Man, this show is good. It’s the way “reality” TV should be. It’s got the best elements of all the different shows.
It has the people living in a house together drama of The Real World.
It has the physical challenge of Survivor.
It doesn’t have the contestants voting to remove each other, so it’s not a popularity contest.
More than one person can be kicked out in a single week. As evidenced by last night’s show.
I like wrestling. But I’ve found that people that don’t necessarily like the WWF will enjoy the show.
I usually avoid MTV with all my might, but I happened to catch the first episode accidentally. I was flipping channels and saw an aerial shot of vegas. Of course, I always watch any show having to do with vegas, so I watched. Then I saw all these people trying out for the WWF Tough Enough 2 challenge at Caesar’s Palace. I got sucked in pretty quickly.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else liked this show. Go ahead and post your feelings/discussions here.
Me, I like Jessie. I’d love to see her overcome the obvious physical disadvantages she has to become a kick ass woman. Other than her, I like that guy with the spiky hair. Jake I think. He seems like the one with the best chance at that WWF contract.
That would include me. I really like the show, and have come to have a greater respect for the sport and the people in it. I’m pulling for Pete. Of course, he doesn’t stand a chance. The only thing I don’t like is that they don’t admit up front that they’re looking for big people. I wish they’d stop to think about how expanding beyond their own stereotypes mght attract some new fans.
I have never seen a WWF match, and yet Tough Enough is my favorite T.V. show.
I agree with you 100% c_goat, this show is the best of Reality T.V.
In thinking about why I love it so much, I’ve concluded that there are three main factors:
It’s REAL. Every other reality show (with the exception of Bravo’s “The It Factor”) is about a bunch of people put into an unrealistic situation that they would never be in if they weren’t on the show. Tough Enough is about people who want to be wrestlers going through training. Except for the competition and the “living in a house and being taped”, they’re doing what they would be doing anyway. Nobody has to set them up with challenges, they face challenges every day trying to do their workouts and learn their moves.
(And this is the part that really gets me) It’s about people trying to improve their lives, with help from the show. In episode three, we saw that Linda was coming off arrogant and unlikeable. On any other reality show, this would have been milked for all it’s worth, with situations contrived to make her look worse as her fellow participants sniped behind her back. On Tough Enough, we got to see Al Snow take her aside and try to work with her to help improve her attitude. Even the “competitors” all seem to want each other to succeed. Where “The Real World” seems to be about the immaturity and stupidity of being young, Tough Enough is about growing up and facing life.
I love Al Snow.
Libertarian - Although size is clearly an advantage on Tough Enough, it’s by no means an essential. Neither of the winners of Tough Enough I was the biggest of the group, and one smaller guy made it all the way to the finals. I don’t think Jessie will win it, but I think that everyone else in II has a good shot size-wise.
I’m not a huge fan of Jake – I have a feeling that he will be revealed to be something of a jerk as the season goes on. I like Kenny (described on one site as “the soft-spoken black guy”) and Anni. I liked Aaron before he “enhanced” his performance and got booted. Mostly though, I like Al Snow.
I’d love to see more discussion of Tough Enough here, but if you want another forum, I’ve enjoyed this one.
I, too, am sucked in by this show, however I have only seen the first one in its entirety!!! When is it on, I can’t seem to find it. Usually MTV runs shows like this 5 times a day, but when they finally have one I like (along with The Osbournes) they won’t freakin’ show it!!
So, catch me up on what’s going on. There has to have only been a couple eps so far, right? I did catch the tail end of one ep where they had to take the guy to the hospital when he could not finish the obstacle course. Is this the one that “enhanced” his performance? If so, what did he do?
I missed it–how did “Danimal” get into the house? He was not in the original 13, but I did notice that he is competing. I was glad to see that he made it in somehow, he took it so hard when he was not picked. I also like Kenny, he shows alot of guts and heart.
I agree with other posters that this is one of the best reality shows out there. I am NOT a reality show fan at ALL, but I like the positive energy of everyone helping each other and having characters that are all likeable in the house. It will not cause me to become a WWF fan by any means, though.
There have been three episodes so far, counting the casting special. The first regular episode is the one which ends with Aaron being carted off to the hospital. Here is a review of that episode describing the action.
And I see that they have now put up a review of the third episode, in which two people got cut.
To answer your questions, Aaron took ephedrine before the physical challenge to enhance his performance, and ended up enhancing his heart rate up to 150 beats/minute. Shad, one of the original picks, was kicked out before the competition started for failing the physical, which many observers are assuming means that he failed the drug test. Danny was the alternate.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who loves this show. Off to read that new review…
Wow, SpoilerVirgin, you covered that pretty well. I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one that thought that. Especially number 2. This isn’t for a cash prize, and you have to work damn hard to get it, not just “survive”.
HelloKitty, new episodes are Thursdays at 10pm. I think they play the episode from the week before at 9:30, at least they did last time. That’s a good idea if they keep doing that.
My only real gripe is that the show is only 30 minutes long.
I don’t think Ivory should have told IttyBittyChick to stop smiling. She has a future in the WWF as an insane clown / Joker-type character. I think fans would be interested in a skinny crazy chick who kicks ass.
Thanks for the heads up on when the new eps air–I finally caught the first 3 yesterday afternoon!
A couple more observations:
Even though everyone seems to be complaining about Linda and her “attitude”, it sounds to me like a bunch of whining. I think she kicks A$$, and it seems clear to me that the trainers like her, even the “Big Show” guy said “Wow” when he saw her wrapping up. Then IttyBittyChick is all “why didn’t Al Snow tell her to lose the attitude” after the cuts. Boo Hoo!!
Too bad about Robert, he really did try hard, but it was pretty obvious he was not going to make it. I was also not surprised that Aaron got cut, he was stupid to take ephedrine.
My favorites are Hawk, Linda and Danny…looking forward to the next ep!!
The problem with Linda was that she looks too determined to perform as the lead, instead of relaxing and following someone else’s lead. Wrestling is a game of give and take. The beast performers ar the best at following someone else’s lead.
Ivory talked to Smiley Girl to stop it because many of her competitors thought she was turned on by the tie-ups. It wasn’t a Rob Van Dam-like or Sting-like smile, that of self-confidence.
I wanted Robert to continue, but he obviously wasn’t ready. Aaron deserved to go. Wished he was tested positive before the obstacle course.
Don’t know about you, but I rather get cut by Al Snow than being told “The tribe is spoken” in that fakey Survivor game.
WWF is not the only wrestling game in the US. Several of the Tough Enough I contestants are in independant leagues.
The problem with Linda was that she looks too determined to perform as the lead, instead of relaxing and following someone else’s lead. Wrestling is a game of give and take. The beast performers ar the best at following someone else’s lead.
Ivory talked to Smiley Girl to stop it because many of her competitors thought she was turned on by the tie-ups. It wasn’t a Rob Van Dam-like or Sting-like smile, that of self-confidence.
I wanted Robert to continue, but he obviously wasn’t ready. Aaron deserved to go. Wished he was tested positive before the obstacle course.
Don’t know about you, but I rather get cut by Al Snow than being told “The tribe is spoken” in that fakey Survivor game.
WWF is not the only wrestling game in the US. Several of the Tough Enough I contestants are in independant leagues.
