#DCBLOG: The Moments That Get You Talking. Original Storytelling and Perspective. And So Much More Than That, Too. Join Us as We Go Inside MTV Reality and Whatever You're Passionate About. Like, Comment, Share, Subscribe & Join In at @DC408Dxtr Wherever Social Media's At. Part of DC Social Network.
*** 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. ***
Welcome back friends... we hope you got to enjoy your Mother's Day Sunday with your moms everywhere, and if you're a mom - we wish you a late, but better late than never, Mother's Day to all of you. On the competition front, we saw Manchester City hang on over Liverpool to win the Premier League and cap off an incredible week for English football, while on a Sunday of Game 7's in the NBA Playoffs, we're all still buzzing about Kwahi Leonard's buzzer-beater to send Toronto into a frenzy - the first walkoff in a series decider since "The Shot" by Michael Jordan 30 years ago.
As far as the fifth major pro sport is concerned, we are in the business stretch of a season of The Challenge that, thanks to it being shorter in length than Final Reckoning, has breezed by fairly quickly. And last we left War of the Worlds - earlier this weekend as we measure our time here, things began to get serious for the competitors as they encountered their toughest challenge yet, and the one that will usually tell us who has a serious chance at the cash: a endurance mission. The effects of that demanding task saw Turbo and Ninja & Dee get into a big argument and Hunter threaten to quit... but it's what happened in the preceding elimination that had everyone talking: Georgia beating Nany in a chair-based Killing Floor that had viewers crying foul.
But, there is one elimination that everyone loves and craves more than any other: players strapping on an American football helmet, crashing into each other inside a narrow hallway and trying to ring a bell located at the other side of the playing surface. That's what will go down this week for the season's penultimate trip into the Killing Floor, as one man will decide whether or not to risk it all in settling a feud spurred on by his power player girlfriend. Then, the competitors will board Challenge Airways -- with TJ Lavin as a pilot -- as they'll have to handle their worst fears for a plane ride like no other. And for a new rivalry that's affected three continents, a chance to right some wrongs as the players inch closer to the final - for which the week's top two competitors earn a bye to the final.
After the jump, "Final Destination" awaits the players left in the running for $1 million as we bring you Week 13 of War of the Worlds on this backtracked Challenge SocialPulse. And thanks for staying up for us tonight and wrapping up this amazing weekend with DCBLOG.
Good Sunday Funday, hope you got to enjoy this Mother's Day with everyone you love including the most important lady in your lives. We continue to catch up on matters relating to The Challenge: War of the Worlds as far as our signature Pulse diaries are concerned, and after the jump it's the interaction leading into Episode 13 of this season, with Hall Brawl and a host donning a pilot's uniform, which means we have some turbulence coming for the challengers left to dispute their claim to be in the final. Our view of the Quarterfinal comes up in just a bit -- that is, if you're still up, but until then, here's some in-between interaction leading into the week before last.
*** 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. ***
We have made it to Friday and Mother's Day weekend... and as decision day awaits a handful of NBA teams and both Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League after a most momentous week for English football in European action, things are getting into serious on The Challenge, as the British invasion of America's fifth major pro sport rolls along on War of the Worlds.
Please note that we've been delaying our episode social diaries for the sake of the section of our readership who prefer to watch the episodes later rather than live. But as we left things off at the end of what was Week 11, the players were getting used to playing for themselves and they went for a ride in the desert completing puzzles while sitting atop a moving car in the sand. Wes devised his latest plan to shake up the game as only he knows best, while Nany got to read out Cara Maria in heated verbal warfare, all ahead of the first female solo elimination.
In the end, Georgia was picked by the jury to go into the killing floor, and after she had a hand in taking down a big fish in the pond earlier on she will meet whoever gets chosen to go up in an elimination that, shall we say, will prove anything is possible even when you don't have the budget to see these ladies go one on one in the manner we expect. The players will then pair up once again for a demanding finals preview, where it's what happens there that will create surprise rivalries, cause one player to threaten to quit, and another to debate taking a big gamble.
Just ahead, DCBLOG brings you another Backtracked installment of The Challenge SocialPulse, as things get "Lost in Translation" in Africa. And, welcome to the weekend everyone...
Good evening... we're less than 24 hours from a new episode of The Challenge: War of the Worlds as things get down to the nitty gritty. As far as DCBLOG is concerned, we're not at THAT point in the season yet as, as is custom, we're falling behind a bit in timeliness of our episode coverage for the interest of our binge-worthy audience who prefer to watch the episodes later. The influx of episodes airing without definitive conclusions are the reason why we're dropping back our Pulse posts to after it airs... hence, we're at Episode 12, one week behind.
As for what we have here ahead, we'll delve into it at the end of this... but for now, enjoy the in-between interaction for Week 12 of War of the Worlds which we have specially compiled for you below after the jump. Also, we'll head to the Big Apple and join a well-known MTV podcast host as he gets to meet one of the biggest stars of reality TV's Monday guilty pleasure. Join us next.
On the same weekend that saw Ariana Grande headline Coachella, Game of Thrones premiere its final season and Tiger Woods return to glory at The Masters, the music world and social media began to buzz around the grapevine over the biggest pop star of our time teasing everyone about the end of the month. On April 13th on her website, Taylor Swift posted a countdown to midnight on April 26th, fueling speculation among her stans known as the Swifties about the possibility of releasing new music.
When the NFL Draft came to Nashville two weeks ago, as in previous years the event took place outdoors in commissioner Roger Goddell hearing it from the crowd in announcing the picks of round 1 on Thursday night and the NFL fandom coming together in the city's main entertainment district. Lower Broadway hosted the three days of the NFL Draft that saw Heisman winner Kyler Murphy be drafted 1st overall by Arizona and saw a record 40 trades go down, all in front of 600,000 people on site and 47.5 million TV viewers.
Brandon Urie w/ Taylor on "ME!"
As Broadway in Nashville is where the action is with live country music, honey tonks, shops, eateries and everything else of interest to locals and tourists alike, it was there that all was revealed for the next phase in Taylor's musical evolution from country star to full-fledged pop star. The day before round 1 of the Draft on April 25th, a mural of a butterfly painted by a local street artist was found by media both press and social wise, as Kelsey Montague added the words "ME!" to his composition in that trendy neighborhood. Taylor paid a visit to the mural on Draft Day, and revealed that it was part of the promotion of the lead single of her seventh album.
Shortly after Round 1 of the draft concluded, "ME!" was released both in its audio form to all digital music outlets and in its visual iteration when the music video premiered simultaneously. The bubblegum track also stars Panic! at the Disco's Brandon Urie, and as she told ABC/ESPN at the draft, Taylor saw the song as "embracing your individuality and really owning it... with a pop song, we have an ability to get a melody stuck in people's heads, and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves, not worse."
Despite critics being split on it, "ME!" shot to records on iTunes, Amazon Music and other music platforms both in America and overseas, while its Willie Wonka-themed video set new benchmarks on YouTube and Vevo. She and Brandon got to perform the track for the first time live at this past week's Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, though Beyonce fans claim she copied her iconic performance at Coachella from last year. But this does offer the ramp-up to the summertime release of her new album, whose title has not officially been released though it is hidden in the video.
Cam and Kayla.
It would seem somewhat strange to offer a link between Taylor and MTV Reality, but after Kayla from Season 1 of Are You The One? got to hang with the queen at her New Orleans tour stop last year while on break at her local news job, there is another link besides the world's biggest star right now and a show that marks its fifth anniversary this year and for which Season 8 is coming in the summer. This year's quest to find love in perfect matches and truth booths will be a gender-fluid season, meaning those from the LGBT community will appear on AYTO for the first time, just after Ex On The Beach welcomed its first gay castmates on Season 2, including Jozea from The Challenge.
Last year, we saw someone very much different from everyone else make his way to the AYTO abode in Cam Viney, an aspiring lawyer from West Virginia, who took a break from interning in our nation's capital to find love. He is black, who is a Republican and who supports our President... and while visiting the White House on one of his assignments in Washington, D.C., he got to meet Ivanka Trump. Before that, he was a track athlete at the University of Illinois who competed in the relays at both the national level and in the Big Ten Conference.
During AYTO's Season of Fate last year, Cam made his mark a couple times: he found love in the house and forged a lifelong friendship with cheerleader/dancer Kayla Umagat, and found himself in a big rivalry with Kwasi (the one who then went onto the YouTube reboot of Singled Out) that even turned into blows one night. But if everyone thought that he's conservative in everything he does, it was anything but when it came to the many times where the AYTO cast got to dance.
Well before he entered the Are You The One house and while she was recording the first inkling of her breaking out of that country shell in Red, Cam took to YouTube to do what a lot of people did back in the spring of 2012: ask Taylor if he can bring her to his high school prom. He got to perform a different version of "You Belong to Me" with his own customized lyrics, and got the junior and senior classes at his high school to ask that magic question.
And that's not all... when Cam was in Champagne, Illinois, he also asked Taylor the magic question again, this time at a formal on the Illinois campus. Eventually, these two tries in high school and college didn't work out, but it was worth a good try though, Cam... at least, you got to be on an MTV reality dating show.
As we bask in springtime in May and count down to summer starting in a matter of weeks, there is something that those who follow MTV Reality television is most looking for. In more than a month, the latest rebooted MTV series of years gone by will return to our screens when The Hills: New Beginnings takes its first baby steps on June 24th. But the countdown to the return of one of the channel's most iconic hits can be traced not just to the series two of its stars came from that debuted fifteen years ago this fall, but also all the way across the sunbelt to the west coast of Florida.
This winter and spring saw an eventful Season 2 of Siesta Key, a season that once again brought drama as red hot as the sunny, 100-heat heat of a Florida summer to our screens, as they channeled the Californian spirit of Laguna Beach and The Hills out east. As it was for Season 1, this sophomore season began with the birthday rager that turned this town into Fight City Beach South after the many bar brawls that went down up the road by the Floribama Shore, and ended with a dramatic breakup of the couple who started this summer as the king and queen of this kingdom south of Tampa Bay.
*** 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. ***
Welcome to the month of May and to this month's first Friday where a big sporting weekend is ahead of us. Fans of horse racing and those across America are heading to Big Easy's part of the world of Louisville for the annual gathering known as the Kentucky Derby, while fight fans and those who bleed Mexican red, white & green are en route for Las Vegas to see Canelo Alvarez face Daniel Jacobs on Cinco De Mayo weekend. And for fans of the beautiful game and those in Britain who are now getting to see what here in America have been seeing all winter & spring: Manchester City and Liverpool have their penultimate game of the 2018-19 Premier League season as they chase the title of champions of English football.
And as the NBA and NHL seasons are into their playoffs as well, things are also getting into the business end of the season on MTV's The Challenge: War of the Worlds, as we now bring you the Pulse of the most recent episodes. Don't adjust your sets... we took two weeks off from doing the Pulse posts for the reason that these recent episodes have cliffhangers at the end, and for the sake of the section of our viewing audience who prefer to binge the episodes instead of watching them live, we've tabled covering the action, reaction and interaction of the episodes to a few weeks after their airings, plus to allow our ExtraTime storytelling to take center stage in the time in between. So if you're just catching up, we've saved this seat for you to join us here.
When we did our last Pulse post for Episode 10 a few weeks back, the second half of the season began for the fourteen competitors who remained after Kam got her first elimination L in a regular Challenge elimination. That was when TJ Lavin dropped a Teej-bomb on them that the rest of the season would become an individual affair, and it didn't take long for the tempers to flare between the fiery one of the Young Bucks, Hunter, and the one everyone is stanning here, Turbo. They and the rest of the players went through hurricane-force winds for their first challenge where they have just themselves to watch out for, and trivia settled the first solo elimination when Bear finally succumbed in the first of what will sure be many seasons of him on American TV.
As things now get into the business of this being a solo game, Week 11 of this will see the two people who returned from three years away following them being on Rivals III, and will tell us if they have not lost a step of two. For the political mastermind who also has an adorable dog, it's the ginger man who unleashes his latest plan that will sure to shake up the players left in the desert. And for his partner of back in summer 2016, someone who we grew to love during her previous time on MTV will finally get to speak on behalf of the rest of the fandom and read out the strongest lady on paper going into here. And no Challenge would be without a challenge, as the players will pretend that they're going onto Game of Thrones, and compete a puzzle along the "Highway to Hell."
So, we welcome on in to the first of a couple (or perhaps, more) Backtracked installments of the DCBLOG Challenge SocialPulse, as we begin to play our way towards the $1 million final on War of the Worlds. And thanks for staying patient with us, but you'll be rewarded after the jump. But most importantly, welcome to the weekend...
Tonight on The Challenge: War of the Worlds, the result of the second straight cliffhanger to this season in two weeks (which is why DCBLOG's signature SocialPulse posts covering the social reaction to both last week's episode and the one before that have not posted on here as of yet - and have been replaced this week by these ExtraTime stories) will see Episode 13 begin with something that trumps any trivia contest, most every daily challenge and most finals in the past several seasons: Hall Brawl. Perhaps, the week-long anticipation of a feud that's divided Challenge stans everywhere and put the spotlight on one girl with red hair will go down on the floor in a matter of hours from now... maybe Cara Maria Sorbello's boyfriend Paulie Califiore could face her ex Kyle Christie this close to the final.
The sight of seeing players collide head-on in a tight hallway in a nighttime setting with spots in the game up for grabs is a quintessential Challenge elimination game, and it is the reason why I watch The Challenge nowadays after this very elimination took place during the rookie-laden Battle of the Seasons seven years ago, where one of its two combatants is the star of this post. But you'd be crazy if this blogger had to write about it here again, for which the post we are featuring the man who succumbed to the season's eventual champion that night is helping to spread something that is needed more than ever during times like these where negativity seems to be everywhere.
There is one day every year that those who fall in love, those who are in love and those who wish they were in love look forward to more than any of the 364 other days on the calendar: February 14th. The Valentine's Day holiday is classified as the Feast of Saint Valentine, the 3rd century Roman saint who was commemorated in Christianity on this date and during the High Middle Ages from the year 1000 to 1250 A.D., was associated with courtly love.
But in modern times, Valentine's Day is certainly much more than just a day to celebrate him, as it has emerged as a celebration in religious, cultural and commercial circles of romance, romantic love and everything related to hearts everywhere. When it was celebrated on that Thursday this past February, Americans sent over 200 million Valentine's Day cards -- hundreds of millions more among the school kids, and over $18 billion was spent on chocolates, roses, candy and all things related to love for its biggest holiday... ranking alongside Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter in the most popular holidays from an economic point of view. And of course, Valentine's Day was everywhere you went on social media as couples announced engagements and others posted pictures of their significant others on a day where love is on everyone's mind.
It was on Christmas morning last year that Real World Cancun alum and two-time Challenge competitor C.J. Koegel revealed on Instagram that he and girlfriend, fellow fitness model Bree Branker, that they got engaged thanks to his puppy asking the magic question on his behalf to her. And it came a few short months after he went out to Los Angeles to fulfill a prestigious item on his to-do list: go see The Ellen Degeneres Show, and got to dance in front of America once again with the show's in-house resident DJ Twitch.
The synopsis on Ellen's YouTube channel reads, "For 16 incredible, eventful and sometimes life-changing seasons, Ellen has been making audiences laugh all over the world with her signature brand of humor and her powerful message of kindness. There's nobody better at making you laugh and brightening your day. You never know what funny can do!" It's with that message in mind that, on Valentine's Day this year, C.J. decided to spread that message of love in a way that is uniquely New York and rings true during an intense time in our country.
In the video embedded below, he decided to brave the upper 30-degree cold of the Big Apple by donning a Cupid outfit and boxers with the name of his favorite daytime talk show host and helping to radiate Ellen's message of kindness and love all over a city that's tough on the outside but welcoming on the inside. As he goes to Central Park, Times Square, the city's coffee shops and subways and even sending hope to the city's homeless, the video's description reads, "Everyone deserves love and smiles, especially on Valentine's Day! Roaming around NYC handing out roses to everyone I felt would bring smiles to people's faces! Be kind to one another! Happy Valentine's Day!"
