The Contender premiered on SABC2 on Friday night (23 March, 2007) and it's awesome. I'd go so far as to say that it's better than Survivor - it's so fresh and dramatic and full of emotion and ripping narratives that it's reality TV in the truest sense of what it is.
The combination of having real life boxers smashing each other up under the watchful muscles of Sly Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard makes it feel as if you're watching an extended Rocky movie combined with Project Runway and kickbutt elements of Prison Break.
Eyes Of The TigersThe show started by introducing the 16 boxers who are contending for the million buck title and it's clear that each of them is determined to break free from their demons.
The best thing about them is that they really are trained fighters who've already boxed professionally so the shows about who they are as well as their talents and what's in their eyes.
Their eyes were the first thing they all mentioned about each other and it thrilled me - the whole thing of boxers sussing each other out and going off about what they're gonna do to each other before a fight really blows my hair back.
On one hand I find it hysterical and on another very inspiring. I'd
so lurve to go into a fight and ominously roar: "I feel like a killer," - which is what Peter Manfredo did just before he got himself destroyed by underdog *think Mexican accent* Alfonso Gomez.
West Coast beats East Coast
Each episode's structured to build up to a fight between two boxers and the two are chosen as a result of events during the episode.
Everyone's been divided into teams according to where they come from - so half are in the East Coast team and half are in the West. They all live together and train together and to decide on who's gonna fight each week they do a challenge against each other.
Their first challenge was to run up the Hollywood Hill and drag three sets of logs up it by working out a combination of locks to free them and carry them forward. West Coast won which meant they had to choose which of them would fight and who they wanted him to go up against from the East Coast.
They chose to fight the East's
Peter Manfredo 'cos of him being the number three ranked middleweight in the real world - which makes him a big threat to everyone obviously. Once they decided on him they spent copious amounts of time trying to choose who'd fight him and eventually
Alfonso Gomez volunteered.
Some of them thought he'd manage whereas others (including me) didn't think he stood a chance. In contrast to Peter's pitted eyes, sharp angles and nose that's been broken at least sixty times Alfonso seemed way too spongy and soft to defeat him.
After the decisions were reached it was time for the showdown and I couldn't believe how snazzy it was.
I was expecting it to happen in a gym training ring in front of the other boxers but instead it was a full-on performance for an audience with cameras, shiny boxing gowns and that microphone that drops down so the ring announcer could go: "Peeeeeter MaaaaanffEEEdo!" Even Chuck Norris and Melanie hang-jowl Griffith were in the audience.
I just want you to know who I am (Please hear
Iris by the Googoo Dolls as you read)
The five-round fight began, Manfredo dominated for the first two rounds and then towards the end of the third Gomez turned into a beast. He didn't end up knocking Manfredo out but he beat him up big time and by the end both of them were sweaty, bloodied pulps as they fell on each other huggingly after the final bell went.
The best aspect of it all was that their families were right there with them through both the fight and the episode and seeing things unfold through their eyes added a humdinging dimension.
For instance Gomez's father made me feel exactly the same way Billy Elliot's father did at the very end of the movie when he sees Billy dance for the first time. Gomez's father is his trainer so their relationship is very different but he looked at Gomez with the same indescribable (sadness) pride as Billy's father looked at Billy when he saw him flying across the stage.
More heartstabbing though was Peter's wife and daughter who watched every stitch of him going down. I was conflicted about it - at first I thought it wasn't right for such a small girl to see her father being thumped like he was but then, as it went on, I realised that it's the reality of her life and her world and that everyone has theirs.
Yes, she'll have issues about it when she grows up, but everyone has issues about something. Also, he was so proud of the fact that he was fighting for her that it can't be a bad thing.
I thought the show would be cool but I wasn't expecting it to have soo much plot and heart to feel. If you missed it, I'd highly recommend you catch it next week. If you saw it, what did you think?
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The Contender is on SABC2 on Friday nights at 21h00.
PS: I only have one criticism of it - there's some slappy, mutton-dressed-up-as-lamb blonde chick who suddenly appeared during the fight. I had no clue who she was.