Going…
Going…
Groin!
The episode opens with voices of high drama and pathos over footage of the finalists falling down some mountain in Iceland. And husky dogs! Points for spoiler-preventing snow suits and the additional torture of cold weather. And then… TJ Lavin! What a letdown. Thankfully, he cuts right to the chase. Welcome to the Dominican Republic: 26 famewhores who stopped being polite and started getting frisky will be partnered with their exes for the duration of the game. The couples and my snap judgments are as follows.
Ty & Emily: Team Mutual Disgust
Tyrie & Jasmine: Team Business Associates.
Jasmine questions why she didn’t think to make out with CT or Dunbar.
Reunited and it feels like a kidney stone.
Leroy & Naomi: Team Unfinished Stalker Business
Abram & Cara Maria: Team Weirdo
Aneesa & Rachel: Team U-Haul
Johnny & Camila: Team Circumstances Have Changed
CT & Diem: Team The Editors Love Us, so viewers will be subjected to endless footage, as they have in previous seasons.
AKA Team Two-Mouthed Monster
Dunbar & Paula: Team Just Shut Up. Paula seems to be trying too hard.
Dustin & Heather: Team Pornstar Cuties
Wes & Mandi: Team Kiss the Paycheck
Mark & Robin: Team Robin is a Dumbass for breaking up with Ol’ MethuselAbs
Nate & Priscilla: Team Noob
Vinny & Sarah: Team Regret
First place is $150K, second is $100K, third is $40K and a year’s supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat. Each week, the winners of the challenge will become the Power Couple, and they alone will get to choose another couple to go to The Dome with the challenge losers, where they will all get set on fire or something. The losers in this faceoff go home. So no ganging up, but lots of kissing ass.
Mansion. Yelling and chest-beating. Paula wishes she were a virgin. Photos of the exes in various stages of undress and compromise adorn the living room. People dig into their suitcases. Hey, it’s CT and Diem! Did you know he totally helped her not feel like damaged goods when she was recovering from ovarian cancer? I actually saw most of that season, and I’m sorry to report, I tuned in especially to watch that slobberfest unfold. I’m a sucker for Dickhead Redemption with Hurt Chick, what can I say?
I’m glad you’re better, but it was still cooler when Dr. Kimberly Shaw did it.
But I’m mad at them now, for repeating themselves throughout this episode and generally being sanctimonious about how the other one wrecked their relationship when it’s obvious that (a) they were both wrong and (b) something will happen between them this season or they wouldn’t be all in our faces right now. So I already feel manipulated. Shut up, CT & Diem.
Grandpa Mark announces they’ve got a message from TJ on their product-placed phone and holds said phone aloft, at which point he gets pelted with pillows. The entire rest of the cast is sitting in one shot/place, and I just wonder how many takes that took. He turns his ass to them, which I am guessing is as wonderfully sculpted as his abs, and wiggles it some as the pillows and whatnot bounce off it. Tomorrow will be sticky, he says.
And it’s Speedo time!
And just when we’d forgotten he’s a 90s relic, he punctuates it with a “Whaaat?!” And then he does this thing – I’m going to call it the magic cummerbund dance. I think it’s to highlight his (admittedly great) abs, but I don’t know. I am not hip. I am approaching his age.
Naomi wants to be killed in her sleep rather than go to the next day’s challenge. Several noobs chat on some bunk beds about how Paula or Johnny should be sent to The Dome. As if the challenge loser gets picked out of a hat or something.
Speedo morning. Everyone wears color coordinated t-shirts with their names across the boobs. And also black shorts with their names on their asses! Er, thanks producers. I’d hate to get these people confused.
Challenge: Two beams are suspended above the water in classic Challenge style. Competitors walk across the beams to bathtubs full of honey, coat themselves in said honey, walk back across the beams, and have their partners scrape/scoop/slough the sweaty honey into a bucket.

The least honeyed bucket loses. Top two couples honey-off for Power Couple status. Gasping and groaning ensues on the ground.
TJ gives them time to “strategize.” Their strategies are about as complex as you would expect. More worrying.
Hazy with a chance of moisture
Dustin & Heather vs Dunbar & Paula: Paula aptly describes Dunbar as a creature coming out of a swamp. Ty comments that Dustin and Heather are fearsome. They’re like the Wu-Tang Clan of rookies. Dustin and Heather are handily victorious. Paula is worried.
At this point I realize it’s 2 parts honey and 5 parts baby oil.
Aneesa & Rachel vs Abs and Robin: Who wouldn’t want to rub honey all over Mark? Robin asks. A few Gasmii wouldn’t. Sadly, I am not among them. Team Older than Dirt but Built of Bricks takes it, before the time limit, even. But we are really all winners this round, for not having to hear Aneesa and Rachel argue.
Tyrie & Jasmine vs Wes & Mandi: Tyrie and Jasmine win by a wee bit.
Abram & Cara Maria vs Leroy & Naomi: Normally Naomi would like getting the free feel, but this is all too stressful. Abram’s crazy ass is pissed that they got stopped before they got to fill the bucket, even though his team won.
Johnny & Camila vs Ty & Emily:
And the slipping really begins
Johnny & Camila win. Paula frets about her spot in Suck Place.
CT & Diem vs Nate & Priscilla: I appreciate the extra shots of Nate “warming up” and genuinely acting like a wad beforehand.
Who’s got one finger and no clue? This guy!
Serious slipping on both sides. CT actually wins my respect here, for his “catlike reflexes” at least, when his feet go out from under him and he grabs the beam and gets right back up. That actually was awesome.
CT is thisclose to joining Nate in the water
Nate does dismally, and Paula loves him for it, as her day is now saved by his failure. I counted at least five Nate falls, the most painful-looking of which appears at the beginning of the recap.
Vinny & Sarah vs Nobody: Priscilla prays for Vinny and Sarah to wipe out, which is futile, because despite Vinny’s being built like a regular person who just watches TV and isn’t on it, they fill their bucket to the top without any major errors.
Power Couple Finals: Both Johnny & Camila and Mark & Robin filled their buckets before the time limit, so they go heads to heads.
I’m a priceless antique tool!
There is running across the beams, and again, I’m impressed, until Johnny bitches about the hair on his legs being pulled. It’s worth it, though, as he and Camila win Power Couple. He celebrates by pouring the honey bucket over Robin’s head like a cooler of Gatorade, while Mark rolls around in the honey tub at the other end of the beam and considers using honey as a glistening agent in his next competitive body-building event.
Now, if the honey is not liberally cut with baby oil, motor oil, Smart Balance, Lemon Palmolive, or some combination thereof, I’m thinking they have showers and soap off-camera, because the couples are getting awfully clean awfully quick, and none of the girls are complaining about their hair. I have to assume that jumping into the water without any kind of surfactant would just make them wet and sticky. But I’ve never swum in the Dominican Republic. Maybe their water is special. Or maybe these people are just really, really slippery.
Back at the house, Johnny reminds Dustin & Heather that their noob status makes them vulnerable. Wes opts for another tactic and starts yapping at Camila as if she were not the winner. CT tattles to Johnny, who gets het up. I’m not going to try to parse their conversation, because it wouldn’t make sense anyway. Wes cuts Camila off several times, and she calls him on it, which is awesome. Johnny & Camila give up and leave the room. Wes pretends to be sad about having shot off his mouth.

But really, the crazyass, nastyass Honey Badger doesn’t give a shit.
Jasmine and Naomi blow smoke up Diem’s ass about her former coupling with CT and now The Notebook-ey and romantic it was. I feel like this is the complete opposite of what they should be doing. In part because it gives her the opportunity to plug her burgeoning career, you know, the one that was more important than CT. She wants to have a company that helps patients. I should give her the benefit of the doubt here and assume she meant to say “nonprofit association” because sweetie, if you want to stay in business, you need to sell something, and if your target audience is people with – I assume, cancer, or maybe any devastating illness, and you want to help them, it’s usually done by giving them stuff for free. Oh, and dozens of charities are already kind of doing that. But why throw your lot in with them and make it not All About You?
I’m sure she’s great and all, but it’s like the editors want her to get on my nerves.
Hey, remember when CT hooked up with Shauvon and they came back giggling and pulling their clothes on and picking their wedgies out? Did we know about this already, ‘cause I feel like we did. CT conveniently appears on the balcony in the next shot, which conveniently segues into his telling his side of the story, and it’s a bad sign that I’m already way bored with this relationship.
TJ’s back! Bananas and Chiquita sit on wicker thrones at the head of the room. Who gets Domed? It’s Wes and Mandi!
Team Pornstar is saved… for now!
Nate’s gonna go focus. Snerk. Priscilla doesn’t think he’s taking it seriously, probably because he’s spending so much energy mugging for the camera. He fails to put her at ease, but she lets him off the hook anyway.
The Dome. The game of the night is “X Knocks the Spot.” There’s a spinning X with a high bar and a low bar. The competitors stand on boxes and the bars come at them, and they jump over, duck under, and repeat until exhausted and/or humiliated.
The padding is really a misdirect. No one gets hit in any meaningful way.
“I feel like a Care Bear can take that blonde,” says Priss of Mandi. Would that it were true, but of course comments like that are never true on this sort of show.
The X spins, and the competitors jump and duck.
This is how you get really tired really quick
Priss expends all her energy jumping up with both feet, while the others just sort of lift one foot and skip over the bar, and eventually Priss is the first one to lose her footing and fall to the ground.
So it’s Wes and Mandi vs Nate and his color-blocked boxers and his burning quads and his falling pants. Wes can’t tell if Nate’s tired, since he started the challenge with his face red. He is, and he falls near the half-hour mark. Wes spouts some garbage about the Dome experience making him and Mandi stronger and scarier.
Now if I were Nate, I would be thinking about a regular job or maybe some college. But no, he guarantees us that we’ll see a different Nate “next time.” This crap must really pay well.
Guess what happens next? Team All About Us has a useless, pointless conversation about how they have to learn to communicate. Why is Diem wearing half a pregnancy shirt? They make each other mad and go to their separate corners, where they sit and look angsty and we fade to credits.
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47 Comments
I am probably the only one, but I am completely annoyed that Team Pornstar are not broken up and basically never were (certainly not during the time they were on this show), and that Diem seems to have no issue with the fact that CT was a scary dude who kind of tried to kill someone. It’s fine if she wants to say she understands why he was upset and overreacted and all of that, but it’s like that incident was no big deal to her and that kind of freaks me out. That is all.
Diem has never been likeable to me. She looks amazing bodywise but witchy in the face.
@Claire – I agree with you. My son, who is woeful underinformed about things as important as Real World/ Road Rules/ Challenges, met CT once. CT bought him a drink and was a really nice, down-to-earth guy, in his opinion. I think Diem is a user and a pity party Master of Ceremonies.
@CathodeTube – shame on you posting that pic of Mark – don’t you now old broads like me have weak hearts and bladders???
Is it wrong to say how much I like this show? It is sort of like Jersey Shore, they both make me feel smarter and happy to have a normal job.
Why are some of these people on this show? They were never in a relationship so therefore and not exes. If having a one night stand with someone counts as a relationship, there are so many other ‘couples’ that they should have brought back.
I can understand why they didn’t have problems cleaning off the honey, they just had to jump in the water and it would dissolve off (the water temp is around 80).
I wish Wes had been paired up the Kelly Ann instead of Meh-Mandy. If red Nate and Boobscilla count as exes after making out for 10 seconds, why not Mr. Beautiful (I concur!) and Johanna as a team, if only to aggravate Wes.
Oh, and I like Team Pornstar. I think Dustin is an interesting headcase. How many Pentecostal former gay porn actors are we going to have a chance to see on this show? I think his Real World storyline became so focused on the porn thing, when there is so much back story leading up to that – the severely bi-polar mom, ultra-conservative religious upbringing, and pimp father-figure. The way his story played out on RW – I felt so sad for him, he seemed like such a lost soul. Looking forward to seeing how he and Teacup do on the Challenge.
Is Dustin gay?
He says he’s not gay. From what cable television documentaries tell me about gay porn, there are lots(?) of straight guys in gay porn because it pays much better. Here’s salt, have a grain…
Thanks @ Bellicose. Confusing because I thought men who had sex with men were gay? Regardless anybody who has sex for a paycheck is a whore or has that been redefined as well???
Ok, I have not watched any of these Challenges in a while, but thanks for that picture of Mark…OMG, I hope hubby’s body is still that sick after he gets out of the NAVY!!
I am really sick of seeing Wes on these Challanges. That must be why I don’t really watch them anymore…Oh wait, the barfing, yeah, that turned me off as well. I will admit that Abe is looking a bit, uh, healthier these days. He must have given up the juice. Is CM the only chick that Abe hooked up with? Cause she seems, um…hmmm…uh, not like someone he would go for?…IDK there! Also what ever happened to Derek? You know drunk Derek, he was always my favorite! I don’t know why, maybe because he was always so quiet, but once the booze started flowing he went all crazy!
This challenge seems so tame, yes, I know it was only the first epi, but you got 2 douches and cray cray Rachel…come on, spice it up. Give me some Katie and Veronica or something
@considerthis – What’s that old saying “judge not, lest ye be judged”?
A little foreberance for a confused kid and his poor choices. The shame he carried around is punishment enough (from what I gleaned from his RW interviews).
And, man, I think back to my college days and the things I did for FREE…
Obviously KA would’ve been the better choice for Ginger dbag Wes, but Awful Stanky Ass Mandi is more memorable. I hate that bitch but this is what we are working with. At least there are strong teams. Nate was fucked bc he thought he could get fucked up the night before.
Did anyone else notice that “The Dome” is a ripoff of the Thunderdome from Mad Max 3? I kept expecting the others to climb the sides to watch the battle and start chanting “Two men enter! One man leaves!”
Anyone? Please tell me someone else watches terrible 80s movies…
I also felt like the teams that went last got the shaft bc the beam was so slippery.
I don’t think Zito’s is gay. From what I understand (US Weekly article), Teacup and Zito are an official couple.
Do Tyree and Jasmine really have a business or is their business winning 1st??
Cathode – great recap. Thanks for bringing the humor and the snark. Loooove the Melrose Place reference.
I am glad someone else besides us noticed how red Nate is 24/7.
Wes is so awful but he is entertaining. He stirs up drama and is usually wrong. Perfect Challenge material.
CT and Diem story.
CT and Diem were broken up. CT’s brother was killed in a barfight. Diem, living in CA, (and CT in Boston) made plans to be there at the funeral. CT got thru the week til the day Diem was supposed to fly in, and she sent him a text saying she messed up the times and wasn’t coming afterall.
The next time they were on a Challenge together, the first night, CT (supposedly) did the nasty with Shivon, and Adam told Diem about it. CT got pissed, punched Adam in the chisled jaw and got thrown off the challenge toot sweet.
No judgement just confused by Dustin. I think you have to admit the dude sends many mixed signals. If he wants to get paid to have sex on film with men – GO FOR IT! He decisions not mine.
Only looking for clarifications not confrontations.
Peace
The thing Mark did after hearing the clue was the thing aaron Rogers, the QB for Green Bay, does after touch downs. Probably more well known as the “discount double check” in that commercial
@considerthis – amen. Haha, and after I hit submit I had to laugh at myself for writing the “judge not” thing (although I meant it jokingly). If I didn’t want to judge, I wouldn’t be commenting on tvgasm ; )
Remember when Paula said she was only doing these until she won one, then won Rivals?
………oh hey Paula.
Thanks Plockeness! Glad to see a fellow Melrose fan!
Tyree and Jasmine aren’t actually in business together, it’s just something he said at the beginning, relating to getting the prize money.
Thanks everyone for the fandom and knowledge! I’m learning a lot of background info I didn’t have before. I’m actually glad to have something to credit Dustin for besides pornstardom.
And if Mark keeps flexing, I’ll keep posting…
@thisbugs…. I’m pretty sure Abe and Coral had a relationship for some time, but I’m pretty sure no amount of money is getting her back on the challenges. CM and Abe were a pretty solid couple off screen for a while so at least they are legitimate exes. I wish they brought on Danny and Melinda, but I have to imagine they tried and failed to get them to appear together. And I totally agree they should have brought kellyann over mandy. Kellyann is such a fame whore I have a hard time seeing her turn down an offer.
It seems like all of the good possible contestants turned down this show. Johanna or KellyAnn would have been amazing as Wes’ partner but neither one of them wanted to do this show. I was watching an old episode of The Island and it was hilarious watching KellyAnn fight back against Johnny. Mandi just sits there when he talks. She is so boring.
I did some counting and over half of the people on this challenge were on the previous challenge (Rivals). That says a lot considering two teams where people who had never done a challenge before. The term “exes” is used very loosely considering production didn’t have many real exes to work with. CT and Diem are the only pair who dated for a long time outside the show. Even though I’m sick of them and never thought they were a cute couple to being with, we’ll be seeing a lot of them this season.
@LadyStardust: I couldn’t leave you hangin. No, you’re alone! I try to incorporate “Raggety Man” into everyday speak as much as possible. Tina was on FIRE back then.
You’re *not* alone. I curse thee auto-zoomed text box.
@JudgyWudgy- Lol, yes she did, but I think Paula may have dual personalities.
I believe the Paula that you were speaking of is “ugly crier” Paula.
This one might be “pretty crier” Paula. Only time and alcohol will tell.
I think it’s funny that MTV didn’t feel it could count solely on alcohol and poor judgment to get the couples to hump one out for the cameras. First challenge: use your hands to squeegee honey off your partner. That’s smoove, MTV.
I also read in Us Weekly that Teacup and Zito are now living together. This cannot end up any way but horribly. They need to throw some Jersey Shore and Teen Mom kids into the mix of Challenges!!
I saw that too, Sardini. I feel like they are one of those couples that will get together, break up, get together, break up…you get the picture.
I just think that Zito has a lot of baggage. Remember when he would get angry on his RW season and get all worked up and ghetto? I don’t think his issues will go away being on reality TV and doing challenges. Teacup doesn’t seem like a match for any of that. Maybe we can hook him up with CT’s girlfriend.
Lisa, Mark and Robin were a couple for a long time. They’re just older than all the rest and able to deal with it better.
I actually liked Mark and Robin as a couple. Remember when Jody hooked up with Mark for 5 minutes and then was crying over him…and Robin bit the bullet and comforted her?
@Judgy-Wudgy: Wes also said at one time that he would never do a challange again. I remember, because I jumped up and down for joy when he said it.
I am really rooting for C.T. (only because Mr. Beautiful is not on this challenge), but Diem is just ANNOYING!!
FYI. Mark’s “magic cummerbund dance” is better known as the “discount double check.”
I actually don’t think Teacup and Zito were ever broken up, except that short time they were on the RW. I am pathetic enough that I’ve seen they’ve posted tons of videos of them together ever since they got off the show and they seem pretty uninterrupted, timeline wise. I don’t even believe they weren’t together on the reunion- I think they said what they said so they could be on the Challenge. I am only saying this because it still bugs me that they’re on a show about exes! But who knows, it’s not like I’m actually BFFs with these people so maybe I’m wildly wrong. Also, clearly overly invested.
Liz – I think it’s safe to say that we are all overly invested.
@ Plockness & @Liz, werd on that!
@ Liz, since this season seems to use the term “Ex” loosely do you think, in the case of Teacup and Zito they are using the breakup ( as an excuse) on their season when Heather found out about Zito’s background? I mean that’s more feasible than Bologna Nate and Scrilla making out for 10 seconds. Deep thoughts…
I am actually rooting to Zito and Teacup. And Godammit, I’m eating my words on that CT pic you posted Cathode! And, ba da ba ba ba, I’m floving that Mark Long pic!
Here’s too a speedy departure of Bananas and Wes. We might not have the dream teams we all want but, it would be a stellar to see what happens if ginger-dooshnozzel and that dumb bitch Bananas got sent home.
Thank you!
I wish they had paired CT with Laurel. I cannot stand Cancer Barbie and Chemo Ken together. She sucks all the hot sexy dangerous beast out of him.
@plockeness – Lol, good point. Electronic high five to everyone!
@Gypsy – Yeah, that is true. I think my real beef is that I was excited to see them fight (because I am a terrible person?) and get dirt on why they broke up but since they are fake exes I feel deprived of that. Deprived, I say! I was kinda glad Nate and Prissy got sent home so quickly because they don’t bring the drama and they’re not (I assume based on their one challenge) fun to watch compete either.
Liz, I tend to agree. Me thinks Captain Bologna had got very full of himself after SDP2. And, I don’t think I can put up with another whiney high pitched voice since we still have Paula Walnuts hanging around. Though, thank the good Lord for small favors, Airbrushedbrow Jen isn’t on this season! God that makes me so happy. Less clapping = more laughing.
@ Gypsy: YES! So glad Jen is not on this one, I can’t stand to hear her talk and talk and talk and not say ANYTHING meaningful.
@ Faye: You are so right! Diem DOES suck the hot sexy beast out of C.T.!! I couldn’t quite put my finger on it before, but I knew something was different about him!
@ Lisa – please forgive me for quoting Jenny’s favorite bottom bitch Evan but Cancer Barbie is a FUN SPONGE!
That should have been Kennys not Jenny’s. Unless of course I was talking about Jenny Craig since I assume Evan is still at his ” now reading for the role of Jabba the Hut in Star Wars the musical” weight.
FUN SPONGE??????? Are you kidding me? That’s a great follow up to Mickey Flicker! Faye FTW!
(Impreial March playing in the background)
Sorry Lisa#2, didn’t mean to leave you out…isn’t it a relief? Her clapping screeching and hair flipping following but a tittie shot in the pool! Ahhhhhh, I might not turn into a bulimic this season after all!
Did anyone else pick up that that nitwit said that CT and Diem’s romance was like the Notepad????