DC ExtraTime: AYTO Meets Duck Dynasty

From during Are You The One? Season 5

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

IG @KKLusby

If you're me, the usual TV routine is this: watching & live tweeting the MTV Trifecta, watching sports channels at most other times, watching on demand or the Fire Stick, and sometimes other things too...that is, if I'm not busy with blog work. But aside from those things, I don't actually watch much of other cable channels, which means that I'd only tune into general entertainment channels if they air sports: thus, I'd only watch TNT for the NBA, TBS for baseball and both and TruTV during March Madness. Outside of that, not much would appeal, including that channel whose most-notable show in its early incarnation created an entire channel.

If you're a reality TV fan, then you know about Duck Dynasty on A&E, which began five years ago next month and has documented the lives of the Robertson family, owners of their own business of making products for duck hunters - Duck Commander - in West Monroe, Louisiana in the northern part of the Bayou state. Duck Dynasty has since overtaken the channel's original flagship series Biography as the network's highest-profile show, succeeded MTV's Jersey Shore as the highest-rated reality series in cable history, and is in the midst of its final season on the air after eleven seasons on the air. The family includes CEO Willie, fellow siblings Jase and Kep, and brother Si, and those men are known for their long beards and, in this deeply religious state of the South that also gave us that reality TV icon Trishelle - strong Christian views.

But the man at the heart of this family-run operation is Phil Robertson, who when he was a young adult was a standout quarterback at Louisiana Tech starting ahead of NFL hall of famer Terry Bradshaw, but gave up an NFL career to pursue a different passion: duck hunting. After a period of soul searching, he became religious, reconciled with his estranged wife and founded the Duck Commander Company in 1973. Even in this age where his show can be watched in the palm of fans' hands, Phil prefers his social networking to be with just friends & family in person as someone who doesn't like modern technology. But in December 2013, Robertson made headlines when an interview he had with GQ magazine saw comments deemed derogatory to homosexuals, A&E suspended him from the show - only for that to be rescinded shortly later after strong public backlash.

Last year during AYTO Season 4, we caught up with Kayla Lusby of the Season 1 cast, who after being part of a Hawaiian love triangle with her, Ryan & Wes, has turned to her local TV roots as a reporter and weekend anchor on the news side of things for KTVE/KARD, the NBC/FOX duopoly in the Arklamiss serving Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. And this past week, she scored a big interview with Phil at the Duck Commander headquarters, as the patriarch discussed his relationship with the new President, his son and his relationship with the new First Family in the White House. Their interview was promoted by the station during the heart of what those refer to in the TV industry as the "sweeps" period, where networks air big events & highly-promoted episodes, and local stations like KTVE air high-profile investigative stories and interviews to grab viewer attention.

Due to the highly-sensitive nature of the subject matter and our preference to remain neutral whenever matters of a controversial nature comes up, we won't go in-depth more on Kayla's interview with Phil on this site, but do check out the interview and supplemental article here.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG


EDITOR'S NOTE: Since this story was first posted during AYTO Season 5, Kayla moved to WMC-TV in Memphis and now works with WGNO-TV in New Orleans; this past summer, she and her fiance tied the knot and is now known as Kayla Bertucci.

DC ExtraTime: #RealityHigh

Following is an excerpt from the DCBLOG Pulse diary from last week's Are You The One? Season 6 premiere, reposted in the interest of readers who don't want to scroll down, and has been updated to include new media including its trailer.

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

Earlier this year, ExtraTime went behind the scenes at a filming of an indie flick involving four generations of the MTV Trifecta: the movie first named Habit, then Blight, and now called Raving Lunatics by New England filmmaker Johnny Hickey. The film's premiere date has been pushed a bit and now slated to now drop during the ultimate time of celebrating all things scary: Halloween. In that film are two-time Challenge champ and Hickey's childhood friend CT, Kailah and Ammo's Real World Go Big or Go Home roommate Sabrina, RW Cancun and two-time Challenger Emilee, and Are You The One? original Brittany. Now, Brittany's fellow Season 1 castmate and one was also her roommate in SoCal is now entering the acting world himself.

If you watched saw AYTO Season 1 three years ago, you saw Ryan Malaty, who came to the house from Colorado in need of love and found himself in a love triangle with future local news journalist Kayla Lusby and funny guy Wes Buckles. Like other romances in the show's five seasons, this triangle was settled in the Truth Booth, with the lasers eventually favoring her and Wes.
   Besides being a fan and webcast host for Game of Thrones and Teen Wolf (which concludes its MTV run tonight) and having just traveled up to Wyoming to witness the recent eclipse, he's best known for wearing an Aladdin outfit in what was the Originals' next to last Matchup before they won the $1 million. And earlier this year, we looked back at the time when he dusted off that outfit to go to the one place where it seems to be Halloween every day: the CBS daytime game show Let's Make A Deal.
   We're bringing up Aladdin once again because of something that was just released in the past week, but sadly that famous outfit won't make its way to what he's doing next. But if you know of someone who loves to binge-watch -- even some of you perhaps, then it's likely that they do so on Netflix... and in addition to them offering more and more of the most unique original shows, offering an assortment of other shows from other networks and studios - and what began the service in the first place in offering movies, something that was recently released was an original Netflix film.


Last year, Ryan landed a supporting role in the movie #RealityHigh, which many media outlets are calling a modern-day, Instagram-influenced take on the classic 2004 teen comedy flick Mean Girls which turned Lindsey Lohan into a household name. In Reality High (its official title includes the hash symbol), the movie focuses on the mere reality of going to high school with someone with millions of social media followers. And considering those like Rachel Levin, Jake Paul and other social media influencers with a strong presence on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms while they are in their teens, this brings this idea to when it comes to the hometown high school in your area.

   The main characters of the film are of protagonist Dani Barnes, played by Nesta Cooper, and Alexa Medina, played by Alicia Sanz. The former in this case is in control in school and has very little support, and that leads her to gett a makeover to make herself more attractive to the social media crowd and Alexa's 9 million followers of Alexa. This, in turn, ignites a huge rivalry between the two where Dani finds herself in the battle for internet popularity and likes, which distracts her from volunteering and getting into college. This even involves Alex's ex, who also happens to be Keith Powers of Famous In Love fame, and whose character is a swimmer, student and finds himself in the middle of the war.  This also leads to when a potential friendship Dani has with closest ally may falter when this is done, all as Dani tries to realize that maybe being truly yourself is likely better than asking someone else to alter her image for the sake of Insta-attention.

Ryan has a supporting role in the film, which brings into focus the ever-present dangers of bullying, social media and how being truly authentic one can be and being true to yourself to everyone is better than someone else to drastically alter their image, most especially taking place in the always intriguing battle for high school popularity. It also, in a way, reflects the times we are living in with a diverse cast and it taking into account interracial couples and gay couples as well.
   It also caught the attention of my fellow MTV fan Andrew Kirk (@CSUGradAKirk): "Saw @ryanmalaty  was in a movie on @blacuesta ig story had to see this! #realityhigh  great movie one of the actors @ryanmalaty made a cameo on one of my podcasts with @brittany_baldi  two years back."
   Reality High was released on Netflix more than a week ago, and if you're into social media and big time teenage drama, do check it out when you can.

- I AM DC

DC WRAP: Are You The One? Season 1 - Special Delivery

Following is an excerpt originally posted in the 'Pulse of the AYTO Season 1

baby shower from September 2014, re-posted here for the interest of readers

as cast members Adam & Shanley currently compete on AYTO Second Chances.

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

As we look back on the last chapter on what has been a unbelievable and incredible ride that I've been lucky to follow from the very beginning, just a year ago the castmates of the first season of Are You The One? were famous only to their families & friends and were unlucky in the dating pool. Adam, Amber, Ashleigh, Brittany, Chris T., Coleysia, Dillan, Dre, Ethan, Jacy, Jessica, Joey, John, Kayla, Paige, Ryan, Scali, Shanley, Simone and Wes were all casted with absolutely no idea that this experience would change all of their lives. As a group of strangers who lived together in a mansion on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, they experienced a roller coaster of emotions, from the stressful search for their matches, to the tension, jealously & fighting they had in the house, to the fun of the numerous challenges and dates in their spectacular locale. And in the end of course, there was the joy of the moment that made them feel like champions: getting together with their perfect matches, going 10 for 10 and winning $1 million; not to mention Ethan proposing to Amber on the reunion.
   Just two days after that original reunion aired on April 1 - 181 days earlier, when they arrived at her Austin, TX apartment after a long drive from his native Colorado, she found out via a pregnancy test that she was pregnant, for which cameras then documented them at the doctor as she saw her little one for the first time. But instead of finding out about it in the room, they decided to bring everyone back once again for their 2nd reunion in several months to find out the gender, and Monday was the baby shower. We had the opportunity to watch them all get together in L.A. and relive the whole experience of living together, albeit just for a few days. With a swanky hotel on Sunset Boulevard as their venue with pool and all, it also felt like an intimate high school reunion of sorts in which everyone had the chance to reminisce on the experience they had and reflect on good times & bad. But although we didn't have a challenge, truth booth or matchup this time, everyone didn't expect that this reunion would be just as dramatic as the other times they've been together, and they had to confront some unsettled drama.

   The night's biggest drama belonged to that of a couple that wasn't a perfect match out of the gate, yet whose relationship was one that attracted the greatest interest among fans. Chris T. & Shanley experienced a bad breakup in the months after the show, and thanks to the awkwardness of being in the same place at the same time they did their best to avoid each other. He was at the heart of the drama with what everyone saw as questionable behavior. Obviously, it didn't sit well with the group and led the Panda to admit to how big of a psychopath he was, which made things awkward for everyone as he tried to cover himself up by saying "I'm chillin', I'm out here" and "just whatever." When the group went out to a post-shower party night on the town, Shanley was then told to face her demons. And thanks to having a bit too much to drink, Tophs finally had a chance to talk things out with her, but his "chillin'" stance stayed the course, even with her telling him of how bad she was hurt. Social media's great impact on AYTO also impacted Chranley, where Chris' disrespect of her in social world led to a strong hatred towards the ex by Shanley. Ultimately out in the streets of Hollywood after back & forth talk, he would say sorry for his actions, hugged it out and agreed to try to bury the hatchet and go their separate ways.

   For the lady whose plan to separate Chranley ultimately led the group to the winner's circle, Simone was also involved in a lot of drama too, not surprising given her being outspoken and being full of energy. Being a guest at an event whose guests of honor were the lone perfect match that stayed together and are about to become man & wife w/ a baby, it's safe to say that she has a lot of resentment towards Amber & Ethan. Feeling a bit betrayed by them for being unfollowed on Instagram, Simone fired back at their even by admitting that she didn't click the "like" button on any of their bump pics. And as you saw in the tweets above, she and the couple got into twitter words as well. And it wasn't just Amber & Ethan that Simone had some drama with; she also got into a heated argument with her perfect match Dre (who, just after cameras stopped rolling after the group's victory, also had a last-night session in Poundtown), which also had champagne involved too. If the drumbeat is right, AYTO may be a warm-up act for what might happen down the road.

   It wasn't long ago that I was on SpreeCast talking to the cast during the season with AK and Ashley Weitzel. In one webcast, Ryan popped up on Adam's chat with Ash while they roomed together in Virginia, but that seems all but a distant memory now. When they shacked up together in the District, it didn't take that long for them to find out, with no truth booth needed, that they weren't a match as roommates. We saw Adam compare Ryan in living in the same apartment to living with "a b!tchy girlfriend" as he couldn't stand living with him and they tried to talk things out, but the bromance has faded. Even before this, Adam also had some tension with the lady who had a love/hate relationship with in Hawaii, Brittany. But when they were at the club in a moment that even shocked me, the Hulk did a move that a friend taught him, which was of throwing a girl on top of the bar in a club and locking lips with her. That girl happened to be the Bostonian, and that turned out to be the only contact they had; when it was all over, Britt flew back home to the East Coast with Ryan by her side.

   And for another duo that turned out to be a perfect match when the confetti fell, there was Jacy and Scali, which also caused drama in Hollywood too. We first heard about what happened to them when she had a hotel room girl talk when they were supposed to meet up in New York, but he never got back to her. And when our fiesty Puerto Rican made her way for the Brooklynite at the after party, she scolded him for not calling her after the season ended. Then she laid a bombshell: she revealed plans of relocating from her tropical paradise up the East Coast to Scali's NYC home court. Though she made it clear that this move wasn't one just that she would live closer to him, her not being ready to make a commitment to him and will just wait things out, it appears that they might see each other down the road, given that the smooth-talker stated his plans to grow up for her and eventually settle down.

   But not everything in this reunion was all drama and tension: this was a chance to reflect on an incredible experience that bonded a group of strangers into becoming a newfound family, along with being one of MTV's most-beloved casts. And no intimate outdoor reunion would be complete without adding in a dose of humor and a chance to just relax and have a laugh. First off, there was Ryan dusting off his infamous journal, and a new entry which was a nice poem to the upcoming newlyweds/parents-to-be and saluting his entire cast (check out his twitter @RyanMalaty to read the whole thing). Then there was the group's resident comedian John, and as you would suspect his speech was just a roast of the entire cast. Everyone, for the most part, took his jokes all in stride until he made a secret and personal joke about the other two in the Jacy/Scali triangle he was in. But JJ ended it on a good note with the guests of honor (visit AreYouTheOne.MTV.com to see it in full).

   In the end, when you get to the very heart of it all, the reason everyone came to SoCal for this one final get-together as a whole team of 20 people was to celebrate Amber & Ethan and their forthcoming addition. Like most future mom & dad, one wanted a boy that would be easier to raise & don't grow up quickly, while the other wanted a girl who can resemble her mom. And with bottles of the bubbly and gifts galore, the duo opened a big box with balloons inside which told them by the color of pink that they will have a girl. With 007 (Ethan's nickname on his social media handles) saying, "I know it's going to be daddy's little girl, and I know that Amber is so excited to raise a little princess," they tearfully embraced and shared a group hug with the people who will now become aunts and uncles to what will now be their own 11th girl, though she won't follow in their footsteps to the AYTO house down the road if they have their way. Next stop for them: an intimate wedding in December - just around the time their princess will be born, followed by a full-scale one in summer of next year when their kid has finally matured enough.

For me, as someone who got behind the show and its cast the moment they were revealed in January, Are You The One? has had a greater impact on me than I ever thought possible for a show outside of the bubble of The Real World and The Challenge, yet has become a show that, with respect to the entire MTV family, now I can say is definitely one of my now-three favorites. As JJ brilliantly pointed out to me on twitter, I will be one of those people who will tell other fans that I will have followed the entire season 1 cast before the show even aired, before they started a journey that changed their lives, and before they etched their names in MTV lore winning $1 million. Just as was the case in following the past three Real World casts just as, or before, their seasons began, I also got to know them from the beginning through the social-verse. There, I've become great social friends with the entire cast, and not a week has gone by that the cast has interacted with me in social world, and vice-versa.
   It's because of Are You The One? that this site had a great deal of traffic coming in from all over the world who were driven to my coverage, whether it would be goggling AYTO or getting a tweet alert to one of my diaries - which amounts to now over 13,000 views. For my buddy Andrew, it's this show, not the Real World or Challenge, that gave him his biggest webcast audience when Shanley spoke to him after the EP6 drama. And for MTV, having a huge hit like AYTO, which garnered great buzz and kept most of its post-TM2 audience for its first season, has now given it reason to turn this into its next big reality franchise by, just as it did for Catfish, giving its sophomore season a one-hour-earlier timeslot advancement into the 10 Spot starting on Monday with a season that, if the trailers and promos are dead on, may match, even exceed, the excitement of this first go-around.
   In the end, this experience has produced a true love relationship that is rare in this world of reality TV couples, along with life-long friends among all the cast members and a bond among former strangers that is just as strong as that of family and friends in their inner circles. Nobody on this team would've accomplished that $1 million goal without any one member refusing to contribute their part, and this is an experience that they will never forget. With that in mind, we'll leave the last words of this edition of theWRAP to the season 1 dream team, and their parting shots as they say so long.

• "This whole experience completely changed my life. I have so many things going for me, and I am a new Jacy because of it." - Jacy
• "Are You The One taught me a little bit more about what I need to look for. I mean, Brittany and I are friends. I'm going back to Boston with her and see what happens. Ethan and Amber are proof that Are You The One? is real. It's not some fairytale story anymore, it's a happy ending." - Ryan
• "As a whole, we all experienced something. So, we do have a special bond, and at the end of the day, we're always gonna be family." - Shanley
• "Regardless of all the drama and all the craziness, all I really need is my Ethan and my new baby girl. I love you." - Amber
• "We're perfect for each other. I love you too." - Ethan

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 EDITOR'S NOTE 

As we are reposting this excerpt from our 'Pulse covering the baby shower reunion for the Season 1 cast as AYTO Second Chances is currently airing, DCBLOG is currently working on an ExtraTime In-Depth taking a look at the guests of honor of that summer get together, Amber & Ethan. Watch for that in the coming weeks towards the end of this MTV Trifecta cycle, along with a look at Season 4 alum Asaf Goren coming up soon, and a look back at Shanley's relationship with Chris T.

- I AM DC

Welcome to Team MTV: Are You The One

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

We are three weeks into the new year, and for TV fans, this must be as good a season in winter as is the fall, with a good number of new & returning shows premiering on broadcast, cable and NetFlix. And there's still the big events still to come in the Grammys, Super Bowl XLVIII, the Sochi Winter Olympics and the Oscars coming in the next two months, and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in the summer. As you would guess by my twitter activity, Wednesdays for myself feel all that more complete once again as we are two episodes into Real World: Ex-Plosion. And we've already seen a good deal of drama of this current season of my favorite show with a big third episode and the exes still to make way for SFO, along with the first After Show coming up tomorrow (I'll be approaching fans from SoCal to eventually talk about that & this episode coming on Thursday).

But as you might've seen from one of my previous posts, I don't limit my MTV viewing to just that and The Challenge as I'm an overall MTV fan too. Being used to the Real World's way of storytelling and documenting young adults in a mainly laid-back atmosphere (which I prefer more to The Challenge's cutthroat nature), I'm open to other MTV shows outside the RW/Challenge world more than others. If you saw Twitter @DC408dxtr over the RW/Challenge offseason, I became very good friends with the nurses of Scrubbing In and the ladies in Big Tips Texas, as well as watching the inspiring story of a young lady's quest to find her donor & finding some friends. Having bought the first season DVD and looking at getting season 2 as well, I'll be looking forward to adding Catfish to my rotation of watching & live tweeting. And after someone who Jay got to meet recently, Farrah Abraham, gave me a follow, I've just bought the first season of Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant for me to watch eventually. There's no show that's off limits for me to enjoy...I've got that great passion for storytelling and always have that curiosity and hunger for listening to stories of young people, and I like to have fun too.

With all that in mind, and having already enjoyed the first two episodes of RW Ex-Plosion with a new Challenge to come on its heels, I've just extended the welcome mat and the customary "Welcome to Team MTV" greeting to the cast of a new show that might be the next big thing, and it is next on the MTV premiere slate. A number of the 20 cast members from there have already given me a follow (thanks by the way) or have interacted with me on Twitter & Instagram and they are part of what MTV is describing as "the most ambitious dating experiment ever attempted." And if you're someone who is a big RW fan like me who is enjoying this season but is also hungry for a warm-up of what comes up in the spring, and will eventually be enthralled by what will eventually go down in San Francisco, you might want to give this show a try. It's called Are You The One? And it debuts tonight.

Premiering tonight in the money timeslot of following the season premiere of Teen Mom 2, and from the producers of Extreme Makeover and The Moment of Truth, Are You The One? serves as as MTV's social experiment on modern love. A hopeful cast of 10 women and 10 men eager for romance have taken part in an extremely thorough process of matchmaking using a special dating algorithm procedure designed especially to help express & measure the quantity and compatibility of the participants. When the process is complete, recommended matches of the 20 singles were identified, and the goal is to eventually have everyone find the perfect partner. And this technology will eventually bring together the 10 ideal pairs when they all meet up on the beautiful island of Kauai, Hawaii. Ultimately, everyone will come face-to-face with their match, but the twist is that results are kept a secret from the cast. And throughout their stay in the islands, our cast must uncover the mystery and identity of their match. And if they do, they'll receive a handsome reward that will make even those who compete on The Challenge feel maybe a little bit jealous.

   The casting process for Are You The One? has short listed 10 single women and 10 single men from all across the country, all of whom haven't had much luck in the long-term love department. They'll all be put through a rigorous assessment by professional matchmakers, psychologists, and family, friends & exes of the participants to help determine their significant other. Much like The Real World casting process, there will be in-depth interviews and questionnaires, plus there's compatibility testing to achieve the best possible results. And like most every other reality show, these 20 people will share a house in paradise together with the knowledge that somewhere in the house, their perfect match is living with them, perhaps in the room next door.

As the season rolls along, we'll be able to follow the roller coaster of ups and downs as the singles will strive to find their match and getting to know each other, sometimes with surprise. Plus, they'll take part in weekly tests of physical attraction, personality traits, relationship history assessments and other things to help them get one step closer to finding their match. From the trailer, there'll even be a little bit of The Challenge mixed in with some of those tests. During all this, our cast will find out whether their heart feels comfortable, and should there not be a march among the couples, they'll all have to start from scratch again and leaving budding relationships in jeopardy and causing the same kind of tension, despair and jealousy we'll eventually see when the exes move into the RW house.

   In the end, the lovers will all try to find who they believe is the perfect match. And if all 10 couples match up with their pre-determined partners within 10 attempts, each of the 20 singles will all share in the largest cash reward an MTV show has ever offered, along with a romance as rich as the cash. How much? They'll each receive $50,000. And if you times that by 20, you get $1,000,000. That's BIG.

Our diverse cast comes to us by way of 13 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. As the modern day saying goes, they're "single and ready to mingle," and they're all ready for romance.

- There's the 1st to interact with me, Jessica from Miami. She's a virgin and have always preferred to save herself for marriage. But four years after her only serious relationship resulted in temptation aplenty in sultry South Florida, Jess is finally ready to set aside her physical desires to give love a second shot and to finally get her man.

- From Puerto Rico, Jacy boasts a fiery Latin personality with a fighting attitude and a tough upbringing. For one who fights hard & loves harder, she always makes sure that she remains the best supporter of her man in taking care of him, but Jacy's enthusiastic personality might be a little hot to handle. She'll look to change her attitude.

- From Alabama, preacher's daughter Coleysia is described as "more sinner than saint." She's thought of as mischievous but sometimes with plans that don't go well, even with her best expectations. One who's a hard worker and a desire to succeed, Coleysia hopes to finally find the right guy, and has ambitions on working at NASA.

- Southern belle Kayla just graduated from Ole Miss and has ambitions on sports reporting, but she's been used to gossip and criticism being from a small Tennessee town. She also went through a bad romance with her last athlete boyfriend. Now striving for perfection, she's hopeful to grab the attention of a guy who can treat her the way she is.

- A Canadian from Victoria, BC now residing in Phoenix, Paige is beautiful, ambitious and almost perfect, and destined to be a TV personality. However, the biggest obstacle for this lady who likes to be single for as little as she can is her choice for guys. And Paige knows she has to change her ways of dating those who aren't for her.

- Also from Arizona, Wes is the ladies man who they love with his good looks & charm. He's had no trouble getting their attention & hooking up, but he's had difficulty with those who's trying to do the same thing with him. This budding pro bowler (!) is serious about starting a true romance and feels it's time for someone to hold him down.

- Next from Indianapolis is Shanley. Her free-spirited attitude towards love often goes a little too fast, resulting in most of her relationships not going past 1st base. At Indiana University, she became friendly with the guys but got too comfortable with them preventing romances from forming. Shanley's hoping to slow down enough to make lasting love.

- Adventure sports enthusiast Ethan has the most-inspiring backstory. A freak New Year's accident - falling off a balcony & breaking both his legs in 10 places - almost paralyzed him, but Ethan defied the odds in being able to walk again a year later. Now doing what he does best in Colorado, Ethan hopes to beat the odds again in finding the right girl.

- Austin, TX native Amber has both the intelligence (full-time biz student) and the looks (promo model). A girl of Taiwanese descent and having difficulty finding someone in a town full of rednecks and Asian enthusiasts, her bio states she's "looking for love as big as her home state." And she'd like to have a guy who loves both her brains & beauty.

- Ashleigh from Akron, OH is gorgeous and laid-back, but seems to hang with the wrong romantic types, with her ex being broke, out of work and with a record. But with her eye on modeling, acting and being a business owner, Ashleigh knows the right way to succeeding in love is spending time only with those who aren't in need of a renovation.

- Joey is a young entrepreneur who's friendly, upbeat, attractive, and is surrounded by the best women in the ATL. But despite success in his four businesses that has him making six figures, he hasn't had much luck romantically. He feels he's done dating greedy people and wants to find the right lady who loves him for who he is.

- North Dakota's Dillan is a Christian who, after a wild college life, has pledged to abstain from sex until marriage. But habits may get in the way when alcohol & adventurous tendencies are revealed and his good looks attracts the girls. He's intense on the outside but gentle on the inside, and Dillan knows finding the right girl will help him stay on course.

- A Chicago transplant now working on Atlanta radio, Simone is beautiful, self-made and educated. But her low income limits her expensive lifestyle, and she had to make up for it by dating those who give her what she wants. Now she's aiming to have a man who can be as loyal to her as a woman as much as they are well financially.

- Air Force vet Chris T. from Virginia Beach is motivated, ambitious and ready for a challenge in life, and pursuing neuropharmacology. But after his last serious relationship ended by way of his emotional attachment, he's not developed anything long-term. Now he's set to finally find his perfect match, and make it last beyond just a one night affair.

- From D.C., John overcame a childhood battling Tourette's Syndrome and a tough life of family tragedies to a life on the lighter side as a comedian. It's his smooth-talking that helps him get his girls, but it's also causes some of his breakups to his most serious relationships. John will have to change his game plan from dating bad girls to a quality woman.

- Dre is a former high school basketballer who's now an Atlanta club VIP. It'll be easy to assume that Dre is a party guy, but deep inside he has a kind and caring attitude. He's afraid that his nightlife image is only attracting those who are into the game, and prefers a good girl who shares his heart of gold nature and ability to socialize well.

- Denver native Ryan is a quirky, playful guy with good looks, great charisma and a nice demeanor. It's his mindset of being more relationship oriented and his dynamic romantic gestures that's alluded him with the young women he sees at his restaurant. For someone serious about serious love, all he needs is the right girl that can keep him on his toes.

- Brooklyn's Chris S. has his eyes set on the FDNY, and today is working in the NYC nightlife scene. He's got no problem meeting women, but isn't into those who "give it up" easily, and all he wants is someone who's intelligent and perfect. He might also be familiar to some of you; like Nia from RWPDX, Chris appeared on the 2012 dating show The Choice.

- Bostonian Brittany has set lofty expectations when it comes to dating, especially after dating an obnoxious guy. She's busy as ever juggling local hosting jobs, modeling, emceeing and spin instructor certification. And Britt's preference is to have a man who meets her criteria of her "must-have" list and can stay with her "work hard, play hard" mantra.

- And finally, there's Adam from Virginia. He's developed a reputation as a "man-whore" to the point that he's worthy of that name. If he wants to have a serious romance, he prefers to have a girl who's athletic, independent and not much of a party person as him. In essence, he likes a girl who'll "but him in his place," not just as a mere toy.

Normally, I don't watch The Bachelor or any other romantic reality show, though whenever my mom is at home when she's not working the closing shift at work she sometimes watches it. But with my favorite entertainment-based TV channel airing this new matchmaker show, and all of the drama and romance that will take place on this season, I'll be able to stay up (do have to stay up anyway to pick up my mom at the door) and give this one a try for a change. Having watched the trailer several times, it'll have all of what I come to expect from a reality show: drama, great people, tension, intrigue and a lot more, along with some competition and surprises. And just this past week during my Follow Friday sweep, Adam tweeted to me, "get ready mate! It's going to be a great show." I definitely agree.

   And if you're a cast member who might happen to be reading this post, if I haven't greeted you with my salutation yet, Welcome to Team MTV. As I've told new cast members of Real World and other MTV shows, you are all about to go on a ride you will never forget. To you all, enjoy these next few months, and can't wait to watch all of you starting tonight.

Be sure to stay with DCBLOG as we cover the busy next few months ahead. From Real World Ex-Plosion and Are You The One?, to the Grammys, Super Bowl and the Sochi Olympics, all that will covered here, along with some other things that I might blog on that might be of interest to me. Be sure to follow me @DC408dxtr with alerts to articles & interviews featuring the MTV family. For now, thanks for reading and until we blog again, stay safe and have fun.

- DC

Source: AreYouTheOne.MTV.com

Cast of MTV's Are You The One? (Credit: MTV/MTVPress.com)