DC ExtraTime: Queer Eye's Lip Sync Battle Takeover

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Ask the MTV Challenge fandom about who had the most successful 2018, and they'll give you varying answers. Maybe it could be the two ladies who took all the $1.5 million from the two Challenge seasons that went down last year in Cara Maria on Vendettas and Ashley M. on Final Reckoning. Maybe, it's Tony for him continuing on that torrid run with a finals berth, winning Champs vs. Stars II and scoring an engagement. Perhaps, it's his partner Bananas for him taking his talents to hosting 1st Look TV, The Miz in hosting CvS and having his own reality show, or Cory for appearing on two Challenges, Ex On The Beach and Teen Mom.
   But it's likely that you might overlook a person who, fifteen years ago, came to The Real World Philadelphia house as reality TV's first African-American gay man, and who has become one of the most-successful alumni in the franchise's history. After doing that season, a Challenge and an Are You The One? spinoff -- achieving a triple crown of doing shows relating to all three jewels of what we call the MTV Trifecta, Karamo Brown has become a bigger name in the pop culture landscape in the past twelve months, and it didn't involve him with doing something with MTV.
   A year ago, Karamo joined Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Booby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness as the new "Fab Five" on Netflix's revival of Queer Eye. Karamo serves as culture and lifestyle expert while the others focus in on food & wine, fashion, design and grooming, as they continued the proud tradition of the original Bravo series of the same name of over a decade ago. Queer Eye scored three Emmy Awards including Outstanding Structured Reality Program, all part of a historic night that saw them present one of the many awards to another LGBT pioneer, RuPaul's Drag Race.
   Along with that, Karamo was honored by the Human Rights Campaign with their Visibility Award, and took the stage at March For Our Lives weekend in Washington, D.C. when he shared his personal link to last year's school shootings in Florida: a friend of his was one of the victims killed in that Valentine's Day tragedy at Parkland High School, Brown's alma mater. He also joined with the Creative Coalition to lobby Capitol Hill for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and got to meet President Obama. And last May, Karamo became engaged to his longtime partner, director Ian Brown.

Also last year, a cable channel that began as The Nashville Network and then became The National Network and Spike TV evolved once again... this time as the Paramount Network: Viacom's first dive into premium-style programming. It's the home of one of last year's most-talked about dramas in Kevin Costner's Yellowstone, Younger with How Far is Tatttoo Far? co-host Nico Tortorella, and screened documentaries on Treyvon Martin and Paul Walker. But it didn't mess with Spike's biggest content: Cops, Bar Rescue, Ink Master, Bellator MMA, and a show that turned an often negative part of the music industry into a viral sensation.

   For a place that once hosted country music programming before CMT took over, Lip Sync Battle has become most-popular series in the long history of the network. The series concept may have been first conceived in the '80s, but Jimmy Fallon brought that idea into the streaming & iPod age to create a celebrity version of it, which became a staple of his Late Night talk show before he took over The Tonight Show. The idea is simple: two A-list celebrities facing off in a lip syncing battle of chart hits and classics over two rounds, and the winner being determined by an audience vote, gaining the LSB championship belt and bragging rights.
   Jimmy and creators of Lip Sync Battle, Stephen Merchant and John Krasinski, pitched their show to NBC and their cable suite, but after the Peacock passed on the idea it found a home at Spike, as it was going through another rebranding. The rest is history: with over 2 million viewers an episode, it became the network's most-watched series, and it helped to relaunch Paramount Network a year ago this past week with a live episode from the home of the Oscars, the Dolby Theater. Digitally, the LSB YouTube channel has amassed over 600 million views by its 2.7 million followers, and it has also become an global sensation being franchised in 16 overseas countries, plus a kid-friendly spinoff on Nickelodeon.
   The show is hosted by LL Cool J and Crissy Teigan, and those who've performed on LSB reads like a who's who: John Legend, The Rock, Emily Blunt, Mike Tyson, Queen Latifah, Justin Bieber, Deion Sanders, Iggy Azalea, Swaggy P. Nick Young, Eva Longoria, Jason DeRulo, Snoop Dogg, Chris Paul, Shaq, Wilmer Valderrama, Laverne Cox, Jay Leno, Ray Lewis, Sarah Hyland, Ricky Martin, Nicole Richie, Zendaya, David Spade, Fifth Harmony, Tara Lipinski & Johnny Weir, Pentatonix, Rob Schneider, Luis Fonzi, Charli XCX, Rita Ora and Pete Davison.
   Lip Sync Battle is only part of the latest revival of TV music programming: American Idol returned last year to try & regain the buzz from the one show that overtook it years ago in The Voice; the new buzz hit of the moment in The Masked Singer on FOX, and the other big musical staple of late night, the similar must-see Carpool Karaoke on The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Last week, Lip Sync Battle kicked off its fifth season by welcoming back Karamo into the Viacom fold for one night along with the rest of his Queer Eye Fab Five. The group gave ode to two divas: they performed to Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again" including her famous red cat suit, and did their very best to bring us back to last April and Beyonce's internet-breaking performance at Coachella. In case you missed it, the Queer Eye Five's performances are below for your enjoyment, along with the guys preparing for the big night and post-performance analysis.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

DC SocialPulse: Ex On The Beach S2 - "Jay Is For Jealous"

*** Advisory: DC SocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're reading this top to bottom. ***

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Welcome back... hope all of you are recovering from what was an epic & eventful Championship Sunday in the NFL. And the good thing about this Sunday is, most of you have Monday off for the MLK holiday... glad you're staying up with us here as we take you to a part of the country that saw fate intervene and give the Rams a Super Bowl berth by way of a blown call and an OT field goal. We're talking about Southern California, venue for Season 2 of Ex On The Beach, and where lots of drama has already gone down and it's not reached the halfway point.

When we left Malibu previously, the house got shook by the entrance of not one, but three exes to the house: Corey's ex Sha dove into what's already a twisted love triangle... one which was enhanced further Morgan & Jay went on a date and her sister Alex crashing it. But the two other exes who came by are more well known to the MTV crowd: Malcolm's ex Nurys invaded the beach to again put him & Diandra under the same roof, while Nurys herself had to see her ex Nelson of Challenge and AYTO fame... and she wasn't having it, nor did her & Didi with Maya & Janelle.

For this week, the focus shifts for one of the singles to having their day in court and it's what happens when they come home that they show their support for them despite wide public disapproval outside the house. There is also a bit of jealousy when it comes to the love triangle that has those in the cubicles of a former Viacom corporate sibling watching this show very intently when an intimate truth gets put out there. And at our second elimination, we as viewers will understand once again that while we can expect the unexpected, sometimes history can repeat itself.

After the jump, all the action, reaction and interaction as we bring you the SocialPulse of Episode 5 of Ex On The Beach... Plus, we'll join some big name Challenge vets as they take over one of America's biggest attractions. Dive in, friends...

DC SocialPulse Extra: Before Ex On The Beach S2 EP5, and Lohan Beach Club EP2

*** Advisory: DC SocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're reading this top to bottom. ***

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Happy Sunday Funday to all of you, as we're in the midst of this three-day extended weekend in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Yesterday, we had the Pulse of Floribama Shore as Codi's parents visited and Krazy Kortni had her wildest moment yet of kissing an elderly lady in the land of retirees. Later tonight, we'll be covering Episode 5 of Ex On The Beach, and this comes during a week that saw the countdown to The Challenge: War of the Worlds begin... quite a week it has been and not including all the related Twitter drama that's located below.
   Until then, here's a Pulse Extra covering the time in between episodes of, what was until Tuesday night at least, our main focus this month and will now share top billing with Challenge 33. Along with that, there's episode 2 of Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club as a guy who is helping to host those seeing The Chainsmokers and Dillon Francis at the Wynn on Pacquiao/Broner fight weekend in Vegas, but will surely need some Secret Service men protecting him for what we saw in Mykonos... and couples goals for two leading ladies in Staten Island. That all ahead here.

DC SocialPulse: Floribama Shore S2 - "You Had Me at Beer"

*** Advisory: DC SocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're reading this top to bottom. ***

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Well, here we are at the first three-day weekend of 2019, and we're glad you're kicking it off with us at DCBLOG as we now go into a big week in MTV Reality, including double trouble on Ex On The Beach and at the Lohan Beach Club - which we'll have have here ahead. This week also saw the start of the countdown to Season 33 of The Challenge, and we'll kick off coverage of that here next week... and one of those who'll be taking their talents to the War of the Worlds is a member of the cast of Floribama Shore. But there's some business for he or she to take care of in Panama City Beach before they join TJ Lavin and co. come February 6th... more on that at the end of this post.

As for what's going on now, last week the roommates finally came home from their eventful escapade to Cabo, Mexico along with some baggage... in the form of Nilsa still holding a grudge from having her nose smashed on that last night in paradise. If flowers say that you're sorry, than Kortni ignited a new trend of using something special to apologize when she bought a pizza with the words "I'm sorry" spelled out in the cheese. In a season and a series that has had its fair share of tear-jerking moments, that apology pizza again gave us reason to have that Kleenex box handy.

If what happened with Candace's parents coming by to mark the end of summer last season was something, then was Codi's turn to welcome his parents for a surprise visit, and this week Daddy Butts will encourage his son to get another try to do something he tried to do earlier in the summer of trying to push things forward with a newly single Candace after her breakup with Gator Jay. It's what happens there that Gus once again gets emotional by way of the parents coming to town. And if we thought we had seen everything from Krazy Kortni... well, we're proven wrong yet again.

After the jump, it's the Pulse Episode 8 of Season 2B of Floribama Shore. Welcome to the weekend...

DC ExtraTime: Fun Times with AYTO's Stephen & Julia

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the premiere of Are You The One?, which premiered after bedtime on January 21, 2014... one of the many shows to receive the launchpad of airing after the Teen Mom franchise. AYTO marked MTV's first entry into modern romantic reality television, and has brought its own share of big moments, memorable couples and cast members, and through the science of matchmaking has brought together dozens of perfect matches.

This past year, those who believe in reality TV love were dealt three blows to this philosophy when AYTO fan favorite couples Zak & Hannah of Season 3, Gianna & Hayden of Season 5 and Alivia & Kareem of Season 6 all called it quits... but there's hope for the lone couple to remain together from the most recent season of Season 7 in Chicagoan Cali & Miami guy Tomas. And all couples from this series all strive to be the next Amber & Ethan Diamond - the only couple that's a perfect match, are happily married, and are proud parents to two kids.

One of the small handful of couples who are still together years after their MTV fame have ended is Stephen McHugh and Julia Rose from the Season 4 cast of 2016 which introduced everyone to Tori Deal (who herself has become one-half of an MTV power couple with Challenge champ Jordan Wiseley). Stephen & Julia met in Hawaii three years ago and hit it off almost from the beginning, even as the intentions castmate Giovanni had for her led to a blowup at one matchup night.

For a moment, Stephen & Julia weren't together: a revelation on a TRL After Show during Season 5 revealed that, while in Las Vegas, he had gotten close to Hannah Fugazzi from the only cast to not win the jackpot for getting all the perfect matches in order. But time did heal, and very quickly before everyone knew it, the Philadelphia native and the beauty from the South were back together... and they still are today. Perhaps, engagement rings and/or parenthood are next up for them.

Last month, Stephen and Julia posted on their YouTube channel videos of them having fun as a couple who, while they are not a perfect match as the matchmakers had it, but are one in any other way. That includes pulling their own blindfold trick before it became the world's latest viral sensation when she fed him food like he was a young baby. Also included, a prank she got to pull on him, some waxing of his body, and doing their own imitation of the game show Minute to Win It.

And lastly, the couple got to do a Q&A to answer fan questions on why they have lasted as long as most AYTO couples, among other things.

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG

The Look: Siesta Key - Welcome Back to Paradise

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

For those who were dreaming of snow outside your window on Christmas last month, there's probably a similar feeling of sentiment for those who are just wanting to escape the cold right now after you've just packed away your holiday decorations. It's especially true for those of you who live in New York, Chicago, Canada and everywhere else where the high temperatures on a given January day can vary day by day, but most likely you're freezing in multiple layers going to and from work and school... though you can agree that it's nice cuddle weather for some binge watching, too.

If you happen to be one of those people - and who happens to also be an MTV Reality fan, there is some good news coming your way. Next week sees the long-awaited and highly-anticipated return of one of cable's most buzzed-about series the past few years, and one that helped to spur MTV's overall rise from just another run-down TV channel bitten by the mass exodus to binge-land, to one that now has the industry talking about this one-time music video outlet turned TV hub of the millennial generation. And it is the show that was inspired by a show that introduced a new sub-genre of reality TV: the reality soap... and it will provide a fitting bridge to the latest MTV reboot come spring.

In July 2017, MTV dipped its feet into the sand of the small Sarasota, Florida suburb of Siesta Key, where it discovered a group of those who as kids grew up watching Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari on Laguna Beach and The Hills, and whose lives were just as fascinating as their California counterparts. The same production team behind Laguna was brought on to bring their magic touch from the West Coast to the East Coast, and to a new group of those who despite being slightly older were looking to break out on their own into a new era as adults during the most exciting summer of their lives... while not escaping the drama taking place in the town they call home.

Siesta Key reintroduced everyone to the kind of addictive, guilty pleasure television that had people buzzing a decade ago with Laguna/Hills' unique mix of big drama that glues even the teen-friendly audience in, as well as a cinematic filming style and a bold musical soundtrack to boot. And Tuesday night, the world will be welcomed back to a place judged to the best beach in America for another season in paradise, where the group is a year older, where love will now be taken to a new level, and where old and new will collide to spark some fireworks. But to understand what's coming next in the Key, you gotta look back a little bit to where this journey to Season 2 began... which was long ago.

The Look: Made In Staten Island

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Last week saw the much-anticipated debut of the year's first big-buzz premiere on cable of Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club, which was a top-trending Twitter topic on the same night our President gave his first speech from the Oval Office. Next on the MTV docket are new seasons of Teen Mom 2 and Siesta Key, and the next new MTV series to bow in these first weeks of 2019 is the latest to land the ever-coveted "timeslot bump" -- a new series that's given the spot of airing after the baby mama drama, just as the modern-day Laguna Beach had when it debuted.

If you sift through the pile of press releases, cast bios and clippings this blogger compiles on the shows I watch & cover and use as research material for this site, you'll find that there are a small handful with something in common. Two competitors from the past year & a half's trilogy of The Challenge come from there... so do three members of MTV's most-popular series ever. It even links them to people outside this bubble such as Martin Sheen, Alyssa Milano, Christina Aguilera, Method Man, Bebe Rexha and Pete Davidson, who seemingly had a most-eventful 2018.

They were all born on that largely-forgotten part of New York City known as Staten Island. This is where Real World alums and later Challenge staples Marie from St. Thomas and Nicole from Skeletons in Chicago call home. Vinny and Angelina from Jersey Shore also call this secluded island of sorts home, where Mike The Situation was born, and it's also home base for fashionista Victoria from season 1 of Ex On The Beach, as well as the Wu-Tang Clan. And yet, it has long been forgotten by the bright lights of Manhattan and everything else in New York City.

Now, after seeing some of its natives go onto MTV Reality shows -- and following in the footsteps of other shows from parent company Viacom, Staten Island is now home to the latest new MTV series to generate a bit of controversy even before its first expanded look at the show and its cast were released. Ironically enough, the show has a link to another much-loved show on MTV's older sibling, and whose ancestors date back to one of the darkest eras in modern American history.

Tonight, MTV will welcome its viewers to this often overlooked part of the Big Apple, and offer a look at those breaking away from their past and who are Made In Staten Island.

DC SocialPulse: Ex On The Beach S2 - A Triple Invasion of The Exes

*** Advisory: DC SocialPulse contains adult language, objectionable content & spoilers for some readers. Viewer Discretion is Advised. Due to its length, take frequent eye breaks if you're reading this top to bottom. ***

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This second weekend of 2019 is now in its final hours, and we're glad you're wrapping it with us as we at DCBLOG now turn the attention to Season 2 of Ex On The Beach. And if things haven't reached a fever pitch more than a quarter of a way through, it sure has now in Malibu.

Last week, the mom of the house, Farrah, was not exempt from getting shafted as she went down to the Shack of Secrets and found her ex, Simon, waiting for her there... and almost as quickly as she can snap her fingers, she sent him home as victim of the season's first Cut or Crush elimination. It's not just Simon's entrance that had everyone buzzing: Murray's ex who those in the LGBT crowd got to watch on What Happens At The Abbey, Cory Z., invaded the beach and set his sights on breaking up a would-be romance with him and Cheyenne.

But with everything that's gone down in the first three episoes, it has nothing on what goes down this week: not one, not two, but THREE exes will invade seaside here in episode 4... two of them are familiar to us as they were on previous seasons of Are You The One? and one of them has become a Challenge force. Meanwhile, two Exes decide to gang up on try and take down one of the singles and their posse. And when the season's first getaway date brings a single & ex to a nice restaurant dinner, they have no idea a surprise will be waiting for them. And of course, there's some spooning.

After the jump, it's a Triple Invasion of The Exes on Ex On The Beach, plus two Bachelors go at it on Twitter, a Miami invasion for a few of the castmates, and the never ending drama of Paulie & Cara.
Thanks for staying with us here for the 'Pulse... dive in.