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Episode 6 - May 16
A trio of college guys are about to endure some PAIN and
SHAME, and as usual, those that do well enough will
attempt something INSANE, all to make the sports fantasy
of someone else come true. And this week, that sports
fantasy involves going to Europe to hang out and spend
some time with tennis star Maria Sharapova. And there
has to be something planned for that empty stadium in
which we see host George Gray walking around during the
intro, but unless you saw last week's preview, it's
kinda hard to tell what's in store there...
So, who are this week's sacrificial lambs, and their
hopeful dreamers?
Nate Williams
Age: 25
Attending: University of Houston
Competing for: Patrick Williams (father)
Jake Workman
Age: 20
Attending: University of Minnesota
Competing for: Shannon Szarke (friend)
Pete David
Age: 21
Attending: Colorado College
Competing for: Joan "Nonny" David (grandmother)
Day 1 (PAIN): This is Why You Don't Go Straight to Pro
The group makes their way to a gym, where there happens
to be a small boxing ring set up. In that ring, George
goes over the rules (win 1 Sacrifice to get in the
Final, win 2 to keep someone out, win 3 to choose an
opponent), then begins explaining the first Sacrifice.
Basically, all they have to do is box a couple of
rounds. Whoever does the best wins the Sacrifice. Oh,
and they're not boxing each other. That would be too
easy. They'll each be facing a professional junior
middleweight, named Majit "The Magic Man" Raiz. Looks
like the college guys are in for a world of hurt.
After they get their hands taped up and in their gear,
George explains that each fight will be 2 rounds, 2
minutes each. If scorecards are needed, it'll be scored
using a 10-point must system. Pete is up first, and the
ref (Gene Lebell) mentions in his rule explanation that
3 knockdowns in one round will end the fight, and going
down to a knee counts as a knockdown. Once the boxers
are back in their corners and ready, the bell rings, and
it's on. Majit throws a few punches, but Pete is keeping
his distance, throwing some of his own as well. Both
have been quite aggressive for the first moments of the
fight, but about 55 seconds into the round, Majit lands
a left jab in the chest that knocks Pete down. He does
get up quickly, though, and as Nonny yells for him to
keep his hands up, Pete manages to keep going, and he
gets through the first round. After a brief rest, they
begin the second round, and Pete stays toe-to-toe with
Majit, blocking some of his punches and throwing his
own, but 20 seconds into the round, a right jab to the
face takes Pete down to one knee. The ref begins the
count, and as Nonny asks if he's alright, Pete gets up
at 8 and says that he can continue after being asked by
the ref, and the fight resumes. But after another few
flurries of punches from Majit, Pete is back down. And
this time, he stays down for the full 10-count. So the
fight ends at 1:29 into the 2nd round, and that sets the
bar for the other 2.
Jake is next, and once the bell rings, and he starts by
blocking a few punches before throwing some of his own.
Majit lands a few jabs on Jake's nose, and after Jake
covers his face, Majit throws a few shots to his chest.
Jake then intentionally goes down to one knee for a
quick mid-round breather. Looks like he has an
interesting strategy to ensure he doesn't take too much
punishment all at once. And it seems to work, as even
though Majit starts to get cocky near the end of the
first round, daring Jake to throw a few punches while
his guard is down, Jake gets through the round without
any major problems. Starting the second round, Majit
starts talking trash, and while Shannon tells Jake not
to listen, Jake keeps his hands up to block the punches.
After a flurry of punches from both men, Jake once again
goes down to one knee for a quick rest, this time 15
seconds into the round. But he gets up, and both men are
now swinging hard, and Jake actually manages to get
Majit into the ropes at just past the halfway point of
the round. But Majit comes back with another flurry,
which Jake withstands, but with about 45 seconds left,
Jake is back down on one knee. That's 2 knockdowns for
the round, so he can't do that again or else he's done
for the fight. He takes his time in getting up this
time, but he gets up at 9, and the fight resumes. Majit
unleashes another few flurries of punches, but even
though he's getting tired, Jake is not letting himself
go down this time, and lasts through the rest of the
round.
Last but not least, Nate steps in, and he'll have to
also go the full 2 rounds, or else Jake will win the
Sacrifice. The bell rings, and Nate tries to start by
hitting hard. But Majit ducks under those, answering
back with some punches of his own. Halfway through the
round, and Nate is now just backing away as Majit
continues to attack. Majit lands some more punches, but
Nate, well, doesn't. But he does get through the first
round without a knockdown. The second round begins, and
Majit hits a flurry of punches, but Nate is mostly just
blocking. Under 20 seconds in, and Nate is down. He's
up, and he continues to mostly attempt to block, as
Majit lands a few punches in the gut. Nate is no longer
trying to go after Majit; he's just trying to stay up
now. Nate is no Homer Simpson, though, as he continues
trying to back away. With just under a minute left,
though, he's back down on one knee to catch his breath
again. He thought about giving up then, but he got up
and continued. Continued covering up and backing away,
though, as he didn't even try to hit Majit, who
continued to throw punch after punch. And with 34
seconds left, Nate is down once again. That's 3 for the
round, and Nate is done. That means that Jake, who was
the only one to last the full 2 rounds, wins the
Sacrifice, and Shannon is one step closer to going to
Europe!
Day 2 (PAIN): If Only All Caddies Could Swim...
Everyone pulls up to an outdoor pool, where George is
standing next to a golf tee, which happens to be next to
the pool. He then explains that this time, they'll just
have to caddy. They'll have to retrieve 9 clubs around a
golf bag, put them in that bag, then deliver the bag
back to George. Whoever does this the fastest wins. Oh,
and the bag and clubs are in the deep end of the pool,
and it is 12 feet deep there. They'll have to dive in
from a diving board, and once the clubs are in, they
have to carry the bag to the shallow end and climb out
with the help of a rope before delivering it. And that
bag will be heavy in there.
Nate is up first, though he has no experience in
swimming. The clock starts, and Nate dives in, going
straight to gathering the clubs. He grabs 4 before
putting them in the bag, then gets another 2 and tries
to put them in before going up for air. But instead of
putting the 2 clubs in, he accidentally nudged the bag,
knocking it over and spilling the clubs that were in
there back out! Oops. With 20 seconds elapsed, Nate
returns down, and he gets a few of them back into the
bag before returning to the surface again. He takes some
time to breathe, then heads back down, but couldn't do
much before heading back up. 1 minute in, and Nate tries
again, but once again, as he touches the bag, he heads
back up. And at that point, Nate quits the Sacrifice.
For someone who can't swim, I'm not surprised.
Jake goes second, and when time starts, he dives right
in. He starts grabbing clubs and putting them in the bag
2 or 3 at a time, then gets the last 2 and comes up for
air with them. 30 seconds in, and Jake heads back down,
putting those last two clubs in, then is about to start
dragging the bag along the pool floor, but he heads back
up for air, leaving the bag on the floor below. At least
the clubs stayed in this time. Jake then dives right
back down, picks up the bag, and starts walking it
across. He gets it across a good distance before
carefully dropping it down and heading back up for air.
At about 1:30 in, Jake is back on the pool floor,
picking up the bag again and walking it across.
Eventually, he gets to the rope, climbs out, and drags
the bag of clubs out with him. Jake lets the water in
the bag dump out a bit before picking it up one more
time and running it around and to the tee to stop the
clock at 3:05. I know that a common rule at most pools
is "no running", but I guess it apparently didn't apply
here.
Pete goes last, and he'll have to be quick to ensure
himself a spot in the Final. The horn blows, and he
dives in. Pete grabs 7 clubs and dumps them in before
heading up to the surface for air, then goes back down
at 30 seconds in. Pete gets the last 2 clubs and puts
them in, then returns to the surface again. With 1
minute elapsed, he returns to the floor, grabs the bag,
and starts running it across, but doesn't get too far
before dropping the bag and getting back up for more
air. Pete took his time to get more air, and to lower
his heart rate, before heading back down, but before he
can get back to the bag, he's back up again. At just
under 2 minutes in, Pete wants to quit. George says that
he could still win this, but Pete has had enough, saying
he can't do it. With that, Jake wins another Sacrifice,
and that means that one of the others is definitely
going home before the Final. But who?
Day 3 (SHAME): Gymnasts They Ain't
The college guys and the dreamers arrive in an
auditorium on stage, and George points out the smiles on
the faces of Jake and Shannon before starting to explain
this Sacrifice. The guys will simply have to perform an
aerobics routine in front of a packed crowd. But this
will be part of a Miss Fitness competition, and
professional judges will determine the winner. The guys
will get to learn from a national fitness champion,
Laura Mack, for one hour before preparing their
routines. But first, they have to get into their
specially-made outfits. Yes, outfits meant to be worn by
women. And that includes a sports bra. And yes, they
look silly in those outfits.
Once they're dressed up, Laura begins teaching them some
mandatory skills for their routines, including one-armed
push-ups, the saddle press, and the splits. Let's see...
Jake fell when attempting the one-armed push-ups, Pete
couldn't even lift himself up for the saddle press, and
none of them could do a proper splits. Yeah, this oughta
be embarrassing for them. But it's gonna get more
embarrassing, as once the crowd is filed in, and the
show is ready to begin, Laura will get to wow the
audience first. She performs her routine just about
flawlessly, as the 3 guys are backstage, watching her
and thinking, "We have to follow THAT up?"
Sure enough, they have to, and Nate is going first. He
nervously walks onto the stage and bows to the crowd
before starting, by, um, dancing (if you can call that
dancing). He pulls off a decent cartwheel, then dances
some more, then does some push-ups (including the
one-handed variety), and all the while, he's making
funny faces. At one point, Nate makes his attempt at the
splits, and although he couldn't do a complete split, he
did what he could, and the crowd seemed to like it. He
finishes the routine, and gets a good applause.
Pete is the next to go, and he goes right to the
push-ups to start. After that, he does a decent double
cartwheel, then does a few high kicks, and does a bit of
his own dancing. And yes, the crowd was laughing at the
dancing attempts from these guys. Pete's attempt at the
splits was good; once again not fully split, but Pete's
seemed to be a little better to me. He spins on the
ground after that, then gets up and dances some more
before finishing the routine. Once again, good crowd
reaction.
Jake was last, and although he already won 2 Sacrifices,
he went in and put on a good show. He starts with a bit
of a dance, then pulls off an awesome front flip, wowing
the crowd right away. Jake then goes into the push-ups,
which he does fine with, and later, he does some of his
own high-kicking. Eventually, he goes into something
that I can only describe as a reverse worm, then after
his splits attempt, Jake dances some more, and he
finishes by flicking his headband into the crowd. The
crowd reaction seemed to be at its best with Jake. But
did he wow the judges enough to complete a sweep of the
Sacrifices?
Everyone joins George on the stage, where he is about to
announce the winner of the Sacrifice. And after saying
it was a unanimous decision, he announces the winner...
It's Jake! He receives the trophy, and with 3 wins, this
means that the fate of his opponents is in his hands, as
he will get to pick which of those two will join him in
the Final! But he'll get some time to think about this
decision, as Jake will have to wait until the next day
to make his choice.
Day 4 (INSANE): All This for Peanuts?
On the way to the Final, the group makes a stop at a
beach, where they meet with George. It is time to send
someone home, and give someone else a free ride to the
Final, and it's all up to Jake. And he chooses to send
home.. Pete. Everyone says their good-byes to Pete and
Nonny, and Jake explains that he felt that this was
harder than all 3 Sacrifices combined, after seeing the
heartbreak in Nonny's eyes. But now, it's between Jake
and Nate in the Final.
They now make their way to a stadium (the Home Depot
Center), and they meet George in the stands for the
explanation of the Final. Basically, they'll play the
role of a vendor, and when George asks for some peanuts,
they just have to get it to him. Whoever does it the
fastest wins. There's just one problem, though. The tray
with all the snacks (including the peanuts) is suspended
way up above, at the top of the stadium! They'll have to
climb up a black rope using an ascender, all the way to
the top, and grab the peanuts from the tray. They'll
then have to detach from the ascender and climb down a
blue rope right beside it, all the way to the ground,
before tossing the peanuts to George. I bet most vendors
didn't have THIS much trouble getting peanuts to
someone.
Since he has won all the Sacrifices this week, Jake gets
to decide whether to go first or second. And he decides
to go second, letting Nate tackle the challenge first.
Nate gets suited up and attached to a safety line, and
is waiting at the bottom of the ropes. George yells
"Peanuts!", the clock starts, and Nate has a little
trouble getting his feet into the ascender at first. It
takes him 15 seconds to get his feet in there and start
ascending. He's pulling himself up slowly, but he's
getting there. At 2:10 in, Nate reaches the top and
reaches over at the tray. It takes him about 25-30
seconds to find and grab the peanuts from the tray, and
he then stuffs him into a pouch on him before starting
to detach from the ascender. At about 2:55, he's on the
blue rope, and he begins his climb down. He's once again
moving slowly, but after a bit, Nate slips, and he's
falling down the rope! The safety line has to stop his
descent, as it has been ruled that he let go of the
rope. As a result, he cannot continue the task, and they
mark the point where Nate let go of the rope as the mark
for Jake to beat.
So now, all Jake has to do is to climb farther down that
blue rope without letting go after getting the peanuts,
and he'll win the Final. He has the safety line on him,
and on the yell of "Peanuts!", Jake gets into the
ascender and starts his climb a little faster than Nate
did. He takes his time in getting up there, and he is
actually moving slower than Nate did, as he's up there
at about 3:10 in. Jake didn't have trouble finding and
grabbing the peanuts, and he gets it in his pouch
before... reaching for the tray again? Apparently, he
decided to get some cotton candy for Nate as well. Can't
blame him, really, since time is no longer a factor
here. After grabbing the blue rope, he detaches from the
ascender and begins climbing down. At 4 minutes in, Jake
seems to be close to making a quick descent as well, but
he manages to hang on and keep his descent under
control. Eventually, he climbs all the way down, touches
down on the ground, and throws the peanuts to George,
stopping the clock at 4:48. With that, Jake has swept
the whole thing, and Shannon gets a trip to Spain to
meet Maria Sharapova!
But wait! Normally, the person winning the Final would
also get to go with their friend/relative as their
sports fantasy comes true. However, Jake has decided to
let Nonny go with Shannon to Spain in his place! So,
instead of making just one person's dream come true,
Jake is making two people's dream come true! Talk about
a big heart.
1 Week Later
Shannon and Nonny arrive in Valencia, Spain, and at a
tennis academy, after we hear Nonny mention how much she
appreciated what Jake did, they meet Maria Sharapova.
They chatted for a bit as they took a walk, and they
eventually arrived at Maria's "home away from home",
where she showed them her room, among other things. They
even ended up having lunch together, where they get to
talk some more. Shannon even shows Maria a picture in
her digital camera.. of Jake, Pete, and Nate, all in
those outfits they wore in the third Sacrifice! And
after lunch, Shannon and Nonny get a picture with Maria.
Certainly a great experience for both of them, and all
because Jake is such a nice guy. |
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Previous Episodes
April 25
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