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We hope you're enjoying this Thursday - the last day of April as we are about to head into the month of May. And we hope you are safe and sound and healthy, and wish that this coming month will bring you some good news, wherever you are. And we at DCBLOG want to take a break from the endless weekend of sort to take a look at what we have coming up here this week and the month to come...
We have developed a routine on here where our coverage of the weekly episodes of The Challenge will typically begin on Saturday or sometimes afterward when the SocialPulse diary covering all the action, reaction and interaction from the Twitter sphere on the episodes will be posted for everyone to see. However, that will not be the case this week as last night's episode of Total Madness ended with three dreaded words that we won't even want to utter out on here.
We have a policy around here that, if any episode of shows that we cover end in cliffhangers, then that week's episode coverage will be pushed back to the following week instead to maintain a sense of continuity and with our utmost respect to those who prefer to binge-watch rather than watch live. And to this end, we've decided that it's best to have the Pulse for this week wait things out until next week so we can see that elimination and what goes down on the following week. It's best for us here to cover what goes down this week and next week in the same wave of blog posts in order to make things fair for everyone.
Here's what we got planned: the Episode 5 edition of the Total Madness SocialPulse will instead be posted as a Backtracked post - that is, it being posted a week behind schedule of it airing on TV. That will be presented to you a week from tomorrow, next Friday night to lead off next week's blog coverage before we offer the Episode 6 edition of the 'Pulse the day after in its traditional spot on Saturday. And our WRAP which is our original portion of the episode coverage, will combine the big moments of Episode 5 with what goes down in Episode 6, and that will come afterwards. We'll be looking forward to covering it then.
It may feel like long ago now, but last fall there was another bombshell that had the world of MTV Reality shook once again. Though this time, there wasn't the kind of surprise that accompanied the first time that Cory Wharton announced to everyone that he was a dad once again, as many of those who've competed with him on many Challenges and shared an MTV show with him are now tackling life's biggest challenge of parenthood & raising kids when they're not entertaining us on our screens.
It was in mid-October that he and a girlfriend who he met on Ex On The Beach, Taylor Selfridge, granted US Weekly an exclusive scoop where they would announce that, in spring 2020, they would be expecting her first baby and his second kid in the span of just under three years. And for the second time in that same timeframe, everyone in the social universe once again had reason to give them congrats, all before he would fly out to Prague to film the current season of The Challenge, and his first time competing on the show in over a year.
In the six months since, they had the opportunity to host a gender reveal party some of their MTV friends including those in line to join the family for Total Madness, as well as everything that comes with expecting the newest member of the increasing family for both Cory & Taylor, which we've had a glimpse of on Teen Mom OG and with more to come there. But obviously, the ladder trimester of this pregnancy fell during this unprecedented time of the whole country being on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was only when they found out that they would have a baby girl that it would be the only time they would celebrate the new entry with friends.
Regardless, everyone not only in Challenge Nation, but everyone else in the broader MTV community, have had this time of year of spring circled on our calendars well in advance, for that Cory would find himself on two separate shows airing on the channel on back-to-back nights, something that's a rarity in TV circles among programs that air just once a week: Teen Mom on Tuesday, and The Challenge on Wednesday. And this only adds more to the universe that surrounds the mom of his baby, Cheyenne Floyd, which brought them to the Teen Mom universe, joining the OG's of the series.
While Episode 4 of Cory's return engagement of The Challenge took over our attention at midweek last week, the focus for Cory & Taylor were on the final hours of her nine-month pregnancy. Last week's episode of Teen Mom saw him finding out the news of her having a baby, and in the hours before that saw them getting woke by a 3.8 earthquake that struck the Southland after midnight late on Tuesday. But last Wednesday night as Total Madness was airing out west, she was in labor as they were due to deliver her new baby... and at 9:17PM, twenty-two hours after arriving at the hospital and two hours after her water broke, they proudly welcomed baby girl Mila Mae Wharton.
The now 2-time father got to share the news for the first time on Instagram live in him saying, "She's here! Everybody's safe, everybody's healthy. Taylor's fine, the baby is gorgeous." Afterwards, they got to enjoy the first hours and days of her new life as a mom in private before yesterday, when on also on Instagram they officially welcomed their new kid to the social media universe. And in the captions that accompany the IG pictures below, the new parents got to officially welcome Mila Mae to everyone, one that the new dad got to say, "I MAKE SOME PRETTY BABIES!!!!", and the new mom calls of her new bundle of joy, "my little chunky butt."
We are nearing the end of the month of April and May will be here in less than 48 hours, though we're about to reach month #3 of the quarantine despite early summer-like weather out west. But there's some good news: a new episode of The Challenge Total Madness takes to the air tonight, and we're about to enter month #2 of the action from Europe -- just as those of you visiting us from Britain got your first glimpse of all the action last night when it debuted there in the U.K.
For us here who have the several weeks' headstart, after what went down with Jay taking down C.T., last week saw one of Britain's most notorious reality stars take center stage inside the bunker, a breakout star of the past year go up against someone who shares a fiery persona, and the most dangerous challenge we've had in the past few years... and for the second straight week, a past champion was knocked out in the second female elimination while we got a glimpse into the future of who might rule the roost when it comes to politics in the house is concerned.
After the jump, a quick recap of last week's big moments ahead of what goes down tonight in the Czech Republic, and a look ahead to what we have coming up here. Welcome to hump day...
As we have written here before, you might say 2019 on The Challenge was a year of redemption. For a lot of us, just getting to see Jordan and CT win their third titles and Turbo, Dee and Rogan join them in the winners circle made us a bit more satisfied once the two installments of War of the Worlds came to an end just four months ago. Maybe those ladder three coming to us from outside the United States helped to bring some newfound blood to a show that's been around longer than most other MTV show on the schedule has helped to rejuvenate things, and it's certainly made the current season of Total Madness something you and us, and everyone else, enjoyable right now.
But coming into last winter's first installment of WOTW, there was a lot of fans like us feeling concerned about the state of where this show we love was heading. It took for what we saw in the last leg of the so-called "trilogy" to really take a deep dive into all of this: Final Reckoning in the summer of 2018 was supposed to be the season that settled things once & for all for everyone who came to South Africa... instead, what happened there became a season that, for a lot of you out there, was one that was hard to take in so many ways.
By the time Season 32 came to an end two years ago, those like you at home were calling it "the worst Challenge season ever," though fellow blogger Allan Aguirre has it #2 on his list of the ten worst behind only The Island. But then again, it introduced us to fan favorite Da'Vonne, an eventual Ex On The Beach couple Angela & Nelson starting to develop their relationship, and solidified Ashley as a true power player. And of course, this was the season that began the relationship that's divided us all in Challenge Nation: Paulie & Cara Maria. But it is what happened with most everything else there that had everyone questioning their loyalty to this franchise.
Prior to Episode 4 of Total Madness this past Wednesday, Twitter user Brian, @xSuicidalPanda, took the opportunity to provide a scathing Twitter thread offering his thoughts on everything that was wrong with Final Reckoning. Unlike the last time we featured one of these (in this case, it was a hater of Johnny Bananas exposing his bad behavior), this one involves an entire season, and it does sum up the thoughts a lot of you had of that season from the opening purge up until Ashley's steal. And as we did two years ago, we won't offer our own thoughts and comments in the tweets embedded below and let Brian speak on behalf.
*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. ***
Hi there, we're glad you've arrived, and we've just gotten to enjoy the excitement of the NFL Draft as it's given sports fans and those who love competition something to finally cheer about in rekindling feelings of what we hope will happen at the end of the tunnel. But for now, those two sections of the American public and you reading this have just The Challenge to fall back on, as we at DCBLOG are about to bring you the SocialPulse of Week 4 of Total Madness from the Czech Republic.
Last week saw the season's first big power play take place after the obligatory rookie vs. rookie battle in the first male & female elimination battles. When they meant that they're were stepping things up big time as far as action was concerned, they were on point in players blowing up trucks and it seemed that the legend of a 3-time champion beast was solidified along with Swayleigh having a grip on the game. But when CT decided to volunteer himself in to go up against what the players saw as a layup, no one expected Jay would pull off a giant-killing in an elimination of strategy, and skull #2.
As we talk to you here right now, we have summer-like heat scorching the west coast, but this week the players are facing a testy mission on the other end of the thermostat: a freezing challenge is causing everyone to chill out quite literally. But things also heat up inside the bunker: our favorite British pot-stirrer decides to take matters into his own hands with a red object to impress a returning star of this show, and that sparks flames with a champion and a finalist in this stir crazy environment. And there's both old faces and new taking center stage before another heads-up battle in purgatory.
After the jump, all the action, reaction and interaction from this week in Challenge land, plus some baby news for one of Nelson's fellow AYTO mates & one of Tori's original exes. Thanks for joining us here this Saturday night...
This winter, MTV's global reality dating franchise Ex On The Beach took its festival of love to somewhere it's never been before: a winter ski resort instead of summer sun & beaches. The slopes of New Zealand welcomed Challenge veterans, a Canadian Bachelor, alums of Are You The One and American Idol, a fan favorite of RuPaul's Drag Race and a trans Glam Master under the same roof. But by the time activities closed up at the Peak of Love, it was a pair of Brits, British reality alumni Georgia Steel & Callum Izzard, which provided a series-first: a proposal at the last crush ceremony, though we are saddened to report that they have just split on amicable terms.
A young lady who joined Georgia, Callum, Nicole, Marlon, Daniel, Adore, La Demi, Tyranny and Ryan for a totally-different Ex On The Beach this winter was someone who last year reemerged into the spotlight, also in the romantic reality dating pool. She was one of the handful who last spring came to Hawaii as the most notable person in a group of singles who came to paradise on USA Network's relaunch of 2000's reality pioneer Temptation Island. It was one of the first dating shows in the early years of the reality craze, returning in time for the love genre becoming a big thing, with Netflix's Too Hot to Handle and Love is Blind joining in on the fun among other offerings.
But being on Ex On The Beach felt almost like a spiritual homecoming for fellow single Allie DiMeco, who had her first national breakthrough in the Viacom family (whose remerger with CBS took place the week of Peak of Love debuting). Over a decade ago, she was on the cast of The Naked Brothers Band on Nickelodeon in playing the role of a girlfriend of the group in the movie-length pilot and the three seasons of the ensuing TV series. That, along with her two times in reality dating in the course of thirteen months, is among a list of credits that also includes One Life to Live, Saturday Night Live and The King and I... but it's her being on Nick that many remember most of her.
Last weekend as social distancing and quarantine life continues on, Allie had the chance to reconnect to her past through the magic of video conferencing to those who she shared some of the best years of her life with a pair of brothers who not only make music together, but have spent just about all their life as kids, adolescents and adults together, and who at one time was the biggest things going for the most-famous TV channel whose principal color is orange: Nat & Alex Wolff.
All the way back in 2017, we featured on here something that is as much as staple of the end of the work week as this site getting to post our MTV episode posts here. And if you are one of those who loves a good story and seems to be stuck at home on a Friday or Saturday night as we all are right now in this age of quarantine, then it's a good bet that you're glued to some true crime stories.
Thanks in part to Challenge & Road Rules OG Mark Long and him meeting veteran corespondent Keith Morrison, we got to write on the longest-running primetime show on NBC, Dateline. It began in 1992 and is still going strong heading towards thirty years on the air as far & away the network's most successful foray in the newsmagazine space and a constant in the Peacock's schedule. But there was a time where Dateline wasn't all about crime: it recovered from the mess over the rigged GM truck explosion to win awards and respect in having the standard news-mag mixture of investigations, interviews and features, and even some entertainment too.
Something that also was a staple of Dateline for several years (and as much anticipated as hearing Morrison's voice telling those bedtime crime stories) was a hybrid of a newsmagazine staple of hidden cameras being combined with a sting operation and catching those being caught in the act for suspicious online activity... one of the first shows on TV to explore this world years before Catfish did exactly that. To Catch A Predator featured confrontations with adults presumed to have had sex with a minor in online chats, and them arriving at a house ultimately to be sent off in handcuffs as the result of a police sting operation seen in American living rooms.
Premiering in November 2004, To Catch A Predator aired as a sub-series within Dateline for four years on the network, with NBC affiliates in Milwaukee and Kansas City also airing their own local versions of the franchise. It also spawned other spin-offs following in the same format in catching con men, ID thieves and even those who steal iPods. To this day, it remains the best-known work of its host, Chris Hansen, who spent over three decades with NBC on the network & local level starting in Lansing, MI then reported & anchored in Tampa and Detroit before ultimately joining Dateline, and then becoming a staple of the talk show circuit because of his series.
Predator aside, Hansen also covered Columbine, 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing, TWA Flight 800 and the Unibomber. He also led investigations into Al-Qaeda's operations, Indian child slave labor, Chinese counterfeit prescription drug sales, and lack of airport security leading to the FAA revising their policies. But what inspired Hansen into journalism was the disappearance of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, and he gained his early stripes reporting on Detroit's Chambers Brothers drug ring for local TV there. And since he left NBC, Hansen has continued to follow online predators while also looking at true crime through various TV shows and his new YouTube channel Have A Seat.
So you're thinking... "How could this corespondent who left us jaw-dropped at online predators being caught on TV somehow be shoehorned onto DCBLOG?" As all of us are being quarantined right now, Mr. Hansen had the chance to plug the newest extended play album of Are You The One? Season 6 alum, Ethan "Emoney" Cohen. This amazing scoop in music promo led Season 8'er Kari Snow to say on Instagram, "Nobody can ever top this." Check it out below, and check out Emoney's new album on streaming which he's dedicated in memory of his late AYTO castmate, Alexis Eddy.
Hello again and welcome back... we are three episodes down on The Challenge: Total Madness and it's already been an eventful first four-and-a-half hours' worth of drama, competition and the unexpected that's gone down in the Czech Republic. And it's as if the world is right again with the fifth major pro sport giving us reality fans something truly meaningful along with those hungry for some action.
Last week was no exception: the first married couple to come onto The Challenge in a decade rolled along in continuing to put their stamp on the game while we also saw a dominant performance in that challenge itself by a defending champion. But we had no idea of that unexpected to come around: a person who no one expected would last past the second guys' elimination week not only got to do that, but also took out THAT champ... and it's as if we didn't miss the magic of springtime surprises.
Ahead, a recap of last week's game-changer of a week of Total Madness to get you in the mood for what goes down tonight - and if the previews of it are a sign then we are in for a dandy. But if you're a die-hard Challenge fan who knows your history well, you'll want to stick around with us afterwards as those who we featured in the prelude to Total Madness get together through the magic of video conferencing some two decades after they started their journey in MTV history. See you after the jump for The Upset of All Upsets and a Road Rules Reunion on the DCBLOG Challenge WRAP...
Last Wednesday night after episode 3 of The Challenge: Total Madness aired, DCBLOG offered an appreciation and thanks to two alumni of that show who have become nurses in their post-MTV life. Road Rules alum & Inferno champ Kendal Sheppard and AYTO alum & 5-time Challenger Amanda Garcia have certainly garnered much respect from the Twitter-sphere for being part of the most important workforce in this country right now: those who work in hospitals and healthcare to care for those battling the coronavirus and who are working for us during this unprecedented time in our lives.
The beauty of this hobby turned at-home profession for me is that my phone is always on and where I'm always available for any notifications that pop up... and that includes any tips to stories that I write on here to add any additional context if it is needed to be updated, like any reporter. But after I posted my link on my Twitter this past week, Kendal let me in on someone else who has also done their part to be part of the true heroes of this spring in helping to contain the spread of a virus that has shut down everything in our world the past month and for the near future.
For this follow-up, you have to go back over two decades to where it all began for one of the first Real World roommates to come from the LGBTQ+ community, and who then became the very first openly gay competitor on The Challenge. And it took for one of cable news' most prominent figures to bring a nurse from America's Midwest to the forefront, as he has now joined the many thousands who have descended upon the one place in the entire U.S. that has been most affected by COVID-19, and where nearly a third of all the cases reported in this country have been in its largest city.
*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. ***
It is the pre 4-20 weekend of the month of 4/20... but it's not a time to be celebrating that in this uncertain time in our world right now. But there is something that everyone here in the U.S. can celebrate: other than for horse racing & eSports, there's finally something meaningful in the wide world of athletic competition going on right now, and that would be a new season of The Challenge. And we at DCBLOG are now ready to bring you into week 3 of Total Madness from the Czech Republic.
After things got off to a flying start in the opening session, last week the focus was on the romance that blossomed and then soured by the time Dee & Rogan relished in victory on War of the Worlds 2. They were joined by this show's first representative of the global version of Road Rules, Amazing Race alum Jenn when her affection to the Dreamboy ignited the Aussie's attention, but it then came crashing down: first a speech gone bad to try & avoid being voted into elimination taking a cue from last year's Area 51 craze, and her getting leveled by strongwoman Jenny in the purgatory.
This week, it's men's elimination week #2 and with one rookie already gone for both the guys & girls things now get a tiny bit serious for the now 26-person field. When the presser for this season was posted, they promised some killer challenges and they weren't kidding... the game taking place here is just as spectacular as last week's chopper archery: a game of math followed by players blowing up trucks. And just as it was when he was put into that first trip to purgatory, the man who possesses one of two skulls necessary for a finals berth is put into the spotlight -- on the field and in the club.
After the jump, all the action, reaction and interaction from Week 3 in Prague on the SocialPulse of The Challenge, and thanks for joining us late on this Saturday night - you'll be glad you did...
During the three-month offseason in between seasons of The Challenge, fans of that show and MTV Reality were offered some juicy special attractions: one of them saw Nicole, Marlon, Jemmye & Laurel head to Ex On The Beach's first winter-themed season, Peak of Love. But it was the state of Florida that played host to ample amounts of drama and fun in the sun with two shows that walked the red carpet together at last year's Video Music Awards and then shared the marquee in the sultry Siesta Key and the wild-fest of Floribama Shore.
Season 3 of the ladder saw Mattie Lynn Breaux go from being a finalist of War of the Worlds to joining fellow rookie of that season, Gus Symrios, and the rest of his crew in their new playground of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, now known as Tompa Bay after Tom Brady's signing last month with one-time NFL doormats, the Buccaneers. During their summer in SPB, she helped relive the joys of her young self that viewers first saw on CMT's Party Down South, and Mattie even got close with Gus' frenemy, Jeremiah Buoni, among other things over the winter.
This past week, four of those Southerners Mattie lived with in St. Pete Beach in between her times on The Challenge took on a different role to what they have been used to. Instead of puke 'n rally and chi-chis up - or even getting minted with a tattoo souvenir, they got to take the stage of one of MTV's most enduring hits which began fifteen years ago. And they were spectators to a mic-drop meeting of two former best friends... only part of the times when some familiar faces to MTV fans have shared the stage with Nick Cannon and friends under the bright lights of Wild 'N Out.
Five years ago this month, twenty singles flew to Hawaii for an opportunity to find love and win $1 million if they all found their perfect match. But the cast of Are You The One? Season 3 had no idea that they'd become a legendary cast in MTV Reality annals: a group who found the path of finding true love harder than it seemed, and who had trouble moving on from their non-matches when they were dealt a money-losing blackout blow. But one move by its most derived member from New England in the final week helped ascend them to true underdogs and has seen them go onto not only The Challenge, but also Teen Mom OG, The Real World, Ex On The Beach, and even Dr. Phil.
A notable member of the AYTO 3 "Ohana" is Amanda Garcia, who developed a fiery personality in her signature blowups at anyone from her crush in the Hawaiian house, Magic Mike, to then Zach and Camila on her five starts on The Challenge. Whether you like her or not, there's no doubt that Amanda made quite an impact on our MTV screens when she went for love, and when she was that scrappy Challenger as the definition of "popoff queen." But as she now has stepped away to tackle the new challenge of being a mom and being engaged, Amanda is now taking on a task greater than television and anything else in our world.
The chaotic events of the past month has put into focus the handful of those who have going about their normal routines of not being at home during the day, being at work and risking their lives in this unprecedented time. Their duties have been to help all of us going through the pandemic to offer & provide essential needs & services at grocers, banks, post offices and garbage collection. But no job has been important nowadays then those who work in hospitals and healthcare who've been working overtime and every day to help those who most in need: those suffering from COVID-19 and those who are not affected by the virus but are still suffering from sickness & injuries and need urgent care.
In where Amanda calls home of the state of Colorado, as of press time her state has had around 8,000 cases reported of the coronavirus, which has claimed just over 325 people in fifty-six of the sixty-four counties which have been affected by it. Not surprisingly, her hometown of Denver and surrounding counties and neighborhoods have been most affected with a quarter of all cases of COVID-19 and over 1,500 have been hospitalized around the state -- also with the largest number in the metropolis. But yesterday, state health officials shared promising news that people taking social distancing measures seriously has helped to soften the rise of cases in Colorado.
As news of COVID-19 became widespread after it was declared a pandemic, just about every hospital and health facility in the U.S. has gone to work to help care everyone who has been suffering from the virus, comprising the countless numbers of those who comprise America's healthcare force. That includes those who were on maternity leave such as Amanda, who decided to come back to work early on March 25 -- two weeks the World Health Organization's earth-shattering declaration.
And last week, Amanda took to Twitter to post a message on behalf of fellow nurses like her... and her message read in part, "I am a nurse-a frontline worker. To be honest, I don't need free pizza or cups of coffee. ... I am grateful that I won't be losing all my income due to this virus." And she also got to plead to those reading that note to offer that spare free food to families who are in need, the elderly, those who work at home and those in financial despair.
Amanda has garnered great respect from everyone during this time even from one of his biggest adversaries in Johnny Bananas, but she is not alone: After her house was visited by Travel Channel's Ghost Loop earlier this winter, Challenge Inferno champ Kendal Sheppard-Darnell is also a nurse herself in the Seattle area. The situation where she lives in Washington State is slightly more serious in over 10,000 coronavirus cases and around 550 deaths, but like in Colorado a new doctor's report states the virus is not spreading as much in Western Washington as first feared.
Like Amanda, Kendal has has also received similar messages of support, with Jemmye tweeting to her, "Thank you for being on the frontlines of this and taking care of the patients that need you. Y'all are my heroes now more than ever." Kendal and Amanda being able to work for us and for all in this time make them worthy of being MVP's.
Welcome on back... if you happen to be following a sport that usually takes its first pitch here in the springtime, then baseball is back in business if you follow the Chinese leagues as they are back in business after they started their 2020 season over the weekend. For everyone else in the world of competition, it's the fifth major pro sport of The Challenge that is on the minds of them and reality TV fans as we are two episodes into Total Madness and with a new episode in a few hours' time.
Last week, we got to see the after-effects of TJ Lavin's first Teej-bomb of those who compete in the purgatory elimination being eligible to go for the money on full display as another twist almost brought an Amanda/Zach in those who are seemingly safe in the game possibly being dared to go into elimination... that wasn't the case for Dee as she instead opted to play it safe and let a rookie go in during some flirting with her frenemy -- and it saw a dominant rookie from last year take care of things in only a few seconds. But that came after a thrilling challenge of carrying a different kind of crates of last season and target practice from aboard a chopper.
After the jump, our Challenge WRAP has last week's big moments of Total Madness before Episode 3 comes your way tonight. We'll see you shortly.
Over a month ago before everything changed in this world of ours, there was some startling news that emerged in Bachelor Nation with links to the MTV Reality community. Chad Johnson from JoJo Fletcher's season of The Bachelorette, the 2016 summer of Bachelor in Paradise and Season 2 of Ex On The Beach spent a night in jail for domestic violence charges and one count of robbery against his ex-girlfriend Annalise Mishler. This came after he had an alcohol relapse in his battle to remain sober and clean, and led to disturbing behavior in the days following.
The attention that has been now been given to protecting everyone from the virus pandemic has seen this story of Bad Chad getting busted being sent to the back pages. But amidst all this he did have his first court date shortly after St. Patrick's Day without much attention from the media and without people present in the courtroom. On that Friday, March 20th trip to court where his attorney appeared on his behalf, Johnson entered not guilty pleas to six misdemeanor charges, and will again face the music next month -- that is, provided that social distancing rules are relaxed.
If you have been following him as of late, Chad has joined the craze that has pretty much everyone in MTV circles taking part: no, not TikTok dance videos but that site known as OnlyFans. A few weeks ago, he dropped by the studios of entertainment newsmagazine Extra and its host Billy Bush with Annelise in tow where, while talking about what happened on that unfortunate night Chad dropped a bomb that he & the ex are doing a joint OnlyFans page. And if you've been seeing his Instagram posts, you pretty much have an idea of what they are offering... that is if you want some up close and personal entertainment.
Before this world of his unraveled, Chad had sights set on taking part in a charity boxing tournament that was slated to be held this spring with him being the headliner among a slew of fellow Bachelor and Bachelorette alumni taking part. Obviously, the events of what transpired in February changed all that and he was forced to withdraw from the event before it was postponed to later in the year after the sanctions given by local and state authorities to prevent large gatherings, such as last weekend's UFC fight card being nixed at last minute.
Whenever any kind of odd event takes place from out of the ordinary, then they have to do at least a weird commercial or promo to drum up interest. In the case of Bachelor Night at the Fights, Chad decided to become Rambo for a moment... have a peek at the promo below. Next stop, Challenge?
*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. ***
Happy Easter Sunday to all of you wherever you are across the land, and we hope that you are safe & sound as you spend this holiday with your loved ones at home. And we at DCBLOG and our resident Easter Bunny are offering a treat alongside all of those eggs as we're about to bring you Inside MTV Reality and the SocialPulse of Week 2 of The Challenge: Total Madness from the Czech Republic.
Last week, the fifth major pro sport kicked off its thirtieth season and offered those in need for some exciting action in this unprecedented time with a first act that delighted everyone from hardcore fans and reality viewers to Giannis Antetokounmpo and sports fans with finally something to tune in for. A war-themed opening challenge saw Team UK begin right where they left off from War of the Worlds 2, while once again the law of the land saw two rookies face off in the first visit to the purgatory. But in between, inside a spooky wartime bunker an unlikely alliance popped up in longtime vendetttas Johnny Bananas and Wes deciding to align for the very first time after a decade of bad blood.
At night's end, TJ Lavin marked his 25th season as host by jolting the players with an old-fashioned Teej-bomb: only those who compete in elimination will be eligible to compete in the final... that will cause a ripple effect on everyone as this week, the women are up for the cut for the first time. Before all that, the week's challenge is a combination of getting a real feel of what it's like to be in a final with teams in trios carrying ammunition crates through the jungle, followed by target practice dropping them below while being aboard a chopper. And the most complicated relationship of last year comes into focus again as a defending champion falls for a rookie in her first go here.
After the jump, all the aaction, reaction and interaction to week 2 of Total Madness, plus we'll head down to Mexico for some bloopers with two of those who made their way from The Challenge to the Ex On The Beach villa. Thanks for joining us, we're glad you're here again.
When we rang in the new year a few long months ago, the year 2020 meant several things to many people. In the view of the Gregorian calendar, this is a leap year, and it meant Ja Rule officially celebrated his birthday for just the 10th time in his life on February 29th. Come November, the world's eyes will be on the race for the White House in a divided America. And despite what has been a rough year for all of us, many of the biggest holidays of this year have or will be taking place on the weekend... and as we speak to you here, it is now officially 4/20 month as well.
An even numbered year also means that it's also an Olympic year, which means this blogger gets to spend most of nineteen straight days watching the only program on television that he avidly looks forward to actually binge watching. And instead of scripted content, it's both live sports and events that he loves from all around the spectrum which only receive their time in the spotlight every even year, all in the name of gold medals in front of flags and a burning flame. It's the love that this writer has of the whole sports world - not just the NBA and his Bay Area teams - that make the Olympics the favorite sporting event of this blogger.
The Games of the XXXII Olympiad were scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting on July 24th and running until August 9th. But the uncertainty of right now and coronavirus on everyone's minds has meant that, for the first time since World War II, there will not be an Olympic Games held this summer, among a slew of sporting events that have been nixed or pushed back due to COVID-19. But unlike what happened in 1940 and '44, this is a postponement, not a cancellation, of Japan's Summer Olympics as preparation has been made difficult in Tokyo, the host nation and the world's athletes, who will now have as much time as necessary to prepare for 2021 as the health of them, fans and everyone alike has taken greater precedent in unprecedented times.
Once the flame finally is lit on July 23, 2021 in what will be the first of two Olympics to be held within a year's time span (the Beijing 2022 Winter Games will take place less than six months after the Tokyo Closing Ceremony on August 8), one of those who will be glued to his TV and mobile devices for a total of forty days of Olympic mania is one who is a two-time champion on MTV's The Challenge. But, he can also lay claim to being the resident superfan of all things Olympics in the MTV Reality family - not surprising for someone who was a swimmer in college and who's met those behind some of the Olympics' biggest moments of the past two decades. And he also happens to be part of a Real World alumni class turned Challenge royalty that's just as good as gold.
Hello again and welcome back... there is finally some normalcy being restored in our world - the MTV beat that is - as The Challenge has returned to give us something to take our mind off of what's been a manic first few months of 2020, and as far as you all got to enjoy it last week it is off to a red-hot start. The fittingly-titled Total Madness premiered last week with familiar faces to MTV fans and new ones that those who are part of the new ViacomMTV regime know about competing together in the first act of the new season.
We had a treacherous first challenge where a champion got to pick up from where he left off in the War of the Worlds II final, a standard practice for any new season in rookies facing off in the first elimination, and a new place for the players to live in unlike any other. But what left us talking at night's end last week was an unlikely alliance of two of the biggest figures in this program for a decade, and a man who marked twenty-five seasons hosting this show by handing down the biggest twist he's ever laid on the Challengers... quite an opening salvo to this thirty-fifth season.
Something we have not been able to do in a while on here has been a traditional, original write-up recap of episodes of The Challenge, which are offered differently from our SocialPulse diaries which cover the social media view of the shows. And after we got to dust these off for Siesta Key during the winter offseason and with this spring not being as busy as in recent years, the WRAP is back for this Challenge... and after the jump, the top moments from last week to prepare you for tonight's second episode. See you shortly.
As part of the promotional blitz leading into this past week's premiere of The Challenge: Total Madness, a guy who's won more of these than any other stated to US Weekly the relief he has that this season has more of what fans like in the competition and less of what he calls "toxic, awful personalities" to make it more favorable to everyone. The subliminal shade Johnny Bananas gave on the magazine's TV podcast referred to two of the biggest notables no-shows to a season that began in grand fashion last week for a sporting nation hungry for some action in this time of uncertainty.
Those two people are Cara Maria Sorbello and Paulie Califiore, who met each other two years ago on The Challenge and have had such a public relationship that it has fascinated everyone who follows both MTV Reality and reality television in its totality. The way the relationship began for the both of them stemming from his split from Bachelor Nation alum Danielle Maltby has divided everyone in Challenge Nation, has seen the approval ratings of the two-time Challenge queen take a nose dive, and helped solidify Big Brother's impact as not just as CBS' summertime guilty pleasure, but now a year-round presence on its once-again cable sibling in the new ViacomCBS regime.
Paulie made his TV debut on the 2016 season of Big Brother, which two years later came to The Challenge starting on Vendettas. He himself moved into the Season 1 Ex On The Beach house just after that season aired, before making a huge impact himself on Final Reckoning as well as the two War of the Worlds seasons. Him being able to play the game relentlessly and fearlessly saw this brother of a past BB houseguest and a former soccer player make a name almost from the start, earning the ire of Johnny and everyone else in making two of his three finals, and narrowly missing the third when him going all in on the last purge on War of the Worlds I cost him dearly.
A member of this year's Challenge cast, "Swaggy C" from the Big Brother season two years after Paul's, BB20, knows what it's like to be the least-liked member of his cast and yet still have an enormous impact on the season. It's very much the same way for Paulie when you refer to not only his original BB18 season but also in what he got to do on Final Reckoning and last year's two WOTW seasons... but while he is taking this season off this time, this past week he took to Instagram to do, what his girlfriend did earlier in her Challenge career.
Back when she was a young up-and-comer who was continuing to earn her stripes, Cara Maria did a YouTube video where she got to do impersonations of fellow Challengers. Those who respected her then who might as well not be on her side now like Jemmye, Nany and Camila, and even Cara were impersonated in that eight-minute video released during Battle of the Seasons 2, where she was part of that infamous Fresh Meat group.
With that video in mind, Paulie decided to do his own impersonations of fellow Challengers which he posted on Instagram TV (the longer version of videos posted on the social app that's longer than 60 seconds). There, he decided to take his chance to act as CT, Wes, Ashley, Rogan, Kam and Jenny. And thus, it includes sights of a wig & bra, a Red Sox hat, and yes, a ginger beard.
When it was posted on premiere night last Wednesday, it might've been just as good as the actual premiere episode itself and over 123,000 of you have seen the video ever since of him doing these spot-on imitations of those he's competed with, and where now he's observing them as just us, armchair fans.
And just about everyone in Challenge Nation, as well as the biggest star of Champs vs. Pros and his fellow Big Brother alumni, had their say in the Instagram comments on the biggest absentee becoming them for a few moments - starting with his #1 fan...
●@misscaramaria: "This is the paulie i know. 🤣♥️" ●@roguesnaps: "Hahahahahahahahahaha mate I’m in tears 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 p.s. BEER ME" ●@mtvashleybrooke: "Oh my god your ct is fucking perfect you made my day I love you Soooooo much 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😍🔥"
●@darrell_taylor_lb4lb: "CT was on point 😂"
●@jenniferwestofficial: "Oh my god I'm dying!!! C.T and Rogan were spot on!! 😂😂😂😂😂 In this case Paulie you weren't shit you were actually good 😉"
●@lolojones: "Acting skills on point"
●@deenguyen: "I’m mad u didn’t do me. U have the best Australian accent 😂"
●@natalienegrotti: "LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOO This is incredible now text me back biatch"
●@mrashleycain: "I actually watched the whole thing. I'm cracking up man. You should deffo do some more! 🤣👏🏾"
●@bradfiorenza: "OMG bro 😂😂😂😂😂"
●@stevie_bear: "😂😂😂😂"
●@jossmooney: "😂😂😂😂 @_famous4nothing"
●@fessyfitness: "Bruhhhhh this is to good 😂😂😂😂😂"
●@kcsince1987: "Lmaoooo 😂😂😂😂"
●@iamkamiam_: "You are hilarious 😭😭😭"
●@eastwood100 Clint/Real World Atlanta: "Hilarious bro 👍🙌"
●@zackass Zach Holmes/Too Stupid to Die: "😂😂😂"
●@ginamariez Gina Zimmerman/Big Brother: "Yo the man brother. Without y’all the Challenge is shit. They scared"
●@daniellealexism Danielle Murphree/Big Brother: "I told you!! I’m so glad that you did this 😂😭 the ones with the accents kill me .... Ashley and Rogan 🤣🤣🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥🔥 I miss y’all!! @misscaramaria"
