BY DC CUEVA
If you're one of those who have rolled with us for all five years of our journey through covering these shows, we've had a growing number of those instances where those who were on one MTV show make their way to another. There have been a lot of crossovers from all over the landscape - and even stretching beyond its Times Square headquarters that had a hand in leading this site to expand our beat beyond just covering three TV shows, as we did for the first four years.
First, we had four people from the first Are You The One? season head onto The Challenge with Battle of the Exes 2... a year later, a member of a heralded AYTO Season 3 cast made his way to Real World and cheated on a girlfriend who she met through her season's perfect match who's also his roommate. And at the beginning of this year, we saw The Challenge expand its draft pool by going to former Viacom corporate sibling CBS to take alums from Big Brother and five British folks from overseas, which also brought with them Ex On The Beach, which premiered in America in April.
At the same time amidst this crossover madness, so many of your favorites from both the shows we cover extensively and those that we might not feature as much have become moms and dads. Snooki, J-Woww and Ronnie are parents, and soon Deena will join them in the Jersey Shore parents' club. The baby drama involving Tony Raines and his Real World Season 30 girlfriend, Madison Walls, has recently taken a twisty turn, while many of his other fellow Challengers have also become parents - and most of them have retired from MTV to take on this ultimate of all adult challenges.
And of course, the one franchise that's been around for this entire decade began nine years ago and has been that one show that, along with Jersey Shore, has seemingly kept MTV afloat in everyone's interest. It started as 16 & Pregnant which followed several girls' journeys of having a baby at a young age, and it then translated into the spinoff Teen Mom. The show opened everyone's eyes into being a parent this early and ignited a national debate over a then largely-ignored taboo topic, and the cast of four generations' worth have long been fodder for the paparazzi and gossip sites.
Given all those circumstances above, perhaps it was just only a matter of time before a seemingly inevitable prospect would come to pass: someone from what we call the Trifecta joining Teen Mom, and it is about to take place as we turn the page to a new month of October. And for the very first time, a show that was first born out of seeing teenage girls go through the most excruciating 9-month process will now welcome those who weren't seen on 16 & Pregnant but certainly are used to seeing in the public light - both in the mainstream and on MTV.
It's in the ladder most especially that those used to seeing competitors challenge themselves or go for love will be tuning in for the first time come October 1st, and gave us this opportunity to introduce Teen Mom for those of you who will be tuning in when Cheyenne Floyd and Cory Wharton join MTV's most-scrutinized series, as does the daughter of Alaska's best-known politician, Bristol Palin.
It was on a chilly Saturday night last December before Christmas that a social media announcement jolted the MTV community, whose tremors were felt everywhere, from in Chicago where Season 31 Challenge competitors held a club night and met some of their fans and whose epicenter was in Los Angeles. There - and after filming both Vendettas and Ex On The Beach back-to-back last fall, Cory ended his autumn social media holdout to announce to the world that he is the father to the baby daughter of an MTV castmate he met on Rivals III, Cheyenne. More than a year earlier and after she finished 3rd in that season's controversial final, she herself likewise did a social roadblock to reveal that she had become pregnant, and in April 2017 she gave birth to baby girl Ryder K.
It was a story that grabbed everyone's attention both in and outside the MTV community and even was covered by a British site, and that bombshell was one of many involving those who have transitioned from those who we've seen on The Challenge, Are You The One and the show Cory was brought into MTV, Real World, into now tackling parenthood. So many of those who we've seen on these three shows have become parents in having to juggle raising kids this young while also being on television... and when it's in this very scenario where often, doing these TV shows and behaving often badly do have to take a back seat to the rigors of being there for the young girl or boy you spend more and more.
With what's taking place with what Cheyenne and Cory are going through - as well as the backstory of their kid - that had those who are in charge Teen Mom had in mind when they experienced its first roster change among the two groups of young mothers they've been chronicling since 16 & Pregnant. After years of uneasiness with producers and her fellow castmates, original girl Farrah Abraham left Teen Mom OG after this past season earlier this spring... it was welcome news for those who's despised her for all of what's taken place both on the show and out of it, while it was something she looked forward to stepping out of... though it may not be the last time we see her on MTV.
If you're one of those handful who watch Teen Mom, you know what the show is about... and if you are not familiar with it, if you watch old-school Real World seasons, it's pretty much that way but also adding in the element of these women going through their lives as young moms and raising their kids. Viewers have been glued to the nearly 200 episodes of this franchise (and its 16&P predecessor) to documenting this ongoing soap opera in offering a window on who these people are, while also integrating issues, obstacles and milestones that so many of us can relate to, along with of course all the responsibilities that come with being a parent.
If you saw Cory's Real World Ex-Plosion season back in 2014, an element that added to the series' reinvention was of featuring production and the fourth wall being featured a little more prominently than in the past. TMOG further added to that element by also revealing the bonds the moms have with the producers and crews who have documented their every move from the beginning, along with having their private lives being made public by the series. If you saw Monday's "Meet the Moms" pre-special with Cheyenne and Bristol, you saw producers on-camera ask the girls and those related to them questions of why they're here.
And for those who watch the show as well as The Challenge, no mention of Teen Mom would be complete without the show's biggest superfan in the Trifecta society: Jemmye Carroll from Real World Back to New Orleans (the season where she met her late ex-boyfrend, Ryan Knight) has made it a point to not miss any episodes of TMOG or TM2 and offer her hilarious and always-honest commentary when she live tweets the episodes. Her followers love her opinions so much, they've even signed petitions wanting her to join Dr. Drew in hosting the reunions or after shows.
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There are, of course, two generations of Teen Mom that have been documented over the course of the past ten years, dating back to the summer of 2009 when the first season of 16 & Pregnant aired and received tremendous viewership and interest before that monster known as Jersey Shore came along.
If you come to this site during our Challenge coverage, we get to introduce every rookie competitor and any returning veteran before the first competition commences to offer them the proper welcome they deserve... same thing for Cory's Ex On The Beach season when we welcomed non-MTV reality stars into the fold back in April. If you're haven't been keeping up with the three remaining moms, here's our introduction to them, the ladies of Teen Mom 2 and perhaps the most connected guy in the franchise to the Trifecta.
● AMBER
Of the three original girls still on this cast (not counting Farrah after her departure), the one who has had quite a life in the limelight is Amber Portwood. The Hoosier native was like any other teen: one who loved to party... until she met boyfriend Gary Shirley at age 16 and saw her get pregnant.. and it was after the birth of daughter Leah that things unraveled for the family like a tornado. A failed marriage and many arguments with him, plus an addiction to drugs, led to Amber being charged with domestic abuse, probation, depression and ultimately a five-year prison sentence (which led to Teen Mom going on a hiatus during her term).
But after taking classes to receive a GED and being on her best behavior in living sober, she only spent two years behind bars and was granted an early release. Despite more drama with her and Gary as well as another failed relationship with another guy, Amber's state of mind has steadily improved from when viewers saw her in the first generation of the show.
● CATELYNN
Those who follow The Challenge, Real World and AYTO have seen many relationships come and go and a handful work long-term. Here, Catelynn Lowell has Teen Mom's longest romantic relationship: she & Tyler Baltierra have been together for over a decade, got married in 2015 (it would've been earlier if not for VH1's Couples Therapy), and despite personal struggles over the years and recent press reports of a possible split, have stayed together through thick and thin. Their respective parents, her mom April and his dad Butch, have also been featured in the series, including his troubles with the law and abuse, which also deeply affected his son.
Late last year, Catelynn revealed on social media that she was going to seek mental treatment after she experienced thoughts about committing suicide, and went back to rehab earlier this year and cited the trauma of her childhood as a cause for mental health. But it was just a few weeks ago that they revealed that they have a third baby coming their way next spring, joining baby girl Nova. The Baltierras - who also share the home state of Michigan as Cory - would've easily been a family of five had it not been for them making a tough decision of giving their first child, Carly, up for adoption earlier in TM's first run.
● MACI
When viewers met Maci Bookout on 16 & Pregnant, the Chattanooga, TN native was a high school senior, and where a night of losing her virginity to a bad boy boyfriend saw her become pregnant. She gave birth to her adorable first child, Bentley, and continued to press on with going to school and then college. She and that boyfriend, Ryan Edwards, eventually got engaged but then it was called off, and eventually she became a single mom in co-parenting with the ex -- who recently found himself in trouble with the law yet again. Maci eventually would have greater relationship success with new boyfriend turned husband, Taylor McKinney, and they then gave birth to her second child.
Aside from Taylor being a regular Challenge viewer - and whose clothing line has been worn by TJ Lavin on the show, there are two links between Maci and the Trifecta: Real World fans know that one of its most reviled roommates, Adam Royer from Back to Las Vegas and The Challenge: Rivals (who himself has become a dad to two kids), got to become friends with Maci after his time on MTV was up and upon her & Ryan signing away the divorce papers. And for AYTO fans, you likely know the story uncovered during Season 3 when it was found that Cheyenne's castmate Kiki Cooper (the one who got played in that house by future Challenger Devin Walker) was one of Ryan's his ex-girlfriends after breaking up with Maci and while Teen Mom was on hiatus.
● BRISTOL
While Cheyenne might be the biggest castmate of interest to Trifecta fans, in the broader viewpoint of everyone else the most notable newbie is Bristol Palin. She is, of course, the daughter to the former Alaska Governor, and who was named for ESPN's city of headquarters as Sarah Palin was a local TV sports reporter pre-politics. Bristol first made waves when her pregnancy was announced during day 1 of the 2008 GOP convention while her mom and John McCain were ready to accept their party's presidential nomination. To go along with it, an engagement announcement was added on to all that in the child's father, Levi Johnson, being engaged to Bristol.
Their son, Tripp, was born two days after Christmas that winter and shortly after did Bristol and Levi ended what turned out to be the first of two engagements, followed months later by a custody battle for Tripp that ended on his 1st birthday with the dad being handed the judge's decision at first, but eventually the Palin family would gain legal custody. In March 2015 - the same month as Teen Mom OG debuting, Bristol announced her engagement to former Marine & Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Mayer, and the story of their marriage and a possible trip to Splitsville will be one to watch for this season. Shortly after, Bristol became pregnant once again and like her first child, daughter Sailor Grace Palin, entered the world as a Christmas baby days before Tripp turned 7... twelve months later, she revealed that she was expecting yet again and in May of last year, she welcomed daughter Atlee Bay.
Like a few moms of this franchise, Bristol has dealt with controversy, and has frequently found herself in the line of fire with LGBT supporters for remarks deemed detrimental to the gay & lesbian community: while her Lifetime show was airing, she called a Facebook troll the f-word, while she got into a fight with a man who criticized her mom and she accused him of being a homosexual. She criticized President Obama's supportive stance on gay marriage years before the Supreme Court made it law of the land, and supported Phil Robertson after anti-gay comments temporarily suspended him from Duck Dynasty. And there was the night that she got into a brawl in Anchorage where, while intoxicated, got into a fight with a host of a party for the Palin family.
As everyone knows, Bristol isn't a rookie when it comes to the small screen: two times has she danced her way on Dancing with the Stars, and in the first time she appeared in fall 2010, she went on a Team Princess-like run of avoiding elimination while fans were crying over the voting process. She appeared in her very own reality series, Bristol Palin: Life's A Tripp on Lifetime, and guest-starred on Freeform's Secret Life of An American Teenager, playing the role of a girl dealing with an surprise pregnancy. And in the year after her mom & McCain lost to President Obama, Bristol became a spokeswoman for anti-teen pregnancy organzations to call for teens to abstain for sex, all before MTV made this previously taboo topic a primetime sensation.
● THE OTHER MOMS
Compared to their Season 1 counterparts, the second generation of Teen Moms have perhaps become the most scrutinized of the series: Jenelle Evans-Eason's troubles with the law and dealing with her mom and family have been staples of Teen Mom 2, and whose most recent headline-making moment was of brandishing a handgun in front of a rough driver in an act of road rage in front of son Jace. Leah Messer has had several trips to rehab and one of the babies she gave birth to has a debilitating condition, while Kailyn Lowry has had drama with two of her exes who she often gets into words with one of them. And there's Chelsea Houska-DeBoer, who's fairly calm compared to the rest of her TM2 cast and, in the lone season I watched, her family adopted a baby pig(!).
Last year, Teen Mom 3's Briana DeJesus joined the TM2 cast and initiated herself into the family by hooking up with one of Kail's ex-husbands, Javi Marroquin. That romance simmered for a bit before they broke up, which led to an explosive fight with her and Kail that took place on the most recent reunion. Javi was a featured subject in our spotlight on MTV Reality stars' epic June weekend when he joined Challengers and the Floribama Shore cast at a pre-Final Reckoning party in New York, which came after he & new girlfriend, Lauren Comeau, announced that she had become pregnant. And last year, Javi was linked to two alumni of the Trifecta: he appeared via Skype on TR-Late Night to reveal that he sent a casting tape to AYTO, and the one night stand he had shortly after that cameo with Tony's aforementioned ex Madison in her hometown of Austin, TX.
And we can't forget about the new class of Young & Pregnant: Ashley Siren, Kayla Sessler, Jade Cline, Kristina Shirley and Lexi Tatman... or Briana's TM3 mates Mackenzie McKee, Katie Yeager and Alexandria Sekella.
● CHEYENNE & CORY
And this brings us back to Cheyenne & Cory, and we never forget that night where everyone was left with their jaws dropped at the news of him being the baby daddy. Throughout an MTV journey that will see him appear on his 9TH and 10TH series thanks to what will go down starting on Monday, we've seen Cory as the resident playboy and the competitor who's made two Challenge finals and a line of numerous exes among his MTV family. And Cheyenne is part of a renowned AYTO Season 3 cast that's seen several of her former castmates go onto Challenges and fame since... including riding a wave of luck on Rivals III with one who's now a Challenge staple in Big D.
Like what TM viewers have seen over the years, we'll be seeing them do what they can to co-parent their kid, which might be a tough task for some but it's been a piece of cake for them. But they hope that they will also bring awareness to a rare disease: after she gave birth to her, Cheyenne found that Ryder had a rare genetic disorder called VCLAD, "Very Long Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase" deficiency. The condition is where the body can't break down certain fats and those affected by it can't convert some of the food they eat into the energy necessary for bodies to function well, and some cases can cause respiratory issues. Cheyenne hopes that her being on Teen Mom can bring about awareness of this rare condition as she & Cory bring the world into their lives outside the tense environment of a Challenge house or an AYTO love pad. And if what we saw with Cory tearing up in this week's pre-show is an indication, we'll sure see a new side of him too.
As those loyal MTV viewers like myself might attest to, for any new series there is no coveted spot to land in than airing after its biggest and most-watched shows. Cory's Ex On The Beach season got the coveted spot of following the first Jersey Shore Family Vacation this spring and was its highest-rated pure series launch since Cheyenne's original show, Are You The One?. And when season 1 of AYTO debuted a couple weeks after Cory's Real World premiered, it followed the lead of Catfish (as well as last year's Siesta Key and Floribama Shore) in gaining the coveted spot of airing after Teen Mom, albeit in the graveyard bedtime slot that first time out but then airing earlier in later seasons.
In a way, Cheyenne and Cory making this crossover to joining Teen Mom represents full circle in AYTO helping to return the favor to the show it received that lead-in audience of four years ago. This marks the first time that someone who appeared on a prior MTV show has made their way into a series that's been derided by some for glorifying teenage pregnancy and young parenthood, but is still on the MTV schedule a decade after it debuted as a spinoff to what was the most talked about TV series of summer 2009. They have a story to tell everyone in bringing to light a rare disease while offering a glimpse into what parenting is like for two alums of the Trifecta...something that a lot of their fellow alumni can surely relate to.
And it's not to discount what the rest of the moms will offer to everyone as well... Amber, Cate & Maci got to welcome Cheyenne and Bristol at the end of Monday night's preseason special after some early ill will at first. Now, things are set for the next generation of Teen Mom OG to begin.
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As Cheyenne & Cory are ready to bring fans who followed them on all four of the shows we cover wall-to-wall here, for the first time DCBLOG will be planning to cover Teen Mom OG during this fall MTV Reality cycle... but there is a twist to all this.
Usually, we will go all in on covering series we consider of importance with all the cast reaction from social media and our own original content... but since TM already receives considerable coverage from other online media outlets, we won't feature as much weekly coverage of the show on here. Instead, a recap of Cheyenne's portion of the episodes will be offered as part of DCBLOG's MTV Reality WRAP - the original half of our weekly episode coverage, which will return next week along with coverage of Final Reckoning and AYTO Season 7 with episode recaps, analysis, opinions and our signature ExtraTime stories.
Make sure to bookmark DCBLOG for coverage of all of those along with Floribama Shore -- posts covering this week's episodes appear here this weekend. And for live tweets and interaction as the episodes air, follow DCNOW on Twitter at @DC408DxNow.
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