The Challenge: Battle of the Exes - Diem Brown

[QUOTE=V1man;297661]Frankly I'm tired of educating people as to how reality shows are edited. If you can't realize the hand of the story editor in the above list, then there is absolutely nothing I can do for you. Every cast member there knew the Diem/CT story arc would be huge this season, and they all did their best to grab camera time with one of them. It's what people do on the challenge (or on nearly every non-scripted show) to increase their own time on camera. Camera time = post show $$$. Of course it's a lazy way to produce a series, but there is plenty of evidence around that BMP lost its edge years ago.[/QUOTE] but none of this means that it didn't happen .... so .... Anywho this is all neither here nor there. The point is she whines about a guy she dumped. Then wants an apology when he is definitely owed one as well. She lets it drag down their team and frankly it's annoying to watch. Not to mention she seems uterly desperate for attention. I can't with someone who intertwines tweets about MedGift with tweets thanking people for watching her on Lindsay Lohan's E True Hollywood Story. I mean .. I just can't.

[QUOTE=V1man;297661]Frankly I'm tired of educating people as to how reality shows are edited. If you can't realize the hand of the story editor in the above list, then there is absolutely nothing I can do for you. Every cast member there knew the Diem/CT story arc would be huge this season, and they all did their best to grab camera time with one of them. It's what people do on the challenge (or on nearly every non-scripted show) to increase their own time on camera. Camera time = post show $$$. [/QUOTE] As Brandon always says on his podcast, they can only edit what you give them. She could have easily changed the edit by doing what CT suggested in his talk to Jasmine. She should have just talked to him instead of talking to everyone else and move on but I guess Diem wanted more camera time too. [QUOTE=Mac756;297663]I can't with someone who intertwines tweets about MedGift with tweets thanking people for watching her on Lindsay Lohan's E True Hollywood Story. I mean .. I just can't.[/QUOTE] This speaks to FishHooks’ point. You can’t tell if med-gift is a true charity or another vanity project because the first thing you see on the med-gift site is a glamour shot of Diem.

Diem did the same thing on Duel 2 with the CT/Shauvon situation as she's doing with other castmembers this season. Rather than go straight to the person she should seek out immediately to talk to about the situation (CT) she goes around and talks to everybody else about it first to stir up a frenzy. She's a spazzoid chatty Cathy.

[QUOTE=eggs78;297667]This speaks to FishHooks’ point. You can’t tell if med-gift is a true charity or another vanity project because the first thing you see on the med-gift site is a glamour shot of Diem.[/QUOTE] A vanity project??!! Seriously? You may not like her but she overcame a great obstacle and went on to create something that can really help people in need. I personally know someone who used Medgift and I couldn't be more thankful to Diem for creating something that helped my friend get through a very tough time. The way I have witnessed some on this forum take something really great and awesome like Medgift and then go on to question the "purpose" behind Diem creating it is really disconcerting and actually even downright disgusting.

As for my point, it did not look to me so much like a charity but a facebook for the ill. I don't see, for instance, where I could make a one-time donation to medgift or know what that money would be used for. I don't see that medgift gives money to people itself so much as just creates a place for where friends of the sick can give money to help out. I have absolutely no general opinion of Diem whatsoever, but I just don't see medgift proper as a charity based on its website.

[QUOTE=FishHooks;297675]As for my point, it did not look to me so much like a charity but a facebook for the ill. I don't see, for instance, where I could make a one-time donation to medgift or know what that money would be used for. I don't see that medgift gives money to people itself so much as just creates a place for where friends of the sick can give money to help out. I have absolutely no general opinion of Diem whatsoever, but I just don't see medgift proper as a charity based on its website.[/QUOTE] That would be your opinion based on the fact that you've never used it to give or had someone created a registry for you. I can tell you, based on my experience, that it's an incredibly useful site. I wasn't going to comment further on Diem's thread after my last post, but it's mildly irritating that someone would insult a charity website that they've never even used.

[QUOTE=Euroslavia;297676]That would be your opinion based on the fact that you've never used it to give or had someone created a registry for you. I can tell you, based on my experience, that it's an incredibly useful site. I wasn't going to comment further on Diem's thread after my last post, but it's mildly irritating that someone would insult a charity website that they've never even used.[/QUOTE] I've been to that site and cannot find these glamour shots people are raving about. There's a video on the welcome page with her as a stillshot, but that's all I've seen. Unless I'm missing or overlooking something, I fail to see anything remotely suspicious of this charity site. Its pretty damn straightforward actually. They even refer themselves as a social networking site for the ill, so its not like they're being coy about it. The gift registry is divided into "wants, needs, and wishes". It doesn't get any more simpler or definitive than that. I'm assuming this gives at least a modicum of an idea of where your money is going when you choose between the three options, as they are simply described and explained. I don't see where the confusion would come from, but then again I am just relaying the information I read straight from the site.

[QUOTE=Euroslavia;297676]That would be your opinion based on the fact that you've never used it to give or had someone created a registry for you. I can tell you, based on my experience, that it's an incredibly useful site. I wasn't going to comment further on Diem's thread after my last post, but it's mildly irritating that someone would insult a charity website that they've never even used.[/QUOTE] How am I insulting a website by saying I don't understand if it is a charity or not? I am not the one who called it a vanity site. I am being attacked for just saying I don't understand it. To me, creating a registry and allowing some people to make direct gifts to someone is fine and noble, but I don't see that Medgift the company collects or distributes money based on its website which means to me the company is a conduit and not a charity one can make a tax-deductible contribution to as far as I can tell. So, for instance, if I do not know anyone who has a registry, I don't see how I could help them through that site since I cannot apparently just give money to the charity and have them disperse it. It is not the same as say Remote Area Medical that takes donations and provides direct medical services to the poor.

[QUOTE=FishHooks;297679]How am I insulting a website by saying I don't understand if it is a charity or not? I am not the one who called it a vanity site. I am being attacked for just saying I don't understand it. To me, creating a registry and allowing some people to make direct gifts to someone is fine and noble, but I don't see that Medgift the company collects or distributes money based on its website which means to me the company is a conduit and not a charity one can make a tax-deductible contribution to as far as I can tell. So, for instance, if I do not know anyone who has a registry, I don't see how I could help them through that site since I cannot apparently just give money to the charity and have them disperse it. It is not the same as say Remote Area Medical that takes donations and provides direct medical services to the poor.[/QUOTE] [quote=FishHooks]" I just don't see medgift proper as a charity based on its website."[/quote] Basically you were saying that you don't see it as a proper charity, based on the fact that it's different from other charities. I see it as a more personal charity, given the fact that one was created for me and my needs were properly directed to the website where one could see specific items that I needed while undergoing chemo. Just because you can't simply donate money doesn't mean that you can't help them. There's a direct link that one can use to help pay off the person's medical bills, and at the time, I had no insurance, so that was a MAJOR help.

[QUOTE=Euroslavia;297680]Basically you were saying that you don't see it as a proper charity, based on the fact that it's different from other charities. I see it as a more personal charity, given the fact that one was created for me and my needs were properly directed to the website where one could see specific items that I needed while undergoing chemo. Just because you can't simply donate money doesn't mean that you can't help them. There's a direct link that one can use to help pay off the person's medical bills, and at the time, I had no insurance, so that was a MAJOR help.[/QUOTE] If I had paid off your medical bills would I have been able to deduct it from my taxes as charitable donation (you know, assuming I were rich)? What if I were a corporation who wanted to write a big check, how would that work? I am not criticizing anyone's intentions, I just didn't see a way I could donate a few bucks to a Medgift pooling fund that goes to help pay bills for the most neediest of their registered patients or whatever based on the website which makes me wonder how somebody with deep pockets could help either without just having to randomly select among current patients.

Maybe there wouldnt be this discussion on Diem's charity if the Americans had universal healthcare, the fact that people have charities for people with Cancer is absurd to me. Or does her charity do something else?

1st thank you rbiashley & Euroslavia for your support I'm glad we were able to help you through MedGift! ;) I was sent a link on facebook to a post concerning MedGift on this site and felt I had to write because maybe if eggs78 FishHooks etc understood what I'm trying to do... instead of dissecting MedGift you could be apart of something that helps patients and has the ability to help even more patients if I can get MedGift into all 6,000 hospitals in the US. I must say I had no idea what sort of perception I have given off and am blown away by some of these posts but I don't like giving energy to the negative. But when concerning MedGift I feel the need to set some things straight. 1st I've working on MedGift for over 5years.... at one point I moved out of my apartment and lived on a girlfriends couch to pay the web hosting fees MedGift occurred its 1st year when we helped over 100,000 families ...I have no idea what a vanity project is... but MedGift is my heart and if you received the emails/facebook/twitter messages I get from patients and their families you would be as passionate to help find them a solution as I am. MedGift is not just for Cancer patients its for ALL patients for example if you look at home page under featured member Joe was in a motorcycle accident. (btw this is how people who want to help but dont have any direct links to a patient..can help) I dont take straight donations because I want people to have a direct connection with the patient so the patient can feel that people do care for them not just an organization care from them. If you give $100 to a patient the patient gets that $100 deducted from their bill... nothing is taking out...same goes for gift cards I'm reaching out to corps like Wal-Mart and airlines and trying to get involved by directly gifting patients gift cards etc I'm trying anything I can to help eliminate at least once stress from a patients life MedGift is not my job its my passion ... my "job job" is being a reporter ... thats how I make a living and how I help direct more people to MedGift sometimes you have to be a lil creative and use any tools you can.. Think whatever you like about me but please try and separate any distain for me from MedGift because I know if I can get more help with MedGift how many amazing things can come from this! Because at some point we or someone we care about gets cancer, gets into a car accident or has a troubled pregnancy/birth etc and when these tragedies happen I want people to know there is a free resource to help them deal with day-to-day stresses so they know they are not alone and that people care to help them celebrate their fight for their life just as we celebrate marriage and births with registries. So sorry for this very long rant but I NEED HELP! So if you know of any hospital contacts please facebook or twitter me, cheers, Diem ;)

[QUOTE=DiemMedGift;297697] I was sent a link on facebook to a post concerning MedGift on this site and felt I had to write because maybe if eggs78 [B]FishHooks[/B] etc understood what I'm trying to do... instead of dissecting MedGift you could be apart of something that helps patients and has the ability to help even more patients if I can get MedGift into all 6,000 hospitals in the US. [/QUOTE] Fishhooks went to the site intending to make a small donation but there wasn't seemingly anyway to do that and the website confused me about exactly the organization is if I couldn't make a donation to it. So instead of dissecting my intent, there it was for you to see. I am NOT the one who called it a Vanity whatever, but welcome to the club of people who have attacked me for asking questions trying to gain knowledge about what the organization does exactly. Since there seems to be no way to see that my small donation go to the most needy patient(s) without joining the site and navigating through a bunch of profiles, I passed.

[QUOTE=DiemMedGift;297697] I have no idea what a vanity project is... [/QUOTE] Okay, here’s why I think it’s a vanity project. The first you see on the site is a video of you and those of us not particularly fond of you will probably not even click on the video because of the perception that the site is about you. Maybe if you switched the layout of the homepage and put the featured provider and patient above the video it would seem less about you. Sadly, even your twitter profile gives me this impression. You may have the medgift logo on your profile pic but your background is a collage of glamour shots with two medgift logos sprinkled in. The url on your profile is not even for medgift, it’s for your personal page.

[QUOTE=eggs78;297707]Okay, here’s why I think it’s a vanity project. The first you see on the site is a video of you and those of us not particularly fond of you will probably not even click on the video because of the perception that the site is about you. Maybe if you switched the layout of the homepage and put the featured provider and patient above the video it would seem less about you. Sadly, even your twitter profile gives me this impression. You may have the medgift logo on your profile pic but your background is a collage of glamour shots with two medgift logos sprinkled in. The url on your profile is not even for medgift, it’s for your personal page.[/QUOTE] Her twitter is her twitter not medgift's twitter so she can put up pics of herself as the background if she wants. And there is also a pic of her with no hair so they're not all glamour pics. Even though I dont like charities for health issues because I dont agree with how the US healthcare system works, she's still doing a good thing with medgift and I think you guys are being hard on her.

[QUOTE=eggs78;297707]Okay, here’s why I think it’s a vanity project. [B]The first you see on the site is a video of you and those of us not particularly fond of you will probably not even click on the video because of the perception that the site is about you. [/B]Maybe if you switched the layout of the homepage and put the featured provider and patient above the video it would seem less about you. Sadly, even your twitter profile gives me this impression. You may have the medgift logo on your profile pic but your background is a collage of glamour shots with two medgift logos sprinkled in. The url on your profile is not even for medgift, it’s for your personal page.[/QUOTE] Well, then that is obviously your bias. This fuss about one video is really ridiculous. And I don't even begin to understand while you keep mentioning her twitter, that's absolutely private and should not work as an indicator for the actual charity project.

Some employers will match donations up to a certain amount if they are made to certain types of tax-exempt, non-political charities. To help as many people as possible financially, that would be a bonus status to have and a decent bank trust department could help manage those funds.

Ok this will be my last post but just to make some things clear concerning MedGift... Eggs78 I have no idea what I have done to make you hate so much but I am not in the business of trying to change your mind. 1.) MedGift, the Patient Gift Registry idea came to me while I was undergoing Chemo & needed help with bills ... so the video is showing patients its not some corporation behind the idea but a resource from a fellow patient like themselves who understands what it feels like to feel overwhelmed & hopeless ... I experienced a lack of easy resources patients had avail to them to help with bills/day-to-day needs and now I'm doing everything I can to fix it! MedGift is now backed by RelayHealth and McKesson as of 1 1/2 years ago so all the securities/resources are there because of them, but the idea is my passion and no one can describe your passion like yourself. 2.) Again MedGift is my passion NOT my job I am a reporter thats how I make a living so my Twitter and the link to my personal website is for a multitude of things but if you went to my personal website you would also see that MedGift info and links are on every page 3.) Fishhook sorry I confused you for the vanity project thing... I started out having that actually 5years ago, however those sorts of things create tons of overhead costs and its more paper work for the patient... my idea is this... when you buy a gift for someone having a baby or getting married you do so because you want to show them you are supporting them in celebration of that life milestone ... its the same idea but MedGift is focused on patients. Because I am one person and trying my hardest I started small and working up... once I get into 6,000 hospitals I will try and go and do your suggestion because I agree but its very time consuming so I have to first focus on signing up hospitals ;) 4.) Fishhooks: the featured member on the homepage is so you dont have to search... the patient who needs help and is okay being a public profile is right there so all you have to do is type their name into search and you are on their page ;) Blue123 & OrangeStar Thank you for your support... I like to think of MedGift as a patient resource, the US has tons of problems concerning Healthcare but while we wait for Washington to fix these issue... patients who are in need of help now.. need help ...and all I'm trying to do is offer them a resource to help them organize their help Again I only came on here after getting a facebook message that people were confused about MedGift... I thank you for taking the time to read and thank those of you supporting me in these efforts, for those who dont I'm sorry for your personal distaste for me but all I'm trying to do is fix a problem. I'm sure you all have known someone sick or in a car accident and thought/asked "What Can I Do?" or "How Can I Help?" I'm just trying to provide a resource to patients to better answer those 2 questions so they can focus getting better. If anyone has any questions/ or knows of any hospitals leads please twitter or facebook me I follow up on every lead! ;) Cheers, D

[QUOTE=eggs78;297707]You may have the medgift logo on your profile pic but [B]your background is a collage of glamour shots with two medgift logos sprinkled in.[/B][/QUOTE] Are you [I]serious[/I]? It's her Twitter page, what do you suggest she has as her background photo then?

[QUOTE=OrangeStar;297711]Well, then that is obviously your bias. This fuss about one video is really ridiculous. And I don't even begin to understand while you keep mentioning her twitter, [B]that's absolutely private and should not work as an indicator for the actual charity project[/B].[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=spectacular;297724]Are you [I]serious[/I]? It's her Twitter page, what do you suggest she has as her background photo then?[/QUOTE] Her twitter is not private. It’s public with 25K followers and since medgift does not have a twitter she could just retweet stuff from, her personal twitter is linked to her charity which is why I don’t understand why it isn’t more prominent. My suggestion for a background would be a collage of patients and providers or please just make medgift a separate twitter. Am I being too hard on her? Absolutely. I am skeptically based on the opinions I’ve formed from the show. That’s the crux of celebrity charity. Charities should be looked at with a clean slate but when you have a celebrity behind them, they are scrutinized more because it’s difficult to separate your own biases, at least for me. On paper, Diem should be one of the more likable personalities: southern belle, young cancer survivor who started her own charity but that does not seem to translate on screen or on her social networks, in my opinion. We live in a world of perceptions and misperceptions where the image people have of you in one project can easily seep into the other.

I really don't have a strong opinion of any of the Challengers unless they were on a Real World season I watched, but given that MTV seemed to go out of its way to post disclaimers as to Nate's charity, I can understand skepticism by some viewers. The amount of money I have to give to charity would be laughable to most, but it is big to me so I just like to really understand who I am giving it to and how it will be used which might make me seem like a skeptic to those who can give without a second thought.

MedGift is a great concept and I'll give her all the credit in the world for that. WHich is why I'm going to push it to the side in assessing my opinion of her ... But homegirl is sooo self righteous. The fact that she can't push her personal drama aside and just compete with her partner (who is arguably the best athlete on this show) is ridiculous and downright childish. Again I used to be #TeamDiem ALL THE WAY and now I just want her to go away. I wish we could vote her off and bring in Laurel .. God can you imagine the absolute domination she and CT would have. I'd literally pay money to see that.

Regardless of how people feel about Diem as an individual, her charity is helping people. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. I say, use whatever means necessary to promote and push MedGift.com forward as it is another means for people in need to get assistance. It's not about the opinion we each create about "reality" tv stars, to me, it's about what each person does with their success to help other people. There are a lot of people on these challenges that have benefited from their fame or from the money that they have won. Diem is one of the few that is promoting herself AND a charity and I don't think we should ever fault her for that. I could probably count the number of charities that other contestants have started on one or two hands. Now - I'll probably get crucified for these comments but that's okay. My opinions of Diem and other cast mates is completely separate from my opinion on what Diem is doing with MedGift and that's the way that it should be.

[QUOTE=Lhog77;297962] [B]Now - I'll probably get crucified for these comments but that's okay[/B]. My opinions of Diem and other cast mates is completely separate from my opinion on what Diem is doing with MedGift and that's the way that it should be.[/QUOTE] No worries. There are people who have your back. Just consider carefully the source and content of the criticism.

[QUOTE=eggs78;297707]Okay, here’s why I think it’s a vanity project. The first you see on the site is a video of you and those of us not particularly fond of you will probably not even click on the video because of the perception that the site is about you. Maybe if you switched the layout of the homepage and put the featured provider and patient above the video it would seem less about you. Sadly, even your twitter profile gives me this impression. You may have the medgift logo on your profile pic but your background is a collage of glamour shots with two medgift logos sprinkled in. The url on your profile is not even for medgift, it’s for your personal page.[/QUOTE] My reaction to the above in a word: Absurd.

[QUOTE=V1man;297968]My reaction to the above in a word: Absurd.[/QUOTE] Duly noted. Since it looks like I’m being crucified for an opinion however absurd or harsh it is, I’m moving away from my criticism of Charity Diem and focus on Challenge Diem. How much time did they lose with Diem freaking out and counting before every jump?! I swear I don’t know why CT isn’t blowing up on her at each challenge especially since he was always the first to go for most Rivals challenges yet he was still in contention for first place with the guy he almost killed.

[QUOTE=eggs78;297973]Duly noted. Since it looks like I’m being crucified for an opinion however absurd or harsh it is, I’m moving away from my criticism of Charity Diem and focus on Challenge Diem. [B]How much time did they lose with Diem freaking out and counting before every jump?! I swear I don’t know why CT isn’t blowing up on her at each challenge especially since he was always the first to go for most Rivals challenges yet he was still in contention for first place with the guy he almost killed.[/QUOTE] I know I kind of start(ed) laughing when CT said: "Here we go again she starts to freaking out"

[QUOTE=eggs78;297973]Duly noted. Since it looks like I’m being crucified for an opinion however absurd or harsh it is, I’m moving away from my criticism of Charity Diem and focus on Challenge Diem. How much time did they lose with Diem freaking out and counting before every jump?! I swear I don’t know why CT isn’t blowing up on her at each challenge especially since he was always the first to go for most Rivals challenges yet he was still in contention for first place with the guy he almost killed.[/QUOTE] Expect harsh opinions when you make harsh/absurd statements - crucified is stronly exaggerated, though. As you sow, so you shall reap ;)

[QUOTE=stuufman;297978]I know I kind of start(ed) laughing when CT said: "Here we go again she starts to freaking out"[/QUOTE] Lol I liked Ep2, where he was like "ok grab my vest (Diem still freaking out)......GRAB MY VEST!!" And after he yelled that she stared at him in shock lol. They're funny to watch and scared Diem is hilarious, I remember I think it was Duel 2 and Evan was holding her off the edge of a mountain and she was screaming and talking really fast going "dont let me go dont let me go, you're going into the elimination, dont let me go" haha

[QUOTE=eggs78;297973]Duly noted. Since it looks like I’m being crucified for an opinion however absurd or harsh it is, I’m moving away from my criticism of Charity Diem and focus on Challenge Diem. ... [/QUOTE] Fair enough, but I elected to use a one-word reaction to you because I didn't believe it appropriate to dissect your opinion point-by-point, when it is so obvious that you've overreached so significantly. You've demonstrated intellect here at vevmo for a long time, so consider my reply to you as a "moving on" comment. ~~~~ To those who have asked via PM, etc, for the status of Chris and Diem's relationship during and after the challenge, I can't answer you yet. Sorry. I don't do spoilers, and in my opinion, commenting on their challenge relationship in detail (beyond the edit) or post-taping, or today, is not something I'm comfortable doing while a season is ongoing. My thinking on this has evolved over the years. As much as I very often disagree with the edit or the story line as a fictionalization of the people, if not the circumstances, I do think BMP and MTV have a right to their intellectual property. After-the-fact, I'll be all-too-happy to skewer them for their edit. For now, suffice it to say that people who purport to speak for cast members (other than restating their tweets as insider knowledge), may not have the access or insight they claim. ~~~ I was in LA late last week shooting a new TV pilot, and on the fringes of that shoot, had an opportunity to chat with Diem. She appreciated the opportunity to state her position regarding MedGift here, and the responses you all offered. (And, in case anyone is wondering, Diem didn't reveal any outcomes of the challenge, and I didn't ask. ) For those interested in what Diem is doing today (recently), here is a picture from the weekend (copied from her Facebook page): [url=http://vevmo.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=12947][img]http://vevmo.com/imagehosting/1174f4cd98e99c9a.jpg[/img][/url] Probably not a bad gig, if one can get it...