DC SocialPulse: The Challenge USA - "Declarations of Independence"

*** 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

And so on this last weekend of July, welcome back... and needless to say, this has been the toughest time of my life as my family & I have been dealing both personally and privately with the passing one week ago today of my beloved father, Mariano Cueva. We have received an outpouring of sorrow and support that has helped us get through these past seven days... and on behalf of my family, yours truly would like to say thanks to everybody who has sent us their positive energy our way during this week of mourning. To our extended family and to my social followers, we appreciate all of you for being there for us as you have shared in our grief in this extraordinary and unprecedented time. But as life goes on amidst this sadness, we at DCBLOG are now ready to resume our MTV blog coverage. 

If we thought that The Challenge: USA was gonna be a different kind of spinoff series compared to what we have gotten to enjoy so much with the three All-Stars seasons, then it turns out the CBS show is really holding up its own half of the bargain through the first two weeks of this season. When we left Argentina at the end of Week 2, as is always the case we got a bit of clarity in where things stand in this game... but before that, TJ Lavin unleashed his latest Teej-bomb in revealing the Algorithm: the pairs that compete each week will not be the same from week to week -- at least, not now. The week 2 challenge saw the players tackle both the water and got to put their inner crossword expertise to work, which saw Tyson stamp his position as the early favorite, and saw Tiffany get blindsided as James & Shannon came away with the win in elimination.

As we return to the compound, the knocking out of one-third of The Cookout has left everyone both shook and unsettled... and that has also put into the conversation the question of who is loyal to one another --- and as some of the alliances that came here staying true to one another, others are going by the wayside. One powerful duo will find themselves beginning to open up their suspicions on where this game is headed, while a pair of imperfect challengers will have to tackle one flaw to the randomness of the teams being recoupled: lack of chemistry... all as they try to again utilize their puzzle skills: this time, in a staple of your family dinner time.

After the break, we return to our regularly scheduled programming as we bring you a back-tracked edition of the DCBLOG MTV 'Pulse as we cover Week 3 of The Challenge: USA.... and we're glad you're with us.

DC FORUM: 7/24/22 - A Note from Me...

A Note From The Editor...

A pleasant Sunday to all of you... if you are fine and okay, then good for you. You should be able to enjoy this summer's weekend, whether you're going out to enjoy the sun or just being at home and indoors when either the conditions of either a meteorological or health concern doesn't allow otherwise. But no matter what, we are all here... and be thankful for that.

Let's get the important thing out of the way: the content that DCBLOG had planned to feature this weekend -- including Week 3 of MTV's The Challenge: USA and a blog recap of my 2021 trip to Las Vegas -- will not be posted on here either today or the next few days. Sure, I will be working on those posts on here off-air but, posting it right now would be the farthest thing from my mind considering what has been happening over the past few days... and this site's regularly scheduled programming will return here hopefully next weekend or perhaps later at the appropriate time.

Instead, this will have to do... and it involves something that represents one of those things that always take priority in family, and one of the reasons why there has not been as much busy activity on this site this year as it has been in the previous ten years. And if you can indulge in what I'm about to discuss on here, then make sure to have a box of tissues next to you. This is going to be a tough one.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge USA - "Oh Say Can You See Tiffany"

*** 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

In a few hours, the best in Major League Baseball will take to the field for the 92nd renewal of the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Tomorrow night will mark that annual day on the sports calendar where none of the four major sports are in action... but other than for the ESPY Awards and Day 6 of the first-ever World Track & Field Championships to be held in the United States up in Tracktown -- Eugene, Oregon -- and just as it was during the pandemic-caused sporting shutdown of two years ago, the spotlight will belong to MTV's The Challenge, as the USA edition is underway on CBS.

Once the verdict was delivered on Season 3 of All-Stars back on July 6th following the long holiday weekend, the attention turned to a totally different version of the show as twenty-eight alums of the Eye network's reality programming stepped up to the plate to face TJ Lavin. In a field full of alumni from Big Brother, Survivor, Amazing Race and the CBS run of Love Island, it was a mixture of them that excelled down a rope and a skyscraper in the season's opening daily, including a Sole Survivor used to playing games like this and someone pegged for big success considering his NFL background. And just after we began what might be another one of those seasons on THAT show, it was one-third of The Cookout that took the season's first elimination in a familiar game to Challenge Nation, Knot So Fast.

At night's end, the host duked out his latest Teej-bomb to what is undoubtedly the largest set of fresh meat he's ever had to welcome out of the gate: the pairs who are teamed up each week will not be the same from week to week... and an Algorithm will recouple the players at the end of each night in the arena. And as we return, the Americans will doubt be stung by this latest twist... but they have not much time to ponder that as they face a life-like game of Scrabble combined with everyone's favorite place to wipe out on a place like this: in the water. This week represents an opportunity for a legend of the island to put their stamp on this game two weeks in, while the looming shadow of a summer houseguest might be too much to handle -- including our favorite alternative word for getting backstabbed.

After the break, DCBLOG brings you the 'Pulse of Week 2 of The Challenge: USA... and welcome back.

The Look: The Life We Live - A Return to the Poconos

*** CAUTION: Videos Embedded Below Contain Adult Language and Content Intended for a Mature Audience. Viewer Discretion is Advised. ***

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

As DCBLOG marks its tenth anniversary over the course of the next eighteen months, there's been one thing that we have covered just about as often as any other topic we have featured on here... perhaps, even more than most others. No, it's not anybody we've documented in the dozens of series and seasons we have covered Inside MTV Reality on this page... but something that was inspired by television's most unique reality programming, and which this site has followed every step of its journey since we first came across it back five years ago.

Instagram @Dre.Media

It was during this very same week in July 2017 that Andres Rodriguez from Secaucus, New Jersey got to go and meet the cast of The Challenge XXX: Dirty 30 when most of them were getting together in New York to launch the pioneering reality series' first $1 million season. Obviously, there was a lot of buzz going into the big season -- and for those of us who got to sit through all of that, we had to swallow a bitter pill at how it all ended. But other than getting to discover both Siesta Key and Floribama Shore along with Cory Wharton becoming a dad, maybe the best thing to come out of the second half of 2017 was the thing now affectionally referred to as Dre.Media.

The reason we were brought to Andres in the first place was that he was the creator, producer, editor, host, occasional competitor and main protagonist of a wide array of original YouTube content, including "live reality games" -- homemade versions of existing reality television shows. Dre has created twelve seasons of The Caucus Challenge, which began when he was a high school junior in this New York suburb best known for its many and countless connections to the sports world, and which has continued to entertain those in the YouTube community. And this site has covered every step of the Caucus journey here since, with a new season just now streaming.

However, there was a time during this tough time in our world that Dre couldn't get to put on a season of his beloved show... and he had to resort to doing something else -- such as, getting some of his friends and their friends together for a weekend excursion. So gave birth to The Life We Live... and for its eighth season, TLWL got to do something it had never done before: venture back to the scene of a crime.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge All-Stars 3 - And Down the Stretch They Come...

*** 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. ***

 SPECIAL EXPANDED EDITION 

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

We are officially into the dog days of summer, and we have past the logical halfway point of this 104-day period from Friday night of the Memorial Day weekend to that Labor Day Monday. But right around Mother's Day a couple months ago, twenty-four competitors whose lineage of their MTV legacies stretch back to the mid-'90s and to as recently as a few years ago took to Panama with something in common: they all had experience competing in the final stage of a season of The Challenge. And we have reached the stretch drive of Season 3 of The Challenge: All-Stars on Paramount+ in Panama.

During all this time, we have had plenty take place: newbies coming in to try & translate their playbook of success from a few years ago into a game full of vets, a surprise entry of one of our favorites strike a nerve among one of the most revered female champs ever, and some epic battles in the elimination arena - not to mention, plenty of drama both on and off the field and, of course, a few Teej-bombs. And if you are one of those who happens to be a regular visitor to DCBLOG and have glanced over at these Pulse journals, then you probably know why a lot of fans like yourselves have gravitated to this version of the show more than the others.

Because of the long task of having to put together the past few weeks' worth of posts to preview and then introduce the casts of the CBS challenge and All-Star Shore, it has a while since we here have been able to say "last time on The Challenge," and last we were here it was back in Episode 7. And there, we had the one time most every season where TJ Lavin transforms from a former BMX rider into a quizmaster: that meant trivia was on order, and it was Veronica and Brad who were the last ones standing. But the juicy moment came there in Week 6: the men's elimination battle pitted The Godfather Mark against three-time champ Jordan, and the former's experience came away with the win.

Now that homestretch run has arrived for the dozen players still in the running... which means that those who are desperate are trying to do whatever they can to secure a spot in the final, while the pressures of this game are getting to a few of them. In another's case, he's looking to someone who -- the last time we saw him on the big show, was not even on good terms going into the Czech Republic bunker... and it's what happens with the last week of the regular season that might fuel the flames of some simmer rivalries -- not to mention a little bit of controversy mixed in. But over the horizon is a private island that awaits those who make it all the way to the end: a few twists, some standards of these last acts of eating and puzzles, and everything else serve as the hurdles to $500,000.

So join us after the break, as we follow Brad, Derrick, Jonna, Kailah, KellyAnne, Mark, Nia, Nehemiah, Veronica and Wes all the way to the finish line on this special expanded edition of the DCBLOG MTV SocialPulse as we follow the stretch run of Season 3 of The Challenge: All-Stars... and thank you all for joining us on this Sunday night.

DC ExtraTime: An Attack on A Challenge "Star"

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

As all of us are getting to enjoy watching The Challenge as a year-round offering once again thanks to various versions of the show that are seen on all three possible forms of television made available to the consumer in this new age: MTV, Paramount+ and CBS, there is reason for us to be into this show just as much as you have for the past two decades. But the idea of a spinoff of the MTV show isn't all new.

While we running concurrently with the beginning of the third decade of seasons of this show, the first series-length spinoff of the fifth major pro sport gave professional athletes, and later stars from the entertainment industry, a chance to compete alongside your favorites. The trilogy of Champs vs. Pros & Stars saw the beginning of sorts of the decade-long feud of Bananas and Wes starting to thin out, while also seeing a memorable showdown between CT and Terrell Owens... and the painful end to the era of the Camilanator. But in addition to see former pros, musicians, movie stars and beyond compete in the name of charity, this spinoff also brought into focus the one part of the sports world that only gets the big time attention from most of us every couple of years.

Several members of Team USA who have competed at the Olympic Games were also part of the Champs vs. Stars trilogy: Lolo Jones, Gus Kenworthy, Olympic champs Shawn Johnson and Lindsay Jacobellis, and the biggest star of the Stars side on a competitive basis & one who competed for her native Britain, Louise Hazel on CVP & CVS II. But this past week, one who competed with these Stars in the second leg of this series made headlines for a different reason: having to battle for her life, quite literally, in the streets of the city she calls home.

DC SocialPulse: The Challenge USA - The Season 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

Good summer's weekend to all of you... and after a few weeks' delay due to the extraneous task of going in-depth on a bunch of new shows and new people in the world of these shows you love, we welcome you into the 2022 summer cycle Inside MTV Reality... and that includes the final act of a star-studded third All-Stars season which we'll have just ahead. But outside of THAT show, if there's one thing that might keeping you abuzz during the space of these couple months then it's a sure bet that it's this: The Challenge: USA on CBS.

Four years ago, the seeds for the eventual reformation of one of the media industry's earliest mega-conglomerates were planted when both The Challenge: Vendettas and the first U.S. season of Ex On The Beach that came on afterwards casted former houseguests from Big Brother onto those MTV shows... and like it or not, CBS' reality staples have had a bigger impact on this current generation of the fifth major pro sport and our summer lovefest than you might imagine at first thought. And ever since, we've had those from Survivor, Love Island and The Amazing Race join in on the fun... and now they have their own Challenge season to call their own.

Twenty-eight alumni from those four CBS shows are stepping into battle this summer for a brand new spinoff of the show you love. The roll call includes a few castaways who endured 39 days in the wild to become sole survivor, those Islanders who find themselves in the same position that those from Are You The One were in going into Battle of the Exes 2 seven years ago, and four houseguests who carry the weight of being the headliners of this year's crop after the historic summer that they had last year. And it all begins with a rude awakening: solving some math while being strapped in the air hundreds of feet above Argentina, all while navigating through the kind of game that they're getting initiated into for the first time -- with a half-million awaiting at summer's end.

After the break - and in serving the public interest of fans just yourselves, DCBLOG brings you all the action, reaction and interaction of the premiere of the season premiere of The Challenge: USA -- all as it unfolded on Twitter before & during that premiere back on July 6th... specially curated for all of you to enjoy in its uncensored and raw nature, and includes adult language. Thanks for joining us... and welcome on in, Challenge Nation.

Who Are These Newbies? - The Challenge USA: Love Island

Due to the heavy presence of graphics and video, "Who Are These Newbies?" is best experienced on desktops and fast-performing mobile devices.

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

If you have been with DCBLOG from the very beginning back in 2013, a tradition of ours that's been in our coverage of every season of The Challenge since Rivals II has been "Who Are These Newbies?" -- our obligatory introduction to first-time competitors and other MTV Reality show newcomers since then. This past week saw both the premiere of The Challenge: USA and the season 3 finale of All-Stars... but before we begin our weekly episode coverage here which usually appears on the weekend but pushed back for this reason, there's this fourth & final installment of this Newbies series for the former -- which you are finally finished reading this, you will have gotten to know all of the competitors.

For the past two decades on these shores, one show has been synonymous with the reality dating show genre... make that a whole franchise in what is known to its fans as Bachelor Nation, and where last night its latest chapter kicked off in Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia starting their dual journeys as co-leads on The Bachelorette after Clayton Echard turned them away earlier this year. Since then, just about every network and streamer have put their entries into that dating hat: MTV with Are You The One? and Ex On The Beach, USA Network with Temptation Island and The Courtship, Netflix with Too Hot To Handle and Love is Blind, and this fall CBS will reimagine 70's favorite The Love Boat through a new reality dating series bearing its name.

Outside of the U.S., since the mid-2010's there is simply one show that has become the big thing when it comes to reality love: Love Island first came to British tellies back in 2005 with a celebrity version that had Jack@$$ star Steve-O among its entrants. But it was when it was relaunched a decade later that the Love Island everyone knows it began: every series begins with a group of single Islanders walking into the villa on Day 1, and must be coupled with another fellow contestant for love, money or friendship. Singles can re-couple by swapping partners or choosing someone from the secondary house on the property known as Casa Amor, or risk getting dumped if they decide to remain single... and when the final week comes, the public votes for their favorite and that couple wins a cash prize.

Love Island has become to Britain what Big Brother is to us here in America: the one TV show that dominates the morning-after water-cooler buzz when we are all in need to chill out in the summer sun. It has become the highest-rated TV show in the UK among the specialty digital channels of its public service broadcasters and across all of TV among young adults... not to mention it dominating the trending topics on social media there. And broadcaster ITV and its studios arm have franchised the format out to over twenty countries where, after being disrupted in 2020 by the pandemic, Love Island UK is currently in its eighth series across the pond, with two more seasons planned for next year -- both in its traditional summer spot and this coming winter... and right now it's streaming on Hulu.

The massive success of Love Island ignited a bidding war among the networks for an American version of it, and CBS won that battle in airing three seasons of the show. But next week, Love Island USA will perform its own recoupling of sorts, as a spiritual trade among the two media companies who share joint custody of Johnny Bananas will see the show shift from CBS & linear TV to NBCUniversal's streaming outlet Peacock. Sarah Hyland will translate her love for reality dating shows as Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams' girlfriend in taking over as host, while U.K. narrator Iain Stirling will join her in Southern California as off-camera co-host once Series 8 concludes matters in its iconic villa in Mallorca, Spain... and just now, the Season 4 cast for Love Island USA is being revealed on its social channels.

Just as it was a year earlier when The Challenge helped usher in Ex On The Beach here, the show got to herald the pending arrival of Love Island in America with two competitors from the same 3rd series of the UK show competing on War of the Worlds in 2019... and both made it to what's called the toughest Challenge final ever. Former sprinter and Team GB Olympic hopeful Theo Campbell hung in there in that tough final in Nambia to finish 2nd, while Georgia Harrison couldn't survive day 1 in the heat. They were followed in by fellow UK alumni Gabby Allen, Idris Virgo and Priscilla Anyabu, and Jeremiah White and Lauren Coogan of our version... not to mention many others on our Ex On The Beach.

Now, a handful of those who also got to enjoy time with the last two in that above list -- along with Ray Gantt, Caro Vie, Emily Salch and Sher on EOTB -- are making the transition from being in the Villa to being in a totally different game: a physical and mental competition rather than just looking for love. And just head, we shine the spotlight on Cashay, Cashel, Cely, Cinco, Javonny, Justine, Shannon and Kyra on the forth & last installment of The Challenge: USA series of "Who Are These Newbies?".