Adore Delano Is In Unfamiliar Territory With A Few Familiar Faces In Ex On The Peak
For the last few years we’ve been reintroduced to a handful of reality television personalities as they jump from various networks to the juggernaut that is MTV. One of the network’s latest hits is Ex On The Beach. The Ex entertainment formula follows a group of people as they “unsuspectedly” watch exes from their past enter their new household and try to mend fences or continue their dramatic struggles. In seasons past, we’ve seen some messy, yet expected drama. In a wonderfully surprising turn, the series has brought on numerous gay couples, giving our community representation on shows that tend to ignore gay romance. MTV came into the headlines this year when testing out a fully sexually fluid season of its series, Are You The One.
But now, as a spin off, Ex On The Beach: Peak of Love takes singles from a beach in California into New Zealand for a winter wonderland… that eventually turns into a nightmare for some.
Ex On The Peak (coining the term) serves us a delicious main cast right from the jump. If you’re an active follower of the MTV brand, or reality television as a whole, you’ll see plenty of familiar faces. Daniel Maguire (pictured below) of The Bachelorette fame showcases his incredible body – seriously, if you aren’t following him on social media you need to start, this guy is an Adonis.
Other hopefuls looking for more exposure, or a second chance at love, include MTV alumni, Tyranny Todd, who is absolutely the person to watch simply for her reactions. She’s a star, damn it! More doses of eye candy comes in the form of Love Island’s Georgia Steel and Ibiza Weekender’s Callum Izzard. What the LGBTQ community will be most interested in are the cast members who represent us. Nicole Zanatta (MTV’s The Challenge) is a fast-talking, New York native and seriously has some seduction prowess to her. So much that she almost immediately wraps The Naked Brothers Band’s Allie DiMeco around her finger, or in this case her legs. We’re not totally used to seeing same-sex-female love triangles or even romances on television, so the girls are definitely giving us reasons to tune in.
MTV loves recycling their personalities, so we get to know Marlon Williams. Another mega hottie who simply likes what he likes what it comes to love. He’s sexually fluid and takes an instant attraction to La Demi Martinez, the series first transgender participant. The two engage in a playful date, but this series really isn’t about finding love in a hopeless place, or else we probably wouldn’t be watching. When Williams is seen flirting with other house members, La Demi refuses to act her age and starts the first ridiculous, over the top argument of the season. So much that she loses herself in the moment and pushes over an ice sculpture that was clearly positioned to be pushed over anyway. Not only does she get her dramatic moment I’m sure she’ll be turning into a GIF soon, but it lands on Izzard’s feet. Uhhh, La Demi, that’s a lawsuit. La Demi promotes the worst in herself. She’s catty, thirsty for attention, and makes you want to switch the channel. She continues to talk about her ex-boyfriend, Nico Tortorella, who is so obviously not going to make an appearance, but she can keep wishing. Thankfully, someone on the cast shines bright and above the rest for us to actively have an interest in watching the next scene.
RuPaul’s Drag Race runner-up Adore Delano doesn’t jump the shark, but transcends to a different network in Ex On The Peak. Delano is everything we can hope for: He’s funny, sarcastic, genuinely surprised by the amount of eye rolling moments from other attention seekers. Delano dumbs herself down a bit, or else she wouldn’t be able to hold conversations with the other participants. As someone who has seen Delano out in West Hollywood many, many times – something did shock me. It appears that he’s signed up to do the entire season in… drag? Is he transitioning? Or planning on it? In the first episode and preview, we don’t see Danny Noriega (Delano’s birth name), just the character of Adore. I’m not mad about it, just confused. Drag Queens transform into a character, they typically don’t go to Walgreens to grab toilet paper in full drag. Delano gets a “surprise” ex who visits the Peak and I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it’s the exact moment I knew he was above and beyond the other cast members. Delano’s spirit is high and this is just another stepping stone in his already successful career. I’m certainly watching episode two, with a little bit of caution.
While you can catch up on the trailer below, Ex on the Peak airs tonight on MTV at 9PM EST. Are you tuning in to watch?
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
