Do you remember a time when you actually watched MTV? I do. Although, it was quite a long time ago. I would watch "The Blame Game", "Say What? Karaoke", "TRL", "Fear", "The Real World" and "Road Rules" just to name a few. But there was one show that I particularly looked forward to, that has since been diluted and 'roided out by overly muscular (except for Big Easy) bros. I'm talking about "The Real World/Road Rules" Challenges.
If you've never watch it before the premise is simple. They take cast members from both "The Real World" and "Road Rules" and pit them against each other in challenges set in exotic places like Capetown, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. While I occasionally follow the series now (I watched "The Duel II" last year, but have not been back) I find that it's better years are behind it.
The best season of the "Challenges" came very early and ultimately set the bar very high for seasons to follow. This was during the "Battle of the Sexes" in Jamaica, hosted by Jonny Moseley. This season could not have started in a more dramatic fashion. The confrontation between Puck and David in the first episode is now the stuff of legend. It's right up there with Stephen's slap of Irene in "Real World: Seattle". Puck spit at David because David was accusing Puck's wife of calling him, saying that he beat her. Puck restrained himself physically but could not hold back the spit.
David called for his disqualification, and Puck attempted to apologize and David told him he would forgive him if he let him spit in Puck's mouth. Puck agreed, but David recanted his request just to antagonize Puck. David, frustrated that Puck was not disqualified took himself out of the game.
The Guys team played the smartest game possible, which is why they changed the scoring system for the next battle of the sexes. They eliminated the guy with the lowest score. They took all emotion out of the decision and let the numbers speak for themselves. The women, on the other hand, used their feelings, err I should say grudges, against one another and voted out those that they did not have a good relationship with. This horrible decision making began to show right after the second challenge when the guys would win 11 out the remaining 14 challenges.
This season was anchored by the charismatic, gold medal winning, Jonny Moseley (another standard later seasons failed to meet). He was able to keep his composure, stay calm and ultimately be laid back. This is something that current host T.J. Lavin lacks.
The challenges were fun to watch because they incorporated physical aspects as well as mental fitness, the cast member blow ups and everything else that goes with an MTV reality show are just icing on the cake as far as I am concerned. Some of the highlights included Emily confronting Veronica about her alleged affair with her boyfriend James and Puck's feud with Ellen.
In the final challenge it came down to the puzzle. The guys had built a sizable lead but the puzzle is what got them stuck. The girls rolled through the puzzle and left the guys in the dust. In a feat of ingenuity - the girls would later call "cheating", but it wasn't - the guys walked over to the completed girls puzzle and saw how it was put together then mirrored it with their puzzle. In one of the cutaway interviews during the puzzle Mark had said to one of the producers that if they finished before the girls they would knock down their own puzzle so as not to leave a map for the girls to follow. There were no infractions called and the guys would storm through the next obstacles and win the Battle of the Sexes. All in all a terrific season, but the ones to follow failed to match the intensity and overall entertainment factor of the original Battle of the Sexes.
No comments:
Post a Comment