Anyone else watching "King of the Jungle" on Animal Planet?

Cafe Society
1

I have managed to avoid all “reality” tv shows till this one.

If you haven’t seen it, the setup is that a dozen wildlife experts (not sure exactly how they define expert) go through a series of challenges for the opportunity to host their own show on Animal Planet. The challenges include things like finding animals and identifying them, various climbing activities, and various animal handling activities. They also have impromptu “screen tests,” where they encounter animals and have to come up with something interesting to say about them.

Jeff Corwin is the host, and Nigel Marven and some other guys are judging.

My thoughts:

The Challenges:
They’re pretty artificial, in a lot of respects. The animals they have to find/describe have all been planted by various animal experts. Some of the challenges (swinging from a rope and jumping onto a vertical net) aren’t things I would expect them to have to do very much of in hosting a tv show. But it’s interesting to watch them face the challenges. (Most of the time I’m thinking "There’s not enough money in the WORLD to get me to do THAT! But I’m a weenie, especially where heights are concerned.)

The Judges:
I was vaguely aware of Nigel Marven before KotJ, as a host of some wildlife shows. He’s now shown himself (at least to me) as a jerk of the highest order. I’m sure some of his attitude is held with an eye to the ratings, but I still hate to see him making snotty comments to the competitors at the end of each show. He also bullies his co-judge (who seems to have changed from the first couple of weeks).

The contestants:
They’re not all really distinguishable to me right now, except for a few: Aletris of the Large Bosom (her main qualification, in my opinion), Dr. “I’m a Vet” Ernie (hated by Nigel, obviously) and Christina Cries Easily and Is Scared of Heights. As the contestants dwindle in number, I’m sure I’ll be able to distinguish the male competitors a little better.

Last night’s surprise:

Dr. Ernie got cut!!! Ok, so he went on a little too much about being a vet, but he obviously had more personality and screen presence than many of the other competitors. But Nigel couldn’t stand the way he presented himself, and so he sent him “across the bridge” instead of Christina.

I hated that. I hate Nigel too. Anyone else got any opinions about the show?

2

It is the only “reality” show that I watch also. I have really enjoyed it. I have to disagree about the physical challenges though. I have seen Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin both do things at least that crazy while they are looking for animals.

Of course they have planted the animals. Otherwise they would have a hard time getting things like sloths, bitarongs (sp?), armadillos, and tigers all together at once. And they need the variety to test how extensive the contestants’ knowledge of animals is.

I have pretty much agreed with most of Nigel’s decisions. Last nights was a bit of a toss up, but I can see why he made the choice he did. I found him kind of annoying also. :slight_smile:

3

Well, Steve Irwin is crazy to begin with! His stunts are so ludicrous I really don’t enjoy watching him.

I understand where you’re coming from, but I think Dr. Ernie could have “polished up” better than a lot of the others. If nothing else, he’d make a good kids’ show host! :smiley:

4

I think Dr. Ernie got axed mostly because of over all performance, and not because of the snake-in-a-tree challenge. I think he did better in the tree than at least two or three of the others. But let’s face it, he wasn’t going to be in the final four, so, maybe better that he gets cut now.

And while Nigel the jerk had it in for Ernie, there is some justification: Nigel had lambasted Ernie for chewing the scenery in the last screen test (with the giant snake). And then, before this last screen test, Nigel told the group (but was saying it for Ernie’s sake) to be yourselves and tone down any acting. Ernie only dropped from a 12 to a 9 on the cheese quotient (on a scale of 10) - he didn’t get it.

I missed the first two shows. Animal Planet did a poor job advertising this gem. I watch its sister networks all the time, and it wasn’t until the third episode that I saw an advert.

Peace.

5

I didn’t get hooked till about the 3rd show myself, so I missed the first couple of cuts.

Oh well, I’m hooked now.

6

Nah, Irwin isn’t crazy, just really, really enthusiastic. He is educated and knows what he is doing. It just looks crazy. :wink:

I agree about Ernie being a good kid show host. And Nigel made the same comment the first time that “Dr. Ernie” showed up. But they are not finding a host for a kid show.

Lok

7

I find myself enjoying the show. Can’t for the life of me say why, but so long as it’s interesting (for whatever reason), I’ll watch just about anything.
By the way, I don’t know about Ernie, but Bert is evil.

8

What I think I like better about this show over other reailty shows is the fact that the contestants are removed by an outside force. They are not voting on each other, or doing anything but showing their own skills and abilities and being judged on them. Bias can still play a part, Nigel definitely did not care for Ernie’s style, but it is not a personal thing between the contestants.

Lok

9

Anybody else think maybe Nigel is favoring Aletris (aka Miss Boobs*)? I think she has the personality of a cardboard box.

*Sorry, that was catty. Actually, I’m not sorry. But it was catty.