DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - The First Time Club

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Brandon (right) with Christina, Joel & Marie
in The First Time Club (Facebook)

Tonight as we near the finish line of this lost summer of 2020, Siesta Key will wrap up its third season as MTV kicks off the countdown to the Video Music Awards. It's one that's given fans and casual reality viewers plenty to talk and buzz over in a ride that began back in January and now ending this last week of August with both the season finale and a virtual at-home reunion to come on afterwards, hosted by a member of my sister's graduating class of 1995 at this blogger's alma mater Milpitas High School, The Real's Jeannie Mai. And it's safe to say that this has been quite a summer times two in this dual suburb of Sarasota and Tampa Bay, Florida.

It all began when one of JoJo Fletcher's Bachelorette suitors, Robby Hayes, stole and then broke the heart of the show's main protagonist who just turned legal age. We've also had more ongoing drama with her and her ex-boyfriend, who moved on to a childhood friend of his who helped to make them the first in this clique to become parents. There's also the bombshell dropped by one of the girls that she is now dating someone who's not only twenty years older than her, but who also happens to be an ex-producer of the show itself. And there are other things that have had those from Robby's Bachelor Nation alumni to big name movie stars join in on the fun of watching a show born out of the spirit of The Hills and Laguna Beach, for which the producers of the ladder created this spiritual relaunch.

What started out as just a typical TV pilot paid for out of the wallet of a rich local entrepreneur who also happens to be the father of that new baby daddy has turned into something much more. Since it debuted three years ago, Siesta Key has stayed true to what its West Coast predecessors preached back in 2004 ago when Laguna introduced the subgenre of reality drama in mixing what you love about daytime soap operas with eye-catching cinematography and a catchy musical soundtrack. Not to mention, there's that group of hotties who bring on the drama and who have brought their own brand of it, following in the footsteps of Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavailari, Spencer & Heidi and those who starred with them on their two shows out in California.

But you probably not know that, for a couple members of the original seven as well as one other bit-part player in the drama, Siesta Key isn't their first time being on camera... as they appeared in an independent drama film just before they and their friends were discovered by MTV. In a strange twist to this, you won't believe which role an unlikely outlet has in helping give three future castmates their first taste of being in front of the camera. And at the same time, it's also helped to serve an important purpose, as you're about to find out in this installment of Before They Were MTV Stars.