DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The Second Half Begins

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We have reached the 365th and last day of 2022... and if you are lucky to get to the finish line of this year like yours truly & his family, then pat yourself on the back -- we're all still here. And when it comes to where things stand in our main focus of this winter on this site of MTV's The Challenge, in the calendar of this site it is the halfway point of Ride or Dies, Season 38.

Last we talked to you on here back last weekend on Christmas Day, we offered a holiday present of covering two episodes on the same Sunday. First, we covered the latest instance of an airport tarmac and high-fliers taking to the skies on this show, and a choice which tested the loyalties of one Nelson as he went for friendship (a mended one, at least) with Feysal over a budding relationship with Olivia when it came to saving someone in the draw. And then, we reached the season's halfway marker with a grueling mini-final that combined endurance with carrying lots of weight... and it gave the aforementioned Big Brother & his Ride or Die not only week 9 power, but something much more.

It wouldn't be a Challenge without a midseason twist, and he & Moriah were split up into two teams that will face off against one another the rest of the way. And now that they are on opposite sides, it will now give another dimension to this season testing the loyalty and friendship of each of our teams... and it will also give another test to the pair that, though they weren't paired up to begin with, were the most high profile couple just a few short years ago -- just add the Ride or Die of one of the aforementioned people above to spice things up. And a movie that's lost in all the buzz surrounding the Avatar sequel plays a sponsoring role in the first daily of this second half: a good-old grudge match above the water -- but it's the stars of Puss & Boots that take co-headlining status along with the challengers.

After the break, DCBLOG rings out the old year with our ninety-third & final post of 2022 as we bring you the 'Pulse of Week 10 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies... and Happy New Year!

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - At The Halfway Point

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We welcome you back on this Christmas Sunday... and wherever you are, we hope you enjoyed this day with family and got to stay warm, too. We hope you're having a good weekend -- and most of you have tomorrow off for the observed Christmas Monday... and this year we're also in the same boat as our friends in the U.K. & Australia as it's already Boxing Day (no, the fighting sport is not what they're celebrating overseas, it's their nations' equivalent of Black Friday). But wherever you are, we're set to round off Christmas Day here with DCBLOG's continuing coverage of The MTV Challenge.

Earlier today, we picked things back up in our coverage of Ride or Dies with Week 8... and we saw everyone celebrate Johnny Bananas' 40th birthday and then take to the tarmac for a ride aboard some 18-wheelers. But the big figure of the week was one Nelson Thomas: if he thought that just choosing perfect matches on his very first MTV show in Season 3 of Are You The One? was tough, then that experience didn't prepare him for the choice he had to make in holding the choice of whether to stay loyal to Fessy or to save his crush Olivia... he opted for the former, but she stayed in the game anyway as she & Horacio took out the hat trick in their third elimination win, taking down Jay & Michele.

It has become a fact of life around here that something explosive will happen whenever we get to the halfway point of any Challenge season... that is the case as we return to Argentina -- and here, it's two instances. First, there is the true test of which teams are best capable of handling those two days of hell known as the last Challenge... and a mini-final will see the teams carry weight and endure endurance in the middle of nowhere. There's also both good and bad news: no one will be eliminated this week... but this is also the last week that the pairs will be together -- and whoever wins in this daily will be front and center in a midseason draft to determine who will be on two teams opposing each other. And there's also the latest episode in the saga that is #Torgan... another Challenge joining in on that soap opera.

After the break on the DCBLOG Challenge Pulse, we reach the halfway point of The Challenge: Ride or Dies and Week 9 in Argentina. And if you're staying up for this here on this late night, welcome back.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Born to Ride or Die"

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Merry Christmas to all of you out there in the blogosphere... we hope you're staying safe and warm after the huge blizzard that hit most of the country on this long Christmas weekend (it's not the case if you live in California, Florida or elsewhere that didn't get that dusting of snow, but we can take the sunshine any day). And what did Santa DC bring to all of you on this DCBLOG website on this Sunday Funday Christmas? We have a slew of Challenge posts to bring you as our gifts to all of you as we have plenty to offer from The MTV Challenge: Ride or Dies on here for your enjoyment.

When we last left Argentina in the timeline of this site -- and that's some eleven days ago on our calendar due to many matters including watching the host nation win the World Cup in dramatic fashion, we brought you not one, but two episodes being covered. Jay & Michele won a couple dailies during this game as well as an elimination, but the questionable choices they've made might put a target on their backs. We've also been privy to who might be the rookies of the year when we're all done in Olivia & Horacio in their elimination mastery... and two people who were part of that legendary Are You The One cast also found themselves right in the heart of things.

As we finally return to a nation still celebrating a week after that ultimate early Christmas present of a third World Cup and GOAT status for Lionel Messi, it's also a time of celebration for The Challenge's own GOAT: Bananas marks his 40th birthday in the big house once again. Our daily will bring the house to a runway... and that means it's time to strap in for a ride down the tarmac trying to maneuver your way on an 18-wheeler. A first half that's seen plenty of big moves might give one pair a tricky task of navigating through the crosshairs of various teams... but that pales in comparison to what goes down in the arena: one of those aforementioned figures might have to pick between friendship, love and playing smart... and he thought picking someone at a Matchup Ceremony was harder than this.

After the break, we bring you back to The Challenge as DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 8 of Ride or Dies... and after the journal, some analysis from this show's biggest fan at a certain four-lettered 800-pound gorilla. And welcome back, Challenge Nation -- and Merry Christmas.

DC ExtraTime: Welcome to Christmas at Tyler’s

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Right now as we watch Devin, Tori, Nelson and Nurys on The Challenge: Ride or Dies through the first two months-plus in Argentina, we can just marvel at how the first three have become big names on this show in the past half-dozen years, and how the ladder has quickly established herself in this year's rookie class. To the average fan within Challenge Nation, they might be just another group of four people in a world dominated by those who have been on this show longer than them... but to us, we have a better appreciation of them because of the fact that DCBLOG keeps an eye on the whole MTV world.

We have the unique distinction of having covered the entire MTV journeys of those four people above from the very beginning: they all began as those looking for love on Are You The One? -- and where three of those four above also went onto Ex On The Beach. We have seen through the entire journey of MTV's first foray into the current romantic reality craze both here at home and abroad, and when we get settled in the new year we'll be dusting off that matchup chart as the first season of AYTO since 2019 heads to Paramount+. And Season 9 will see new pairs of lovers try to find love inside the Truth Booth, and with a familiar face in Catfish's Kamie Crawford taking over as host when it debuts on January 18th.

Back on Christmas Day two years ago tomorrow, we took a look back at where it all began for AYTO when alumni of the first two seasons got together virtually on Instagram Live and Zoom to reminisce on that memorable experience of coming in single, coming out of it with a share of $1 million, and giving us so many memorable moments -- which became possible when their seasons joined the Netflix lineup. But one person was too busy to join them for that holiday party... and as it turns out, our subject was busy with another tradition of this year's last two months -- and it's one that's everywhere right now.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - A November's Double Shot

 ADVISORY:  #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

And so, we welcome you back Inside MTV Reality at DCBLOG... and if we haven't spoken to you in a bit, a happy holiday season to you and yours. I was busy over the past month marking my dad's birthday on Thanksgiving with family, and doing a charity fundraiser that raised $500... and my family just caught the cold bug. That's why we've been off the mark on here since we last talked to you on Thanksgiving, but now we're set to get back to covering all the dealings in Challenge Nation.

It has been almost a full month since we covered the current season of Ride or Dies... and when we last left Argentina back on my birthday, for a moment at least to begin Week 5 it seemed that we were at the When We Were Young festival by the sights of seeing everyone wearing 90's emo styles. But a budding friendship that came about with Jay and Jakk soon became a thing of the past when they were at the heart of a big betrayal that came about when the former was in power and the ladder being paired with a certain champion beast... and we also saw further proof of how much a three-time champion is still valued in this new age.

And aside from a grueling swimming daily and arena, the effects of what happened there are spilling into what we'll be covering here of the next two weeks of this season: their questionable choices may see the Survivor team have to earn their way through the rest of the game, while one-half of the early favorites for Rookies of the Year may feel the charm of that elimination beast... and one other player may have to look for someone else to get cuddly with when it comes to cuffing season. And this doesn't factor in the game itself, where two from the same legendary MTV grad class may also find themselves in the heart of it all... and what would any Challenge be without a blindside that leads to a big elimination battle?

Just ahead, it's a mid-autumn night's double shot as DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of episodes 6 and 7 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies... and all the Twitter buzz from them. And we also have an additional note to share with you on here, which we will explain after the break...

DC FORUM: Welcome to December

A Word from The Editor...

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

And so, we bring you into the month of December around here.... and if we haven't spoken to you that much in the past few weeks, then we wish for you and yours our very best for this holiday season. We know that this has been quite the year... and for us in my family that has truly been the case, and if you have noticed why things have been light around here over the past several months, then you'll know why I have taken time away from this site for that reason.

Over the course of the past month, I have laid off as far as my online activity has been concerned to take advantage of spending as much time as I can to spend with family as we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with most of my relatives... it also happened to be my late father's birthday. Understandably things have not felt quite the same since he passed away back over the summer, and I have taken on the role of being the man of the house in helping out as much as I can with my mom, aunt and brother... and with my sister, her husband and their kids whenever they come over here. And as I speak to you on here right now, we also caught the cold bug... we are extremely aware of the current health situation as it stands as we are taking it easy, although it's not as serious as what many are going through right now.

We continue to be in a state of mourning some six months after my dad's death, as my mom has made daily visits to his gravesite and done nightly vigils for him. But this past month from when I marked my birthday back on November 13th to until the first weekend of this month, I got to do something I've never done before in paying it forward and holding my first-ever charity fundraiser on Facebook and Instagram for my inner circle. The efforts I made to put out the word to everyone in our family saw that appeal raise $500 to benefit the American Cancer Society... and I plan on doing another one of these around the one-year anniversary of his passing next summer.

It's with all of this in mind (plus problems with our home internet) that I have been well behind in DCBLOG's usually timely coverage of the fall 2022 MTV cycle, being headlined by The Challenge: Ride or Dies. Usually, content like the weekly episode Pulse and the ExtraTime series would go out in a timely manner... but because of the various things that have been happening to me off of this site (and the DC YouTube page) it has not been the case during this year. Not that anyone out there would mind because of the low-key nature of how things operate around here, but if you're a loyal viewer of this site then please accept my apologies in the slow nature of getting these posts out to all of you.

A serendipity to all of this is that this month should be quite busy with plenty of episode coverage, stories, the second part of "Who Are These Newbies?" for Ride or Dies, our first look at the first new cast in four years of a show we've covered from day 1, and other matters... and that is just for this site alone. This doesn't even put into account the DC YouTube site, as the Coast to Coast: Disneyland series is just underway... and you can look forward to plenty of holiday cheer there and on here. And we'll see you here this weekend.

- I AM DC

#DCBLOG

DC ExtraTime: From Vegas to Paris - Scandal & Style with the Zitos

 CAUTION:  This story contains brief references to an adult entertainment enterprise that is not suitable to a younger readership, though with our utmost respect to sensitivity no imagery related to it is included in this article. Parental Guidance is Suggested.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

    ESTIMATED READING TIME: 24 mins.

As we just had our first truly "normal" Thanksgiving weekend since 2019, something that's always prevalent whenever we all get together on November's fourth Thursday & its accompanying four-day weekend each fall is the importance of family. It's with that in mind that the story you're about to see bumps off what we'd normally offer on DCBLOG every weekend of covering the weekly episodes of The Challenge, and we'll feature the past couple episodes of Ride or Dies on here next week instead.

Twitter/IG @VictoriaLZito

Back in 2012, this MTV fan who had been just a loyal viewer of just one regular show on the channel and who had just joined a public social media platform in Twitter got baptized for the first time in the modern-day version of what was called back then as The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, which was ultimately shortened to just the first & last two words of that mouthful of a title. There, he got to interact with the cast of the former show being based in the Caribbean, and then stayed around to give the fifth major pro sport a try for a change... I've had a weekly midweek date with TJ Lavin & friends ever since. 

One of the most memorable moments of my decade following this Challenge beat came ten years ago this month during that first of what's now twenty-one seasons of this show in its many forms that I have watched during the past ten years: a fight between various castmates that had one of my late followers just feeling startled as to how my Twitter commentary on that solidified this newfound love affair. It came a year after one of those many involved in that fracas found himself in the heart of a scandal so big and so scandalicious that it actually put him on the cover of a supermarket tabloid magazine -- a status that was usually reserved for the likes of The Hills, Teen Mom and Jersey Shore.

And during this fall -- well after one of our co-subjects did his last Challenge and while you're busy watching this current season of Ride or Dies, the adage that good things just "run in the family" took on a whole new meaning: his sister was cast in another cable network's newest reality show taking place far away from where that story began in the capital of Sin. But thanks to one of the many themed hotels that sprung along the Las Vegas Strip during the boom decade of the '90s, it was only fitting that Paris would play host to the return to TV land of a fellow sibling. And now you can officially say that the Zito family can now lay claim to having two of their own on national TV... not many can boast that unique status. But to understand this story, it's worth rewinding the clock back a bit to more simpler times.

DC Vegas XI - A Vegas Vacation Unlike Any Other

This DCBLOG Post & Its Accompanying YouTube Series is Dedicated in Loving Memory of My Late Dad Mariano, Who Was with Me on This 2021 Vegas Trip That is Being Documented on Here, and Who Passed Away the Following Summer After a Brave Battle with Brain Cancer.

A #DCBLOG SPECIAL

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

     ESTIMATED READING TIME: 34 mins.

One year ago at this time, my world was about as perfect as you can have it... but a month earlier was somewhat different. At the beginning of October 2021, I was so busy with this very DCBLOG site and covering the one thing that takes over the full attention on here of The Challenge and the world that surrounds it & other MTV Reality shows -- this site's primary beat. But during a year where things returned to normal a bit, and where leading into Season 37 of that show I got to enjoy the one event that gives me reason to take my mind off of this hobby in the Tokyo Olympics, I never even thought that there would be something that, to me, is just as big a deal as those two events define last year.

Sports and MTV Reality shows are among my four biggest passions right now: a third is Music -- and proof of my love of that comes in another of my traditions before something big happens to me. There, I got to do something you all probably got to do when Thanksgiving comes around and just before Christmas: going on a binge-buying fest -- but not for gifts for loved ones. For there, I spent money on buying legal online music to compile a vacation playlist... for that it led into the fourth & newest member of this quartet of what I'm into the most: everything that's related to Las Vegas.

Vegas has grown from just being a small vacation town to now being in the big time, and where (as I've written here before) it has also grown in stature to me on a personal level. I first got to go there as a kid on my summer vacation back in 1994... and obviously there wasn't much to do there other than roam through the Circus Circus midway. But it was in 2007 and well after I had turned adult age that I truly got to experience Sin City for the first time... and ever since, it has almost become a bit of a personal Super Bowl to me: the single biggest occasion that I have looked forward the most almost every year for the past decade & a half.

To me, the vacations I take to Southern Nevada aren't just a simple little trip, it also feels very much like an event. Ten previous times I have gotten to venture on either that 90-minute flight or that 9-hour drive from the Bay Area to Las Vegas, and each of them have been special. I've gotten to experience a lot over the thirty-six total days of my trips over the last quarter-century, from going to the biggest hotels in town to spending quality time with family and relatives as we have also experienced the evolution of this city into a major metropolis that brings millions of people the world over to the desert. And the addition of professional sports to the town has only fueled that growth, even with many challenges including the decreased size of Lake Mead on the outskirts of town as of late.

So, to think that there would be an eleventh edition of DC VEGAS would not have been possible back during the heat of last summer and during a time where we have been reminded many times to be very cautious during this time. But as it turns out, the return of yours truly to my favorite city during a global pandemic turned out to be just as memorable as the ten others that came before it. And also, there was something just as poignant that came out of it that proved another point that's just as important.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Get Rich or Ride or Die Tryin'"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Twitter @TheChallenge

And so we welcome you back not only to DCBLOG and Inside MTV Reality, but also to the biggest day on this blogger's calendar: #DCBDay. If you don't know, that's the hashtag I use for my November 13th birthday -- and we're glad you're spending part of your Sunday Funday with us, as yours truly is taking a little break from today's celebratory festivities (albeit, somewhat subdued) to bring you this week in the world of The MTV Challenge, as we enter the second month of Ride or Dies down in Argentina.

As this website's editor in chief has been away from this site the last few weeks, we've taken advantage of this special weekend to catch up on all that we've missed during this time. And yesterday it was Week 4 of Season 38, which began with our third straight entry of a veteran mercenary pair: in this case it was Darrell & Veronica. But maybe, the 4-time champ would've liked something else for his first daily as he had to face his fear of taking on heights atop a skyscraper... and in the end it was the one he stalemated with on Vendettas, Nelson, who finally snapped his 50+ day daily challenge streak with his Ex On The Beach ex Nurys. They are, of course, MTV love show alumni and for a moment, they thought that the Challenge house was the season 2 Malibu beach house all over again by the way of hookups in that love shack.

At night's end there, Analyse & Tommy paid the price for their ways of not playing the game as rookies from a Big Brother should in a Challenge house as they lost out to Kim & Colleen. But as we return to South America, there is a party vibe going on in the house that would make you think that those from the When We Were Young festival of a few weeks ago in TJ Lavin's Vegas backyard were invited to this place... and so does a prince for a certain fast food chain. That will offer a backdrop to the latest act of when things could backfire as far as new friendships being made in this game, which this week sees a relay take place by the water and where costly miscues could turn the competition on its head... and the consequences could force some veterans to maybe face the music.

So why not spend some of this #DCBDay Sunday Funday with us as, after the break, it's the SocialPulse of Week 5 (this week, in fact) of The Challenge: Ride or Dies. Thanks for joining us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "O'liv'n on the Edge"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back Inside MTV Reality at DCBLOG on this blogger's birthday weekend... and while you probably have been focused on things going outside of the passions I follow -- and I have done what I can to stay focused in those in this manic world, about a month in The Challenge: Ride or Dies has been, shall we say, what we expect from this fifth major pro sport and Wednesday night escape.

If you were with us on here last night, we began to catch ourselves up on everything that has gone on as far as all the social buzz and all else is concerned... this blogger has been busy with other things since we last posted something on here since we spoke before Halloween. But in Week 3, Tori felt like she was on Ex On The Beach for a moment as she had to endure seeing Jordan as they had to look back on their failed relationship. As far as the game was concerned, a demanding barrel daily saw Fessy & Moriah take out the win, and an all-rookie battle in a double-decker Hall Brawl saw Olivia & Horacio take on the title that the Cowboys, the Braves and others boast claim to: "America's Team."

And if that wasn't enough, TJ Lavin had yet another Teej-bomb waiting: the arrival of yet another pair of mercenaries to the game... and as we return to Argentina it's multiple champs Darrell and Veronica who have come into the picture. But the four-time titlist would want to perhaps fly back to California as his worst fear is the subject of the fourth daily challenge... and it may represent a big chance for one of those who battled him in elimination a few years back to snap a streak that stretches back a few years, just as a rookie pair is staring down a target and must think big if they want to stay in South America. And what would any MTV Reality show be without some love being made? In a house full of those who have had some history in some way of finding love or falling in love in our living rooms, several players decide to pair it off romantically in the midst of the preseason to cuffing season.

Join us here after the break as the teams will find themselves going "on the edge" on the Week 4 edition of the DCBLOG Ride or Dies Challenge Pulse... and we'll also have a reflection on a pop star taken too soon from one who shared a boxing ring with him. Thanks for joining us, and see you here shortly.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "A Bumpy Ride"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It might be a bit late than we thought but on this 11/11 Veteran's Day (and Remembrance Day in Canada & Britain) we welcome you to the month of November around here, which also doubles as birthday month for this blogger -- and in fact, #DCBDay Weekend is now underway. And in the reality TV world, we're into the last weeks at the Bachelor in Paradise Mexican casa, the field for the live shows are now finalized on The Voice, and we are early into Season 38 of MTV's The Challenge: Ride or Dies.

When we were last in Argentina -- and trust us it's been a LONG time in the clock of this DCBLOG site, it was Week 2 of the new season when many a twist were thrown by TJ Lavin including him bringing out Johnny Bananas & Nany at the end of that first elimination... and they didn't waste any time getting back into the groove of things when they won that second daily game. For two players who were entering their third starts at this, there was more bad news for Nam to swallow when he couldn't even get to compete at all after the bolting of his partner... and Turbo returned from three years away resuming his old tricks, and he dared to go into elimination -- only to come up short in his first arena trip.

Also in week 2, Tori opened up about the struggles she has had with her mental health... but at night's end she was given the ultimate reality check when, after Olivia & Horacio sent Turbo home, she saw both her ex and her fellow podcast host enter the arena. It's that latest late & surprise entrance of Jordan & Aneesa that, as we return to South America, brings into focus what happened to them since we saw that proposal on War of the Worlds 2. On the game front, two totally rookie pairs try to find allies and survive a grueling trip up & down the countryside carrying barrels... while inside the house one player may find himself back in the love side of things. And we get a totally different take on a timeless Challenge classic: Hall Brawl being mixed with a symbol of the jolly folks across the Pond.

After the break, we embark on a bumpy ride through love and battle on Week 3 of the DCBLOG Season 38 Challenge Pulse... and we'll also let you in on another kind of love affair: a standout rookie from this summer's CBS Challenge who might've been a good candidate for this MTV season with her very own Ride or Die. Welcome back and thanks for joining us, and welcome to the weekend...

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge: Ride or Dies - The Ones Who We Do (& Don't) Know...

Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, "Who Are These Newbies?" is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices. Some videos embedded contain adult language & situations, parental guidance is suggested.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

On this last day of October and on this Halloween night we bring you into this week's MTV coverage... (offered a bit later than planned due to my YouTube work and other things) and just ahead we'll be delving into Week 3 of Season 38 of The Challenge. This is just part of a busy fall season in the reality TV world which also includes the just-premiered new season of Siesta Key which has moved down to Miami, among other things on the packed docket. But first, we offer this tradition that dates back to the beginning of this very site.

A decade ago, DCBLOG launched with a premise to offer something different in MTV show coverage by fan-operated blogs like this and then in the podcast world. One of those is offering a primer to those who are making their debuts on a Challenge or other shows with an all-star cast... thus was born, "Who Are These Newbies?" Our feeling is that, even though you might be tilted more towards those who you have rooted for on this show for a long time, those who are suiting up that uniform for the first time should deserve to have your attention... and we have given each and every single rookie their proper introduction -- background, context and the like -- to this franchise on every Challenge season in its various iterations since we began this site back during the second Rivals in 2013.

This year in Challenge Nation, we have seen part of two seasons of All-Stars and the show's first trip into the world of network television when CBS aired The Challenge: USA. Now that we are back in the MTV sphere for this fall's regular season, Season 38 brings us Ride or Dies... and the theme brings us a slew of newbies that this would easily count as another Fresh Meat season but that is not exactly the case: a few of them got to spend their time on other reality shows including a couple familiar faces to those of us who get to enjoy the whole MTV circuit beyond this Challenge world. And it also has elements of Battle of the Bloodlines and Exes too: there are siblings, significant others and friends... even a couple exes.

After the break, we begin this Rides or Dies edition of Who Are These Challenge Newbies?, starting with the ones who we know from doing these shows: a duo who comes to us from the most controversial season ever of Big Brother, those partners who have the tall task of having to tame more well-known names as their Ride or Dies, and a few others too.

Inside MTV Reality: Siesta Key - On The Move to Miami

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Every few years or so, those of us who worship this world of guilty pleasure television are offered a timely barometer of what MTV Reality's next generation will be like. For Challenge fans, it's the addition of new rookies from around the world taking over for old-guard veterans in taking the fifth major pro sport by the throat. If you live across the pond in the jolly old United Kingdom, then it's fresh new blood joining up with those established stars of their English-accented take on our summer tradition born in Seaside Heights entitled Geordie Shore. And there are a bunch of other shows, stars and the like too many to mention that often gives us a good indication of what the future will bring.

Five years ago, we were first gifted with the sights, the sounds, the surf and the sun of Siesta Key... which was born out of the spirit of the greatest gift Southern California ever gave this part of the TV landscape when Laguna Beach and The Hills helped invent the reality sub-genre of reality soap. This show shares many of the same attributes as their West Coast cousins: blonde ladies being the star figure that shines above all else, the big drama that follows them and their clique everywhere they go, and both the visuals and musical soundtrack that truly makes it different than any non-scripted show... not to mention, the sunbaked locales that is the American sunbelt.

In this third generation of a recipe for success first hatched up by producing duo Mark Ford & Kevin Lopez almost two decades ago, the kids who we first met back in the summer of 2017 are now adults half a decade older, and a few of them have become parents and in the case of two of the OG's -- new wives after saying "I do" to their husbands, including our first-ever SK wedding. Now, the focus shifts to something totally different: for the first time, an entire season will take a cue from their crazy cousins in taking its act on the road outside of its titular city. Say hello to Siesta Key: Miami Moves.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - "Friend or Faux"

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Right now, we are indulging in the 27th installment of the now-annual Sports Equinox with all four major sports in action and the second of these in a five-day stretch... and you now have exactly one week left to make your choice for what you'll be wearing on the first normal Halloween we've had this decade. But for a moment, let us at DCBLOG give you something else to think about here: Week 2 of this year's MTV season of The Challenge and Ride or Dies from down in soccer-mad Argentina as it counts down to next month's World Cup.

Last week saw us kick off the thirty-eighth season of this show with plenty on the docket: a number of returning champions coming back into action among a field of a dozen or so pairs of friends, siblings, significant others and more starting their journey. There was also a love triangle that formed that included a rookie who's had her fair share of drama in love on her two MTV shows and the one who comes into this pressure cooker after a full warm-up season on All-Star Shore. And there was also some action on the field as well: an opener in the mud that saw Johnny & Ravyn beat everyone else, a surprise replacement coming in before the starting gun, and Devin proving his elimination mastery again.

When he & Tori came up victorious in sending back to Britain Kailah & Sam, at night's end there was one more Teej-bomb that TJ Lavin laid on everyone: a game with a history of many twists and turns -- and one that laid plenty of those even before the first elimination began delivered one more of those. And it's the surprise entrance of this show's winningest player ever & his partner from seven years ago on Exes 2 that has no doubt shook the entire house... and this week that is an alarm to everyone to not dwell on the arrival of Banany as they try to maneuver a balancing act above the water. The lone returning champion male in the field that stood at the starting line last week seems to be picking up where he left off when we last saw him three autumns ago, and it may put him into a place he's never been to before. And as one player opens up about the struggles she's had to put herself in the right frame of mind when it comes to her health, she may find that you really can't forget about the past even in this game.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 2 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies, as this week the teams try to answer the question of whether they are siding with their friends or their foes... and we'll also get to the heart of the matter among one team who didn't even suit up to play at all. Welcome back Challenge Nation, and thanks for your spending part of your Sunday Funday Inside MTV Reality...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge Ride or Dies - The Premiere

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content and spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy... ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We're past October's halfway point, and we hope you've chosen your Halloween costume & stocking up on that candy to give out in a dozen days. We're also having a full diet of sporting pleasures which, tomorrow night, will have the bars being full for the first of possibly three sports equinoxes in five days with the ALCS, Thursday Night Football, NBA Opening Week, NHL action and the MLS Cup Playoffs. But to get you in the mood for that busy early start to the weekend, we have this to throw at you: the opening act of Season 38 of MTV's The Challenge, and Ride or Dies kicking off.

As we noted in our season preview, this is a totally new game with familiar characters and a handful of fresh faces, and hopefully a fresh start after what we have to put up with on the televised versions of this show the past few years... and also with overtones of past seasons sprinkled in. We have plenty of worthy players from around the world, including fifteen players with finals experience and twenty-one titles between those dozen-plus of the entire field (including those who won't be present at the starting line when we begin this)... and they're all partnered up with their ride or dies -- friends, lovers, family.

They have all in Argentina with their eye on the $1 million that awaits in a few months from now in '23. And as it all begins, these pairs are all hopeful that their bonds will endure as well as outlast the rest of the field... but before all that goes down there is, of all things, a romantic rendezvous that creates one of our favorite scenarios in the wide world of reality TV: a love triangle. There's also the return of a popular winner who is picking up where they left off in trying to make a huge impression in their cockiness. And there are plenty of -- what we here like at this site refer to alternatively as -- a Teej-bomb: and it all begins even before host TJ Lavin sounds the airhorn to start the opening daily challenge and after we find out who will have the unenviable role of having that first flight out of South America.

So, grab that Under Armour jersey, that empty glass for that sparkling bubbly and join us here after the break as DCBLOG proudly presents the SocialPulse of the first Challenge Wednesday of this fall and all the the action, reaction and interaction of the premiere of Ride or Dies. And all of what you see below is how the cast saw it on October 19th and specially curated for all of you to enjoy in its uncensored and raw nature - that includes explicit language if you're mature enough to proceed with discretion. Thanks for joining in Challenge Nation, and welcome back... we're so glad to have you with us again.

DC ExtraTime: A Challenger's Brother Takes to The Real Love Boat

CAUTION: This Post Contains Spoilers for Some Readers

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If you're new to DCBLOG, a vision of going Inside MTV Reality here is that we more than just cover the weekly episodes of the shows you love... we also put a great deal of our efforts into in-depth storytelling -- and we've been doing that for the last ten years. ExtraTime gives us the chance to focus in on "The Stories Behind the Story" that go beyond what you see on TV, and to go deeper into exploring this world through the prism of reality TV's most talked about shows. It's no different for fall 2022's first story, but this is also the first of two bits involving not the stars of these shows, but actually their fellow siblings.

All Photos Courtesy Paramount Global

This past week saw the kickoff to a brand-new season of The Challenge with a totally new format but one that might be familiar in some ways... and the cast makeup might make it enough to make it a Fresh Meat season, although it's not exactly the case. Ride or Dies is bringing together friends, exes, siblings, significant others and familiar Challenge faces under one roof in Argentina for the passion and glory of $1 million at the very end. And though the format is fresh, it does have some traits of past formats that are sprinkled into this year's MTV Challenge show: Rivals, Exes and Battle of the Bloodlines.

There's only one pair in this fall's Challenge field who are blood-related: defending champion Kaycee & her brother Kenny... but in a way they aren't the only siblings to occupy hump day in the Paramount Global reality community. The week before Wednesday's premiere saw another bloodline with a link to Challenge Nation take to national television... but it came in a totally different environment in this world of reality competition shows than what his sister got to endure seven times in her career on the big show. For the root of this story, we have to rewind the tape all the way back to before the both of them were even born to some simpler times in TV land.

DC SocialPulse Extra: The Challenge Ride or Dies - Prelude to the Premiere

*** Advisory: #DCSocialPulse contains adult language and objectionable content. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're viewing this top to bottom. Enjoy. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello again everyone, we are at just about the halfway point of this month of October, which means we are a couple weeks from Halloween... and in my world, a month away from my birthday amidst the usual array of holidays in this last quarter of the calendar year. And after some time away from doing these posts all the time for much-needed family time after what has happened to us over the summer, we at DCBLOG are ready to get back into committing full-time to covering this ultimate feeling of escapism of covering the world Inside MTV Reality.

For the past decade, DCBLOG has proudly brought you what we think is the most unique and insightful blog coverage anywhere of TV's most-talked about reality programming... and when it comes to focusing in on the episodes themselves on here, we actually do things a bit differently. We'd like to both see and think of ourselves as the high-end supplement to the various array of podcasts, blogs, fantasy leagues and everything else in Challenge Nation... and one key aspect of the unique and differential nature of this fan site is something you're seeing right now: SocialPulse.

   Social media is a must-have nowadays when it comes to this show, and we assume that you were directed to us by one of my posts on social media by way of your phone apps. And whether you watch this live every Wednesday night or later on, you can only have your jaws drop at all the interaction taking place on your feed during the episodes and in between them... and that is where DCBLOG steps in to help sort it all out and provide you with this all of this interaction from Challenge Nation every step of the way since we started this site back in 2013 during Rivals II. Yes, that's every season of the show in its many forms for the past decade, where we have covered everything from CT's first title to the two times when Bananas and Ashley took all the money from their partners, and to the recent CBS final.

   We offer the 'Pulse as a public service to Challenge Nation -- cable subscribers, cord-cutters, avid fans and casual viewers alike -- in showing the other show that goes on concurrent to when the episodes air each week: the social interaction between challengers, fellow MTV & reality alumni and fans as viewed by them in the Twitter sphere. And these diaries are specially designed, curated & pieced together in its uncensored entirety (yes, explicit language included) to bring the competition, drama, hookups, jaw-dropping moments and more to you here as it took place in its original airings on Wednesday nights. But in in making it fair on everyone who watches these shows get a chance to catch up on it all, we abstain from covering the episodes until we get to the biggest time of the week: the weekend. And once it's Friday, Saturday or Sunday we'll have it all covered, along with traditional recaps when necessary and stories from all around this wide world through the prism of ExtraTime.

Straight ahead here, we'll be delving into the first act of Season 38 of the fifth major pro sport, as Ride or Dies takes off down in Argentina. But before we bring you all of that, we got this to take care of: there's nothing like the countdown to a new Challenge season... and in this case, the ramp-up to Wednesday night took place back on September when the cast of this season was revealed during The Challenge USA... and there was also the matter of something special as well: a look back.

   After the break, we begin taking the Pulse of The Challenge: Ride or Dies with this special pre-diary covering the kickoff of the countdown to its opening act, which includes a special three-week look back at the 25-year evolution of the show through a special 30 for 30-style documentary miniseries, Untold Stories... and there's also the matter of letting you in on some tea involving a friend of a past competitor. Welcome back Challenge Nation, and welcome to our weekly coverage of Ride or Dies.

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome to The Challenge - Ride or Dies

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We have now officially turned the page to the month of October... and unless if you live in California, Vegas or Florida despite that recent hurricane, then it's probably a sure bet that you are feeling the fall chill on this long weekend. It is also the start of the perfect storm for those who love competition: the annual rite of autumn of baseball's postseason is now underway, and we are well into football season at the high school, collegiate and pro levels. Soon, new seasons will begin in both the NBA and NHL... and it should include at least one holding of the now annual "Sports Equinox." And next month comes a later than usual holding of soccer's biggest event: a FIFA World Cup at the outset of the holiday season will begin over in Qatar, outside of its traditional spot in the summer as Team USA returns to the show.

Meanwhile, there is something else going on in the competition sphere this fall: 2022 in The Challenge has seen us enjoy more or less of what we love -- and don't love -- about the fifth major pro sport. We had the tail end of Season 2 of the All-Stars to begin this year, followed a few months later by the third leg of that Paramount+ trilogy which ended the same way in one way: one who started her reality TV journey as a teenager on a Discovery reality show and after a few Challenges finally stood atop the victory podium in Jonna, joined by MJ on Season 2 and Wes on Season 3. And of course, we got to witness The Challenge's network TV debut this summer with a CBS version of the show that was fresh in many ways, but which ended in controversial fashion with a much-talked-about final with Sole Survivor Sarah winning, but the blow being softened a bit by the feel-good story of Danny & Kiki.

Now we are anxiously awaiting the next act of this Challenge journey, and it will take us back to where it is all based in: the cable sphere and the MTV world. Season 38 of this show will see the game change up quite a bit once again, as the focus turns back to both familiar characters and a handful of fresh faces... all playing a totally different game but one that takes a few cues from past seasons. Embedded in this group are plenty of worthy reality competitors from both here at home and abroad who have their eye set on the $1 million, and where cutthroat challenges, brutal eliminations and the like which await them as well as the environment of a show like no other. But all our competitors have something in common: some are family, some are friends, some are lovers, and some are more than those or belong in another category... and the strength of their bonds will be tested in the same Argentinian backdrop that Tyson, Alyssa and co. occupied over the summertime.

Join us here after the break as, with just five days to go until it premieres, DCBLOG kicks off our coverage of Season 38 of MTV's The Challenge, as it's time for the action and drama to go off on Ride or Dies. Thanks for joining us, Challenge Nation... and we are so glad that you're with us.