Gauntlet 3: Episode 9 - Army Strong

Soooo I missed a whole LOTTA eps between the finale and the last one I watched, but I went ahead and watched the finale anyway. I really feel bad for Eric. He used to annoy me a lot because I always got the impression that he just tried so hard and would make an *** out of himself constantly just for a cheap laugh. But it's just obvious that he REALLY isn't comfortable in his own skin. And I guess being a borderline obese guy around all these guys with bods of steel, I can understand why he tries so hard. Especially after the way his team turned on him. Thirty grand isn't worth anyone's health. And yes, it was a BS call by production. If a cast member has to go to the hospital, I do think the rest of the team should be able to carry on without him and a win should count as a win. But I am glad they lost. I am really disappointed in Evelyn. She had started to grow on me in a strange way. Mostly because I felt bad for her about the whole Jen/Brooke thing. But even now, months later, she shows no mercy for Eric. She writes in her blog that being a collegiate athlete she has pushed herself to the point of p***ing out or whatever many times and has been fine, thus Eric would have been fine. But everyone is different, and you can't compare the capabilities of an incredibly fit first rate athlete and someone who is sooo out of shape and overweight. She has no idea if he would have been fine. When did she get her medical degree?? As for the D-bag lovers, Evan and Kenny, please PLEASE go away. I can't believe I ever liked Evan. Maybe I just liked him in small doses? After the little I have even seen from this challenge, I am soooooo sick of him. Mmmmmk, that's bout it for now.

[quote=Katiedid;8642]She has no idea if he would have been fine. When did she get her medical degree?? [/quote] I like Evelyn, but I fully agree with this. Hindsight is 20/20, and obviously now she knows that he was okay a few hours later. But at the time, I don't think you can make that call. If Eric had heat stroke--which was a possibility given the symptoms he was showing--then the absolute worst thing they could have done was continued along with him, even if he wasn't actively doing anything. Being in that hot Mexican sun would have been enough. What made me think that Eric needed to be hospitalized was that he looked fairly non-responsive. People were talking to him and about him and hovering over him, and his head didn't orient to sounds and his eyes were unfocused.

[quote=Bacchus;8650]I totally disagree about the "medical emergency" free lunch that you propose Katie. Spider bites are very hard to prove (right Coral?) Being that most of these folks fancy themselves as actors in waiting, if they would have let the Eric situation become a precedent, who is to say that next challenge everyone but the fastest and strongest player falls victim to "heat stroke" (or as it is known where I am from: "I am hungover as hell and walking across a large room winds me.")[/quote] Yeah I don't agree either Army of one...all or none, LOL

I'm completely in Evelyn's corner on this. Why, because as soon as Eric was released from the hospital ER, he was back at the house partying to excess with the rookies. The veterans took it as 1) a sign of great disrespect to the other veterans who had given their all during the final mission, and, 2) that, as Evelyn suggests, he was simply too out of shape to compete. That does not mean I excuse the veterans from the greed which put them in this situation, but the bottom line is that the if the veterans had been permitted to drag or carry Eric through the rest of the course, they still would have finished the course and raised their flag before the rookies gave up, and that is what I'm told they did.

On the reunion special Eric says he only had one beer. It is the vets fault and no one can blame Eric for them not being strong enough to take him out in the beggining. I was actually quite surprised at CT on the final mission, even though he was screaming at Eric, I beleive he was trying to motivate the man to stick to his word, and not give up. Also when Evan is screaming at Robin you here CT calmly say Evan be a leader. I really think Ct has made alot of mistakes, but that he does have a heart. Bacchus help me out...over on iamonmtv.com Jillian has a link to this ninja scene they all choregraphed. I cannot figure out how to get it on here.

[quote=V1man;8653]I'm completely in Evelyn's corner on this. Why, because as soon as Eric was released from the hospital ER, he was back at the house partying to excess with the rookies. The veterans took it as 1) a sign of great disrespect to the other veterans who had given their all during the final mission, and, 2) that, as Evelyn suggests, he was simply too out of shape to compete. [/quote] Well it's too bad that Eric didn't take this as a wake up call to take better care of his body. Obviously going back to drinking right away does not bode well for this.

I hate not being able to see videos at work...is it as entertaining as the Asian prison doing Thriller??

[quote=V1man;8653]I'm completely in Evelyn's corner on this. Why, because as soon as Eric was released from the hospital ER, he was back at the house partying to excess with the rookies. The veterans took it as 1) a sign of great disrespect to the other veterans who had given their all during the final mission, and, 2) that, as Evelyn suggests, he was simply too out of shape to compete. That does not mean I excuse the veterans from the greed which put them in this situation, but the bottom line is that the if the veterans had been permitted to drag or carry Eric through the rest of the course, they still would have finished the course and raised their flag before the rookies gave up, and that is what I'm told they did.[/quote] Let me clarify--I completely understand Ev's point of view and agree that it must have been unbelievably frustrating to watch that series of events unfold. The fact that Eric was showing his face a few hours later after it turned out his condition wasn't serious, let alone drinking, was highly disrespectful and shows a great lack of consideration for others and self-awareness. However, [I]at the time[/I], they couldn't have known for sure that Eric's condition was not serious. I'm truly sorry for all involved that it turned out it wasn't and made them second-guess their decision, but at the time I think they had no other option than to hospitalize him and make sure it wasn't serious. If it HAD turned out to be heat stroke, the consequences of dragging him to the finish line, if that dig truly took two hours, or even if it only took another 30 minutes, could have been extremely serious or even potentially fatal. People have died of heat stroke or of undiagnosed conditions that suddenly manifest themselves in extreme-athletic situations. As awful as it must have been to give up the money, I think you have to put safety first. Evelyn has every right to be annoyed and frustrated and wish she had done something differently, but at the time, I think she made the only choice she could. The Rookies gave up? How did they get their flag, then? Not that I entirely blame them; that hole was big enough to fit both teams in. The fact that they had dug that with their bare hands and still not located the chest is, in my eyes, a pretty big miscalculation/error by production. V1Man, I know there's a lot you can't tell us about what really happened that day, but is there anything we didn't see that you CAN tell us? Were the Rookies aware that they were going to win by default? Did the Vets realize they had lost as soon as they lost Eric? It sort of didn't seem like it. Were the Vets bitter towards the Rookies for the default win? It seems like such an odd overall situation, and even though people looked happy in their interviews later, the Rookies didn't even look happy when they accepted their win...they just looked kind of subdued. The only real flash of happiness I saw was the shot of Tori and Brad grinning at each other, and who even knows where that was from in context?

[QUOTE=MrsPlumBean;8668]The only real flash of happiness I saw was the shot of Tori and Brad grinning at each other, and who even knows where that was from in context?[/QUOTE] I would say that was because Brad was thinking...My girl just won $50,000 and was singing "I'm in the money" even though he didn't win, LOL.

Coral's Spider Bite Was Real And They Should Have Know Shit Like This Could Happen

[QUOTE=Lily'sMom;8657]On the reunion special Eric says he only had one beer. It is the vets fault and no one can blame Eric for them not being strong enough to take him out in the beggining. I was actually quite surprised at CT on the final mission, even though he was screaming at Eric, I beleive he was trying to motivate the man to stick to his word, and not give up. Also when Evan is screaming at Robin you here CT calmly say Evan be a leader. I really think Ct has made alot of mistakes, but that he does have a heart. Bacchus help me out...over on iamonmtv.com Jillian has a link to this ninja scene they all choregraphed. I cannot figure out how to get it on here.[/QUOTE] I am aware of what Eric said during the taping of the reunion show. None of the cast members whom I have spoken to support his version of "truth."

[quote=V1man;8672]I am aware of what Eric said during the taping of the reunion show. None of the cast members whom I have spoken to support his version of "truth."[/quote] V1man I am sure that you are aware of much more than I will ever know. LOL I just think Big E is getting a bum wrap from everyone, when it was their desiscion to keep him there.

[QUOTE=MrsPlumBean;8668] The Rookies gave up? How did they get their flag, then? Not that I entirely blame them; that hole was big enough to fit both teams in. The fact that they had dug that with their bare hands and still not located the chest is, in my eyes, a pretty big miscalculation/error by production. V1Man, I know there's a lot you can't tell us about what really happened that day, but is there anything we didn't see that you CAN tell us? Were the Rookies aware that they were going to win by default? Did the Vets realize they had lost as soon as they lost Eric? It sort of didn't seem like it. Were the Vets bitter towards the Rookies for the default win? It seems like such an odd overall situation, and even though people looked happy in their interviews later, the Rookies didn't even look happy when they accepted their win...they just looked kind of subdued. The only real flash of happiness I saw was the shot of Tori and Brad grinning at each other, and who even knows where that was from in context?[/QUOTE] There are some things I can not discuss, but I'll point you in the direction of editing techniques that may allow you to speculate. Look carefully at the tape to see if the background, light levels and sound match perectly when TJ is seen says that all team members must cross the finish line together. Look at the backgound (greenscreen) in use for the rookies interviews that are edited into the flow to see if the editors are pounding home a point about all being required to cross the finish line. Do you actually see the rookies find their box? What, no elated, declaratory moment of "eureka" when someone finally finds the box? Look for matching light levels and shadows for time sequence hints. These are things I do in a broadcast quality editing suite while looking at the show, occasionally frame by frame, to understand what happened (independently of what any cast or production crew member may have told me).

[QUOTE=Bacchus;8677]Conspiracy! I love it! Can you take a look at the Armstrong/Aldrin moon landing tapes when you get a chance and share your thoughts on that as well? ;)[/QUOTE] With apologies to Oliver Stone, that one was real. The depth of field has always been the giveaway. With today's editing technology, you could fake it. At that time, it was impossible -- there was no AVID or Final Cut Pro. :no:

It is tough for me to really form a strong opinion here. First off, I love these challenges and watched them all, and will continue to do so. I also grew to love Ev because she put herself on the line for the good of the team and was one of the strongest competitors - male or female in the entire game. However, I don't know if dragging Eric when he was unresponsive to everyone was the best idea. Granted, his condition ended up not being serious, but no one knew at the time how serious it was, so dragging him through the Mexican sun would have probably made matters worse. Also, I know we have V1man's insights, but it seems like if the Vets had carried/dragged him that it would have most likely taken three times as long to get to the finish line. You'd have to think by the time that they got there that the rooks would have found their chest. But, V1man says the rooks had given up and were looking for two hours, so maybe the Vets still could have pulled it out. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, and Ev saying that she has pushed herself to the point of exhaustion isn't even close to the same as Eric doing so. She is a collegiate athlete in top physical condition whereas he is an out of shape non athlete that physically can't do the same things everyone else on his team can. That being said, it looks horrible that Easy was partying with the rooks after he left the hospital. That shows disrespect to the team and it also leads on that he wasn't as hurt as he led on. Lastly, Ev mentions on her blog that one of her two biggest regrets is not throwing a male gauntlet to get rid of Eric after the boys threw many female gauntlet's to get rid of Coral beth and Katie. It turns out that the team would have been much stronger without E and with any of those other girls (with the exception of maybe beth). Also, I hear CT gets killed on the reunion show, and rightfully so, because he acted like an ******* for most of the show (at least that is what it seems like after the show is edited), but it turns out that CT's greatest flaw might have been convincing the team to throw in Johnny in the first Vet Male gauntlet instead of Eric. A lot of the team wanted to throw E in, but CT for whatever reason just didn't like Johnny and thought he was the weakest player and the team seemingly went along with it, even though Johnny astutely pointed out how much of a detriment Eric would be in the last challenge. I guess the team got brainwashed by all of Eric's big talk which ended up costing them in the end.

[QUOTE=V1man;8675]There are some things I can not discuss, but I'll point you in the direction of editing techniques that may allow you to speculate. Look carefully at the tape to see if the background, light levels and sound match perectly when TJ is seen says that all team members must cross the finish line together. Look at the backgound (greenscreen) in use for the rookies interviews that are edited into the flow to see if the editors are pounding home a point about all being required to cross the finish line. Do you actually see the rookies find their box? What, no elated, declaratory moment of "eureka" when someone finally finds the box? Look for matching light levels and shadows for time sequence hints. These are things I do in a broadcast quality editing suite while looking at the show, occasionally frame by frame, to understand what happened (independently of what any cast or production crew member may have told me).[/QUOTE] I replayed it and became frustrated because I didn't notice anything (in the TJ scene) lol. Oh well, I guess I don't exactly have a keen eye for this. What I find odd is that it seems like the Rookies dug deeper than the Veterans had by the time they found their chest.

um 12 pages already, im not reading them all so I take it the rookies win the final challenege. How did the rookies win the final challenge but lose most of the missions.

eric's an idiot. they should've gotten rid of him to begin with.

[quote=Bacchus;8703]The reason the rookie hole looked deeper was just sloppy editing in post production. You see, there was no hole. Actually the cast was not in Mexico, but green screening the whole thing over at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank. I caught some of the small "glitches" along the way: [B]1.[/B] When CT tells Evan at the first checkpoint to stop browbeating Eric, you can see a digitally enhanced personality. This was attained using state of the art "carrot & stick" technology. Further into the episode you can see that the compelling personality disappears when hopes of winning the money are lost. [B]2.[/B] As Kenny is giving his infamous "He's dying, she's crying[B]"[/B] line after Eric has fallen, watch his lips. He didn't really say that! Actually he said, "There goes my Glandular Enhancement *******!" MTV decided that the penile lengthening dreams of Kenny did not fit the moment and dubbed in the new lines just before the episode aired. [B]3.[/B] When Evan gives his motivation speech after Eric is hauled away on a stretcher (to the green room) you will notice that he has a 3/4 head of hair. His rider stipulates that at least 65% of his head appears "forested" during frontal head shots. The CG team had their work cut out for them, but were able to place the additional hair previous to air (to satisfy the contractual obligation.)[/quote] I think they did it from a tent in a parking lot at Wendys just up the street from BMP. They never would spend the money to use Nickelodeon's Burbank studio. :moon: :dev:

does anybody have a picture of the bmp headquarters?