 500.
As you go about your Monday, back we are at DCBLOG to recap last week's activities in the MTV Trifecta before we go into all new episodes coming tomorrow night.
Last week, there was something for everyone for Challenge fans as those in the Redemption House were given another chance to win their way back into the Dirty 30 and saw a veteran lady and a Young Buck win and a girl with Statitude falter badly. Meanwhile, MTV summer hit Fear Factor returned for a one-off special as the Challengers showed who's boss in a battle between Bananas, Leroy, Aneesa and Laurel faced off against the cast of the upcoming series Shredders. And in New Orleans, Are You The One? Season 6 debuted and saw a good number of hookups and love aplenty among our new group of 22 singles as Terrence J. took over as host.
Coming up, we'll look at the key moments of this past week on the three episodes, and head into the Strategy Room to look at what's next for a Dirty 30 season that seems to not come to an end anytime soon but is heading into the middle innings... along with a look at what the magic number is on AYTO... and it's not the two-digit numbers you think they are. After our poll results, who is the latest big name to jump onto the Team Jailah bandwagon? Find out with us next.
On this Sunday Funday, welcome back to DCBLOG's view Inside the MTV Trifecta, where yesterday we began with the second Redemption on The Challenge XXX, as well as a look at the musical side of one of the bloodlines of the always entertaining Staten Islander Marie. Now, we have arrived at the main event of this week's post here on this first weekend of fall: the premiere of Season 6 of the guilty pleasure known as Are You The One?.
This season, AYTO heads for the first time to the continental United States and instead of the tropical settings the first five seasons have provided, it's the Mardi Gras party atmosphere of New Orleans that is the backdrop for our sixth renewal of meeting a score's worth of single girls and guys all looking for the chance to find their perfect match and win $1 million. And also, the show has a brand new host in the always versatile and always busy Terrence J taking over for Ryan Devlin after returning to the Viacom fold hosting the After Show and Reunion, along with Safeword and the VMA's red carpet.
After getting an extended look at the entire cast last week as well as our first look at this season, this week season 6 begins for real with all of the usual pomp and circumstance as we meet and get to know all of our 22 castmates from A to Z. Also as usual, right out of the gate possible romances emerge among a pair who follow each other on Instagram, others who take their affection to the one room with privacy but also infrared cameras to document the action inside Poundtown, and everyone's favorite: love triangles.
Coming up, all the action, reaction and interaction from this opening act and week of Season 6, with all of the cast's anticipation for their debut on our screens, and advice to the newbies from the Season 5 cast who we like to call on here, Hercules. And if you got to see the latest movie to be released to the many of you who have Netflix, you might've seen someone familiar if you've been with AYTO from the very beginning... ExtraTime will tell who that is after the diary.
First, as this new season of AYTO begins… if you seemed to have found us here for the first time - then welcome in and get yourself comfortable. If you're a fan of the love experiment or any or all of the shows we cover, then DCBLOG is the place for those who want more from the MTV Trifecta. The 'Pulse is an signature feature presenting the other show that takes place concurrent to the madness of what we see on the episodes each week: social interaction between castmates, alumni and fans from Twitter as part of the unique, communal viewing experience.
Presented each weekend as part of our weekly posts, these exclusive running diaries are specially designed, curated and pieced together tweet-by-tweet by me, DC, in real-time and unfiltered to bring the hookups, drama, action and all else to you here. This is a service to all fans -- both those who just want to relive the action, reaction and interaction, and others who didn't experience the buzz at the time of its original airing and are here to catch up for the first time, posted to you here after it airs on TV and carefully compiled while you're catching up on it all between then and now.
The Pulse is only part of DCBLOG's all-encompassing and top-class Trifecta coverage: with Wraps of all the episodes, thoughtful & in-depth analysis, and our other important element of original stories called ExtraTime that takes you beyond the hype, headlines, hookups and the drama to focus on the people and stories of TV's most fascinating reality ecosystem and its guiltiest pleasure. And this longtime MTV fan who loves Are You The One? as much as you do and who's good friends with a lot of the castmates, proudly brings you unique, insightful and distinctive coverage right here.
Now, let's get down to the business at hand: the following are the actual tweets of the cast, alumni and fans as we got to see the premiere, along with the buildup to, and the aftermath of, the 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.
Love in the air, love in the shower, love in the Boom Boom Room, and a trip to Reality High. It's all ahead on the Pulse of Are You The One?.
Five years ago, the strong relationship I had with a show I've grown up with, MTV's Real World, grew stronger when I joined Twitter that summer and became close in social media with the cast of Season 27 in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. What lacked in the kind of big time drama viewers expect from MTV reality shows there in the Caribbean, that season made up in the fan friendliness of the whole cast as I got to become virtual friends with the entire group, allowing me to get comfortable in not only following the show socially, but also become friends with the cast too.
A person who we just got to enjoy her company once again is Marie, who we saw hook up with a tall ginger on Hassel Island, then push a couple Challenge competitors into a poor pot in Turkey, and have no doubt entertained us in her four seasons on the Trifecta. She's proving that Staten Island has more to offer than just being that lonely island located far from Manhattan and its famous Ferry - even coining a unique word named "Statitude." And she even pulled off the most epic Challenge Instagram takeover yet in asking quite literally the entire Trifecta community to hop in and tell everyone about how awesome she is, even if what happened on this past week's episode earned her scorn from a person who prefers everyone to give it their 100%.
But despite her having just exited from her second straight Challenge - Dirty 30 - and earning her spot in Colombia by way of that infamous night in Turkey as well as her time in the Virgin Island, Marie may not even be the most well-known person in her own family circle. The person who is the subject of this weekend's first piece of ExtraTime.
It is the Autumn Equinox, the first full day of fall 2017 - though the weather for many of you might suggest otherwise -- 90's for example in Chicago. And as your weekend begins, so does ours at DCBLOG as we now take you Inside the MTV Trifecta and begin a busy time for us here covering two shows at the same time- beginning with The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30.
Last week, for the second straight time members of the rebel alliance known as the Young Bucks were forced to take on each other in elimination, and it was his win over Hunter that now suggests that Nelson is someone to keep an eye out as in this game. And for the group affectionately called Team Ohana, it was his AYTO Season 3 castmate Britni who took the other elimination win. Unfortunately, this was all overshadowed by the events that took place before that when Camila found herself in hot water for going after Leroy in using race as a reason for her latest meltdown.
This week comes another opportunity for Hunter, last week's other loser Nicole, and the rest of the Redemption House to gain another shot at regaining their place in the game... and unlike the first one this one will test their stamina as well as their mouths. Meanwhile, the aftermath of what took place two weeks ago sees one player trying to cope with actions that could once again threaten another relationship back home. And when word comes that the Main House has deemed them the devil, the oldest resident of the cramped up quarters downtown looks eager on winning their way back.
All the action, reaction and interaction of Week 10 in Colombia is straight ahead, which also includes two shows that aired before and after this week's episode: a special installment of summer hit Fear Factor pitting four Challenge veterans versus four people who will soon be part of Team MTV, and a special on Race in America after last week's events. This is part of a busy time for this site here, as we will explain here later on this weekend's blog wave.
Redemptioners Revenge Part 2, dealing with family matters, Challengers face their fears and discussion of Race in America... It's all coming up on the Pulse of The Challenge XXX.
Hello there and welcome to DCBLOG's trek Inside the MTV Trifecta during this busy week for those who love reality TV. The past two nights have seen the start of Dancing with the Stars, the finale of America's Got Talent, and the winner of Big Brother 19 will be chosen at night's end, and we're one week away from the debut of Season 35 of the venerable Survivor. And we have a busy week ourselves here: last night was Episode 10 of The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30, while tonight is the premiere of Are You The One? Season 6 from New Orleans. Of course, we'll be covering both of them for you in our traditional time of over the weekend, but to tide you over we have this bonus edition of ExtraTime to share with you to put you into this mood for this week's posts.
Often in the soon to be 500 posts we've done here and most on some of television's most exciting reality series, DCBLOG has spotlighted some of the people who drive the conversation of the shows that matter more than any other constituency: the fans. We have featured people of the Trifecta fandom like yourselves in the past, where we've featured firsthand looks at the various reunions, an extraordinary fan becoming a lifelong friend of The Challenge's most loved & hated man, and others who have gotten to meet those who entertain us each week and interact with us in between episodes.
This story might be the most unique and dynamic story involving those like you who watch these shows with me and everybody who discuss this ecosystem and interact regularly with its hundreds who've been on our screens since it began 25 years ago this summer. And if you thought that just being a fan who only watches and discusses The Challenge is one thing, then wait until you hear this.
Imagine being a fan of the show you love watching the most out of any other, and thinking of an idea so radical it begins to take the web and social media by storm. That's exactly what's been happening with our subject, where a fan who lives just outside New York City was inspired by what we've seen on the fifth major pro sport and got together some of his friends from high school to compete in their own version of The Challenge.
On this dedicated edition of ExtraTime, we take a look at the wildest and most exciting backyard competition: The Caucus Challenge.
Welcome back one more time this time to our look Inside the MTV Trifecta as we conclude a packed week of posts ahead of tomorrow's new episode of The Challenge XXX and the premiere on Wednesday night of Are You The One? Season 6. This past week's episode of Dirty 30 was focused for the first two-thirds of it by the events that took place when Camila went on a drunken rampage towards the show's most beloved man Leroy, and has changed everyone's perceptions of her in the snap of a finger. And in the last third of last week, there was a great elimination battle in the Presidio that saw alliance members Hunter and Nelson square off and saw the ladder win, as did fellow AYTO Season 3 alum Britni over Nicole.
Because of a special, extended edition of the WRAP that covered Camila's behavior and the effects the Young Bucks' back to back eliminations have on this game, we've decided to move the ExtraTime bit which usually punctuates our weekly episode coverage, to its own post to wrap up a busy week on here, and in the interest of those of you who check us out on mobile. And after the jump, we'll head to New York to spend a weekend with this season's cast in taping the reunion and meeting one of their biggest fans.
Due to the sensitive nature of the topics being covered in this week's posts, comments have been turned off. To share your thoughts, tweet to yours truly at @DC408Dxtr and include the hashtag #DCChallenge in your posts.
Hello again on this Monday and welcome back to our look Inside the MTV Trifecta. And before we proceed into the busiest time of our fall slate starting tomorrow night, we have this opportunity to discuss and dissect Episode 9 of The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 in this special, expanded edition of the WRAP. If the 'Pulse Mega-post we posted late last night or early this morning gave you an idea of just how controversial and eye-opening last week's episode was, then it doesn't exactly do justice to how it has given those who have watched it in the course of the past week plenty to talk about... and here, DC FORUM will have the chance to offer our two cents on what is the most talked-about episode yet of this season coming up.
In case you've forgotten about it by now, it was the drunken tirade by a popular Challenge star on one of this MTV ecosystem's most beloved people that has gotten everyone talking and has swayed public support away from her and more to his side. But amidst the trash that dominated last week's episode, there was an epic elimination battle that took place amidst the chaos, and we'll also have the chance to discuss what this means for those who took part in that. Join us here as we wrap up last week's episode for you ahead.
*** ADVISORY *** DC SocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its long length, take frequent eye breaks if you're reading this top to bottom. Because to the sensitive nature of the topics presented in this week's post, comments have been turned off.
As you wrap up this weekend on this Emmys Sunday, hello and welcome again to DCBLOG's look Inside the MTV Trifecta and to this 'Pulse MEGA-Post where it's week 9 of The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 in Colombia as a season that has had a lot got down is now into its second half as we roll along with the quest for $1 million.
Last week, another key alliance and comprised of two underdogs - Hunter and Cory - were forced into squaring off in the Presidio, and in a close photo finish it's the AYTO upstart who prevailed. The remaining players then took their talents to the sea as they took part in host TJ Lavin's favorite challenge of trivia. Tony and Camila were the last ones standing in that contest, but then they would find themselves in a dirty and compromising position as they came home from a night out.
It's that not-so-secret kiss on the bus ride back home that becomes the buzz of the house, as he begins to cope with what he did that may alter the relationships he has back home. Also this week, a physically demanding elimination battle requires more that simply the strength of those chosen as it also pays ode to perhaps the most famous Challenge moment ever. But amidst all this, it something that takes with the other person involved in that kiss that casts a cloud over the house.
Coming up, all of the action, reaction and interaction of this tumultuous episode, along with the Dirty 30 cast's time in New York of filming the reunion and other things too. And after the diary, ExtraTime has a fashion show to offer as we'll revisit New York Fashion Week and a challenger of this season joining fellow castmates walking up and down the runway... and we'll also have a look at when Hurricane Irma invaded Florida from the view of an MTV alum who calls FLA home.
All of that is ahead as we bring you the 'Pulse of Week 9 of The Challenge XXX.
Following is an excerpt from a DCBLOG WRAP during The Challenge Invasion from earlier this year, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down.
As Kailah awaits her fate in whether or not she goes into the first elimination after the merge with the Champions, another well-known luminary has pledged their support for the one who's become the least-liked person in The Challenge Oasis.
As we told you here last year, she met songstress Halsey at the MTV Movie Awards, months before her collaboration with The Chainsmokers that brought them to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks in "Closer." That song just made history in spending the most ever weeks in the Top 5 of the singles charts, as Grammy winners Drew & Alex just became the third group in BB history to have three singles in the Top 10 at the same time: "Closer," "Paris" and their latest single "Something Just Like This" with Coldplay which they performed last weekend at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, for which they won five awards. Now, another one has Kailah's back - again, with visual proof.
Back in our first AYTO 'Pulse in January, we mentioned on the side about the possibility that existed of a fight that's come out of nowhere to dominate the talk of those who follow fight sports. The buzz among them the past few weeks, and first generated nearly a year ago, has been of a much ballyhooed prize fight in the sport of boxing between its richest fighter, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and the UFC's biggest star, Conor McGregor. That fight has garnered a lot of talk among fans of boxing and mixed martial arts as its credibility as a legitimate match has garnered the ire of purists on both sides of the ring, notably UFC head honcho - and close friend of TJ Lavin - Dana White.
Twenty-one years ago as an Olympian, the son of a former world champion, his father Roger, suffered his only meaningful loss in organized competition when Mayweather lost a controversial, close decision to a Bulgarian fighter in the semifinals of the bantamweight class at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. Since then - and when he turned professional shortly after, Floyd has never lost. The last time we saw him in the ring was in 2015 when he went 49-0 in what was his last fight...and don't make us talk about what happened in his previous fight earlier that year, by the way.
Over a week ago - while the stars were in Hollywood for what would be a most memorable Oscars in many retrospects, it was also Floyd's 40th birthday and he celebrated it down in Los Angeles over four days. The weekend included a small kick-off dinner gathering to begin the weekend on Thursday, a roller-skating party on Sunday, and a Showtime-televised boxing card at the Pechanga Resort & Casino on Friday in the Inland Empire, put on by his Mayweather Promotions company.
The main event came on Saturday at the L.A. Live complex near the Staples Center, which was, as reported by the media, a "official star-studded Oscars-inspired birthday gala" which featured the lavish and over-the-top persona that best fits the man who made $1.3 billion in revenue from his years in the ring. It felt almost exactly like one of the many after parties and viewing parties that took place that weekend that had musical performances, first-class bar and catering, and a guest list that makes you think that this was the biggest party in town and not the Oscars.
Floyd's BFF of sorts, Justin Bieber, was the most notable of the guest list along with Mariah Carey, Future, Marlon Wayans, Tyrese, Allen Iverson, Morris Chestnut, Fat Joe and Nicole Murphy. No word on whether the Burger King man eavesdropped on the proceedings, but Mariah did have the honor of singing "Happy Birthday" to the Money Man, adding on Instagram that she took an 18-hour flight just to celebrate with him. The cake itself was huge and features a suitcase of money, images of the retired (for now) boxer, a belt, and is topped by, of all things, a crown.
As Kailah has recently moved to Las Vegas, she was joined for the party by the multi-talented Mikey P. Some of you might know him more for his musical work, which he began while he was a teenager in performing alongside Pitbull, Rihanna, Flo-Rida, Jason Derulo and Trey Songz, among others at radio festivals, plus doing movie work in Standing Ovation. But reality TV fans know Mikey from having done a few of these shows, starting on MTV's From G's to Gents in 2008 featuring the most famous valet in hip-hop Fonzworth Bentley, then trying his luck on that testy course of American Ninja Warrior and most recently baring it all on the first season of VH1's Dating Naked.
And while the big news that emerged from that weekend was of Pretty Boy Floyd's Las Vegas house being broken in while he was down in LA, Floyd and friends, with Kailah and Mikey too, all enjoyed the evening. Kailah tweeted, "We're at @FloydMayweather 40th bday & @iammikeyp is making me take pics with famous people & after I'm like "uh, who was that?"She would then post on Instagram, "thanks for having us tonight @floydmayweather & happy 40th birthday! 🎉", while Mikey added "Tonight was unreal! Thank you so much for inviting us to your birthday party champ! @floydmayweather ...such a fun night for me and @kailah_casillas !"
If you happen to be one of those who've been invited by Floyd for one of his lavish parties, then you know that you are in the big time. And who knows? They may be there for the event of all events in fight sports should that fight happen. Stay tuned to see what happens there.
Last month, we featured the man who singlehandedly pulled off a true underdog tale: Devin relying on solo cups and a quarter to help his AYTO Season 3 castmates go from 2 lights in their ninth try to 10 in the last one as they won $750,000 two years ago. There, Big D joined Canadian filmmaker and fresh-faced funny man Zak as they prank-called fellow AYTO alumni in offering them spots on the casts of phony reality series, just after his first early elimination after cashing in his first three shows. Now, another member of that Miracle in the Islands cast has made another splash... this time quite literally, and with one of music's biggest stars, who tomorrow turns 25 years old and is marking his birthday weekend with dropping new music.
A decade ago, the buzz of the pop music scene were The Jonas Brothers: siblings Nick, Joe and Kevin started their music career in a local play in New Jersey, which attracted record executives to them and Nick's prior solo work when he was 12. That led the boys to tours in 2005 with Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys and Jesse McCartney as they began to make their way into the music business, and led them to stardom among the Disney crowd. With two top-rated Disney Channel shows and the telefilm Camp Rock, the guys scored top-five albums and legions of fans.
After a hiatus and a failed comeback attempt, the guys went their separate ways, and for Joe - it saw him form the pop band DNCE and scoring success with the catchy top-10 single "Cake by the Ocean" and collaborations with Nicki Minaj and recently with Sir Rod Stewart at the VMA's a few weeks ago. For Nick, he returned to doing some theater work, roles on the Broadway-themed TV series Smash, Hawaii Five-O, Kingdom and a couple movies; and was the creative and musical director on Demi Lovato's 2014 Neon Lights Tour before music came calling again.
His self-titled second solo album and first on a major label earned him a Billboard top ten and two top-20 singles, and it also introduced the world to a new Nick Jonas: gone was that squeaky-clean Disney image and in came the persona of being a sex symbol, perhaps tamer than that of another Disney alum in Miley Cyrus. To add to this, he also had a recurring role on FOX's Scream Queens and was part of Christina Aguilera's team of mentors on the eighth season of The Voice as he prepped for his third album, which has only added to Nick's superstar status in the music world: another top 10 album in Last Year Was Complicated, another top-20 single in "Close" with Tove Lo, performing on the 2016 VMA's in New York, and a starring role alongside James Franco in Goat... and also, getting to do a rap battle with someone who's the latest to align with Team Jailah, Kevin Hart.
Earlier this summer, Nick debuted new music in "Remember I Told You" featuring Anne-Marie and Mike Posner, who got to hang out with Brandon from AYTO Season 2 just after he returned from filming that season in Puerto Rico. That was a harbinger of what was to come, where this week as he turns 25, the stud announced a new album to come this fall, and a new single "Find You" which debuted on Apple Music's Beats 1. And that's where we find the link between him and AYTO.
One of those who we saw head to Hawaii almost exactly two years ago this month was Hannah Rathbun, a Syracuse native who's, as her bio stated, "funny, sweet, beautiful, and loves to swim with sharks, literally." What brought her to AYTO was a dating history that saw her ex cheat on her and putting the feelings of everyone else ahead of her own. Early on, she was attracted to Mr. Merman himself, Chuck, but after that early and money-losing blackout in week 2 she would eventually make her move on Zak. And as it turned out, though they were not one of those ten matches by the time Devin reached into his top hat and made that record 8-light jump to destiny, the Canadian and the Upstate New Yorker would leave Hawaii together. And two years later, they are still together as other AYTO couples have faltered after leaving the house.
Over the summer, Hannah was asked by Nick Jonas to make a cameo in that music video for "Find You" where in one of the scenes of the clip that will premiere on Monday, she appears underwater with Nick and almost gets very close to actually cheating on Zak. We'll find out about that when that drops at the beginning of this coming week, just two days before the journey begins for the Season 6 cast in New Orleans.
Since this was first posted on Sept. 15, there is actually more to Hannah's fandom for the Jonas Brothers: when she was 16, she and her sister went to a Jonas Brothers concert in Syracuse, NY and shared the following Instagram photo below of a screencap from the "Find You" video and her taking a picture with Nick, Joe and Kevin just a couple days after the pair's second meeting was released on all of Nick's social media accounts, VEVO and YouTube.
She captioned to the photo that has since been deleted, "So @nickjonas & I have come a long way since we were 16 🤷🏼♀️ I had so much fun shooting this & swimmin w you guys @loveebonique @espritcasting ✨check out my full 16 yr old Jonas Brothers fan glory 🙆🏼"
- I AM DC Post Updated 5/21/19 to replace deleted Instagram post with Twitter picture
