Tussle in Telluride: A Preview to ‘Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet’

When I finished up my tour with Battle of the Sexes, I figured to recap the following season should I not have a life of my own. Well, aside from a freelance gig with a local newsweekly, I have nothing going on. Bad for me, good for you.

Since the final episode of Sexes, reality fans have had their fill of disheartening moments. Jenna won Survivor, CBS renewed Big Brother before The Amazing Race, and an Osbourne dog got fake-killed. Reality Wrap-Up showed us how not to do a recap show and Dat Phan showed us he was more obsessed about his mother than Norman Bates was about his. Over in the land of Bunim-Murray Productions, Real World: Paris took a leap away from its immediate predecessor, Las Vegas. But that isn’t saying much. On the other hand, Road Rules: South Pacific managed to blend in lovely locales with some of the worst people BMP ever unearthed. And guess what? I have to deal with four of them.

But enough dwelling in the past. MTV and BMP have decided to milk the sponsors by holding back-to-back Challenges. The Gauntlet starts on September 29. The next Challenge should be filming soon and will air early next year. My job is to chronicle the events as they unfold. That, and to put the hammer down upon those who displease me. I know it’s not healthy to project internal angst, but I just can’t help it.

The Location

BMP has left the exotic scenery of Cancun and Jamaica for Telluride, Colorado. MTV will have you believe it’s a wonderful rustic place to dump the contestants. Truth is, it wasn’t the first choice. There were a few towns in Rhode Island that BMP wanted to invade, but the residents did everything but make with the torches and pitchforks. Thanks to the delay, some contestants had to bail out of the show due to personal conflicts.

The Competition

This time, there’s no scoring system, and the Inner Circle has been junked. The Gauntlet harkens back to old-school Challenges, where results were determined by teams, as opposed to single players and duos. The contestants are split between Real World and Road Rules as they compete in 16 missions. The winning team in each of the first 15 missions receives $10,000, which is split up upon completion of the show. The final mission has a $150,000 prize. In other words, this is not a winner-take-all event. The “losing” team can go home with a nice chunk of change.

The Gauntlet

After each mission, each team votes for one person. The two players then engage in the Gauntlet, a mini-mission just for them. The winner stays, while the loser has to depart. Such a format is filled with possibilities. Would a team vote on somebody who is a weak link? A loose cannon? Or would the strongest person be selected for the purpose of wiping out the opposing player, making things tougher for the other side in future missions?

The Host

Once again, Jonny Moseley, the sleepy-eyed champion moguls skier, will take hosting duties. He doesn’t bring anything to the table the way Jeff Probst and Phil Keoghan does. On the other hand, he’ll be a lot more comfortable without Colin drooling all over him.

The Players

Out of the 28 assembled (down from 36 in Sexes), only six appeared on their shows before 2000. For almost half of them, this is their first Challenge.

Hard to believe that RW teams were once considered pushovers. They defeated their adversaries in Extreme Challenge and Battle of the Seasons. In Battle of the Sexes, four of the last six players hailed from RW.

Norman Korpi (New York): BMP seems to be fond of alternating between snarky gay guys, as Norman takes Dan’s place once again. While he might not be the physical specimen like Eric, Norman did hang tough in his last Challenge, staying on with Becky until they were both ousted in the final elimination round. Another advantage Norman has: party-planning skills. Remember the toga party he thought up in Cancun?

Elka Walker (Boston): Formed the top RW duo with Sean in Seasons, winning $50,000 and two Saturns in the process. The former ingenue broke up with her longtime boyfriend, Walter the Irish rocker, so she’s single and free to mingle.

Montana McGlynn (Boston): Why is she back? She’s known for two things: getting bawled out by boyfriend Vaj after she saw another guy (“Whooooorree!!” is oft-repeated in the forums), and for getting fired after allowing kids to sip on wine. Her previous Challenge experience five years ago wasn’t much better. From her MTV.com bio, she seems to have recovered nicely, but who knows how well she can fare here?

Nathan Blackburn (Seattle): Think of him as the middle between fan-favorite David and world-class loser Slappy Stephen. His previous Challenge experience wasn’t quite as impressive, as his team lost four of five missions.