reality... what a concept. The Contender

Now I’m not a fan of reality tv, finding it puerile, pointless and seemingly just there to create instant celebrity and make up for the lack of any decent drama or original thought on the idiot box these days… but then I’m hooked on The Contender and RockStar Supernova so where does that leave me? Of course reality has very little to do with rock and roll anyway or for that matter boxing when you consider the likes of don king and sly stallone so maybe I’m really hooked on un-reality shows. Whatever they are doesn’t matter… the new season of The Contender has really raised the bar. From the first week when Michael Clark, a pre-show favourite, was eliminated this show has promised surprises. And each week it delivers.
What I’ve always liked about the concept was the fact that you got to see the boxers as real people, with families and ambitions and problems. You got to see, even though it’s the idiot box version, their lives. This was no better illustrated than this past week’s episode where Michael Stewart and Ebo Elder squared off. You see, both families had hit it off and the kids and the wives were now friends (as were in fact the husbands) but then Michael and Ebo had to “go to work” which meant beat each other up. It was a moment you couldn’t create when the fighters told their wives who they were fighting… you could see the looks on their wives faces as they contemplated what was about to happen. It made them all more human I guess (despite Ebo’s religious waffle I still like the guy)… and the bout itself was intense. Stewart showed that you’re always in with a puncher’s chance and after getting picked off for three rounds by Elder, came up with the punch to finish the fight and continue on in the show. Unlike some of the previous bouts where there had been words, had been tension between the fighters – these two were prepared it seems to be happy either way win or lose… Only Ebo’s daughter seemed distraught, the rest were very accepting although Stewart himself was visibly upset upon hearing how Elder’s daughter had reacted. It made for an intense episode and some great television. And it made the fighters look all the more human and that can’t be bad for the sport at all.