Next Action Star: The Mystery of the Missing Contestants

It’s not exactly Ten Little Indians, but two contestants on Next Action Star will be mysteriously absent during this week’s upcoming finale. According to an article on The Futon Critic website, NBC has decided to shelve the penultimate episode of this consistently low-rated reality show and has yet to explain how it will account for the absence of the two finalists who were eliminated in the second last episode.

This, of course, means that the finale and resulting made-for-TV movie have been moved up by one week, as mentioned at the end of last week’s recap.

The movie, whose working title Hit Me was recently changed to Bet Your Life, is now scheduled to air on August 4 from 9-11 p.m. According to the IMDB, several actors with bit parts will be making their screen debut in this movie. Also making his debut, although as a screenwriter, is Jeff Welch, who wrote the story, but shares screenplay credit with Director Louis Morneau (one of the judges on the show).

The movie was reportedly shot on location in Cleveland, Ohio, and Las Vegas, Nevada on a budget of $8 million. This is a sizeable budget, though not as big as the budgets of some blockbusters or as small as those movies made as a result of Miramax and HBO’s Project Greenlight. However, those movies were released in theaters.

The plot of the movie has Sonny Briggs (the male winner — Jared, John, or Sean), a former pro quarterback turned Las Vegas limo driver with a penchant for gambling, framed for murder by Joseph, a maniacal high stakes gambler played by Billy Zane, who also played the villain in Titanic. Joseph bets Sonny that he can’t stay alive for 24 hours while Joseph tracks him down just for kicks.

Determined to win the bet, Sonny makes a beeline for Cleveland, not realizing there’s already a twist in play (which was hinted at during the Sexy Time episode of the show). To make matters worse, Sonny discovers someone else is also after him: a relentless female bounty hunter by the name of Carmen Rawlins (the female winner — Mélisande, Corinne, or Jeanne). An action-packed game of cat-and-mouse ensues until another twist brings the plot full circle.

The two runners-up are also scheduled to make cameo appearances in the film.

Gil Sery is a freelance writer based out of San Diego, CA. You can reach him at movieman26@hotmail.com.

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