BY DC CUEVA
As for what 2019 has in store for us, there are several things: the Lohan Beach Club with Lindsay Lohan, The Hills rebooting with New Beginnings with old and new faces, and other new shows and seasons too many to mention or too early to call - both on the MTV channel itself and on new digital platforms as part of the newly-launched MTV Studios unit. But for the biggest interest of this site, there are two new seasons of the two shows that we have followed our entire five year run here. For one, it will be the first since Invasion of last year to not be connected to the trilogy we've been experiencing in the past three seasons, and it will have plenty of new faces to come. For the other, it returns to an old formula and to a new platform as it reintroduces the kind of television that glued everyone to a new genre and changed how we are entertained.
After the jump, we'll take a peek into the crystal ball to look ahead to Season 33 of The Challenge and the return of The Real World. Gather around for some tea, friends…
THE CHALLENGE 33: WAR OF THE WORLDS
For that reason, MTV made the unprecedented decision to go outside of the domestic channel and its Viacom corporate umbrella and cast seven entirely new people from those two worlds for Vendettas. For that rookie class, two of those came from a totally different show that aired in what was for a time its corporate sibling in one of the media world's first mega-conglomerates: Natalie and now newlywed Victor of Big Brother. For the rest, they came from MTV UK: Kayleigh, Joss, Melissa and Rogan from the original British version of Ex On The Beach which proceeded the U.S. version's debut last spring, and Kyle from Geordie Shore - part of the global Shore franchise's return to the U.S. coinciding with Jersey Shore Family Vacation and Floribama Shore.
It would've been easy for many to just call it a bad casting decision to overlook worthy veterans and new rookies, which is very much the same thing those who have qualms about kids from Are You The One? going from Truth Booths to meeting TJ Lavin. But Natalie, Joss and Kayleigh have most especially made a huge mark during the 2018 portion of this Challenge trilogy, and made deep runs in the homestretch of Final Reckoning proving that they are now in this show for the long run going forward. What we didn't know going into Spain that this was just the beginning of The Challenge becoming the millennial version of the 70's sports entertainment series Battle of the Network Stars.
Last month - just after filming of the Final Reckoning reunion in New York, Season 33 of The Challenge began filming overseas and will do so for the rest of the time the current season is airing right up until the the early part of the holidays. Just as it was for Season 32, the continent of Africa will again be the venue for a season which we will see in the new year. And the country that will be put into the now international spotlight of this American series is Namibia, which was the backdrop for the final challenge on Battle of the Seasons 2, won by Zach's San Diego side much to the displeasure of most everyone.
Just as it was for Vendettas, MTV has gone out of its way and outside of its comfort zone to help cast Challenge 33, and has taken a page from the Ex On The Beach playbook to look to competing networks to bring personalities from those shows into the MTV fold. And they have also scoured the globe like those who look for top international scouts for world footballing clubs to see who can make the jump into American airways for the first time and help to make our world a little smaller. And there will be a great deal of those who have not competed on shows of this nature who might find themselves in a precarious position of having to get to know the game right on the spot, but will also help to bring this show to a new audience.
For those of you who are fearing the kind of new revolution that has been dominating the past few years, need not worry: the contingent of Challenge alumni - mixing both the veterans and rookies - that we've come to expect will be a good one. The list of those who've been cast to make up the incumbent party on Season 33 comprises of those who we've gotten to know over the trilogy as well as oldies but goodies: eleven past finalists and six precious champions are on the cast. That list will sure offer something for everyone in the old guard and the new generation to draw everyone in.
As for those who will be coming into this system for the first time on the next season, there will be a lot of new faces -- most of whom will be making either their MTV or American TV debuts. Just as it was last season, the rookie field doesn't include an alum from a past Real World season, plus for the first time since they joined this field an AYTO alum is not in the field of those taking part in their first Challenge. However, two newcomers to the fifth major sport have been on previous MTV shows in the U.S., which will make them feel like sophomores in a field of those who'll be joining Team MTV in the coming months.
First, the American contingent: and there are eight of those who we have seen before on our screens here at home. For those who are familiar to MTV viewers, Bachelor alum Chase McNary from Season 1 of EOTB USA and Gus Smyrnios from Floribama Shore will make the jump from the beach to the big house for their first Challenge appearance. Gus' stablemate in the Viacom and 495 Productions families will cross over from the biggest reality hit in the history of Country Music Television to MTV in Mattie Lynn Breaux from Party Down South, and she'll no doubt bring that wild rebellion spirit to The Challenge just like what we've seen with Ashley and the Buckwild bunch.
As for those outside the current Viacom setup, the Big Brother invasion of MTV will continue into its fourth cycle - and it adds to what we've seen from Victor, Natalie, Paulie, Da'Vonne and Jozea from Season 18 making that historic walk across former company lines. Three of those who lived in the Season 19 house last year will find themselves in a much different atmosphere than that secluded summer estate when they will drop into The Challenge house: season winner Josh Martinez and twin sisters Julia and Liz Nolan - following in the lead of RW Ex-Plosion's Thomas & bloodline twin brother Stephen.
They'll be joined by Morgan Willet, who will also find herself in another MTV house as she's also on Ex On The Beach Season 2, which launched its countdown to its holiday week premiere next month and also has its own slate of reality castaways who will find themselves in a paradise of hell. And because a lot of them try out on the show - and with one of them planning to give that famed course a try during their season of 1st Look TV soon, Natalie "Ninja" Duran from American Ninja Warrior will take her talents from that famed summer series for the fit and strong to where having to handle the politics is just as important.
What about the overseas competitors about to get their first closeup in the most coveted entertainment market of all? There are nine rookies from outside the United States who will be making their U.S. TV debuts as part of our new cast. Once again, the Brits will have some representation on The Challenge - this time in three newbies from Ex On The Beach: Ashley Cain, Stephen Bear and Zahida Allen. Bear has experience in having done UK competition series Shipwrecked and may benefit him in his first Challenge, as does Ashley - a former English league footballer and the ex of Kayleigh and Melissa (which spurred the ladies' Vendettas rivalry). And like Kyle, Zahida also appeared on Geordie Shore... all signs perhaps point to the Brits again making a splash here.
Another Brit joining the MTV international fam is Georgia Harrison, who first appeared on Hills-like series The Only Way is Essex in fall 2014 and then on Series 3 of Love Island UK, the addictive international franchise which comes to America in the new year. Her fellow LI alum, Theo Campbell also from last year's season, is also on the cast and brings the same track & field (or outside the U.S., athletics) background and Olympic experience as Champs vs. Stars standout Louise Hazel. And the nation Down Under will have a representative on The Challenge for the first time in Asian-Australian Dee Nguyen, who was part of the Australian-based cast of Series 17 of Geordie Shore and who was on spinoff Goldie Shore: Radgies to Riches.
The rest of the international field will include the first representatives from outside the British Commonwealth. Joao Paulo, aka "Jo-tape," from the Brazilian version of Ex On The Beach will make history as the first Latin-born male Challenger, as will Alan Valdez, a Mexican model, actor and fitness personality from Telemundo. Canada will have representation again on The Challenge in Shaleen Sutherland from Season 3 of The Bachelor Canada, following in the footsteps of Evan. And while a member of a past Survivor cast to be part of the next wave of lovers on EOTB USA, someone from the Turkish adaptation of the international franchise will make a Challenge debut in Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran, who two times has achieved Sole Survivor status on Survivor Turkey.
So, the list of those who are on the next Challenge cast are as follows...
ALUMNI
● Amanda
● Ashley M. 🏆 FINAL RECKONING FINALIST
● Cara Maria 🏆2X FINAL RECKONING FINALIST
● CT 🏆2X
● Da'Vonne
● Hunter FINAL RECKONING FINALIST
● Jenna 3X FINALIST
● Johnny Bananas 🏆6X
● Kam FINALIST
● Kyle FINALIST
● Leroy 3X FINALIST
● Nany FINALIST
● Natalie FINAL RECKONING FINALIST
● Paulie FINAL RECKONING FINALIST
● Wes 🏆2X
● Zach 🏆
ROOKIES
● Alan Valdez (Actor, Fitness Personality & Model) 🇲🇽
● Ashley Cain (Ex On The Beach UK) 🇬🇧
● Chase Mcnary (The Bachelorette/Ex On The Beach 1)
● Dee Nguyen (Geordie Shore 17 & Goldie Shore: Radgies to Riches) 🇬🇧
● Georgia Harrison (The Only Way Is Essex/ Love Island UK) 🇬🇧
● Gus Smyrnios (Floribama Shore)
● João Paulo "Jotape" Andrade (Ex On The Beach Brazil) 🇧🇷
● Josh Martinez (Big Brother 19)
● Julia Nolan (Big Brother 19)
● Liz Nolan (Big Brother 19)
● Mattie Lynn Breaux (Party Down South)
● Morgan Willet (Big Brother Over the Top/Ex On The Beach 2)
● Natalie "Ninja" Duran (American Ninja Warrior)
● Shaleen Sutherland (The Bachelor Canada: Season 3) 🇨🇦
● Stephen Bear (Ex on the beach UK/Shipwrecked UK) 🇬🇧
● Theo Campbell (Love Island UK) 🇬🇧
● Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran (Survivor: Turkey) 🇹🇷
● Zahida Allen (Ex on the Beach UK/Geordie Shore) 🇬🇧
As we wrote in our Vendettas pre-preview last year, if you’re a general reality TV fan who watches more than just what MTV offers, than The Challenge will have something that will glue you in and never let you go. And for those who aren’t MTV watchers but will be following those who you got to see on the original shows of the international wave of competitors, than you’ll be in for a treat when you get to watch The Challenge for the very first time. And for the die-hard's loathing about the vet wave not getting into this season, TJ assures us that there will be something to look forward to.
We have no clear idea of what the format, the name or anything else that relates to this season. But given the size of the cast and how there is an equal amount of competitors on both sides of the ball, the assumption many fans have of this season that it may be the long awaited Gauntlet format that hasn’t been used for a Challenge season since 2008 which would pit veterans (and in the case of the modern season, alumni) against a team of rookies - those competing on this show for the very first time.
Perhaps, it could be a third iteration of Fresh Meat: a veteran being paired with a rookie in a pairs season... it's that Fresh Meat possibility that is the likely scenario given the same number of players on both sides. If that is the case, than you might look for one side or the other getting to go through a season-opening draft where they get to pick their partners, similar to what we had on the first and second seasons of that format. And unlike what we've had here on Final Reckoning, there won't be bad blood among the partners going in... just the sure challenge of getting to know them off the top will be something to watch for when the season begins.
As for the name of the season itself, it channels one of history's greatest novels, as well as a most memorable radio adaptation of the book that caused great panic eighty years ago this Halloween Eve. The name "War of the Worlds" is synonymous with a book that was released before the turn of the century, and Orson Wells turning it into a radio play that aired in 1938 that saw an evening of radio music being interrupted by news bulletins of martians invading the streets and listeners running into the streets... leading him to call a next-day press conference to say sorry to the country and that he never meant to scare everyone.
With a decent field of Challenge vets and recent upstarts going up against the rest of the reality TV world and with representation from five foreign countries, it's fitting that "War of the Worlds" is the title of Season 33 of The Challenge. With us finally getting to start anew following the trilogy that ends in just a few hours, the evolution of this show we love will continue as it now embraces the opportunity to bring new viewers into the MTV system for the first time just as what we're having with Ex On The Beach. Let's hope it'll be a great season.
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RETURN OF THE REAL WORLD
I signed on Twitter the night Marie's original Real World season in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands debuted in late June 2012, which also was when my Reality Debrief sparring partner Andrew Kirk began regular reality TV webcasts during that summer and continued into covering his first full-fledged Challenge season afterwards which also featured the girl with Statitude. And for Season 28 that came on the following year, Brian Cohen began his successful podcasts talking to the cast of the Portland season, while the reunion he and a friend of this site Kaitlyn Macisco went to for that season was DCBLOG's first longer-form MTV post.
The very next season saw the show take a cue from The Challenge and from another Bunim-Murray show that gave us new MTV family member Angela: Bad Girls Club. The first full MTV season that we got to cover here was Real World Ex-Plosion in San Francisco: a typical seven strangers season being crashed a month in by the roommates' exes with the same twist that inspired Ex On The Beach. That season that took place in this blogger's Bay Area stomping grounds saw Jenna deal with her ex Jay, Cory's MTV debut as he had to deal with Jenny and her ex Brian, and loads of big time drama that revitalized a stale formula for the modern reality TV age.
A similar twist then occurred on Season 30 of Skeletons where people from the roommates' past invaded Chicago where Sylvia had to deal with her boss, where Bruno had to deal with a brother who had a falling out with, and Jason deal with a dad he had never seen before after he got into a fight with roommate Nicole. And of course, the Tony Raines story began there with him having to juggle a roommate he shares a baby with in Madisson, and an ex of his who is not only the mama of his second child, but is now his fiance after proposing to girlfriend Alyssa while in New York filming the reunion which airs next week.
Then came the Road Rules-inspired Go Big or Go Home season in Las Vegas that gave us Kailah, and a sort of precursor of two-thirds of The Challenge trilogy with Bad Blood. Things have changed a bit, and after what we saw in Seattle MTV took the opportunity to give the show a break for the Champs vs. Stars Challenge spinoff (for which RW showrunner and the so-called extra roommate of the house, Matt Ruecker, appeared aplenty in Seattle) and evaluate the show and thinking they might've strayed away a bit from the show's original formula.
The Real World's concept was bold and fresh when it launched 26 years ago: the first time anybody had molded documentary-style filmmaking with soap opera-style story arcs, and the youthful energy that is MTV into the modern day genre of reality television. It invented an entirely new way of entertainment, and in many ways it separated itself from most every other form of reality TV that came on afterwards in being able to tackle stories that had not been documented on camera before... one that helped to ignite conversation through the screen and into the national dialogue.
Every major social issue that's emerged in the past quarter-century has been documented on Real World: mental health, homophobia, addiction, LGBT rights and beyond. The show has cast virtually everyone from across this diverse country of ours and portraying what it's like to be a young adult... not to mention having plenty of fun like having a Vegas bathtub threesome too. And the reason for the expanded Challenge seasons we've had the past year was to integrate that RW-like drama into the show, as well as the rest of the MTV reality slate too.
But at its heart, The Real World has always been about bringing people together and channeling the mood of a generation of the moment. Season 1 saw Kevin & Julie have a heated argument on the streets of New York on race, while amidst the animosity and jealousy of Bad Blood, the Season 32 cast took part in one of the many Black Lives Matter protests of that tumultuous 2016 and before things got out of hand afterwards. Of course, some of its most famous alumni have gone on to bigger things, from Johnny Bananas and the Miz to Jamie Chung and Karamo Brown, and recently with Tony, Kailah and Cory.
And the most famous story of all lies in Pedro Zamora's valiant battle with HIV in San Francisco, and was part of the first televised same-sex commitment ceremony with boyfriend Shawn Sasser. Twenty-four years ago this month, Pedro's battle with AIDS ended around the time of the season finale of The Real World San Francisco, which remains the most-notable season in the show's history and for which last week Judd Winick penned a Twitter thread on his memories of his late roommate.
With MTV enjoying a renaissance in relying on shows that were the product of the invention of a totally new genre, it's no surprise that The Real World was on the slate of shows the channel's new MTV Studios unit had in mind when it began to tap into its library to develop new shows for digital platforms like Netflix, Hulu and others. And with other shows having stolen its thunder, MTV and Bunim-Murray decided to return to its roots and remind folks that before Teen Mom, The Real World was the show that brought real life and life as a young adult into our TV's like no one else did before.
Last month, MTV Studios announced that the broadcast & distribution rights to the reboot of The Real World were awarded not to the MTV channel itself or be put under a subscription VOD platform like Netflix or Hulu, but to the unique worldwide platform that is Facebook. The series will be reimagined there with not one, but three seasons to debut in Spring 2019 on the social net's video platform, Facebook Watch, which unlike most video operators but like broadcast network television is one that is available to everyone free of charge without a subscription.
The global platform of a social media network that counts over 2 billion daily active users will offer The Real World the opportunity to expand its horizons beyond just the U.S. and to include seasons filmed not only in America, but also south of the border in Mexico and across the Pacific in Thailand. Like the old school seasons that the likes of Eric, Beth, Syrus and the pioneers of the early generation of the show got to do, the series will address social issues, explore friendship and everything else we're used to from the show, while also offering a window on the cultural and social environments of the roommates' surroundings.
Social media has had an immense impact on the latest generation of MTV Reality, and it's no surprise that with Facebook now airing the show the series will have a fresh interactive element to its digital reboot. The three new seasons will introduce interactive social and community features to help us fans shape what's going on in the house and provide a connection to all digital platforms, in addition to the castmates interacting with viewers each week. Similar to what we had with Greg in Hollywood and Ayiiia in Cancun, Facebook users can choose one housemate to go into the house, and there's other social elements that will make the show appointment viewing each week.
Yes, the show might not air on MTV - at least not yet on television, but Facebook is an ideal platform for the channel to branch out for the first time outside its traditional TV home to a new world and a new way for fans to get their MTV without relying on just having a cable subscription. MTV describes this new reiteration of The Real World as the launch of "social reality TV" in allowing the most personal of all our forms of communication to now help shape the next generation of the one thing the channel does better than most anybody else of offering everyone the most talked about content anywhere. And let us hope that The Real World will be awesome again.
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As mentioned at the top of this post, last night saw the conclusion of the three-season trilogy of The Challenge with the finale of Final Reckoning as the final four teams played off for the winner-take-all $1 million jackpot at stake to the winners. If you got to see it, we assume you are still in shock over the end result of what took place there in South Africa, but if you're a cord cutter who's yet to catch up yet, we won't spoil it for you... but we guarantee you will be left with your jaws dropped to how it all ends... and don't be surprised if that happens again.
Along with giving a shoutout to those in the ladder and to give them all the time now until then to catch up, usually we would say here in closing bits like this to invite you to rejoin us here over the weekend when we'll be bring you all the action, reaction and interaction to last night's episode, our traditional wrap-up that follows after and our unique ExtraTime stories as well. But since today feels like a Friday for the instance that today, Wednesday November 21st, is Thanksgiving Eve and people like you are scrambling to get last minute preparations for tomorrow's big dinner or one of the millions traveling today in the air and on the roads, the weekend is here on this Wednesday.
Due to this, we're moving up the posting of this week's SocialPulse of the Final Reckoning finale from its traditional spot of Friday/Saturday to tomorrow night as part of your Thanksgiving Night festivities. Also - as is custom for major holidays like this, DCNOW will be offering our traditional #DCPlaylist special with yours truly getting to play several hours of hit music and holiday tunes for your Thanksgiving... follow @DC408DxNow for all of the goodies starting early tomorrow evening.
Again, join us for the Pulse of the Finale of The Challenge Final Reckoning tomorrow night... we'll talk to you then, and have a safe & Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
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