We are back on schedule and I’m back on time. This week I cover the five shows that are currently airing in primetime on MTV. At least the only five shows that are remotely interesting. There are shows such as My Super Sweet 16, Engaged and Underage, The X-Effect, and Nick Cannon Presents Short Circuitz that I won’t cover here. Mainly because these shows are predictable and not that interesting. Sure, they can be funny at times, but basically you have to see these shows to believe them. So anything I would have to say about them would be repetitive and pretty useless. It’s my column and it’s my executive decision. You won’t be missing much, though.
Have no fear, I still have LOTS to cover this week. As I said I will cover this week’s episodes Making the Band 4, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3, Reunited: The Real World Vegas, Rob & Big, and Wild N’ Out. In addition to all of that, I have special feature this week. It’s called “In Case You Missed It”, and it’s basically a short recap of the conclusion of The Real World: Denver and Road Rules: Viewer’s Revenge. I started reviewing these shows, but never finished the last few episodes. Those recaps are included as a bonus, “in case you missed it”. Time to get down to business…
The Real World: Denver
Episode 25 – “Make-Out Bandits”
The episode begins with the group coming back from their Outward Bound trip. They’re excited to be back home and finally be done with it. It looks like they’re excited to get the results of their labor by getting their trip.
Colie meanwhile fully admits to being lonely. She calls up Adam, one of her male friends in Denver and she flirts with him a bit. After a night of making out though, Colie feels like the relationship isn’t going anywhere.
The group finally gets their trip. They’re going to Thailand. They all seem to be excited about going on a trip to the beaches of Thailand, so they’re happy.
Later on, Colie begins to gravitate towards Alex. The two eventually hook-up later on and Colie doesn’t get attached much like Alex think she will.
Davis is getting a visit from his mother and his sister. Davis is at odds with his mother because his mother is having difficulty in accepting his homosexuality. His mother seems to be weary of the whole situation that Davis is living in, but the two seem to be getting closer.
That night, Davis decides to party it up on his birthday and stays out late. The same night, Colie meets up with her friend “hot Justin” and takes him back to the house. Although there’s question as whether or not it was intended to make Alex jealous, it just seems like Colie wants to hook up with someone, which she does: with “hot Justin”.
The next morning, Davis was supposed to meet his family for breakfast at 9am, but they show him passed out at the computer on the night before. He calls his mother at 11am and she expresses his disappointment in him. He takes them to the airport and the episode ends.
Episode 26 – “Welcome to Paradise”
The group arrives in Thailand. They arrive in the middle of the night and they’re a bit afraid of walking the streets of Thailand. Brooke calls her mom and tells her that she’s a bit worried for her safety. Twelve hours later, the group is having an amazing time in Bangkok. They are cruising the streets, finding deals, and experiencing the culture. Unforunately, tensions seem to build between Colie and the rest of the group. Stephen and Jenn seem to be getting along much more.
The group then goes to an island in Thailand, where they participate in what’s called the “Half Moon Festival.” They are led to a beautiful resort that looks like stuff out of exotic vacations. The group experiences the beach. Brooke and Davis are wading in the water. Brooke gets stung by an animal. Colie and Alex seem ecstatic to get chance to pee on her.
Later on, the group goes on a tour. Colie and Davis get drunk. The group is at a waterfall later on. Colie slips and falls, but no one cares because she’s drunk. Brooke falls on her tailbone and she begins to cry uncontrollably. Colie is annoyed she’s getting all the attention.
Later on, Alex and Colie seem to be at each other’s throats, throwing insults at each other. Colie meets up with a guy from Australia. She sleeps with him twice. The group leaves Thailand. They only have a week back in Denver.
Episode 27 – “Out with a Bang” (Season Finale)
The gang is back from Thailand and ready to go wild during their last week in the Rockies.
At a club, Jenn and Stephen have a heart-to-heart talk about their Real World experience and life in general. It looks like these two have come to realize just how much they enjoy one another’s company.
Meanwhile, Davis meets up with his new friend Josh out for a night on the town. When Davis and Josh wind up back at the house, Alex thinks the two are getting too friendly but says there’s no way Davis would ever cheat on his boyfriend, P.J.
Colie, however, thinks there’s a love connection in the making. When Josh and Davis hang out in her room, she gets Davis to admit he wants to hook up with Josh. After Davis leaves, Josh tells Colie that he’s made out with Davis before and is hoping for a repeat performance — and then some!
Looks like Josh is about to get his wish as Davis slips under the covers with him. Hoping to find out what’s going on, Colie and Jenn sneak into the room for a better view. And what they report back to the other Real World roommates is shocking. After all this time, with just one week left in the house, they never thought Davis would give in to temptation and cheat on P.J.
The next day, Davis is on the defensive and takes the standard approach to confrontation: denial! When Davis goes to call P.J., Stephen tries to stop him. Thinking Davis was too tipsy to remember what happened the night before, Stephen reminds Davis that he hooked up with Josh. But Davis denies it all, saying they only kissed.
Davis isn’t the only roomie getting busy, as Jenn and Stephen move from friends to flirtation to something else. After cuddling in bed, Stephen’s left confused about what exactly is going on between them. All Stephen knows is that he feels comfortable having deep conversations with Jenn. When Brooke straight up asks Stephen if things went beyond cuddling, Stephen nips the rumor in the bud. Looks like Davis isn’t the only one willing to deny what’s really going on!
Meanwhile, Davis’ bedroom romp comes back to bite him in the ass when P.J. calls from Argentina to tell him he read about it on someone’s MySpace page! After they hang up, Davis says he’s depressed and filled with regret over what happened and realizes that his actions might mean his relationship with P.J. is over.
Feeling alone, Davis breaks down while talking to Jenn, saying he has nobody left in his life. In an existential moment, Davis says he just wants to be straight and cast the “demons” out of him so he can be loved by God again.
Although Davis thinks his life would be easier if he were straight, he finally comes to terms with his sexuality because it makes him who he is. Vowing to do everything he can to win P.J. back, Davis continuously calls and emails him. When the two finally get in touch, P.J. asks Davis to stop drinking in order to prove his love. Davis is ecstatic that he’s been given a second chance.
On the other end of the spectrum, Jenn and Stephen continue to walk the line between flirtation and cheating. While partying at a club they admit they’d hit the sheets if they were both single. But their relationship status doesn’t seem to matter later that night when the two get cozy in bed. Feeling guilty the next morning, Jenn goes off to call her boyfriend while Stephen suits up and heads to church.
On their last night together, the roommates party hard one last time. And the next morning it’s time to say goodbye. Jenn and Tyrie are the first to leave, just like they arrived together on day one. In tears, the remaining Real World roommates say farewell one by one. Brooke’s the last to leave, and the Southern belle departs Denver in style via a limo. As she pulls away from the house, she pops some champagne and thanks Denver for changing her life.
Road Rules: Viewer’s Revenge
Episode 15 – “Vegas Circus”
The Pit was between David and none other than Dan. The two began their Pit and they played . David beat Dan because Dan eventually ran out of balls.
The RV is ecstatic to see David back on the RV, which may mean that he’s a part of the group now? The Roadies get their clue and they are told to go to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The group starts reading the bloggers and then they begin to discuss future impending Pits.
The group gets to Las Vegas and they learn that they are going to take part in Ka, the Cirque de Soleil show which plays at the MGM. They have to audition for the show as part of the mission. The cast practices a little tumbling. The cast goes to the Palms Hotel/Casino, which surprisingly, the Las Vegas cast just had vacated, to go party. David makes Derek and Tori promise that they won’t vote for him. No one knows what will happen.
Each element of the audition is worth 30 points. There are three phases of the audition. If they can get 75 points, they win. The first phase is makeup. The second is a climbing/strength course. The third is the pendulum. Kina makes a couple of jokes about the first phase, but it’s pretty cake for the cast. The whole cast beats the second part of the mission under five minutes. Derek, however, has issues when he pops his bicep muscle.
Derek decides to continue on because the stakes are so high. The pendulum is just a swing on the pendulum, catching a teammate, they doing something artistic. They eventually find out that they don’t pass with a weird scoring system. Susie and Tori get 14 points. Kina gets 11 points. Kina feels like she facing the Pit, but she still won’t volunteer.
Derek comes back with a torn bicep and he won’t get cleared until he gets a MRI. Tori immediately volunteers herself for the Pit. Tori says that David isn’t going, but she instead chooses Adam goes into the Pit. Adam makes it clear that it isn’t about performance, mentioning that David is the weakest male on the team.
They are both apprehensive about leaving the grand prize as this is the last Pit before the handsome reward mission. Adam calls David “a big dumb animal.” David laughs at Adam. Who will be the final team in the RV?
Episode 16 – “Viewers’ Revenge Finale” (Season Finale)
The episode starts out with the whole cast being called back to the Pit. Drew reveals that there’s a “major rules violation” that has been going on for the past couple of weeks. Apparently, David was feeding information to someone (presumably a website that has been posting spoilers a couple of days before each Pit) and he was kicked off almost immediately. The cast is stunned. Everyone is stunned.
The cast then is informed that Adam doesn’t have to compete. Tori is informed that she’s going up against Kristin. Dan and Shane will compete for the final spot in the RV. The Pit is this weird endurance challenge where the competitors have to stand on a pole on one foot. Tori easily beats Kristin. Dan beats Shane.
So, when the cast gets to their final mission/Pit Stop and they find out that there’s a twist. If the Roadies fail to win their mission, they will have to send two more castmembers to a final Pit. The mission is to transfer boxes from one side of a truck to to another truck connected by a platform. The cast has to throw the boxes in the first trailer. The Pit Crew goes first and although Ivory has problems, the group manages to get three boxes. The Roadies go next and all the girls drop their boxes on the first run. Derek and Adam get all their boxes in the trailer, but Dan drops his on his run.
The Roadies lose. They have to go to the Pit. Kina decides to step it up and volunteer herself for the Pit. The guys come down to Derek and Dan with Kina casting the tie-breaking vote for Dan. If Kina and Dan lose the Pit, they will lose the handsome reward. They randomly select Angel and Monte to face-off against these Challengers.
The final Elimination Pit is a memory Challenge. Monte easily beats Dan. Kina beats Angel to maintain her spot on the RV. Kina and Monte come back to the RV to collect their prize.
The final Road Rules team stands as: (with three original alumni remaining/Pit Crew returning)
Adam
Derek
Monte
Kina
Susie
Tori
The group of six see their cars, the Mazda 3. The group ends their trip on the same cliff in Malibu that it all started at. This new format of Road Rules was pretty much a failure. They should just bring back the original concept of the show or be done with it. It’s just no the same and the ratings proved it with this version.
MONDAY
Making the Band 4
Diddy is back and he is making another band! Last season he made an all-girl group called Danity Kane. Their album went straight to #1 for a number of weeks. The one thing that season had going for it was the hot women. Well now Diddy is turning the tables. Making the Band 4 is all about making an all-male R&B/Soul group. I will say this. I am extremely excited about this season, because that’s my favorite kind of music. I love R&B from male singers. Sure, the scenery won’t be as good, but at least the music should be.
This season Diddy gets help from a variety of people. The dream team is comprised of New Edition’s Michael Bivins, Grammy-winning producer Bryan Cox, R&B singer Joe, A&R manager Slam, and vocal coach Ankh Ra. Of course, you can’t forget Laurie Ann Gibson, the choreographer from past seasons. Pretty good lineup I must say. Lets see if Diddy makes these boys get him a sugar cookie or a cheesecake or something.
Diddy’s team goes to 7 cities for auditions. Those cities were Orlando, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington D.C., and New York City. Thousands of guys tried out, but only 58 were selected to move on to the semi-finals. That’s where Diddy comes in. He gets the axe out and cuts 38 people. Why? We have to have 20 guys for the TV show. So we are down to 20.
This is where the latest episode kicks off. Lets introduce the Top 20. We one of two white guys named Dan. He is 22 and from Boston and works at a DJ company or something. Julius is from Florida and he is a bag boy at a grocery store. Brian A. is 26 and from Texas. Michael is from somewhere. He’s also the biggest guy there. Qwanell a.k.a. “Q” is 18 and from New York. Donnie is 22 and from New York as well. He is the other white guy. He looks like a New Kid on the Block. Carlos is from Brooklyn and he is 24. He was homeless growing up. Chris is dancer before a singer. Dyshon, Jonathan, Willie, Brian H., Tyrice, Armando, DeAngelo, David, Robert, Lewis, Anzeo, and Maurice round out the cast but we don’t get any introductions from them right now.
Once everyone is settled into the house, it’s time to get down to business. It’s time to get in shape. Michael is very overweight and needs to lose it. Same for Dan a little bit, but he actually made an attempt at losing weight before the actual show started. But Michael really puts himself in a hole when Diddy learns that he only lost two pounds and he is having grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Laurie Ann then puts the guys through an intense workout. One that send Dyshon into the hospital for dehydration.
It’s time to practice dancing and singing now. Laurie Ann makes an impression with her blue one-piece tight/bikini outfit. But she puts them through hell dancing. Ankh Ra then gets the boys together in groups to sing various songs. He really wants them to feel the emotion behind the songs. You can just sing a song, but to sing it well you must feel the song. Dan and Chris do just that and succeed.
That’s about all that happens. I can’t really judge these guys yet as we only saw a handful of them. Maybe as we narrow things down, I can judge them. But for now it’s an entertaining show. That’s all you really need to know. Check it out!
TUESDAY
Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno 3
So everyone hates Care and Susie. Now finally Susie breaks down and cries about it. Why? Abram decided to jump out of the hot tub and tackle Susie into the swimming pool. He thought it would be funny, but Susie is hurt and upset over that. She cries like a little girl to Cara, who is her mother I guess. John and Abram tell her to get over it. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I must admit that Abram was just trying to lighten things up. He wasn’t trying to pick on her. But you know what, they have been playing everyone else so karma is a bitch!
Time for the next “team challenge”! It’s called “Nothin’ But Net”. There are two huge cargo nets. Each member of the team has to climb up one and grab this rope. They then swing across to another cargo net and grab a flag. They have to alternate between the two nets until they get four flags. Time stops then. If they fall, they will get 15 minutes total time. There is also a 15 minute time limit and the team with the lowest time wins. Tonya was puking all night, so she is unable to compete in this. Winner gets another free vacation!
Susie is ready to vomit herself at the thought of going back into the Inferno. John is up first and he falls into the water. Kenny does the same. Alton is able to do it, though, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. He does it in 2 minutes. Derrick goes next and he completes it. Ace does as well. But Aneesa whines the entire time is up there. She lets go of the rope on purpose, so she gets a DQ. Cara is going fast, which upsets Susie. But lucky for her, Cara “lets” go of the rope to get a DQ. Alton calls Cara shady. Janelle gets a DQ as well. Paula falls into the water and is out as well. Abram acts like a pirate and completes this. Then for some reason Paula actually helps Susie complete this mission and she ends up winning the lifeshield! So Paula pretty much sent herself into the Inferno. That stuns John and me too! Ev wins the lifeshield for her team! The best guy was Alton, of course.
Susie is in a pickle. She knows Cara sucks and Paula rocks, but doesn’t want to send in Cara since she is her best friend. Cara thinks she is so great and doesn’t deserve to go in. Everyone, except Cara, thinks Paula doesn’t deserve to go into the Inferno since she is actually good and Cara is evil on the “good” team. Sure, they are playing the game but do something first! Ev doesn’t step in, while Susie decides to put in Paula so it’s Aneesa vs. Paula. Now everyone is more pissed at Susie.
This challenge is called “Shimmy”. They have to shimmy up between two walls and get the flag at the top. I think Paula should win this with Aneesa’s bum knee. And Paula wins pretty easily. So hopefully she will take out Cara’s knee in the final competition. Aneesa is the last person to go home.
The finals are now set. It’s Derrick, Abram, Kenny, Tonya, Janelle, and Ev for the “Bad Asses” against Alton, John, Ace, Cara, Susie, and Paula. Yeah, I think the “Bad Asses” have a slight edge. Alton is tough, but Derrick and Abram are equally as tough. Plus, Cara and Susie are not with the other four. Susie wants to win money and doesn’t want everyone to hate her. HA! Derrick thinks they are going to win! Find out right here next week in the finale!
Rob & Big
We start off this episode with an appearance from Meaty’s “red rocket”. I can’t say much more than that, but you should know if you have a male dog. Good line from Big here. “Nasa, we have a problem!” Rob takes care of the rocket. Wait, that didn’t sound good. Anyways it’s back in.
Rob decides that he wants to enter a skate competition. It’s been 5 years or something like that. So he starts training with his friend, Steve Berra. The competition is in Tampa, Florida. So they head down there and here is something you don’t see every day. There is an alligator in the middle of the road. Rob gets the bright idea to jump over it with his skateboard. Steve and Rob do just that. They make Big Black and Bam Bam, another one of Rob’s fellow bodyguards, jump over the gator. The gator looks pissed, but it doesn’t bite at them or anything. The gator simply walks away. Must have been a trained gator!
Time for a little fun and games before the skate competition. Big Black wears a speedo and jumps around. Rob plays in the water and falls off of a tube. Actually that looked like a nasty fall as he flew off of this tube up in the air. That was pretty badass. Steve easily flips out himself. Rob and Steve then skate, while Black puts his hairpiece on an old guy. They then go play basketball on this mini court set up for little kids. That’s pretty funny actually and Black and Bam Bam just reach up and hammer it down on Rob and Steve!
Time for the Tampa Pro skate competition! Some dumb guys tries to jump off the balcony, but ends up slamming himself into this pole. Time for the professionals to start skating and it’s the usual stuff. Apparently Rob and Steve have a $5,000 bet. Whoever does the best, gets the money. Big Black cracks jokes about Rob while he skates. Steve goes and he keeps trying to go for big tricks, but keeps falling. Steve finishes in 35th place overall, while Rob takes 7th place. So Rob wins the bet easily! The winner of the entire competition is Eric Koston! Time to make it rain according to Rob & Big!
To finish this episode off, we have a naked guy doing a 540. Apparently it’s pretty famous. Rob says since this guy did his thing, he will make it rain! That means he does his LL Cool J impression and throws out the money to the crowd! Let the fighting begin! That’s pretty awesome, though. Some kids got a lot of singles!
WEDNESDAY
Reunited: The Real World Vegas
Frank has done nothing but hook up with random drunk girls the entire time he has been back to Las Vegas. A good line here from Frank. “If I never see you again, you have a great ass!” Trishelle and the girls want to find Frank a “nice girl”. In Las Vegas? Good luck! But that’s their mission. Brynn is started to dread motherhood, while living with all these single and childless people.
The gang do a casting call for The Real World 20. They interview various people hoping to get on the show. These people try to act wild and crazy and stand out. It’s good to see them call out on some of their b.s. The casting for the girls soon turns into finding Frank a girl. They found a few hotties that could be perfect for Frank. Frank doesn’t seemed too thrilled by the “Trishelle Dating Service”.
George Maloof, owner of the Palms Hotel and Casino, made the mistake of giving the roommates his cell phone number. Alton takes full advantage of that and asks George if they can stay in the Hugh Hefner “Playboy” Suite for a little while. George says okay. This suite is worth $40,000 a night. No other celebrity has stayed in it, so it’s a pretty big deal.
Meanwhile, Brynn and Austin are fighting about staying here. Why is he and the kids here anyways? Go home and wait for Brynn to come home. Time for Frank’s dates now. He has three for each course of dinner. First up is Areli, who is 23. Eh, she isn’t anything special. She is a teacher and a go-go dancer, though. Frank didn’t like. Next up is Steven’s choice for Frank. It’s Amy and she is 24. She likes to drink and party. They do Jager Bombs. Yowza! I like her the most as far as looks. Frank didn’t think she was hott, though. The last one is Miss Alaska. Her name is Blair and she is 25. Her hair is a little short for me, but she has a good personality. So I think Frank likes her. Wait..nevermind. Of course, he ends up blowing them all off.
Why? It’s time to go to Hugh Hefner suite. No time for romance right now. I don’t know about that choice, but he may have enough diseases already. Somehow the suite gets filled with random people in no time. Oh, Alton brought these people. WOW, that’s a lot of people. Brynn tells us that the “grass is always greener on the other side”. She wants to be free again, while Trishelle wants to have kids. Time to throw some people out now and the party is over! Frank goes home without anyone, but he does admit that he made a mistake of turning down all three of those girls. So sad! In the end, the roommates give Brynn and Austin the Hugh Hefner Suite for the night so they can “make another baby”! HA!
THURSDAY
Wild N’ Out
There has been a few episodes of this show already this season, but I won’t be recapping them. Let me just say some general thoughts on this season so far. For starters, Katt Williams is no longer on the show as a cast member. That means automatically that one of the top two guys on this show is gone. Katt Williams and Affion Crockett are the two funniest guys on this show. Nick Cannon is a solid third, but Katt is the greatest. Of course, Katt has gone on to bigger and better things. So good luck to him, but I will miss you buddy.
This week’s guest is Steve-O. He’s a real “jackass”. He’s not that funny to me either, but lets see how he actually does. He leads the black team, which consists of Spanky Hayes, Corey Holcomb, Mikey Day, Rob Hoffman, and Marques Ray Robinson. The red team is Nick Cannon along with Affion Crockett, Taran Killam, Leonard Robinson, DeRay Davis, and Shawty.
The first round is called “Got Props”. Team members will uses props to try and be funny. This wasn’t that funny as it became a big Jackass thing with Steve-O. I would give this round to the red team and the winner is Nick Cannon by default!
The second round is called “Strip Joker”. Team members try to tell some jokes. If they are funny, the opposite team captain has to strip a piece of clothing off. If they aren’t funny, their captain has to strip. Well it looks like all the jokes pretty much sucked. I guess I will give it to the black team and Steve-O is the winner by default.
The third round is called “Family Reunion”. This game is funny. They sing a song and introduce audience members as if they were members of their own family at their family reunion. I have to call this round a tie as everyone was pretty solid. No winners here.
The final round is “WildStyle”. Both teams freestyle rap against each other as you should know by now. I have to give this round to the red team and Nick Cannon as the winner. I also have to give the MVP award to Nick Cannon! Steve-O was alright, but he should stick to kicking his own ass. He wasn’t that funny, but his little rap at the end was decent.
And that ends the 42th volume of the “MTV Mix”! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or feedback of any kind..send them my way!!
I’ll see you next time when we mix things up a bit!
