MTV Reality: Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Rivals III

From during The Challenge: Rivals III in Summer 2016,
reposted in the interest of our readers after developments
involving some of the subjects in our original posts.

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

We at DCBLOG want to make sure that you never meet a new Challenge competitor for the first time on next week's premiere and to give them the proper respect they rightfully deserve. Hence, we have our Challenge custom called Who Are These Newbies?. We know a lot of you want the big name vets and some new ones back on this show, but with most of them now onto bigger and better things (and I am one of those who feels there are things bigger than doing TV shows), we're sure this show will be in good hands with a new generation. We have profiled every Challenge newcomer since Rivals II, and if you wanna get to know all of them, check out the posts from seasons 24, 25, 26 and all the way down in #27. We begin this season's look at the rookies in the Bay Area.

● ASHLEY: A San Francisco resident with West Virginian roots, Ashley came to the Real World Ex-Plosion house across town as that pageant queen beauty with her stunning model looks and tough personality, which easily won over the attention of her guy friends. Her bubbly personality clicked with her roommates, and they relied on her for all the 411 on the late night hotspots the City by the Bay had to offer. But it took only some time before she clashed with them over who the real Ashley was, especially Jamie. One drunken late night, she tore up the contacts paper brought to the Bay by roommate Jay, who lost valuable time talking to his family back home, including his mom who passed away shortly after he arrived in the City. It was the last straw for them, as the roommates decided to kick out Ashley, all before the scare of their lives when the exes moved in. Since then, she's pursued her budding modeling career, including a lovely stint in Paris. France. And now Ashley has something to prove as she enters The Challenge for the first time.

● BRANDON: We first got to know Brandon on AYTO Season 2 two years ago as a man with two lives: by day he works in cancer research, by night & weekend he's all about fun in that adult playground known as Las Vegas. With prank videos, poker and all else the town that's hosting the current Real World cast, it's no doubt the perfect backdrop for someone who just loves to have a good time. He was at the heart of the season's biggest story when he and Christina got together on the group's first night and never let go until later in the season and well after they were sent into the Truth Booth and returned a no match. On the Challenge front, there's a reason why he earned his MTV return in having won several getaway challenges during the season and will sure make an impact here. To add to the unique nature of this site in offering an angle on the Trifecta you won't get anywhere else, I happened to uncover Brandon's original AYTO audition tape, which you can check out here. And he will sure to have some celeb support this season: check out his Twitter pics with Jack Black and Mike Posner.

● BRIANA: When we first met Briana two years ago, the San Diego State University grad was in a big hurry to find love. Her plan was to find her man, get married, get pregnant while on the honeymoon and start a family. In Puerto Rico, she was paired up with Brandon several times on the challenges and on the dates before they got paired up for this season, but the one Bri was most close to in the house was passionate artist Curtis, who had a strong attraction during the time he was in the house, even after they were part of the first-ever AYTO blackout (no lights in a matchup ceremony). It was also there that my most notable moment of her came during their getaway date when she publicly revealed for the first time that she had suffered the trauma of a miscarriage while she was in high school, similar to the devastating story Kailyn from Teen Mom just went through. In the end, she found her perfect matches in three other girls: Christina, Jessica and Ellie by their code name the "Goon Squad," spending an entire summer in her San Diego hometown along with the guy below.

● NATE: From Kalamazoo, MI, Nate appears at first to have that rocker style with that faux hawk and tattoos, but he's anything but the bad boy his looks might point to. When we met him on AYTO 2, he's like any guy in going after the hottest girl in the room and usually has his way, but she then pushes him away by his snap attachment. In Puerto Rico, Nate was initially attracted to Midwesterner turned Hollywood girl Shelby and it became a triangle by way of her also courting fellow Challenger Dario, which became too much for Nate to handle. Later, he turned his attention to Jessica and then to Christina, who as we all know got into words with her after being a TB no match and with Brandon and led to him into those man tears that would score him big points in this Challenge. In the end when the group won the cash, he got matched up to the fourth member of the Goon Squad, Ellie, and later he moved out to SoCal to join the Squad in the Goon House. Now, destination Challenge for this high school football player...but first, check out his audition tape here.

● CHEYENNE: We saw Cheyenne on AYTO Season 3 last fall, and the L.A. girl is smart, ambitious, gorgeous & a frequent flyer - the total package as she sees it. We saw Chey speak her mind in Hawaii as she was quick to notice the group's bad gameplay and to stand up to the guys in representing for the ladies in the house. But as her social handle @CheyNotShy suggests, it was no surprise that she had one of the moments of the season where she woke the group up with a mic-dropping speech at the 5th Matchup where she called the group out for not moving on from their non-matches and the guys' behavior. Her words were, "The fact that this game is set up for us to find love and this is how we're doing it -- it's bizarre. I think you guys need to realize that we all are either going to win together or we're going to lose together. All this fighting, all this negativity, is going to bring this house down and we all know it." In the end, she was part of the final outcome when the plan that was based around her & Tyler was chosen, and that takes us to her partner.

● DEVIN: Finally, there's Devin. If what we saw with Frank recently is an example, than we can expect the same kind of pot stirring with who is AYTO's most controversial castmate. When he went to Hawaii last year, Devin was someone who loves living life to its fullest and is the life of the party. Being very adventurous as he is has also meant going all in on his dating life on Tinder and at the club, being that romantic at heart with a deep connection. Season 3's biggest story was his tumultuous relationship with Kiki, which started in week 1 and, just as it was with Bristina, never let go. They went into the Truth Booth and emerged a no match, but DiKi stayed together well after and they got into it so many times that the house ultimately told him to play the game...and play the game he did. When all hope was seemingly lost in their last 2 tries, the strategist who talked the talk and hadn't delivered came up with a last-ditch plan with red Solo cups and a quarter (!), and the coin went in favor of Tyler & Cheyenne. The rest was history: he went from being the most-hated Trifecta castmate since Puck to becoming the most-feared when it comes to strategy in singlehandedly pulling off the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass in giving his Ohana the $750,000 in comeback fashion.

AMANDA & NELSON

Now, with the addition of Amanda and Nelson to this cast to replace Averey & Leroy, you Challenge fans are asking, "Who Are These Newbies?"  Here's the info on these two from Are You The One? Season 3...
● AMANDA: Coming to us from Westminster, CO just outside of Denver, Amanda came into the AYTO house looks, the smarts and lots of confidence. But it hasn't turned into luck in the relationship department, with past flings leaving her insecure and settling for sub-par guys. She's typically been the heartbreaker rather than play the role of the heartbroken, which is why she's quick to dump a guy rather than wait for him to move on. And during her season, she was involved in so much drama that it was insufficient to fit this all into this brief paragraph...that follows the description of her partner.
● NELSON: A San Marcos, TX native, Nelson is a guy's guy: athletic and one who the girls love. With drive and ambition, he wants everything and can devote time and energy needed to make it happen. However when it comes to girls, Nelly's strong focus becomes the obstacle in his quest for a girl, along with time as well when it comes to juggling school, sports and guy time and not fitting time to see a girl. In Hawaii, we saw him get angry plenty of times, from when his crush Cheyenne kissed funny guy Zak to calling out Devin for not picking Kiki at the first MC.
● WHAT GOT THEM HERE: What got Amanda and Nelson paired up was when they got into one of those fights that he got into one night and the drama she brought on afterwards.

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