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EXTENDED POST - 28 Mins.
BY DC CUEVA
While this has been an MTV U.S. staple for two decades and part of an MTV Reality story that began in 1992 with The Real World which returns this spring, this new Challenge season will be different from others of years gone by. For the first time in its 20-year history, a show considered to be the "fifth major pro sport" in the United States will have an international feel of an Olympic Games or a World Cup: those from overseas countries taking part in the heat of competition that will see them go up against big name vets, with a $1 million prize fund awaiting those who survive all the way to the final at season's end.
The roots of this global Challenge season were planted at this time a year ago in Spain with a British invasion of five newcomers from the United Kingdom to Vendettas. Kayleigh Morris, Joss Mooney, Melissa Reeves and Rogan O'Connor competed on Season 31 -- their debuts in America, and in turn offered a bridge to the American arrival of their original show, MTV's international format Ex On The Beach. Also with them was Kyle Christie of the UK's Geordie Shore adaptation, who accompanied the return of the Shore franchise to the U.S., and serving as halftime entertainment of sorts in between Season 1 of Floribama Shore and the Jersey OG's Family Vacation.
Now, it's time for a few of those with English accents who got to star with them on those two MTV international formats to follow in their footsteps from a country about to exit the European Union to being the next Brits to take over the States and The Challenge, along with one from Australia who got to rage with the Geordie gang. Also with them are two alumni of what is the biggest buzz series of the moment in the global reality TV landscape as Love Island prepares to come to the U.S. this summer. And in between, there's competitors from South America and the Middle East who will also join them to compete down in Africa.
In Part 1 of Who Are These Newbies? - War of the Worlds before this past week's season launch special last Wednesday, we profiled eight first-time challengers hailing from the United States, Canada and Mexico. Now, Part 2 will turn the focus to those outside North America, as five rookies from Britain, and one each from Australia, Brazil and Turkey, will are set for their American closeup. And after the jump, we'll begin with who is the most notorious of the new international Challenge competitors, and the one who has already had a solid reality TV career as he enters American airways for the very first time.
● STEPHEN BEAR (Ex On The Beach UK, Celeb Big Brother UK & Just Tattoo of Us) 🇬🇧
Find anyone who has done many different reality series over the course of a career, and likely they're icons: Tami Roman has done so many of them since her debut on Real World L.A., while Cory Wharton has done RW, The Challenge, Ex On The Beach and, as Cheyenne Floyd's daughter Ryder K.'s baby daddy, has made it on to Teen Mom OG, with perhaps more to come. The person who's become their equivalent across the pond has a more humorous personality and is the one who comes to War of the Worlds as the most visible competitor to those watching in Britain.Stephen Bear was a roofer in the East London district of Walthamstow before he was cast on the ninth series of a Survivor-inspired show called Shipwrecked in 2011, where he made it to the end of a 13-week stint marooned on a remote island but finished in 5th place. But that was only the warm-up act to a long reality TV stint that would see him also appear on a show called Celebs Go Dating which saw, yes, famous people like him (plus the Pussycat Dolls' Melody Thornton and The Hills' Stephanie Pratt) go on dates with ordinary people. But for the most part, Bear has kept himself in the Viacom family in having done three shows for MTV UK, and a fourth for over the air sibling Channel 5 (which launched in 1997 with, of course, a Spice Girls music video).
For his most prominent role, he was cast into Series 3 of Ex On The Beach U.K. in 2015 as one of the eight singles who came to Cancun, and sharing quarters with Rogan and Geordie Shore's Vicky Pattison & Marty McKenna. There, he ignited things with Vicky and future CBB houseguest & singer Megan McKenna (no relation to Marty), created a rival in Jordan Davies and had the house turn on him midway through. Bear then returned for Series 5 - the All-Stars season - in Koh Samui, Thailand as a co-headlining single along with Gary "Gaz" Beadle of Geordie Shore fame, and Bear had to endure seeing his ex, Kayleigh, be the first ex to invade the island, as well as laying eyes on Gaz's ex Lillie. Kay's entrance helped spur the drama she and Bear would deal with Mel, Joss, Gaz and another prospect of this Challenge.
With EOTB5 was airing that same summer of 2016, Bear took his talents from the beach to a closely-monitored summer villa, aka the British Big Brother house where he did the eighteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother UK as he shared quarters with MTV stablemate Marnie Simpson and, among others, Aubree O'Day, BB16 houseguest & Ariana's brother Frankie Grande, and Mob Wives star Renee Graziano. Bear made quite a bit of buzz in the CBB house when he was told many times, to put it bluntly, to "be a good boy" and was warned many times to not follow what Kay did and get sent home for bad behavior like she did when she was on B.B. He was nominated for eviction five straight times, but in the end he overcame that to come away with the top prize.
And just over a year ago, he hosted the first two series of the original U.K. version of the wildest TV show involving ink, Just Tattoo of Us, which last year became the second global MTV format to have it localized for the U.S. in How Far is Tattoo Far. It, of course, has since become infamous for Cara Maria & Paulie creating tattoos for each other prior to the cheating scandal involving them and The Bachelor's Danielle Maltby that's become the hot preseason story heading into this Challenge. And in the series 1 finale, Bear himself designed a tattoo for his co-host, Geordie Shore alum, fellow Celeb Big Brother winner and now MTV UK talk show host Charlotte Crosby, that undoubtedly shocked her... that's among the best of the Bear below.
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Ashley Cain grew up in the Warwickshire area of the West Midlands, and made his professional footballing debut for Coventry City in tier #2 of the English pyramid, the EFL Championship, and barely missed a breakaway chance on goal in his first appearance in 2009 and sending opponents, Charlton Athletic, packing for the third tier. After miring down in sides playing outside the EFL in the lower-tier Football Conference, Cain found a calling at Coventry Sphinx in the local Midlands league, where he scored 9 goals in 28 matches far away from the glamour of the Premier League.
It is in reality TV, though, that Ashley became a nationally-known figure across the Isles when he appeared on three series of Ex On The Beach, starting with being part of its inaugural Series 1 cast in 2014 as a single entering the house with Geordie Shore original Vicky Pattinson and Celeb Big Brother UK alum Chloe Goodman. He would deal with his ex arriving shortly after and following a night of aggressive behavior Ashley would be sent home... we believe that those kinds of CT-like moments will be on offer in Africa. But it would be in the very next season in 2015 that Ashley did what many others have done on the show and we'll eventually see with Angela and Tor'i for EOTB-USA Season 2: make a return to the beach.
He was the last ex to arrive on Series 2 (Kayleigh, Melissa & Rogan's original season, and where Charlotte and Gaz showed up as exes), but instead of reconciling with his ex, he turned his focus with Kayleigh upon arriving. But then the next day, he shifted his attention over to Melissa... thus, the British frenemies' rivalry was born, and it would not be the last chapter, as the threesome returned for Series 5 a year later along with Joss and a slew of other notables. There, Ash arrived in Week 3 as Kayleigh's ex in dramatic fashion at a night party, but it wasn't until he slept with her friend turned another enemy, Jemma that things began getting juicy with Kay & him. Mel arrived shortly after and spurred more of their vicious drama in front of Ashley when Mel stole him as revenge and kissed him on their date, and he went against her towards the end of the summer.
Below, three clips of him on his Ex On The Beach stints, though the third one of him & Jemma in bed may be inappropriate for younger viewers. Also included for a man who also calls himself on social media the "BEAST" in capital letters: a day in the life of Ashley, and a summer holiday he took to Malta, one of Europe's biggest tourist attractions.
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● ZAHIDA ALLEN (Ex On The Beach UK & Geordie Shore) 🇬🇧
Zahida Allen hails from Newcastle, the same part in the Northwest of England Kyle grew up in, and who was a bartender at a local nightclub there prior to her MTV days. She is also a former beauty queen, who had the opportunity to compete in several pageants on a national and international level, and as England's representative in Miss Earth 2012 not only got to compete for the crown but also was deeply touched by her experience of helping those in where that year's event took place of the Philippines.
Zahida then took her talents to MTV UK when she appeared in Series 6 of Ex On The Beach in winter 2017 in Greece, whose most notable castmate was Aaron Chalmers of Geordie Shore fame and who is now an MMA fighter in the Viacom-owned Bellator promotion. Zahida arrived as a single at the outset, and became attracted to fellow single Sean Pratt just before her ex Joe became the season's first ex to arrive and him blowing up upon finding out about their hookup. She then had it out with Aaron's ex Maisie for kissing him later on, and caused other drama in the island.
Then, Zahida returned to familiar territory when she was cast on Series 14 of Geordie Shore in spring 2017, which saw one spot in the house open up after Kyle's ex Holly Hagan left. Zahida was one of eight newbies who joined the group over the season with the hopes of becoming a permanent housemate. It didn't take long for Zahida to make noise as, when after work spread of her and Marty McKenna getting close on the ride home, she got into a brawl with Chloe and Sophie Kasaei. She later got into it with the guys before she hooked up with Scotty T., earning Marnie's wrath in cheating on her man back home... but in the end Zahida wasn't chosen to become the new eighth roommate.
Below, we get to meet Zahida from her two shows, along with her fight on the first night in Geordie, and her ex arriving that caused a meltdown on his part.
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● DEE NGUYEN (Geordie Shore) 🇦🇺
For our first Australian to grace our screens in a long time on MTV U.S. - and one who is also of Vietnamese descent, Dee Nguyen calls Sydney home, and as MTV.com.au wrote is one who prefers guys who have as much fun as her and to put her in her place when needed. She is a fitness enthusiast who likes to do yoga and even Jujitsu, and she even revealed to Yahoo! Australia that amidst enjoying the sun of this Australian paradise, she has a double life where beneath the sweet exterior that was also a pole dancer who gets drunk, hooks up and has tattoos... and can be feisty at times.
It's that kind of life that usually initiates people into the MTV Reality family regardless of whether they're overseas or in America. And it's with this in mind that Dee was cast as one of four Aussies who joined with the Newcastle crew to party down in Sydney for Series 17 of Geordie Shore last year, which accounted to a home game for this Sydneysider. Along with her, Holly Hagan made her return, Marnie and Aaron had left the show, and another castmate was taken off the flight down under for being untrustworthy to production.
For Dee, she ignited drama when she got cozy with fellow newbie Grant Molloy and felt the wrath with Abbie Holborn, then stealing a man from Sophie Kasaei's grasp. There was also drama with her and other newcomer Nick Murdoch, Chrysten Zenoni (Gaz's ex on EOTB UK 5) and Adam Guthrie. And Dee even got the rookie treatment of sorts of being the victim of a Geordie prank, and got to take the group out to a strip club for her birthday. And below, some of her highlights from her one series of Geordie Shore.
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● THEO CAMPBELL (Love Island UK) 🇬🇧
One of those who will help to give their original show some attention prior to its U.S. arrival is one has just as much athletic capability as the other athletic Brit, Ashley C. Theo Campbell from the Bristol area in the Southwest of England is well known to two sections of the British public: one side of his is known to those in the athletic world as a track & field specialist in sprinting, unlike Champs vs. Stars' Louise Hazel who excelled in the 7-event hepathlon, and hurdler & bobsled athlete (and now Celeb Big Brother houseguest) LoLo Jones. The best Theo has done in international athletics was representing Team GB at the 2017 IAAF World Relays, as he didn't qualify as an individual 400m sprinter for major global meets, finishing back in the pack in qualifying for Rio 2016.
To TV viewers, Theo gained even greater fame by swapping his track jersey for a stint on Series 3 of Love Island UK back in summer 2017. He entered the famous villa on the Balearic Islands in Spain on Day 32 (two days before this season's other LI UK alum made her entrance) where upon him entering, he forged a rivalry with Islander Jonny Mitchell of Essex - as detailed in two of the clips below. Upon his arrival, Theo went on a date with eventual winner Amber Davies, bronze medalist Olivia Attwood and Tyla Carr... but the following week he did not choose anyone at that week's re-coupling ceremony (LI's equivalent to the AYTO matchup), and by rule of the island was dumped nine days after he arrived in Spain.
With a 6'5" wide receiver's frame, his experience running that one punishing lap around the track, the specimens of starting out of the gate and strength of sprinting, and speed being key in some challenges and especially in eliminations, Theo places at the top of Allan Aguirre's power rankings for the rookie men... and the first clip is of him competing at the national championships in 2017 -- a 6th place finish in the final the year London hosted the World Track & Field Championships and Usain Bolt's last meet -- prior to turning to love rather than to gold medals.
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● GEORGIA HARRISON (Love Island UK & The Only Way is Essex) 🇬🇧
A few years removed from her time on the telly in Essex, Georgia returned to British screens for Love Island Series 3 when she came on Day 34, two days after Theo's arrival in Spain. She was not chosen to go on a date off the plane from England, but she was given the first choice at that week's re-coupling ceremony when she chose eventual co-winner & fellow Essex native Kem Cetinay. Georgia fared a few days better than Theo game-wise, making it to the series' penultimate week in spending 13 days in Spain compared to his 10, being dumped at Day 46 when she was voted off by the public vote rather than going single.
Below, some of Georgia's highlights from Love Island and Towie including her and Lewis in Essex, her arrival to the LI villa in the same "white party" setting that the AYTO Season 1 cast famously had, and a confrontation with Amber after their re-coupling. Also, Georgia got to have fun for a change when she appeared on Comedy Central UK game show Your Face or Mine with Chloe Ferry from Geordie Shore, who joined that show in 2015, had a one-episode stint on spinoff Super Shore with Kyle and also appeared on Celeb BB that year.
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● JOAO PAULO "JP" ANDRADE (Ex On The Beach Brazil) 🇧🇷
Now, one good-looking man is following in Camila's footsteps in bringing that Brazilian vibe to The Challenge in Joao Paulo Andrade, aka "JP". The Brasilia native appeared on Season 2 of Ex On The Beach Brazil, known there as De Férias com o Ex, one of the thirteen other local adaptations of EOTB aside from the U.K. and America. There, JP showed up as an ex to a 30(!)-year-old woman also from his hometown (which is also Brazil's capital despite Rio and São Paulo being its two most prominent cities), and was part of a cast that also included a alum from Brazil's version of AYTO. And for those of you overseas, you might spot a close resemblance JP has with Siva from British boy band The Wanted.
While it might be easy to say that he is just a pretty face with nothing to show for competitively, he is a fitness icon to those in the land of the green & gold. He has appeared in many magazines, has done modeling and shows down in Brazil, and won Mister Universo Brazil in 2013... no wonder why the girls were screaming for him when he appeared on a talk show, among the five clips below.
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● TURABI "TURBO" ÇAMKIRAN (Survivor Turkey) 🇹🇷
Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran is a native of the southern Turkish city of Merskin, the country's main seaport on the Mediterranean Sea, called the "Pearl of the Mediterranean." Turbo had a passion for break dancing in high school growing up and while he did become a professional dancer, he also got to study fine arts in college. Besides MMA, he is a practitioner of Muay Thai, Thailand's most popular combat sport combining stand-up striking with clinching in a boxing ring. He has also become a fitness icon to those on Instagram and YouTube to his over 600,000 total social media followers who, understandably, erupted when news of him being on The Challenge was made public in the same manner as the rabid fanbase of Korea's greatest musical exports BTS. And believe it or not, Turabi's even taken the stage on the Turkish version of The Voice.
Jay Starrett may have been its first alum to cross over into the MTV sphere as Morgan's ex in an all-CBS love triangle on Ex On The Beach, but he got beaten to the punch in the race to be the first Survivor castaway to make The Challenge. Turabi is one of the most successful players in a global franchise that spans over 50 countries, having first made Season 8 of Survivor Turkey in 2014. He was in a tribe that represented celebrities that faced off against a group of fans, similar to Fans vs. Favorites seasons in the U.S. version. And unlike in America, Survivor Turkey's seasons last several months rather than 39 days -- making stamina & endurance key to making it to the end... and Turbo was named Sole Survivor after 115(!) days.
Turbo got to prove his worth of being an intimidating force during that season, and was so popular that first time out that he was invited to the very next season -- a Survivor All-Stars, and got to do something that's impossible to do there: win a second title and doing it in back to back seasons: for a second time, Turbo was Sole Survivor and had to endure 134 days marooned in the Caribbean. He most recently competed on its most recent season just last year, but this time fell short of making it to the final tribal council. But in each of his three seasons, Turbo showed the castaways how to play the game and be in another world in competition - both in the challenges and in elimination... something that will test him in a new game & setting.
Below, some of Turbo's finest from Survivor, handling everything from a jousting competition to even a soccer shootout (football is Turkey's most popular sport year-round despite the country's sportsmen being in the biggest spotlight only during the Olympics in weightlifting).
For these eight competitors, along with Canadian Shaleen Sutherland and Mexican Alan Valdez, Tuesday marks their debut in the most lucrative and most-sought after TV market of all. For now, they feel like Olympic athletes: relative unknowns to casual viewers in the United States before the flame is lit... unless they're Michael Phelps, Simone Biles or Lindsay Vonn. But if they go on a deep run that takes them to the final as rookies, take out a big fish of a veteran in a stunning elimination or create a big moment of drama in the house, then they will be just as well known to MTV fans on this side of the pond as Bananas and Cara, just as it was when their gold medal efforts made names of Nadia Comaneci, Usain Bolt and Katarina Witt.
Overseas musical acts like One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, BTS and Luis Fonzi had great success in the countries they call home, but it's only when they made it big in America did they finally became global superstars. Bear, Ashley, Zahida and Dee have achieved top status as part of the overseas MTV family on Ex On The Beach, Geordie Shore and Just Tattoo of Us, as well as Turbo being Turkey's biggest reality TV icon... and America represents the final frontier towards true global domination. They'll only achieve that if they make a great impact in their U.S. TV debuts... same holds true for Georgia, Theo and JP as they also join them on this journey into a new frontier.
For Floribama Shore's Gus Smyrnios, he gets to extend an endless MTV summer vacation that began the night before Final Reckoning premiered eight months ago, and he and Mattie Lynn Breaux of Party Down South will together join a proud tradition of Southerners competing on this show... and his Challenge journey will begin the night before his Gus' second Panama City Beach summer comes to an end. And for "Ninja" Natalie Duran, she's already proven to be a beast on American Ninja Warrior, and bears a strong weight to translate that success to an even tougher mountain to climb to deal with not just new challenges but also what happens off the field too.
These eighteen competitors all have one thing in common: they are newbies to a show that once was the domain of those who lived in the Real World house, the Road Rules RV or who got in through the back door being Fresh Meat. In the past few years, the draft pool has extended for those who can get onto a Challenge: look for a perfect match on Are You The One? or regain love on Ex On The Beach, being one who spent as much as 100 days out of outside contact but being in the public eye, or now & especially for this season, an international icon in the greater world of reality television.
This season's rookie class of The Challenge is promising, has well-known names familiar to both MTV fans and the casual reality viewer, and have strong potential. It's just a matter now of if they can deliver, and to also reaffirm/regain the hardcore fans' love of this show. We've now answered your burning question of "Who Are These Newbies?"... this week will see the beginning of seeing if they are the next generation.
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Wednesday sees the premiere of The Challenge: War of the Worlds, and of course DCBLOG will be surrounding this season with extensive blog coverage each week covering the social reaction, stories and our take on the traditional episode recaps. Make sure to bookmark our site for all of that as well as coverage of Ex On The Beach, Floribama Shore and Lohan Beach Club, and you're invited to share these links and spread the word of DCBLOG on the social media platform of your choosing. And in the interest of our mobile first users, we'll be reposting all of these competitor profiles one-by-one on the DC@Tumblr site at dc408dxtr.tumblr.com in the lead-up to the premiere.
Because of our extensive focus on this two-part deep dive into the newbies of this Challenge season, our traditional SocialPulse diaries covering both last week's and this week's episodes have been delayed, but need not worry. We'll have all the episode buzz of the three aforementioned series covered in the coming days along with the premiere of Siesta Key to come in this week's blog wave, ahead of getting our weekly Challenge coverage started with a Pulse Extra covering the start of this season and the Meet the Prospects launch special to come afterwards.
And tomorrow, DCNOW will kick off a packed month of February with Super Bowl LIII from Atlanta with the Patriots and Rams facing off for the NFL Championship, three days before War of the Worlds kicks off, the Floribama Shore Season 2 finale the following night, and in a month that also features the Grammy Awards, the Oscars, the NBA All-Star Game and much more. Follow all of these events and its interaction at @DC408DxNow. For now, Happy New Challenge Season and we'll see you again here soon.
- I AM DC
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