It’s time for another one of my world-famous, at least infamous, DOUBLE-STUFFED editions of the “MTV Mix”. I was busy last week and therefore couldn’t put out a column. To make up for it this week, I will be covering two weeks worth of MTV action! That’s 9 shows to review total, including the FINAL Finale of one show! Plus, one of the flagship reality shows for MTV is returning this February! I have all of the news on that along with more this week. You can thank me later. Lets mix things up a bit!
Road Rules is returning next year. After a near three-year absence, this show is finally returning. There will be a new format for the show, where viewers can decide who gets kicked off the bus. In addition, the first return bus will feature former cast members! So this may become like The Challenge where former stars get on the bus in an interesting mix of people. I will have to see how this goes, but it sounds good to me. More news to come I’m sure. But for now, look for it to hit the air in February!
MONDAY
Made
Last week’s episode was about a girl named Katherine. She is 15 years old and is heavily into reading books, especially science fiction books. She is not very social. She can’t talk to people. She spends most of her time alone. She’s eccentric. She does have one friend named Rebecca, though. Yes, they are geeks. But Katherine wants to be more social and wants people to like her. Katherine wants to be made into “Ms. Ledyard Fair”. Ms. Ledyard Fair is awarded to the most beautiful girl in the town of Ledyard, Connecticut. It is the town’s pageant queen. She has a lot of work to do.
Her coach was Valeria Amaral. She has been winning pageants since she was 15. She is the current “Ms. Cambridge”. She has an interesting mission for Katherine to start off with. Valeria wants Katherine to hand out her favorite books to strangers around the town. She starts with a tatoo shop and she can’t communicate at all with them. It’s time to freshen up those social skills. She has to work on her body as well. On Day 19, she gets another coach. Valeria calls in some extra help named Leo Ninja. He is Katherine’s runway coach. He has taught multiple people to walk the runways like superstars. Yes, he’s a little out there himself.
In the middle of all of this coaching, we get a little romance. Actually, it’s a love triangle. Katherine likes a boy named Alex. He lives next door. The problem is that her best friend, Rebecca, likes him as well. It seems that he is more into Katherine, though, and we later find out that’s true as he becomes Katherine’s escort. This makes Rebecca sad, but this show is not about her.
In the end, Katherine is in the “Ms. Ledyard Fair” beauty pageant. She doesn’t win it, but she does get the “Ms. Congeniality” award as she is the nicest girl there and was voted so by the other girls. And she receives an amazing transformation in looks and wins the boy, so not a bad consolation prize.
This week’s episode is about a guy named Chris Fronzay, but you can call him “Fronzie”! He lives in Georgia and he plays in a death metal band. He’s 16 years old and he’s hardcore and rude and disgusting. He’s also very outgoing. He also doesn’t care what other people think about him. Some people think he looks like the “wolfman” and his ear lobes are stretched out. He’s also a little fat as well. The problem is that the only girls attracted to him are girls like him. He doesn’t want a girl like that. He wants a “pretty girl” and they don’t like him. That’s why Fronzie wants to be a male model! He also wants to get in shape and stop being thought of as a freak to most people. Of course, his friends all laugh at him. But what about the band? He says the band comes first, but we’ll see. As for his family, his parents and three sisters all laugh at him as well. They support him, but yes, he does have a lot of work to do.
His coach is Nole and you might know him as one of the judges on America’s Next Top Model on The CW. He’s been in that world for 15 years. One of the first things they do is try and take care of Fronzie’s skin. Next up is his weight. So Fronzie also gets a personal trainer named Troy, who whips this kid into shape. He weighs about 230 and he needs to lose 35 lbs. to be in shape. That’s not all, though. It’s time to put him on a diet. Fronzie gets a nutrionist named Krissie to help him with that. Too bad she met him at a Burger King.
Everything seems to be going pretty good. Well except for almost getting knocked out by his kickboxing personal trainer, Troy, for being late. Still Fronzie’s got the “model face” down and he even takes some pictures that Nole thinks are great. He’s even “picking up” pretty girls like Joi. However, things go downhill when he is doing a fashion show at The Buckle in the mall. He forgot he had to play with his band and he leaves the show to go be with the band. Nole is upset over that and threatens to quit this whole project. Fronzie goes to talk to Nole and tells him that he really wants to be a model. He feels bad for letting Nole down and it won’t happen again. As a punishment, Nole picks out some ridiculous clothes for Fronzie to wear for two days. That occurs during another performance with his band as well, which is pretty funny.
The biggest thing throughout this whole process was that Fronzie had surgery on his ears to fix the huge holes he had from the gauges that were in them. Fronzie is looking a bit better now and he’s hanging out with Joi more. However, in a model competition at the local mall, he doesn’t do that well. In fact, he is about the only one who doesn’t get picked to make the finals of the competition. Fronzie is worried about the final competition now.
It’s final contest time! He travels to New York City to prepare for it. He has to make this final fashion show. He goes through some serious pain as he gets rid of his body hair and gets styled over. Yep, he doesn’t look the same! In addition, he lost 30 lbs. in 6 weeks! Nole, Joi, his family, AND his band come to support him at the fashion show. The judges think about the decision and Fronzie makes the show!! He’s in a real fashion show and he does pretty well. Another successful transformation!
TUESDAY
True Life: I’m a Staten Island Girl AND I’m a Civilian Again
Last week’s episode was about three girls who all live in Staten Island, New York. Staten Island is made up of mainly Italian families and people from this island are known for their thick accents. Girls are tan and pretty. Guys are tan and full of muscles. It’s only a few minutes away from New York City, but it’s really like a world away. All of these girls think they need to move from Staten Island to get the fame they want.
Danielle is 21 and she wants to be an actress. But she feels that her accent is holding her back. I can see that as it does get quite annoying. Her family is colorful to say the least, especially her father. She eventually goes for auditions and has limited success. She doesn’t like that she has to work her way up to the top. At the end, she auditions for a role on a TV sitcom. It looks like a show on the new MY NETWORK TV channel, so it can’t be that good. She doesn’t get the role, though. She is going to college now and will move to Los Angeles, once she is done with college, to pursue an acting career.
Lauren is 22 and wants to work in public relations. However, she is in a lot of debt due to shopping and parking tickets. She wants the very best fashions and that takes money. She racks up $900 worth of parking tickets, and about $3,000 in credit card debt. She eventually gets a job in Manhattan as a cocktail waitress and is able to get most of her debt taken care of in one month, after getting serious about it. At the end, she also lands a job at a public relations firm.
Angela is 25 and just wants to date a Staten Island guy and settle down with him. The problem is that most Staten Island guys are jerks. They like to tan and work out and they know they are attractive. They have spiky hair and are full of muscles. She dates one guy named Anthony often, but that really goes nowhere as most Staten Island guys care only about themselves. Angela still won’t date any other type of guy, eventhough she has had no success with those types. She wants a Staten Island guy or nothing. At the end, which is two months later, she still doesn’t have a boyfriend and has no real prospects for one.
This was an okay episode. Nothing too serious or dramatic like two weeks ago which is a nice change of pace. However, this wasn’t memorable as a result. If you knew nothing about Staten Island, you probably could learn something from this episode. Other than that, it was forgettable.
This week’s episode is about 3 men who are returning from military duty in Iraq. They are civilians again and that usually provides problems for these men. Whether it be mental, physical, social, or a combination of all three, war has an affect on everyone involved. Even if you don’t die in war, returning to a normal life is almost unhead of. These are their stories.
First, we have Tim and Shannon, who are 22 and live in Virgina. Tim got married to Shannon and then a week later we went to Iraq. He is returning after 7 months. Oh, and they have a new 7-week-old baby that Tim has not seen yet. So Tim and Shannon have to adjust to being married, being new parents, AND him returning from war at the same time. They are new to everything. That doesn’t sound good at all. Tim wants to find a real job now. Shannon has noticed that Tim is acting different since he got back. He gets angry more easily now, especially at the baby. All of their money, which is very little, goes to the baby’s needs. Tim can’t find a job, so Shannon goes back to work. Shannon says that Tim has been a better dad than she thought. At the end, Tim gets a job at Home Depot as an “Assets Protection Person”. He catches shoplifters undercover basically. He wants to get a job at the local sheriff’s department. And as we end this show, they still live with Shannon’s parents until they can afford a home of their own. However, we don’t end his story here. In July of this year, President Bush approved the involuntary recall of 2500 marines. Tim is eligible to be re-deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq in 2007.
Next, we have Rion, who is 22 and lives in Maryland. He did two tours over in Iraq. He just got back 4 days ago. Before he went into the marines, he was always partying in high school and getting into trouble. He is also married. His wife had problems spending his money, so they are not talking right now. Rion is living with his father right now, but later basically becomes homeless. Now he has to find his own place and get a real job for the first time in his life. Rion has problems adjusting to civilian life, so he spends most of his time drinking and drinking and drinking. As result, he gets pretty violent and destructive. At the end, Rion got a job and an apartment with a roommate. However, he still drank alcohol into the wee hours of the night. He also plans to divorce his wife, but he may lose his apartment due to noise complaints. And his story doesn’t end there either. Like Tim, Rion is eligible to be re-deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq in 2007 as well.
Finally, we have William, who is 24 and lives in Tennessee. He got both of his legs blown off of his body after the jeep he was driving ran over a roadside bomb. Now he has artificial legs being installed, but most of the time he’s in a wheelchair. He wants to go back to school, but wants to be walking when he does. He is building a new home in Starkville, Mississippi. A little personal commentary here. Williams says Starkville is a great place to live and Mississippi State University is a great college. As an SEC guy, I know that Starkville is like the “armpit of America”. It’s pretty crappy. End of commentary. William just wants to be normal again and not be treated differently. The biggest thing that William misses is baseball. He used to play it and recently was an umpire. Now he can’t do that anymore and it depresses him. At the end, William is pursuing a degree in political science. He hopes to graduate in two years and work for the Veterans Administration.
This was a pretty interesting episode. We all know war is tough on everyone and it was great to finally see up-close and personal stories like these three. This episode was more memorable than last week’s for sure.
WEDNESDAY
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Last week, it was time for another breakup! If there is one thing you can count on from these shows, it’s breakup! Oh, and parties every week for some little reason to celebrate. This week Raquel and her boyfriend, Alex, are having some problems.
Alex talks to his friend, E.J., and now he wants to be single. He doesn’t want to be held down by one girl. He feels pressure from her or something. So he meets Raquel at the beach and they talk. Basically, they both agree they were acting like a married couple and Alex points the blame at Raquel. Raquel feels more for Alex than he does for her. But Raquel says she will change for him and things are left out in the open. I guess Alex gives her another chance for some reason. You can’t change people, they have to change themselves. So it could work, however, when you change you have to change for yourself. You can’t change yourself for someone else. That will never work.
Tessa and Raquel talk and Tessa is shocked that they are still together. Raquel is glad. I’m surprised how much Raquel reminds of someone I know. It’s really scary! Anyways, the word of the day this week is “gnarly”, which can be bad or good.
Time for the bonfire a.k.a. party this week! I have no idea what this is for. I guess they don’t need a reason to gather at the beach. Tell me something, why does everyone else think that Alex and Raquel broke up BEFORE they broke up? I mean EVERYONE from ALL sides! Chase is into the girls. Lexie seems to be already going after Alex or her friend is at least. Kyndra is all like “I hate the sand!” Raquel and Tessa come on over and this is an interesting mix of people. Cami is all like “I hate the smell of bonfire!” Meanwhile, Tessa and Derek seem weird together. At least Derek is weird around her with all of the other girls around. I told you Tessa!
You have to love the “walk and talk breakup on the sand”. Raquel is all wondering what is wrong with Alex? Alex says he is happy. But he doesn’t want to hurt Raquel. Raquel keeps forcing the issue and eventually Alex tells her that he’s done with her. I have to give the line of the night to Cameron. He sees Alex and Raquel breaking up over there and says to Tessa, “I think he’s telling her to kick rocks over there!” Wow, that doesn’t make sense until you think about it more. To make matters worse, though, after Alex breaks up with Raquel, he goes back and starts getting Lexie and her friend’s phone numbers! That has to hurt!
This week it’s the aftermath of the breakup from last week. Raquel and Tessa talk about it, while Alex and his friend, Stephen, discuss it. Tessa seems to be going through the same thing as Raquel as her new “boyfriend”, Derek, ignored her at the bonfire as well. Alex is happy about the breakup. He is ready to move on to Lexie. He calls Lexie’s friend, Rachel, and asks them if they want to go to Chase’s concert with them. Did I mention they did this all from a golf course? But of course.
Meanwhile, Cameron, Nick, and Derek play some weird game at the beach. Cameron and Nick tell Derek to not worry about Tessa. He doesn’t need a girlfriend right now anyways. Tessa and Raquel talk at lunch about that and look who comes to join them. It’s Chase. They tell him about their boyfriend issues. Chase tries to tell them the “guy side” of things. Somehow this includes something he calls the “three day rule”. Meaning that if he doesn’t talk to you in three days, then he doesn’t want to be with you or something. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. Not three days. Maybe like two days.
I should mention that Nick wants to move in on Raquel. He’s like a shark! He comes to pick up Raquel and Tessa for the concert. So this is not a party, per se, but close enough as it’s a big gathering of people. Tessa talks to Derek first and they have an awkward conversation. Derek does call the concert venue pretty “raging”, so bravo for him. Another awkward moment occurs when Alex and Stephen come to the party and they walk right behind Raquel, while she is talking to her friend Ben. No words spoken or anything. Alex goes in and talks to Breanna, who used to be friends with Raquel, as you should know. He seems proud that he broke up with her, and her facial expressions are gold! But then Alex sees Raquel talking to Nick. Just talking to him and Alex calls Raquel a “slut”. And says it so she can hear it outside. Raquel gets upset.
Raquel talks to Tessa the day after and Raquel says she misses Alex. Alex talks to his friends afterwards. He is more mad at Nick for taking Raquel out and not telling him. Wow, Alex just used a string of interesting words. First he says that Raquel told him once that Nick was “beat and ugly”. So Alex knows she was just trying to make him jealous. He then says that Nick was all “Silent Night” about not telling him about Raquel.
And we finish off things with Tessa coming to talk to Derek, so you should know what that means. Tessa tells him that she wants to be “with him or without him”. Nothing in between. She still likes him, though. He thinks it would be better if they were “just friends” right now. She says she is not hurt, but you can tell she is a little upset. And there goes another one. I must say that Alex is pretty stupid. How he can get mad at Raquel for going out with another guy, when he was doing the same thing in front of her at bonfire, is beyond me. They both are trying to make the other one jealous and all I know is that you don’t want to be the “rebound guy or girl” to either one of them. That’s not good at all.
Two-A-Days
I thought two weeks ago was the finale and it “officially” was. However, they aired another finale, the final finale on MTV.com. They decided to run that final finale last week on MTV. It’s all the stuff that happened AFTER the last football game on the field. It’s time to wrap up the off-the-field activities. Here’s a rundown.
Alex is having shoulder problems. That causes him to miss the baseball season this year. He really wants to play college baseball over football, but his options are open for any type of scholarship. Alex decides to go have surgery on his shoulder, which prevents him from playing baseball this year at Hoover. He hopes he still has scholarships left for him after that, though. And he does end up playing college baseball for Bevill State Junior College on scholarship. Somehow he is also still friends with Kristin and even more surprising is that he is still with Danielle, the freshman! Not many options at junor college, I suspect.
Kristin, Goose, Blair, and Brittany are all going to the University of Alabama for college. Kristin and Goose are friends right now, but who knows what the future holds for them. They are going to the same college. That probably means very little. Goose is just “one of the girls” and that’s never good. College is WAY more important than high school ever will be. And Blair is wrong about one thing. Yes, the “high school drama” is over, but the drama is not over! Not by a long shot. In fact, I think you have more drama after high school and even after college. Life just gets crazier!
Repete got recruited to be play college football at Alabama State University, but ended up going to Auburn University. He plans to “walk-on” to the team in the Fall of 2007.
Max and Anna are still together after she spent the year in college, while he was still in high school. They think they will last forever. However, Max is going to the University of Furman to play football. It’s a great academic school, so it should be easy for him to start there. And we eventually find out that he and Anna broke up later as I expected.
Ross is just a junior, so he will be back this year and next season of this show, I assume.
Other notable players and coaches:
– Cornelius went on to play wide receiver for Troy State University on scholarship.
– Coach Pruitt will be the defensive coordinator again for the Bucs this year and next season.
– Coach Propst entered this season as the head coach with the most Alabama State titles by a head coach in 6A football history. He hopes to win another one this year and the next season of this show.
See you next season!!
THURSDAY
Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Duel
Last week, we picked up where we left off last time. Tina just “punched” Beth and she has to go home as a result. I guess she did end up punching her kinda hard. Bravo for Tina! Now someone just needs to punch her! HA! Most everyone else thinks she was stupid for costing herself all of that money, but Tina says it was worth it! Since Tina went home, there will be no duel for the girls! The other girls are happy about that.
Time for the next challenge! It was called “Pass With Care”. It’s a “Male Duel Day” again as I said. Each man gets partnered up with a female. They have to race across a rope bridge with missing boards on it. Each team member has to touch this red plank in the middle and then pass each other to go to the other side. Fastest time is the winner for that team! The guy is safe from “The Duel”, but the girl gets a nice projector as a prize.
The teams are Beth and Kenny going first, followed by Kina and Derrick, Aneesa and Nehemiah, Svetlana and Wes, Jodi and Evan, Robin and Eric, Diem and CT, Casey and Brad, and Paula and Tyler. Beth takes a tumble to start us off right as everyone celebrates! HAHA! This challenge is harder than it looks. You can’t touch anything to keep your balance which is tough. Eric takes a nasty fall as he falls through the bridge but hangs on. As a result, Robin goes flying into the air and into the water! WOW! In fact, no team completes this challenge. They all fall. However, Diem and CT did the best as Diem actually made it across. CT had to go and screw up things on his way to the finish line, though.
But we are not done yet. There will be another round and another try and this time they can use their hands! Basically, it’s a crawling race for each team. Eric was the first one to actually run across this thing and it actually worked! They should win, but they only come in second. Evan and Jodi win somehow!
Time to pick now! Evan picks Beth first. Beth picks Nehemiah. Nehemiah has Aneesa. Aneesa gets Wes. Wes goes with Robin. Robin picks Eric. Eric goes with Jodi. Jodi saves Brad. Brad picks Diem. Diem saves CT. CT goes with Kina. Kina picks Derrick. We are down to five left. It’s Casey and Kenny and the “Key Westers” of Svetlana, Paula, and Tyler. Derrick makes Casey choose who goes into “The Duel”. She picks Kenny, which puts Tyler back into “The Duel”. Tyler ends up picking the “biggest and baddest man on the block” as he says. He picks Derrick to surprise everyone again! Suicide mission!
TJ brings out the deck of cards and Tyler picks “Ascender”. The rules of this elimination game is that they have to climb up a rope and swing across some monkey bars to release a basket that has puzzle pieces in it. They have to come back the same way and then put together the puzzle for the win! Interesting mix here as it could be anyone’s race. Winner gets a X-Box 360! Badass! Derrick is quick up the rope and starts the puzzle first. Both end up having problems finishing the puzzle. Derrick finishes first! And is it just me or does it seem like Derrick and Kina are together now? What happened to Randy? Anyways Tyler is going home!
Aneesa doesn’t like Beth. Derrick doesn’t like Beth and talks trash to her. Beth laughs it off, but Derrick promises something bad will happen to Beth eventually because of the way she acts. That’s not a threat, though. That’s just “real talk”. That ends that episode.
This week we start off with Derek telling Casey that she, Paula, and Svetlana are the targets for the girls. They all know that since they are the “newbies”. Meanwhile, Aneesa complains about how people backstab each other on this game. They are friends one day and then turn on each other the next.
Time for the next challenge! It is called “Roller Derby”. It’s a “Female Duel Day”. TJ promises this to be the “most brutal challenge ever”! There will be a 10 Lap Race. There will be 2 four-man heats for the guys and 3 three-woman heats for the girls. There will then be one championship round for the guys and the girls. The guy that wins this challenge gets a 2006 BMW Motorcycle. WOW! That’s a prize and this is going to be vicious! The girl that wins is safe. The players roll around the rink and they try to push the others out of the rink by pushing them over the rails in the “action zones” on the straight-a-ways.
The first male heat is Evan vs. Brad vs. Wes vs. Kenny. Kenny gets eliminated first, because he touched the railing outside of the “action zones”. That’s against the rules. Wes is eliminated next as he gets thrown off the track and is down for more than 3 seconds, which is another way to get eliminated. Final lap time and Evan is in the lead. Brad is right behind and he beats Evan at the end!
The second male heat is Nehemiah vs. Derrick vs. Eric vs. CT. They just all tackle each other. And Eric and Nehemiah get eliminated as they are down for more than 3 seconds. Same for Derrick and CT wins that heat.
Time for the first female heat. It’s Beth vs. Diem vs. Jodi. Diem quickly falls out of bounds. Beth plays it clean and Jodi laps her around the track. She easily wins.
The second female heat is Casey vs. Aneesa vs. Paula. Aneesa tackles Paula and she is down for three seconds. Aneesa tries to throw Casey over the railings, but Casey fights back and Aneesa is out because she held onto the railings. Paula is mad at Aneesa and Aneesa says she is sorry. Sure, sure.
The third female heat is Robin vs. Kina vs. Svetlana. Robin slips and falls and one of her skates gets busted. So she takes it off and pushes herself along. She hangs onto the railings, though, and she is out! Svetlana then finishes ahead of Kina.
The final male heat is Brad vs. CT. CT tries to throw Brad over the railings multiple times, but Brad hangs on for dear life. Brad tackles CT at the end and then finishes the race off. Brad wins the bike!
The final female heat is Jodi vs. Casey vs. Svetlana. Casey says that she and Svetlana could take out Jodi, but they want a fair game. Everyone skates along and it’s the final lap. And, of course, Jodi wins again! She is safe!
Time to pick now! Jodi picks Evan first. Evan picks Robin. Robin has Brad. Brad gets Kina. Kina goes with Derrick, of course. Derrick picks Diem. Diem goes with Wes. Wes saves Aneesa. Aneesa picks Nehemiah. Nehemiah saves Beth. Beth goes with Kenny. Kenny picks Casey. We are down to four left. It’s Eric and CT and the “Key Westers” of Svetlana and Paula. Casey makes Eric choose who goes into “The Duel”. He picks Svetlana, because that’s what Paula wants. So Paula goes into “The Duel”. She picks Aneesa to face her, because of the tackle! HA!
TJ brings out the deck of cards and Paula picks “Pole Wrestle”. Before “The Duel”, Aneesa blows up and says she trusts no one, but wants the game to be as fair as it can be. The rules of this elimination game is both players start on their knees and they try to wrestle the pole out of the other player’s hands. Whoever lets go first is the loser and goes home! Svetlana thinks that Paula will win because she is strong! They grab the pole and it’s a fight. Aneesa throws Paula around like a rag doll. After 8 grueling minutes, Aneesa yanks the pole from Paula’s hands. Paula is going home! Svetlana is the only “Key Wester” left. Can she do what Wes did in the last challenge and survive until the end? We’ll see!
And that ends the 17th 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 week when we mix things up a bit!
