Friday, March 6, 2020

DC ExtraTime: A War of the Worlds Girls' Only Weekend

BY DC CUEVA                        
■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This first week of March in MTV Reality has seen excitement spill over in several parts of this vast community of ours. For the first time since the season 2 birthday brawl, on Super Tuesday Siesta Key played host to a Double Shot of back-to-back episodes (which we'll cover tomorrow & for the first time as our sole, main focus). Last night saw Mike The Situation was finally released from prison on Jersey Shore much to everyone's relief, along with the premiere of the newest rookie series to land the prized slot of being launched out of MTV's biggest shows in The Busch Family Brewed.
   Wednesday, however, was the big day as far of a lot of us was concerned - especially if you visit this site regularly. There, the month-long countdown to April Fool's Day began in full swing when the title, format and all-star cast, and the accompanying first look, was revealed for for Season 35 of the industry's original reality competition series: The Challenge: Total Madness. We'll be saving our first look at it for later this month when we'll offer our thoughts and insight in our traditional preview and introduction to this season's class of newbies. But to get you in the mood for what goes down in a few weeks' time, here's something a bit more fun to begin our ramp-up to day 1 of 4/20 Month.

At this time last year, War of the Worlds was helping The Challenge get over the long, dragged-out trilogy of Dirty 30, Vendettas and Final Reckoning with a season to remember. New blood from all around the wide world of reality television joined some of our favorite vets and new gen players for the first of two seasons of global warfare. We were introduced to more of the Brits who have made a big impact on our shores, while former houseguests of Big Brother translated their summer game to a whole new stage. And in the end, the toughest final ever contested in the Namibian desert saw Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran of the global Survivor franchise emerge $750,000 victorious as a popular winner.
   Since Invasion a few years ago, The Challenge has also seen some new worthy female Challengers emerge on the scene: Ashley M., Da'Vonne, Kam, Kailah, Kayleigh, Melissa, Ninja, Sylvia and Tori... the first one of this list has won two Challenge titles, in fact. Three of these people will get another crack at the cash this spring & summer, along with the first girl eliminated last season in Big T., British fitness star Jenny and some new rookie girls we'll be getting to know more about as we start this journey. We may even see one of them help sell a house on national TV later this year, also.

Our focus for this post is on three of those who competed with them on last year's two War of the Worlds seasons: an Australian who will come to Total Madness as a defending champion, an alum of Britain's Love Island who's also on another U.K. original, and a girl from the South who's made this Challenge offseason more manageable for us thanks to joining her friend by the Shore. And they're joined by a pair of Big Brother twins and a slew of guest stars here, including one of the most hilarious actresses today who, thanks to some inside connections, became part of her Girl Gang.

IG @TheNolanTwins
If you happen to be Dee "From Down Under" Nguyen, this has to be quite an amazing past few months. The Geordie Shore alum was the only female on the winning Team UK side on WOTW2, joining three-time Challenge champs Jordan Wiseley and CT Tamburello, and the only Brit in Rogan O'Connor -- though it's what happened with her relationship with the stripper that was a talking point. The $250,000 paycheck ($377,432.50 in Australian currency) gave reason for Dee to move to Los Angeles during the American winter, while those in her home country of Australia have had to deal with the unfortunate wildfires that have gripped those down under during their summer.
   Georgia Harrison was one of the two alumni of the original British version of reality sensation Love Island to come onto WOTW before that show made its US debut last summer on CBS. She endured many ups and downs as a rookie with elimination wins, a roller coaster relationship with master Brit Bear, and passing out from dehydration in the final. Her sophomore season also saw her add two more wins in elimination before being taken down by Tori in what turned out to be the first of two turncoats for the Brits, and after she got burned by Joss in being sent into that arena. And this winter, Georgia has returned to UK tellies in being part of the cast of Celeb Ex On The Beach.

And her being on The Challenge last year helped reintroduce reality TV fans to Mattie Lynn Breaux, who first became a favorite as part of the cast of CMT's Party Down South, produced by the same team that brought us Jersey Shore. Mattie competed so well last year and like Georgia, she made it all the way to the final but gassed out midway through the first leg... and she will get another shot on Total Madness. This will come on the heels of her going onto Floribama Shore this winter in joining rookie Gus Smyrnios in St. Pete Beach, though it's her relationship with the one who became his frenemy this past season, Jeremiah Buoni, that had us glued to all the wild drama & fun in Florida.
   As she celebrated her 27th birthday last week, Dee got to welcome Georgia and Mattie to her new digs for the celebrations, where they were joined by two other competitors who had short stints in Africa: Big Brother's twin sisters Julia & Liz Nolan from Season 17 in 2015. But in a sign of things to come, for those who caught FOX's Super Bowl LIV pregame coverage last month, the twins were in the background for when the network's NFL prognosticator Rob Riggle chose his Chiefs to win... a prelude to a Challenge season that has two people from Kansas City compete in the Madness in 2-time champ Wes and Big Brother rookie Bayleigh... and sharing the MTV stage with their Busch family counterparts in St. Louis.

Julia, Liz, Mattie, Georgia and Dee got to mark the Aussie Challenge champion's birthday over an entire week last week that spanned two cities right into Leap Day weekend: first down in L.A., and then with the 4-hour drive up the I-15 in Las Vegas. They got to party up with fellow Total Madness rookie Jay Starrett (who we saw last year on Ex On The Beach Season 2 as an ex to Morgan); Amber, Danny, Kari and Max from Are You The One? Season 8 and AYTO alums Nutsa & Ethan "EMoney"; Kailah's fellow VIP from Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club Mike MGTV, and the king of reality dating shows these days in Derrick H.






















A post shared by Georgia Harrison (@georgialouiseharrison) on



But along with getting a shoutout on the marquee of the TAO Nightclub at The Venetian, perhaps the coolest moment of this girls' only weekend awaited Georgia many miles away from the Strip and from Sunset Boulevard in Mammoth Mountain in Central California. A late season's dusting of snow greeted her and hundreds of others who flocked to this winter's resort town for the Mammoth Film Festival just weeks after awards season ended, and where indie films took center stage. And one notable celebrity was also there to celebrate a birthday in the snow.

Rebel (left) with Love Island UK's Montana Brown
Rebel Wilson grew up in Dee's hometown of Sydney, Australia and its surrounding communities in Southern New South Wales, and was raised by a mom who is a professional dog handler. She shared a house with siblings who appeared on the Australian version of The Amazing Race, and who boasts a family tree that links her grant aunt to Lillian Bounds, widow of the late Walt Disney. And stays overseas in New York and South Africa on both acting and for Rotary International, Rebel first made waves on the Australian scene in 2003 with roles on TV comedy series for Australian networks, plus stage productions off-screen in both Sydney and Melbourne.
   Rebel moved to Hollywood in 2010 performing with the Upright Citizens Brigade in LA, where she was discovered by Judd Apatow to play a small role of a sister of a husband-to-be in his blockbuster female comedy Bridesmaids, where her first scene was watching Maury Povich say his famous phrase, "You are not the father!", on his talk show. Many roles followed for her as well as sharing a stage with Russell Brand before landing her breakthrough role playing Fat Amy in the first film of the Pitch Perfect trilogy, which netted her two MTV Movie & TV Awards and many other accolades.
   Pitch Perfect aside, hosting gigs for the MTV Awards, Australia's equivalent of the Grammys - the ARIA Awards and her own TV show followed along with appearing as Ursela in The Little Mermaid at the Hollywood Bowl, and her first lead role in two 2019 comedies. Those doesn't include playing Jennyanydots in the year's biggest box office bust, the film adaptation of Broadway hit Cats, and it being recognized with several Razzie nominations led her and James Corden to take the stage at the Oscars wearing their costumes as they presented an award together.

Twitter @RebelWilson
Rebel has had quite a birthday week, starting with hosting a new reality show, Pooch Perfect, on Australian television presiding over dog stylists competing for $100,000, and her making risquΓ© jokes caught the attention of those down under. For the big night itself on Monday, she decided to relive the good ole days by celebrating it at Disneyland with some of her closest friends, showing off a slimmer version of herself than a few years ago while also roaming through Mickey Mouse's playground, which stayed open just for her into the wee hours of Tuesday morning as she rode rides, drove around in electric wheelchairs and had dinner inside Cinderella's castle worthy of a princess.
   Days earlier, Rebel was up in Mammoth to support her ex-boyfriend of five years ago, comedian Mickey Gooch, as he released his new indie film, Deported. And you guessed it by the title: it stars him being called in pretend to be a real single husband for actress Megan Park after she got deported out of America after not renewing her visa, all as ICE has been in the news a lot during the tenure of our President. At a local celebrity bowling tournament last Saturday night, Rebel rolled strikes with Johnny Bananas, Dennis Rodman and Tony Hawk among others, but when Mickey came at her he was forcibly restrained by two officers from the Immigration & Customs Enforcement department and was escorted out of the alley. It actually turned out to be a prank that the ex didn't even know about.




Instagram @BrookesChamberlain
The next day, Georgia came to town to join in on the fun in the snow of 32* & freezing weather in Mammoth Lakes, a far different vibe from 60's and comfortable in Vegas and high 80's in the Southland. She was invited there by Gooch thanks to him working with the same LA acting agency as her fellow 2017 Love Island UK castmate Montana Brown, a 21-year-old from Hertfordshire outside the Greater London area, and who made it to the final week of that series in southern Spain before being dumped prior to the final coupling ceremony.
   On Sunday, Georgia and Montana went to Instagram to announce through pictures, video and the Stories that they've now become part, at least temporarily, of Rebel's girl squad as the birthday girl turned 40 years old. And in standard 2020 fashion, they along with Pirates of the Caribbean's Brooke Chamberlain and YouTube prankster Paige Ginn, joined the movie star as they got to walk through the snow in, of course, slow motion on Georgia's TikTok.
   Ashley M. was left to say in the comments, "Wwwhhaattt this is so awesome!!! Omg this is my freaking favorite," while Dee wrote, "This is so cool." Mattie added, "Yasssssss Mam! ❤️❤️," and Jay coined in, "Haha! This is sick!"






And at the end of this memorable extended weekend for her War of the Worlds freshman class, Georgia posted her posing in the snow with her swimwear (bearing the 45*F cold) and dancing alongside Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Camille Kostek, all as her fellow reality friend & WOTW2 competitor Nicole B. called her the "Ice queen baby 🧊🧊🧊😍😍😍"... quite a week for Georgia, Dee and Mattie as we are well into the countdown to what's described in its poster as "The Most Dangerous Challenge Ever," as Total Madness commences in 26 days from now.







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