BY DC CUEVA
Two years ago, DCBLOG featured the man who possesses the top-rated daytime TV talk show, all part of a stable of highly-popular syndicated programming of what will soon be a teammate in the new Viacom/CBS alliance. And what happened there over a week ago was enough for us to bump The Challenge and Ex On The Beach off the front page into the week's big attraction for those who follow MTV Reality, and a perfect opportunity to introduce casual viewers to this world.
Dr. Phil McGraw has had quite a life in going from growing up in the Southwest to becoming a psychologist, and then to an extremely successful career in that field of offering medical and mental health advice to people of all ages. A partnership with Oprah Winfrey not only saw him partner with her both on her show and in counseling during a high-profile court case with the daytime queen, but landed him his own TV show. Dr. Phil began its 18th season last month amidst much attention when Jackass alum Bam Margera appeared on his show amidst the rehab drama surrounding the former MTV star, and would then celebrate its 3000th episode by inviting back its most memorable guests.
It was on two separate occasions in the summer of 2017 that we featured Dr. Phil for a unifying reason: two members of the same Are You The One? cast being featured on his show, but just as being members of the audience. Las Vegas native Brandon Tindel and San Diego dental assistant Jasmine Pendleton were paired in the fifth week's matchup ceremony on Season 2 of AYTO in fall 2014, a week after the show's very first blackout ever: no lights recorded in any nighttime light show to see if they have recorded any perfect matches in the quest to win $1 million and true love. And Brandon's brief cameo on Dr. Phil came a day after a clip of him quitting Rivals 3 that caused host TJ Lavin to go off the deep end appeared during a Challenge retrospective special.
When we featured Brandon and Jasmine back then, we never even thought that the day would come for people who were on any MTV reality show would become actual guests sitting next to Dr. Phil on set instead of watching it from the audience. But as we got to turn the calendar to October, this very item would come to pass, where the guy who made his Challenge debut the same season as Brandon joined America's favorite psychologist on set. And he was joined by a girl he met on an MTV show nearly a year earlier when they were on the second season of Ex On The Beach. So began a turbulent relationship with so many ups and downs, it was only a matter of time before it became worthy of it being covered not by a traditional end-of-season reunion, but by of all things, daytime TV.Officially, it is classified as the 3005th & 3006th episodes of a talk show that serves as America's window on relationships and mental health which, very recently, officially turned adult age. But for those who are used to watching all the drama that packs any hour of an MTV show, you might say that this may count as just another hour of it even though it airs on local, free-to-air TV instead of on anything goes cable. And those who got to see it were witness to an episode that might as well be called Angela & Nelson's Couples Therapy, starring Angela Babicz & Nelson Thomas.
THE BACKSTORY
Before Dr. Phil
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| Angela & Nelson w/ the rest of the Dirty 30 cast (IG @T_Raines) |
#Nelgela began back in summer 2017 when Angela, Nelson and Devin were in New York with their fellow Challengers (and her future MTV'ers) when they kicked off Season 30 of The Challenge, and its first season to offer $1 million to those who made it to the end on XXX: Dirty 30. Angela was then the new girlfriend of one of that season's rookie players, Derrick Henry, who also had to share the same room with the girl who had just became his ex, fellow first-timer Tori Deal & the guy who would later become her fiance, eventual champ Jordan Wiseley. Nelson was about to enter his third Challenge after finishing runner-up to CT on Invasion of the Champions, and it would be on Dirty 30 that he & Angela's future EOTB1 castmate (and MTV poster boy) Cory Wharton got to pair up with rookie and Nelson's AYTO3 castmate Hunter Barfield, and they became the Young Bucks during the ensuing trilogy that eventually saw the ladder endure ultimate heartache when his partner Ashley Mitchell stole all the $1 million in its very last act eleven months ago.
When Nelson got to meet up Angela for the first time that summer, he knew he had something with the one who would eventually become his girlfriend. But it would only be on Final Reckoning a year later that they would share an MTV house for the first time down in South Africa, with Angela being fresh off of a stay in Hawaii being on the first cast of Ex On The Beach. The always present presence of politics that divides any Challenge season put a temporary hold to them getting to deepen their connection: she & EOTB OG (and first Vanderpump Rules alum to have a baby) Faith Stowers into elimination, and he & a guy who made his MTV debut when he & Angela were in elementary school, Road Rules veteran Shane Landrum, returned the favor earlier on in that long season.
Angela and Nelson made a connection in the EOTB2 house including spending a moment after dark in the hot tub together. But towards the end of that season, a bombshell dropped in the end-of-season trip to the lie detector for everyone in that house when an unnamed ex of his who didn't come to Malibu sent a text to Angela that she had a President Clinton -- that is, that she didn't have any sexual relations with Nelly until before they came to the house. Understandably, that caused some end of season drama and heartbreak for them where he tried to tell her it was not true, but he did come clean and admit that he hooked up with his ex but denied any more wrongdoing. And by the time they came together for the reunion, Nelgela was already back together and soon, they moved in together, were traveling the world and being like any couple who has it all good: just being happy.
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| IG @vanessa.goeser |
They came up with potential ideas of what to discuss with Angela and what could make it appeal to a different TV audience in daytime talk than those used to risque activities at nighttime in cableville. This includes the checkered history of blowups and family drama she had with her sister Kristina Babicz (which was the reason for them going onto the last season of Bad Girls Club: Twisted Sisters in summer 2016 and made up at Christmas last year), and the recent drama Angela encountered just this summer. In the EOTB1 house, she forged a close bond with New York fashionista Victoria Alario, but one night changed it all: when they met up with some from the EOTB2 cast in Arizona and with her friend & Nelson not being together at the time, Vic found that they were texting each other. And like those who have seen their progression, her "friend" got mad at her, and that set off the rocket to a violent night between them that turned these BFF's into vendettas just about as fast as any Challenge betrayal that turns allies into enemies in a heartbeat.
Before meeting up with Dr. Phil, Angela & Nelson had not talked much of late - and for those times that they did it ended in turmoil... and it took for some convincing and him trying to man up before he finally had to face the music with his ex in daytime. And after joining Derrick H. and some of his fellow AYTO alumni for a party night out in Colorado the weekend before - and where Nelson had to take a secondary flight to L.A. after he missed his original time, that brings us to last week, and a 2-part episode that brought a larger section of viewers a fascinating look at their twisted relationship.
PART 1 - "MTV Romance On The Rocks"
In part 1, Angela was first to talk to the Doctor and got to tear up on why she's ready for love and getting hitched, but also recognizing that he has changed a bit while he's been loving her this time.
While he had a field day with her status as a reality star, he also brought up what he called "Nelson's resume" -- questionable traits which included words such as "toxic," "cocky," "bipolar," a "liar," a "cheater," a "narcissist," and scary thanks to the anger we've seen from him on MTV before. That includes a graphic photo of Nelson ripping off one of her fingernails when she tried to call the cops when he didn't take the chance to chill and calm, similar to what befell her & "Veronica." And yes, they did bring up the Angela/Tor'i scenario from last season, too.
Nelson then joined the host to offer his side of the story where, while he did confess that he did cheat on her early on, it still got a mention in all of their arguments. He then accused her of just wanting to be on the show for the sake of face time and follows and to not working this all out in private like any other couple who prefers to work things out not in the public eye. And by the time Kristina joined them on stage, the sister and Nelson got into it and it saw Angela storm off.
PART 2 - "Will Nelson Finally Come Clean?"
Like any good MTV episode that lets us down at the end, it ended with her leaving the stage, but luckily we had just a day to wait for the conclusion -- it's better than waiting a WHOLE WEEK. Once she returned, Part 2 saw the Doctor bring out those dreaded receipts: the text messages that Angela and Nelson exchanged when he was threatening to leak their sex tape while he was drunk just after the EOTB 2 reunion aired in April. But wise thinking and their immaturity saw him not drop it to everyone, and Nelson did say yes when he was bring truthful in only cheating with one girl.
But then, a second set of evidence: audio was played back of producers asking Nelson in a pre-interview before this show of whether or not there was more than one person who he had affairs with - which he confessed to, and he did what he can to not be the bad guy in claiming that his definition of cheating was not sliding into a girl's DM's and flirting with them than it is getting it on with them in them in person, as it would've been in the Mile High City before joining the host... but once again, he denied anything.
The two-hour event concluded with coach Mike Bayer bringing Angela aside to see what she would be like five years down the road, where she told her 2019 self that she'd leave Nelson because he would not be that guy she would want to be in 2024.
THE AFTERMATH
At the end of all that, Angela reiterated her plans going into this experience of wanting to rid herself of their toxic relationship, and Nelson complied with them. As he always does at the end of every guest's stint on his show, Dr. Phil gave Angela and Nelson some advice and he ended the episode with a shady caption popped up that read, "Without doing any theraputic work to solve their relationship issues, they did exactly what they they have done so many times in the past: they got back together." But, that is not the end of the story...
Them being on stage represented the first time that Angela and Nelson had shared a room in two months. And like is always the case for MTV shows, there is always a question as to how certain cast members get edited... it's also the case for daytime talk shows as well, and both got to take their shots at those in the production room and the host himself in debrief videos afterwards.
There are a few MTV Reality couples right now that are so intriguing to watch when it comes to the drama factor. It's most especially true for Paulie & Cara Maria of The Challenge, who competed with both Angela and Nelson on Final Reckoning last year, and where as this is posted on October 9th just hours before this week's episode of War of the Worlds 2 airs and after they taped the end of season reunion in London over the weekend, it appears that they have broken up yet again. This also applies to Ronnie & baby mama Jen on Jersey Shore, the romances involving three Teen Moms of Kailyn, Amber and Jenelle; and Juliette & Alex on Siesta Key, among many others.
Up until now, the American version of Ex On The Beach -- an MTV international originated format which began in the UK in 2014, the same year that Are You The One? premiered -- hasn't had a romance that has been rekindled and has kept on going this long, even if this one has had so many stop & go's in its tracks. But for the first time, EOTB USA has that couple that has stayed together for this long in a girl who's had her share of drama in the past three years and a guy who can be dramatic at times but is best recognizable by giving that soldier's salute. They met casually a couple years ago, got to live in two MTV houses and have been through a lot since then... and they even gave their show the benefit of free publicity on the biggest daytime talk show in this country.
Who knows if the road ahead will lead to them eventually getting wedded up or if there's yet another breakup, but for now Angela & Nelson are finding love together. And even if they didn't like certain aspects of their experience there, they can thank America's most popular TV hosts for helping to bring them back together for a televised session of Couples Therapy beamed into living rooms after school & work. Only time will give us a clue if they are their own perfect matches.
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UPDATE:
- 8/9/2020: Updated to include clip of the Ex On The Beach reunion from MTV Brazil (in Portuguese)
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