 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
The Contender (television series)
The Contender is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the competitors lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters. The winner of The Contender, which will be decided in a fight at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, will receive US$1 million, and the chance to be a professional prize fighter. It is scheduled to run for fifteen weeks through early 2005, on NBC in the United States of America and ITV in the UK. The show takes the format of a gameshow, with the boxers divided into two teams: East Coast and West Coast (or simply East and West), based upon their place of dwelling. These teams compete for the right to choose which of their team members fights that week, and who he fights against. The second half of the hour long episodes are mostly taken up with that fight: the loser is eliminated. The program is hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard, former champion boxer, and Sylvester Stallone, who famously portrayed the boxer Rocky Balboa in the Rocky series of films, and also is the show's executive producer. On February 14, 2005, one of the 16 contestants, Najai Turpin , shot himself while sitting with his girlfriend in a parked car outside the West Philadelphia gym where he trained. In his memory, the producers set up a trust fund for his daughter Anyae.
Contestants(See here for details regarding elimination and tournament progression.)
RoommatesThe pairs of boxers who initially shared rooms during 'The Contender' are shown below, plus any other useful information. (List incomplete) West Coast
East Coast
Episode GuideWeek OneThe Contenders arrive, and are split up into their teams, before moving into impressive living quarters: each boxer having to share a room with a team member. After winning the challenge, an event which involved carrying logs up Hollywood Hill, West Coast are given the choice of fight. Alfonso makes the controversial, some might say brash, choice to fight Peter, who had a 21-1 (21 wins and 1 loss) record prior to the show. The pre-fight press conference saw the start of a long running feud between Ahmed and Ishe develop. Alfonso wins on a unanimous points decision, having punched more regularly and efficiently over the five rounds and although Peter had sustained a big cut to Alfonso's brow in Round Two, and looked good in Round Four, he was eliminated.
Week TwoA dispute between Ahmed and Ishe rumbled on from last week's episode, such that Stallone had to give the pair a dressing down. The West Coast Team were also rewarded for their victory with a visit from George Foreman. This week's challenge took place at the Rose Bowl, and involved the teams running around the stands, retrieving flags and then assembling a large puzzle on the main pitch. Again, the West Coast won, amidst assimptions that Ahmed would be fighting Ishe, although Ishe refused the oppurtunity to fight. Jesse offered to fight Jonathon, which was a surprise, Alfonso having warned against it. The pre-fight press conference saw Jesse accusing Ishe of "punking out", having refused to fight. To the fight then, where Rounds One and Two were reasonably even, in the third Jesse landed a huge uppercut, and although Jonathon did better in Round Four, when he got pushed onto the ropes in the final round the writing was on the wall. Jesse won, Jonathon was eliminated.
Week ThreeA shell-shocked East Coast emerged at the start of the episode, although on the West, Ishe admitted that he had gone through last week's fight willing Jonathon, not his team-mate Jesse, to win. The West Coast Team's reward this week was being decked out in new designer suits, a particularly emotional experience for Sergio, who had never owned a suit, but said he had always wanted to. Ahmed, who had just promised to beat Ishe, found himself at the centre of a dispute with Juan, who accused him of 'showing off' while sparring with Leonard. Ishe meanwhile re-charged his batteries at home and seemed to benefit - he stopped feeling under so much pressure to fight Ahmed. This week's challenge was a game of dodgeball. Joey was the hero for a victorious West Coast Team, although he later complained of a hamstring injury. Ishe stepped forward to fight, but he surprised calling up Brent, his "Christian brother", as if to fight him. Instead, he just whispered in his ear that he should pray for him, and called up a psyched Ahmed. Pre-fight, the atmosphere was tense, with a lot of mud-slinging. The pair barely shook hands or even made eye contact as they prepared to fight. Ahmed lost an explosive first round, and Ishe eased into control of Round Two. Ahmed pushed his luck at the end by pushing his opponent in Round Three, and landing blows after the bell in Round Four. Ishe controlled the final round, and won. Ahmed promised revenge, but was still eliminated.
Week FourThe start of the episode saw a chicken-pox infected Jeff, who had complained of feeling ill on a family visit, withdrawn from the competition. The competitors were allowed to vote for who could replace him, and Peter won with eight votes, against Jonathon's four and Ahmed, who didn't receive a single vote. West Coast's reward for Ishe winning was a VIP dinner in downtown LA. The week's challenge saw the teams having to drag a 5,000lb truck along a riverbed, and then had to construct a phrase from the letters in the bags they should have picked up along the way. East Coast lead from the front to win their first challenge. Najai choose to fight Sergio, despite their huge height disparity. Pre-fight, both boxers said that their families gave them something to fight for. In the ring, Sergio edged out a win in Round one, and in the second the tide turned to an advantage for Najai. Round three looked similar to round one, Sergio just the better fighter, although he eased ahead to victory with some wonderful flurries in round four and five. Sergio won and notably the post fight atmosphere for Najai and his family didn't look too bleak.
Week FivePeter began the episode by suggesting that he might not be ready to come back and fight, despite Miguel pledging to fight whoever got reintroduced. While sparring Peter did look tired, giving Miguel a boost. As their reward for Sergio winning, West Coast donned their new suits and were taken to meet boxer Antonio Tarver. Sergio won a poker game at this meeting, and was awarded plane tickets to go anywhere in the world. The next challenge was an 'urban obstacle course' taking place in LA, which involved teams having to collect tyres to place into dumpsters, before assembling a ladder to reach up to victory. West Coast converted their numerical advantage into victory. Miguel converted this victory into the promised line up: himself versus Peter. Peter and those around him lacked confidence, while Miguel predicted a knock-out. In the ring, Miguel started well in both rounds one and two, but in the first Peter was able to peg him back. Miguel retained his upper hand pushing Peter onto the rope in the third, but Peter bounced back in the final two rounds and landed some huge blows. Peter was awarded a close victory. In the locker room, Miguel cried, stating that he had failed his family and that his 'sister will still have to take the bus to school and my (his) mother would still have to ride the metro to work'.
Week SixHaving finally felt the sting of losing, West Coast were down, but nobody felt bitter towards Peter, least of all Alfonso, his initial conquerer, as is demonstrated here. Peter said that the next three fights line ups' had been decided: this week would be Jimmy (E) would fight Anthony (W). Anthony said that he actually didn't want to fight Jimmy at all, but would rather face Brent. He kept this secret, except to the cameras of course, and indeed had to test his acting skills. East Coast enjoyed their first reward, going to see The Tonight Show and meet Jay Leno, Jimmy saying he hoped to return one day as a guest. While this seemed to make the challenge unnecessary, it still went ahead, with the teams dragging some medicine balls around. West Coast won, coming from behind. Anthony ended his charade, and picked Brent instead of Jimmy - nobody had suspected that, especially the shellshocked Jimmy. Anthony said he had picked the fight that was best for his family, having felt pressurised into picking Jimmy, but Joey and Jesse still were upset. Through the following evening, it became clear that everyone wanted Brent to win. At the pre-fight press conference, Ishe started to squabble with Anthony. In his dressing room, Anthony broke down in tears as his children visited him - but said he felt even more determined to win. When the fight started, it certainly lived up to the hype, the first round being equal, and the second more in Anthony's favour, as he hit a shot to Brent which made his eye swell up. Ishe pleaded for the fight to be stopped in the uneven third, and it was. He had not stopped the fight to see his team-mate win, but because Brent was in trouble, and this anti-Anthony sentiment was echoed around the camp, but not the crowd, who cheered strongly for the victor.
Week SevenIshe, incensed by Anthony's behaving as he did, vowed that he wouldn't take part in his team's reward and Joey felt he could no longer be his roommate. Tarick did congratulate Anthony though, saying he had done nothing wrong - but he had done enough wrong to not see eye to eye with Ishe. Tarick revealed that himself had had scheduling problems with his career, once being ranked as number ten in the world, and being scheduled to a fight against the world champion, but having to withdraw. Juan managed to rub Joey up the wrong way, implying that he was the weakest fighter. Stallone claimed that Brent held no grudge against Anthony though, who appeared to be losing his status as a hate figure, except in Ishe's eyes of course, despite what his friend Alfonso wanted him to feel. As a reward, West Coast spent a night at a club with Ja Rule, who presented them all with a new watch - Ishe excluded of course, of whom Sergio said he had let his pride get in the way. Sergio enjoyed the night especially, and much of the team looked to have forgiven Anthony. This week's challenge was a case of demolishing some walls and seeing who could get the most rubble into a truck. Joey was instrumental in a West Coast win. Tarick chose to fight against Juan. This meant Jimmy and Joey would fight next - Jimmy said he had no problem with that. The fight, which was billed as youth (Juan) against experience (Tarick), was refreshingly free of bitching pre-fight. When it kicked-off, Juan manicly punched in the first, but Tarick was holding his own. The second allowed Tarick to take advantage of this, with a more measured approach. Juan continued frienziedly, but Tarick remained punching through three and four, and Juan was examined by the ringside doctor at the end of the fourth - and his eye was deemed OK. Two exhausted men slugged out the final round, and Juan was declared the unanimous winner. Tarick was calm in defeat, and was glad to have been given his chance - before effectively declaring his retirement. Tournament TrackerWhile The Contender is a reality TV show, it does contain a serious competition with a proper format - a 16 man knock-out tournament. Preliminary Round
Quarter FinalsThe four quarter final bouts will be randomly drawn from the eight preliminary round winners. Guest AppearancesHead Trainer
Boxing ManagerExternal linksThe contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.
How to see transparent copy 01-04-2007 01:21:04 |
|
