First clear pictures of the Real World: St. Thomas cast

Early last month, a local St. Thomas photographer caught great pictures of The Real World: St. Thomas cast. 

Unidentified male castmember #1

Candace Hall is a local photographer on the island. She graciously posted pictures of the cast playing on the beach with her son. Take a look at her Facebook page to see the complete album. And without further ado, here are more pictures of the cast.

Unidentified female castmember #1 & unidentified male castmember #2

Unidentified female castmember #1 & male castmember #1

Unidentified male castmember #1 and unidentified female castmember #2

Bunim-Murray: Here's five things we'd like to see on the next Challenge

After the season finale of Rivals, we gave a couple of suggestions about things to fix on the new season of the Challenge. We've updated that list for the upcoming 23rd season of the Challenge.

Tyler and Derrick in the Gulag on Cutthroat.

1. Bring New Blood. The most disappointing part of Battle of the Exes was the fact that Johnny (Key West) was able to pull an upset and win back-to-back Challenges. We always like to see new faces on the Challenge. If Rivals and Exes taught us anything, is that strategic casting goes a long way. New or old, the castmembers that are brought back should have pre-existing relationships that will guarantee conflict once the season starts. Try to avoid bringing back castmembers with pre-existing alliances.

2. Put the Veterans at a Disadvantage. From a casting perspective, it may be impossible to put new bodies in these spots. How many former castmembers are willing to give up a month out of their lives to go and film a series every few months? So, if we're being forced to see the same new faces again and again, use this to your advantage. Pit the Veterans directly against each other. Allowing one team to make the decision about who gets thrown in actually helps a lot. The decisions about who gets thrown in is less reliant upon the alliances. However, veterans still seem to be at an advantage because many of the group missions require group strategies. Make sure alliances don't count for much in the game.

3. Make Next Season an Individual Challenge. After the success of Rivals, it was probably difficult for producers to not use the two-person team format once again. However, Exes seemed to fall flat because some of the connections were stagnant. The most inspired pairing was CT (Paris) and Diem (Fresh Meat). Viewers, and I'm sure producers, hoped to see the pair re-kindle their romance. However, castmembers wised up. And on the reunion, the cast commented that they had relationships waiting for them at home. Thus, we saw many of the teams agree to work exclusively as partners, and to leave feelings checked at the door. Next season should have the castmembers working on their own to win the grand prize. The last time we saw this was in 2009 with The Duel II.

4. Epic Missions & Battles = Epic Seasons. Every Challenge will bring infighting and drama. However, the viewers enjoy it the most when the drama bleeds into the Challenge. The most epic battles are one-on-one and usually involve physical contact. Every mission, every one-on-one is an opportunity. Stop wasting these opportunities by repeating challenges or having lame missions.

5. Keep the Stakes High, but Keep the Rules Simple. This latest Challenge was a step in the right direction. It wasn't very hard to follow eliminations or strategy in Exes. But in keeping the rules simple, you have to make sure to also keep the stakes high. Don't let teams skate by on alliances or don't let teams fly under the radar. The best Challenge rules force teams to act. And the best Challenges are the ones where the game brings drama. Let the Challenge rule the competitors, don't let the competitors rule the Challenge.

What about you? What changes do you want to see next season? Who do you want to see on the Challenge next season?

MTV's official Twitter account lobbies for 'The Miz' to be on the next Challenge

After hosting the Battle of the Exes Reunion, MTV's official Twitter account tweeted: "I'd pay anything to see@MikeTheMiz back on a challenge. Who's with me? #Exes".

Coral and Mike from The Real World: Back to New York.

The Miz (Back to New York), being more game than ever, retweeted back to the account, stating: "ANYTHING???" You can view the whole exchange here. Although MTV doesn't directly make the casting decisions, this is the first time, in a long time, that Mike has gone back to his roots. He's been wrestling professionally with the WWE for the past couple years, even going as far to win the WWE Championship. Maybe viewers will luck out and see him on the next season of the Challenge.

Smoking kept CT and Diem from winning the Challenge

One of the most frustrating parts of the finale was fan favorite CT (Paris) and Diem's (Fresh Meat) disappointing finish.

Diem and CT reunited.

The couple began the last leg of the final mission well in front of their competitors. However, CT (Paris) found himself winded going up the last mountain to the finish line. Johnny (Key West) and Camilla (Spring Break) overtook CT to win the grand prize.


Diem reveals to OK! Magazine that smoking was the culprit in CT's performance. All I can do is look down and be like that is the best stop smoking campaign known to man. CT can pucker out on national TV because he can smoke a cigarette right before they said go and [they] blew the horn. He smoked a cigarette right when TJ said go." 


Unfortunately, CT's smoking habit eventually prevented the duo from taking home the grand prize.

Battle of the Exes finale is down 500k viewers from the Rivals finale

Although MTV has renewed the Challenge for another season after Battle of the Exes, ratings for the finale drew less viewers than the Rivals finale. 

Johnny and Camilla win the Exes. 

Less than a year ago, Rivals was able to pull in 2.4 million viewers for its finale. This year, Battle of the Exes pulled in 1.9 million viewers. While not a stark contrast, Battle of the Exes was unable to keep the momentum that Rivals had going. Battle of the Exes ran out of steam in the last couple episodes, with most teams getting along leading up to the final mission. Meanwhile, Rivals benefitted from both the underdog storyline of CT (Paris) and Adam (Paris) and rivalry storyline between Wes (Austin) and Johnny (Key West). 

However, the series still shows some promise. The second episode of Battle of the Exes hit a season-high of 2.2 million viewers. (That was the episode where Vinny (Fresh Meat II), Sarah (Brooklyn), Wes (Austin) and Mandi (Fresh Meat II) were sent home.) The show is still hitting high numbers consistently throughout the season and scores very well in the 18-24 demographic. Going into its 23rd season, the Challenge still has a relatively consistent viewership. 

The Real World: Where Are They Now? Pam and Judd

Pam (San Francisco) and Judd (San Francisco) are the original Real World couple. They appeared on the Real World in 1994. Pam was a medical resident at the University of California, San Francisco. Judd was a struggling artist doing freelance work while in San Francisco. As the season progressed, Judd went on several dates, while Pam worked on her relationship with her boyfriend Christopher. While it was apparent that Pam and Judd shared a special friendship, the two never dated in the house.

Pam and Judd in 2009.

Viewers were surprised when Pam and Judd started dating after the show ended. While the show was airing, fellow castmember Pedro passed away from complications of HIV/AIDS. Both Pam and Judd were at Pedro's side during most of those final days. A relationship eventually blossomed.

In August 2001, Pam and Judd married in San Francisco. Currently, the couple still lives in San Francisco. Judd writes for DC Comics. He's currently the writer and illustrator for Batwing, the first iteration of an African-American Batman and the Catwoman series. Judd previously worked on the Green Lantern series, in which he was noted for introducing HIV positive characters. Pam works with UCSF in various different capacities. She teaches as a professor at the university and has kept up with regular medical publications.

The couple have two children.