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stuart-463
Reviews
The Contender (2005)
Reality television with a Rocky movies feel
I, like a lot of people, felt I could not bring myself to watch another reality television programme. I was sick of seeing normal people acting up in front of a camera or even worse minor "celebrities" that are mostly famous for doing nothing fighting for even more exposure as they try to get a career in television. You can imagine my surprise when I saw the first series of the contender. Driven young fighters given a chance of a lifetime to be trained by the best trainers in state of the art facilities. Finally this is what reality TV was meant to be about. Sure there were plenty of ego's on show but at the end of each show it was put up or shut up. And how many times was I wrong about who would be the final one standing (too many times to count). It was never any better than when a boxer would be selected to fight because his opponent thought that he was "out of shape" only to see a "surprise" result. The highlight of the programme is, of course, the fight at the end of each programme where it is a mixture of real time mixed with slow motion sections when big punches are landed. Think fight night meets Rocky. It certainly raised the excitement of watching the programme. Needless to say I am a fan and am happy to say that the second series is looking to be almost as good as the first.