DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - The $500,000 Finale

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It was back during one particular lost summer that a fan made a bold suggestion that would once again move the needle for the one reality competition show you love. Well, here we are two years later and fans of MTV's The Challenge have much more to talk about as -- right after we've gotten to witness history in the making in Los Angeles and before we head to Beijing -- we are about to wrap up another cycle of covering the fifth major pro sport with Season 2 of The Challenge: All-Stars on Paramount+.

When we left the action in Cancun, Mexico a few days ago on here, it was the final week of the regular season with the last regular challenge and elimination -- which at this site we refer to alternatively as "semifinal week." Having won in the arena the previous week, Melinda & Nehemiah really had nothing to compete for and had already claimed their spot in the final... but in a daily game where the teams had to solve a puzzle while aboard a moving truck they came away with the win, which set the stage for who was arguably the strongest pair of this season, Brad & Jodi, to go voted in. In the end, the Cutthroat champ and Duel I winner lost in that last arena... setting the stage for a final where anyone can win.

For the players who did make it to the end, they are all worthy of being finalists: Darrell has the unique status of winning those four titles in his first four seasons and won Season 1 of the Champs vs. Stars trilogy, while Janelle beat the rest of her Key West mates to victory lane on Inferno III. Jonna has the experience of having ascended to the top on Discovery's Endurance many years ago but this is her first trip to a final, while MJ has come here to win. Teck & Ayanna might be considered the bettor's choice to be eliminated first, but we have seen stranger things before on this show. And Nehemiah knows that feeling well considering what happened the last time he contested a Challenge in Mexico, and he would love nothing more than take the W... though his partner is the sentimental favorite for many after what happened to Melinda before coming here.

One final test awaits the final eight as they will take on the jungle in Yucatan as they battle each other and the stifling heat, as they will be pushed to their limits on a physical, mental and emotional level as they race all the way to the end. And after the break, it's the finale of Season 2 of All-Stars on the 2021 season finale of the DCBLOG MTV Reality SocialPulse... and thanks for joining us this Super Sunday...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - Semifinal Week

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Hello again everyone... we've now into the month of February, which as we described on here is a dream month for those who love competition. But before this blogger gets consumed by Olympic fever for the second time in six months as well as a Super Bowl matchup nobody expected over a month ago, DCBLOG has this business to take care of: covering the homestretch of Season 2 of The Challenge All-Stars -- and in turn a Challenge cycle that began when the flame in Tokyo went out back in August.

Last we brought you to Cancun on here a week ago last week (and after returning from a detour to edit my 2021 Vegas vlogs), the game had become to get a little bit serious in the teams being set in stone before Nehemiah's Palace alliance and Brad & the rest of the house took off for a challenge on monster trucks. But weeks after what we saw with Ayanna and Leah in that first elimination, there was a heartbreaking moment in the arena that didn't involve players competing against one another: a talk back home with her fiancé revealed that Casey had been competing while pregnant and had to withdraw, similar to what we saw with Michelle and Natalie last year and Melissa the year before that.

For all intents and purposes on this page, this site refers to the last week of the regular season on any Challenge season as "semifinal week," regardless of whether it's the normal show or a spinoff such as this. As we return to Mexico, it is no different as this game is reaching the starting line of the final, as the Stars take to the tarmac once again to undo complicated puzzles aboard a moving semi-wheeler. One team is already into the final by way of winning the last arena, but could they give a full 110% to put a leg up on the rest of the competition? And could what happens in the house and another having a sore back dent their hopes on making it to the end?

After the break, it's the 'Pulse of Semifinal Week on The Challenge All-Stars, and thanks for joining us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "(You Drive Me) Crazy"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We welcome you back here on this Sunday, January 30th, which means we get to join Challenge Nation in saying Happy Birthday to Challenge legend Abram Boise on his 39th birthday. That manic who calls Montana home was born on the same day as a Super Bowl taking place back in 1983 when Washington defeated Miami in Los Angeles, and we've just witnessed the two combatants for this year's Lombardi Trophy being decided in the Rams and the Bengals -- also taking place in SoCal... and now we bring this night to an end with the 'Pulse of Week 8 of The Challenge: All-Stars 2.

Back on Friday on here, we resumed covering the Paramount+ spinoff with the game getting serious and key men on two alliances realizing that money is a bigger thing, as Nehemiah's Palace alliance and Brad's group are on opposite ends. They and the rest of the players took to the skies for a Mad Max mission that saw them tackle the same kind of challenge that we've been seeing on the main show itself. But a zoom conversation that she had back home with her fiancé in Texas revealed that life can be bigger - and Casey's prognosis of being pregnant forced her and Cohutta to head home.

Whenever the amount of players are getting down to just a handful in the house, then we know this is gonna get more testy... and the one sign that the final is nearing is when TJ Lavin gives the players a test worthy enough to determine who really is in it. As we return to Cancun, the Stars are embarking on a mini-final that will see the teams -- now paired up with one another for the rest of the season -- put their partnerships to the test... and whoever comes away with being power team will be in a strong position to perhaps pull off a power move. And if you thought you've seen everything on All-Stars, then a familiar scenario of an odd plate of food could prove to be fatal to one team's chances.

After the break, we bring this weekend to an end with the 'Pulse of Episode 8 of All-Stars 2, and we'll also delve into future plans for this coming month from yours truly. Thanks for joining us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "Save The Palace"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Welcome back everyone... as this blogger has been concentrating his efforts on crafting my Vegas vlogs in the past month, it has been a long time since we have covered MTV's The Challenge All-Stars Season 2 on here. We do want to apologize to those who've been expecting blog coverage of it here, but the time I've put into videos and other things have diverted those plans... but the good news, we plan on wrapping up our Challenge cycle here this weekend.

Last we left covering the Paramount+ spinoff on here -- which was back on Christmas Eve Eve before a bout with pinkeye took me out of commission for a bit, the second half of All-Stars kicked off with the one sign that things are getting serious: TJ Lavin deciding to throw a twist at the players to start the season's second half. A scary challenge that combined heights and sea became too tough for the most beloved of the All-Stars on its two seasons to handle when Kendal got injured... and it led to just a men-only arena elimination that saw Latterian take down Tyler.

Now as we finally get to rejoin things in Mexico, the game is about to get into the heads of the remaining Stars here, and that includes two friends who got to share a moment comparing their hair but who now find themselves on opposite alliances that has divided the house. To think that this game is just another spinoff with the daily challenges being truncated a bit is not the case as the Stars tackle an adrenaline-pumping mission that will see them harness their own Mad Max. But if what we saw to begin this season in what happened with Ayanna helping out Leah after winning that first arena was something, then get that tissue box ready for a secret that proves that things are bigger than this show.

After the break, DCBLOG resumes our coverage of The Challenge: All-Stars with the Pulse of Week 7 of Season 2 that takes place on Christmas... and there's something else here too. Welcome on back...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Happy Christmas wherever you are around the world, where it's already the big Saturday in Asia, Europe and Africa where Santa has already given your presents under the tree. And if you are lucky enough to be up at this hour in the U.S., we're glad you've joined us for this special late night presentation of the DCBLOG MTV Reality SocialPulse as we kick off a busy end to 2021 on here. And just ahead on here, the last act of Season 37 of The Challenge and Season 4 of Floribama Shore... but we begin for those of you who are up right now (including us in the Cueva Crib for our first in-person Christmas bash in two years) with Week 6 of The Challenge All-Stars Season 2.

Last we were in Mexico, one of the biggest alumni to make their debut on here was Tina, who came to Road Rules South Pacific in 2003 as a replacement and then made her mark on several Challenges. But perhaps, she must've saved her best work for when she decided to call attention to everyone in the kitchen with pots and pans and took a page out of not only Big Brother Josh's playbook but also from Taylor Swift's lyric book: "the Old Tina can't get to the phone." Her making her stand in the house and then in the elimination arena in throwing her battle added more to her legend, conceding victory to one who has had quite a tough year in Melinda after miscarrying her second baby earlier this year.

As what has been the case during the regular show's regular season and what will be the case when we get to cover the Spies, Lies & Allies finale later on this Christmas Day will show, it's not officially serious business time on a Challenge until TJ Lavin decides to throw a pebble at the players at the midway point. As we return to Cancun, that will be the case when he will twist things up once again when the players tackle a scary daily game in the water that involves jumping down into the lake... and for one player, it will put into focus a fear they have of tackling both the heights and the sea. What happens here and then in the arena will test out what has become the season's dominant alliance.

After the break, DCBLOG and Santa DC brings you an early Xmas gift: the 'Pulse of Week 6 of The Challenge All-Stars... plus, is Leslie Chow a Real World fan? And welcome to the merriest day of all...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "Old Tina Can't Come to the Phone"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We welcome you back on this pre-Christmas Saturday night, and we've just had an enjoyable sports Saturday... one that started with just one match in the English Premier League, but where Tiger Woods returned to action after that horrific accident almost 200 days ago, the Colts take down the Pats and college bowl season has just begun. And now that we've just seen what's gone down with Jake Paul knocking the F out of Tyron Woodley, DCBLOG would like to offer you the appropriate nightcap as we now offer the 'Pulse of MTV's The Challenge -- All-Stars that is.

Last we were in Cancun, a gulf separating two strong alliances was starting to form in the house: Brad, Cohutta, Darrell, Derrick and MJ on one side; Nehemiah, Latterian, Steve, Teck and Melinda on the other. It wasn't apparent when the hilarity that always ensues went down in the annual hybrid of game show & diving fest known as trivia took over, but when Steve and -- of all people -- Casey were the last ones standing they chose to take the season's biggest power move on behalf of the King's Palace. It led to Brad and Derrick getting a rematch to their epic encounter of many years ago and saw the Cutthoat champ take the win, Katie joining him on the flight home after quitting that trivia earlier.

One of the biggest alumni to make their return to this game after not being on All-Stars 1 this winter is Tina, who first made waves as a replacement roadie on Road Rules South Pacific eighteen years ago. She has made plenty of those during this first half of this season, and as we return to Mexico she may figure once again in a week where the daily sees the Stars will be jumping for joy on trampolines. We will also be delving more into an item we shared with you earlier this year involving one of the Stars on here, as the Palace tries to hang onto their power... and a rather familiar moment to reality TV fans makes its way down south to this paradise.

After the break, DCBLOG wraps up this Saturday night with the 'Pulse of Week 5 of The Challenge All-Stars... and could this show be bringing one of its names to the world of food? Find out next.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "New Divide"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We bring you back here on this winter's weekend, where across the Atlantic the serious business has begun on MTV's The Challenge and the battle for $1 million is on on Spies, Lies and Allies. But while we'll be covering all of that for you here next week, things are just starting on Season 2 of All-Stars -- and it's as if we have been gifted with an early slice of Christmas.

When we left Mexico last on this page, the house was still reeling from what might be a candidate for biggest Challenge moment of this year: Ayanna helping Leah complete the season's first elimination battle. Just after all that, the Road Rules alum experienced a falling out with Sophia in the midst of this heated game, which saw the players battle both each other and the heat in a game that saw Tina and Darrell take the win and power, and saw the boss lady put in Jodi against Sophia & gave the 2-time champ the win while Cohutta sent Ryan packing for the airport.

As we return to Cancun, there is a clear divide in the house: two strong alliances have formed that's split between Derrick, Brad, Darrell, MJ and Cohutta, and Nehemiah, Laterrian, Teck, Steve and Melinda in the other... and pitting the first names in that chain against each other again as it was back in the spring. It offers the backdrop for what might lie ahead considering past history among that first alliance, which you might not notice much when something that is always anticipated on any season of this show goes down: the always lighthearted & fun daily challenge known as trivia.

After the break, we bring you on a backtracked basis, the 'Pulse of Week 4 of The Challenge: All-Stars... and stick around afterwards for the link that Challenge Nation has to the hottest team in American sports and the man who's considered the GOAT in modern football. Welcome on in...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "Firestarter"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We bring you back on this first day of December as you are probably getting snuggled up on the first day of "cuffing season" and the start of summer down under in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere -- as we've just witnessed what went down on Spies, Lies & Allies. And if you are anxious for much more related to MTV's The Challenge, then you are counting down to when this week's episode of All-Stars Season 2 will go up on Paramount+.

Due to yours truly spending Thanksgiving with family and relatives and getting back into the groove of the DCBLOG beat after my Vegas trip, we're behind a little in our blog content. But last we left Mexico on here on Cyber Monday, it was elimination week in the All-Stars house as everyone except for power duo Derrick and Jodi were on edge and bracing for a trip to save their lives. But the usual drama that surrounds all of that would take a backseat to what took place in the Arena: after Ayanna won for the women, she helped her opponent Leah complete the task rather than give up. That, along with the one who lost for the men, Derek C., opening up about him losing his sister prior to coming here, was one of the most stirring moments we've ever seen on any Challenge ever.

It's hard to perhaps top what happened there in the first elimination of Season 2 of All-Stars, but as we return to Cancun are still buzzing about that night in the Arena. Just as it was the first time out, the pressures of being in this game for $500,000 is one that can get in the way of things... and that includes long-standing friendships and bad blood that goes back quite a bit in this game of throwbacks. Those things are on the mind of the Stars as they tackle not just a pair of puzzles on top of a pyramid, but also the scorching heat of a Mexican summer that can easily reach into the 90-degree range. And those who don't survive the vote will find themselves playing a game that is familiar if you have a paper and pencil with X's and O's, but done a bit differently.

Join us here after the break as we bring you the 'Pulse of Week 3 of The Challenge: All-Stars 2 before tonight's episode goes up soon, plus the Twitter buzz surrounding the debut of Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles and, of course, Thanksgiving. Thanks for wrapping your Wednesday with us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 2 - "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye"

*** 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We welcome you back here as the long Thanksgiving weekend has wound down as we are now well into the first days of the holiday season, and we are all doing our holiday shopping here online on this Cyber Monday. And as you join us here, you're probably thinking about giving someone in your family or a friend of yours a subscription to a streaming television service... it's not a surprise given how we have spent all this time at home. And it's with this in mind that we bring you into one of the big draws in this new world of entertainment: MTV's The Challenge and its special spin-off All-Stars.

Season 1 of All-Stars was a smash success in every way you can look at it, and Season 2 has just kicked off down in the resort town of Cancun, Mexico. The last time MTV came here was when Nany and her Real World Back to Vegas castmates spent their vacation south of the border, and as she is still in the running on the main show week 1 of this season began with everyone getting to enjoy an evening under the sun before the business began the next day with a tough first challenge but also a fun one taking place out by the sea: going for the hoop while also navigating a balance beam over the water. In the end, Derrick and Jodi took top honors as the first power team of this season, continuing from where he left off last season and her solidifying her place as someone to watch for in her return to this world. 

However, it was the manner that most of the rest of the Stars performed that had TJ in a bad mood... so much so, that he decided to make this winter's eliminations a double one just like what we got to see in the earlier part of Spies, Lies & Allies. And as we rejoin matters here, everyone else is on edge as to who among them will face All-Stars 1 alum Nehemiah and one who last competed almost two decades ago, Ayanna of Road Rules Semester at Sea, in the first elimination. But what happens next is perhaps so remarkable, it would make you want to thank your wallet for paying extra for Paramount+ or to have that free month's trial.

After the break, it's the SocialPulse of Week 2 of Season 2 of The Challenge: All-Stars... and thanks for spending part of your Monday with us...

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars - The Season 2 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. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We are just ten days out from the start of the 2021 winter holiday season... and for this blogger, this period is already in full gear with my birthday over the weekend and just before the big event of this fall begins for yours truly in a matter of hours. And as we think about how we are going to be doing Thanksgiving in over a week from now, if you follow MTV's The Challenge the merriest time of all has come a bit early thanks to what is going on on that other production of our fifth major pro sport.

Back in April, The Challenge All-Stars began much to our joy with some of the biggest stars of the show you love returning for a new spinoff of the regular show that feels very much like the show we're used to now with old faces. It was part of the second wave of offerings by MTV parent ViacomCBS' entry into the battle for everyone's eyeballs in this new reality of streaming called Paramount+, and it certainly delivered in every which way with those we know bringing us a memorable first go-around that was worth paying the small $5 to watch it all unfold.

This week, it's the much-anticipated sequel to that freshman offering... as Season 2 of All-Stars takes place down in Cancun, Mexico, which has hosted many MTV shows over the years from many weekends of that rite of March known as Spring Break, to a Real World season that three of this season's competitors made their debuts on twelve years ago. They and twenty-one others -- including several returnees from last season and others who return after some twenty years away -- are back to pursue the $500,000 that awaits the winners at season's end. And in this tropical paradise, two power players renew an old rivalry, while host TJ Lavin gets to do what he does best: lay a Teej-bomb on the players.

We know that Mondays aren't always the most anticipated day of the week, but after the break we get you into that upbeat mood as DCBLOG brings you all the action, reaction and interaction of the premiere of Season 2 of The Challenge All-Stars, all as it unfolded on Twitter in and around last Thursday's premiere... specially curated for you to enjoy in its uncensored and raw nature, which includes adult language. Thanks for joining us, Challenge Nation...

Inside MTV Reality: Welcome Back to The Challenge All-Stars - Season 2

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

It is the month of November in the ever-evolving universe that is American television... and it has always been a month of big things. To those in the industry, this is one of the four "sweeps" survey periods that see networks duke it out in the ultimate game of one-up-man-ship for our eyeballs with events ranging from the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to the American Music Awards and more taking over our screens. As far as the MTV front goes, we're into half #2 of Season 37 of The Challenge as Spies, Lies & Allies has changed things up quite considerably, while Floribama Shore rages on with the second half of Season 4 and its residency in Athens, Georgia outside of Atlanta.

During the past few years -- and most especially while we have been confined to being at home during this pandemic, all the rage in the entertainment world has been of streaming services. Virtually every media company at the international, national and local level have a slice of the pie when it comes to having to fork over a few dollars to get to watch television programming through your home internet connection. And earlier this year, MTV's parent company ViacomCBS put its name into the hat in the streaming wars as it transformed the established CBS All-Access service into Paramount+, bringing together everything from Paw Patrol and movies to the UEFA Champions League and beyond.

As part of the launch of Paramount+ earlier this year, MTV produced two series for this streaming upstart -- and giving a nod to its incredible reality legacy: first, when the service bowed on March 4th, Real World Homecoming brought back the cast of the first season in New York of 1992 to the same house in Soho where it all began. The following month came the main course: The Challenge All-Stars brought back into our screens and into our lives some of the franchise's most-notable names for one more shot at pride and glory and $500,000. Over twenty past alumni of the shows that began MTV's reality television history thirty years ago next spring -- Real World and Road Rules with a few Fresh Meat alums, went down to Argentina, and it certainly brought back all the memories and the feels.

Now comes the much-anticipated sequel, as the focus shifts closer to home to Mexico, as a handful who have not competed on here since the early stages of a franchise that just crossed the 500-episode mark, along with some familiar names to both those who've been watching it for a long time and those who we have followed during our run going Inside MTV Reality on here. And just ahead, we at DCBLOG take our first look at Season 2 of The Challenge All-Stars, and welcome back Challenge Nation...