"The Contender" (2005) TV series 2005-2007

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Creator:

Mark Burnett

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

7 March 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Reality-TV | Sport

Tagline:

Who will roll?

Plot:

Hosts Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard give 16 young boxing hopefuls a shot at the big time...

Plot Keywords:

Boxing | Non Fiction

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Sugar Ray Leonard	...	Himself - Host / ... (43 episodes, 2005-2007)
Jeff Connor	...	Himself - Ring Announcer / ... (32 episodes, 2005-2007)
Alfonso Gomez Jr.	...	Fighter / ... (32 episodes, 2005-2007)
Tommy Gallagher	...	Trainer / ... (27 episodes, 2005-2006)
Jeremy Williams	...	Trainer / ... (27 episodes, 2005-2006)
Sergio Mora	...	Fighter / ... (27 episodes, 2005-2007)
Jeff Fraza	...	Fighter / ... (27 episodes, 2005-2006)
Peter Manfredo Jr.	...	Fighter / ... (25 episodes, 2005-2007)
Jesse Brinkley	...	Fighter / ... (22 episodes, 2005-2007)

Runtime:

USA:90 min (pilot episode) (including commercials) | 120 min (season finale) (including commercials) | 60 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Caesar's Palace - 3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Both Sylvester Stallone's daughters appear in this show as spectators in a fight.

Quotes:

Tommy Gallagher: Peter's not crying. Let's go back to work. At 7:00 you better get your asses up.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "South Park: Wing (#9.3)" (2005)

A neat Show

Honestly I don't like those Rocky movies of the 80's, I was a great fan of Rambo at that times. While watching spoofing movies now, I knew how much that Rocky era spread up to the English cinema, how much Stallone contributed to Hollywood movies. So a reality show by Sylvester Stallone it has very much feeling. Now reentering that era, a reality boxing show tries to narrate the hard ships of a boxer during the path to his success. Rocky star Stallone selects some upcoming boxing talents which were divided in to two teams of equal members East Coast (blue) and West Coast (Yellow). In each episode one of them have to choose their opponent from the other team and they fights. The winner stays, the looser goes.

I like its idea, I always forget that it's a reality show, it has more drama, more tension, more rage. I love this show and also it gives me the chance to see another side of my greatest action Hero Sylvester Stallone.

The weak point I think, it lacks to show the extreme exercise of the boxers. I was thrilled to see Italian Stallion's training in Rocky movies, but when it comes to small screen either the producers or participants forgets to present the best part of the show. Plus mixing the dubbed voices during the match, the spectators of the Contender matches didn't cheer so much, but the audio we hear during the match I think that was added/enhanced during the post production. And also of course the presence of camera crew members during extreme emotional situations between the participants and his relatives. I mean it makes disturbance to their states, making them to fake their driven emotions.

Forgetting its drawbacks it's a nice show an angry male like me didn't want to miss off.

I gave this show 8 out of 10