Markus Black

**Markus Deneal Black** is an American television personality. He was a cast member on *The Real World: New York*, the first season of the reality television series *The Real World*.

Afterwards, Black competed in *The Challenge: Dynamic Duos*, where he was eliminated in episode six.

## Biography

Black was born on 1 February in Detroit, Michigan to single mother LaDonna, who worked as a hairdresser. His father left LaDonna after discovering she was pregnant, and Black has never met him. Black grew up in an impoverished, abusive household, and his mother struggled with mental illness and addiction. He became a ward of the state after his mother was deemed unfit to care for a child. After bouncing around foster care, he was adopted by his social worker at age 15.

Black attended public schooling in Detroit, attending Central High School, where he was a varsity basketball player. After graduating, he began attending Michigan State University on a basketball scholarship, although did not frequently play in actual games. He was cut from the team and lost his scholarship, having to drop out from college, after having a psychotic episode in his freshman year that was brought on from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. After the episode, he began to seek treatment for his disorder. Since dropping out of college, Black developed a career as a rapper.

## Background

*Markus was born into poverty in the slums of Detroit. After his father abandoned the family, Markus was raised by his single mother, who struggled from depression, bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and alcoholism. After she was seen as unfit to raise a child by the state of Michigan, Markus bounced in and out of foster care until he was legally adopted by his social worker at age 15. Despite beginning his studies at Michigan State University on a basketball scholarship, he was cut from the team following an episode which led to the discovery that he suffers from bipolar disorder, much like his mother. After entering treatment, he began a career in hip hop in order to express his emotions and story in a different way. Markus is coming to New York in order to help further his career and to have the summer of a lifetime.*

## *The Real World*

Black became a cast member on *The Real World: New York*, the first season of the reality television series *The Real World*. After arriving in the cast's New York residence, Black felt an attraction to Tasha Williams, and assumed that they could relate due to their similar experiences of being African-Americans. However, after a conversation with her and realizing that she came from a very different world than him, his feelings for her began to go away. Black then discovered that Daisy Park was falling for him. However, he wrote her off after she compared his history of parental neglect to hers of parental overprotection, as she believes they are the same forms of abuse just on opposite sides of the spectrum. This comparison angered Black, and he decided Park was someone he wouldn't want to associate with.

After a wild night, Park and Black drunkenly hook up. Immediately after, Black regrets the encounter as he was previously turned off by Park's personality. However, Park is visibly happy and wishes to pursue something further. She convinces Black to take her out on a date, where Black begins to realize that his first impressions of her were not accurate, and she actually is someone he can see a future with. Afterwards, they began a relationship.

### Reunion

After leaving New York and returning to Michigan, Black continued his relationship with Park long-distance. She's made several visits to Michigan to visit him and he's made several visits to California to visit her. He is planning on moving to Los Angeles not only to be closer to her, but also to further advance his rap career. Black remains in contact with every other member of the cast, and has stated that he believes he can call every single one of them "a very close friend."

### *The Challenge*

#### *Dynamic Duos*

As an alumni of *The Real World: New York*, Black took part as one of the alumni in *The Challenge: Dynamic Duos*. He was impressed enough by Talia Peralta in the obstacle course for her to be selected by him as his partner for the duration of the show. Black and Peralta quickly established themselves as competitive threats after eliminating Alec Taylor and Madison McGillicutty in the episode three elimination challenge. They became the power couple in episode four, and sent Kennedy Schultz and Sam Jennings into the elimination challenge, intensifying a rivalry between the two duos which began in the previous episode. In episode six, Peralta and Black were eliminated by Anthony Pirozzi and Jennifer Andrews after being sent to the elimination challenge by Schultz and Jennings, narrowly missing out on the final challenge.