BY DC CUEVA
■ @DC408Dxtr @ TW / IG / YT
But even with that stacked cast of stars, our site's main focus this spring is Ex On The Beach USA with a lot having gone down in just the first two weeks alone with no shortage of love and drama. So far, we've seen two Trifecta alumni get cozy to one another, romance blossoming for those from other non-MTV shows as they continue their invasion of this pioneering cable channel, and of course the super-twist of the exes of these singles invading the islands and making this trip to paradise feel like hell.
As we've been doing the past two years, if there is any combination of two or more of the shows we cover of The Challenge, Are You The One?, Real World and/or now Ex on The Beach airing at the same time, we'll be combining original coverage of those shows into the same post... and Double Shot recaps of both shows will begin in just a few weeks. But first, we'll be focusing just on EOTB with a review of the first two episodes ahead of what will go down tonight, and also elaborating on two twists that didn't get explained when we did our season preview. Join us for that ahead.
THINGS TO KNOW
FIRST TWO EPISODES
♥ FIRST IMPRESSIONS & HOOKUPS: First, the premiere and the singles of reality castaways and social media stars arrive all anxious for what this experience could be like, and with the hope that this will be an incredible experience - at least at first glance. As is always the case for any new show/season, something as important to watch out for are those first impressions, and it doesn't take long for the first hookup to go down when Angela and Tor'i decide make out on the living room - and her getting to say that now he is hers... they then seal the deal under covers.
Shortly after, the headliner of this cast to many for him having just found out that he is a new dad, Challenge & Real World alum Cory, deciding to open his arms to the other MTV representative among the singles, AYTO Season 5 blonde beauty Taylor, by asking her to kiss him in the mouth, and she follows through on his request. And when she spots that everyone is getting paired up, one of the three non-reality stars in the house - Victoria - decides to join in on the fun when she goes for one of the two representatives of Bachelor Nation, Chase.
♥ THE BEACH OF DOOM: After that first night, the singles then arrive onto the beach for a luau, and the ideal welcoming party of a Tiki bar, hula girls, Hawaiian music and cocktails for everyone to enjoy right on the sand. And at first, this is supposed to be the kind of welcome fitting for those who come to our 50th state... but then things get ugly when Romeo Miller comes in to interrupt proceedings when he announces that more people will be flying in to join the party... only for those to not be fellow singles, but instead it's the exes who will be arriving. Of course, everyone is left with their jaws dropped as they discover that this is Ex on the Beach.
With the Baywatch-like intros we've seen from everyone, it's no surprise that the first one who emerge out of the sea like sharks is Derrick... and given how he calls himself "Mr. Chocolate" our first sight of him since getting put into shreds by Tori on the Dirty 30 Reunion is of him putting chocolate all over his chest... for his latest reality romance, he happens to be Angela's ex. The second ex to invade Hawaii is Chase's ex Skyler, who comes in at this most opportune time as he makes his play for Victoria and her wanting another chance with him all as the Jerseyite is all over him. And the third ex of Week 1 is Lexi, Paulie's ex and who had her heart broken him by Mr. Big Brother.
For the second trip to the Beach of Doom, white flags with faces emblazoned on them signal whose exes are next to arrive, and Faith, Chris and Taylor are brought shore-side to find out who among those three will go through hell or will get the shaft. The first to emerge from the Pacific is Chris' ex Chelsko, who reveals that he cheated on her on New Year's Eve and be blows back at her that she had slept with his uncle (more on that shortly). The other ex to get to emerge out of Taylor's ex Andre... and if you watched their AYTO season you know what went down with those two. Faith, by the way, escapes unscathed and for now, she knows she had dodged one.
♥ GETTING SETTLED IN: As the singles and their exes begin to get settled in, Angela & Derrick, Lexi & Paule and Skyler and Chase have their moments on the beach after they arrive. Things don't go so well for the Bad Girl as their breakup remains a fairly recent one, and she doesn't want to even lay eyes on him for what he did to her... a big blow-up takes place on the sand between them. Along with that, Cory reveals that a web between Derrick, Angela and one of his exes when she went after her in a hotel lobby... something that will come up when that ex arrives.
Things aren't as much heated with Chase & Skyler with their meeting on the rocks... same thing with Lexi & Paulie. But when they all get settled into their surroundings, Jasmine is feeling left out by what's been going on with this invasion and decides to get in on the act by going up to Sky that Chase and Victoria got to share a moment the previous night. Chase denies something happened between them, and the next day Victoria decides to confront him about what took place with them. Lexi finally has her moment to go in on Paulie for trust issues, but then she becomes the focus of Chris' attention. And Cory and Taylor have been all over each other from the beginning, and last week they finally get into bed and share a cuddly moment without getting in too deep.
♥ SHACK OF SECRETS: Once the second set of exes begin to approach the Hawaiian shore, the rest of the house receives a message in a bottle to inform them that even if they're safe from the air it's not the case inside. The latest twist is revealed in the Shack of Secrets, where an original housemate and their ex will be asked to descend down the elevator to a small room to get a chance to be confronted with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
With what went down on the beach between them still fresh, Angela & Derrick are the first ones to get summoned down to the dungeon. And given what happened the last time we saw him when a phone hacking scandal cast a shadow with him and Tori just six months ago, it's a phone that is the object of everyone's affection when Angela who is asked to scour his device to look through his texts and photos and finally expose every lie he ever told her when they were together. When she gets her chance to go all in on him, she takes advantage of those seven minutes to browse through his phone and rebut Derrick's claims that he did no wrong to her. And she emerges from the Shack to tell the others to brace themselves for the hell that takes place down in the basement... and he then does what Devin did memorably back on AYTO3: decide to make outside furniture his arch nemesis.
Earlier on, Chris put Chelsko on blast for hooking up with his uncle after New Year's Eve madness got the best of him, and her going on the defensive to deny that she and a family member got it on. To add more to this bizarre tale they are the second couple to travel down to the Shack of Secrets where, as if Hollywood made its way to this reality show, a Lie Detector greets them to give them a chance to not only find out if that uncle night is true or not, but also other questions they may have for each other. The question of whether he's a good kisser turns out to be a lie, then of if he really loved her was a true. He gets his turn to ask her to ask if their sex was great, which turns out to be true when she tells him that it wasn't... and then the uncle question: it turns out to be true that she didn't have sexual relations with Chris' uncle.
♥ CUT OR CRUSH: While the singles enjoy their time out on the pool, Romeo returns to reveal yet another twist: not only is Ex On The Beach a reality romance show but also it is also an elimination show like what Chase and Jasmine has been used to on The Bachelor/Bachelorette. At the end of the night, one of those who are in the house will be sent home, and for this first installment of Cut or Crush, it's the originals who will get to vote off an ex. Andre uses this opportunity to try to apologize to Taylor for what he did to her that saw their romance end badly after what we saw on AYTO5 and him cheating on her.
If you've seen what we've seen many times on The Challenge of the word "Polidicking" becoming part of the vocabulary in the past couple years, people will use sex as a way to prevent someone to vote for them in elimination. And given the immense amount of hate he has received dating back to his AYTO season, Derrick takes a page from what Ashley M. and a few others have done on the fifth pro sport to use some action to sway votes away from him. And here, he decides to bring Jasmine aside outside to flirt with her, and then they lock lips.
Everyone casts their votes in the Shack of Secrets, and then the house dresses up and instead of watching light beams as Team AYTO has been accustomed to, it's the first elimination ceremony with someone going home. Instead of anyone being sent home among the exes, it's the guys who will be up for the cut... thereby, Chelsko, Lexi and Skyler will stay, and Derrick and Andre are on the cut line. After being tied 2-2 among the singles early on, Andre receives the rest of the votes and is the first one to go home.
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STRATEGY ROOM
MORE TWISTS & TURNS
For loyal DCBLOG readers who check us out for Are You The One? and are watching some of their finest on Ex On The Beach, you're familiar with the Strategy Room. After our weekly episode recap for that show, here we track the game's progress from the pairings charts of each matchup ceremony to analyzing the odds of which couples could be perfect matches. Any nerds who love analytics loves AYTO, and we go behind the stats for all of you who love math... if you're in the mood, check out our Season 5 and Season 6 finale wrap's to compare Derrick & Taylor's agony and Joe & friends' elation.
There won't be perhaps as much strategizing on EOTB as it is on AYTO with no money at stake, and the Heart Chart that's in play right now is the diagram of who dated who and what kinds of relationships they have when they're brought up in the episodes. But in my EOTB preseason post, we mentioned about a few of the aspects of this show, including the Beach of Doom where an ex or two will invade Hawaii tonight to everyone's delight and dispair, and the Tablet of Terror which hasn't gotten as much play in the U.S. version of this show as it is in Britain but should have more of a role as we go along.
Something that didn't get mentioned in our preview were two key twists to this show which will have a bearing on how things will go the rest of the way, and we'd like to explain this a little more.
♥ If you watch AYTO, you know about what is the most scrutinized indoor space in the whole estate: the Truth Booth. Tay/Dre knows what it's like to see hopes of them being a perfect match being shot down by the words "No Match"... so does a future ex who got to go into the very first one on the very first episode and found out how vital a role this room plays a vital role in the landscape.
After we saw the idea of a closed indoor space become a part of The Challenge Vendettas in the elimination deliberations of the Troika, we have now seen EOTB's take on that room in the Shack of Secrets. This will be where a former couple of a single and an ex will have their relationship be put to the test bringing a certain item into that space and using it to get down to the true truth of these failed relationships. Last week gave us our first look at what this twist is about in seeing Derrick's phone getting shredded by Angela and a Lie Detector asking if Chelsko had that night with Chris' uncle. This should be just where much of the juicy stuff will take place, and with what Chase & Skyler, Paulie & Lexi or any single/ex combo we have still yet being potentially forced to go down there, there's no telling what will go down in that Shack.
If you saw AYTO Second Chances last year, you saw Season 5 perfect match Hayden & Carolina be put into this situation not once, but twice, of having this small space to see if their relationship can go the distance or not. Obviously, it did not turn out that way, but having seen these two EOTB couples confront each other will make for some exciting television.
♥ Secondly, another thing we saw in Australia that we never see on AYTO and of course what we're accustomed to elsewhere has been a process of eliminating castmates from the show. If you watch The Challenge, you know about the compelling elimination battles that's helped to defined that show in the reality landscape. Survivor has the Tribal Council and Jeff Probst telling the castoffs that "The Tribe Has Spoken."... same thing with Big Brother in the house getting to vote off one of their own and why all of their votes are scrutinized.
Going into this first season of a British staple that we're not used to watching on this side on the pond, yours truly did not think that there would be a instance where people would be voted off from EOTB. But now that we have seen Cut or Crush for the first time, this will now bring that political element that Derrick, the Bachelor alumni and of course Paulie have all been used to by now, which will make the social game important to not get you kicked off the island. Mr. Chocolate used "Polidicking" and kissing Jasmine to save himself from continuing the bad luck of getting voted off in all of his shows since giving his necklace to Shannon in the last matchup that his cast lost.
Being someone who watches just The Challenge among reality competition shows that have an elimination element to them, something to keep an eye out for this season is of the backstabbing that loves to bring about those social media beef, whether someone should save their crush over someone who else is pursuing them, and using a win at all costs method to try and save yourself from going home like what we saw with Derrick. Keep your eyes peeled for the politics to take over.
#DCExtraTime
MORE BABY NEWS...
Briefly, two bits of baby news from two Trifecta alumni who are now parents to two kids, like Mr. Tony Two Kids...
● Last week, several-times Challenger, Fresh Meat II alum and all-around good guy Brandon Nelson announced on Instagram that he will welcome his second kid later this fall. His IG caption at @BrandonDNelson read, "My lil man Mad Max is going to be a big brother! Roehn will be here in September. She'll be here before you know it!"
● And secondly, one of the housemates Shanley shared the AYTO Season 1 house with in Hawaii, Jessica Danielle Prongay and her husband, welcomed her second child, Gianna Marie. Her IG read, "No words.. a day full of love & joy. Welcome to the world, Gianna Marie!!! You are so loved. ❤️ (P.S. you hit the parent lottery.)".
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And that is all for this first installment of the WRAP of this spring cycle. Don't forget: we'll have both tonight's Ex on the Beach and Jersey Shore covered on #DCNOW at @DC408DxNow on Twitter, and when the episodes wrap up airing on the west coast join me over at @DC408Dxtr for a look ahead to what's to come on DCBLOG coming up this weekend, as this site begins its 5th birthday celebration this month. Enjoy tonight's episodes and talk to you then...
- I AM DC
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