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The Contender is a reality television series that follows a group of boxers as they compete with one another in an elimination-style competition, while their lives and relationships with each other and their families are depicted. Produced by Mark Burnett, the show is hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard, who shared hosting duties in the first season with actor Sylvester Stallone. Leonard also serves as a trainer on the show, along with Tommy Gallagher. During the first season, boxing manager Jackie Kallen also served as counsel to the boxers.

The show ran for fifteen weeks through 2005 on NBC in the United States of America. The show ran in the UK on ITV2 and was repeated later in the week on ITV1, and now airs on ITV4. It also aired on AXN in India, and on the Spanish language network Telemundo. The second season, featuring welterweight contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, at 10 pm ET/PT, on ESPN. The third season, featuring super middleweight contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Tuesday, September 4, 2007, at 10 pm ET/PT, on ESPN. The fourth season, featuring cruiserweight contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at 10 pm ET/PT, on Versus.

The series’ tagline is “The Next Great Human Drama”, and its soundtrack was scored by Hans Zimmer. Before the show premiered, rival US television Fox network rushed to air a competing show The Next Great Champ, hosted by Oscar de la Hoya. The show performed very poorly, with the final episodes being relegated to cable FSN. In an effort to distance itself from the Fox disaster, NBC opted to hold airing its show until spring 2005.

The show takes the format of a gameshow, with the boxers divided into two teams based on their place of residence in the United States: East Coast or West Coast (or simply “East” and “West”). These teams live together in group living quarters, in Pasadena, California in the historic Royal Laundry Building on Raymond Avenue, and compete for the right to choose which of their team members fights that week, and who he fights against. Most of the second half of the hour-long episodes are devoted to that fight: the loser is eliminated.

On February 14, 2005, one of the 16 contestants, Najai Turpin, despondent over personal matters, committed suicide, shooting himself while sitting with his girlfriend in a parked car outside the West Philadelphia gym where he trained. In his memory, the producers set up a trust fund for his daughter Anyae. The show still aired in its entirety, but with a special tribute to Turpin.

On May 16, 2005, the series was cancelled. The first season cost NBC $2,000,000 per episode. Reruns were seen on CNBC. On August 11, 2005, ESPN announced that it was picking up the rights to a second season of the show, which began airing on the network in July 2006, although special editions under the Contender title are currently airing as of March, 2006. ESPN also announced that it has options to renew the series for two additional seasons. However, on April 10, 2008, ESPN announced that it was canceling the series. Executive producer Jeff Wald maintained that the show would continue on another network.^[1] It was later announced the show would move to Versus.

Seasons [edit]

• The Contender
• The Contender 2
• The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA
• The Contender 3
• The Contender Asia
• The Contender 4
• The Contender Australia

Contestants [edit]

The West Coast wear yellow, and the East Coast blue. Much of the equipment is being provided by Everlast.

Tournament Tracker [edit]

While The Contender is a reality TV show, it does contain a serious competition with a proper format – a 16 man knockout tournament.

Preliminary Round [edit]

1. Alfonso (W) beat Peter (E) on points.

2. Jesse (W) beat Jonathon (E) on points.

3. Ishe (W) beat Ahmed (E) on points.

4. Sergio (W) beat Najai (E) on points

5. Peter (E) beat Miguel (W) on points.

6. Anthony (W) beat Brent (E) by knockout. (Brent was declared unfit to continue.)

7. Juan (E) beat Tarick (W) on points.(Juan was injured making him unable to continue in the tournament.)

8. Joey (W) beat Jimmy (E) on points.

(Numbers refer to the episode in which the fight took place.)

Quarter finals [edit]

Quarterfinal bouts are determined by the individual winner of each challenge. The winner can choose whom he wants to fight, or become the “matchmaker” and select two fighters to compete against each other.

9. Sergio beat Ishe on points.

10. Alfonso beat Ahmed on points.

11. Peter beat Joey on points. (Fight stopped in 5th due to accidental headbutt.)

12. Jesse beat Anthony by knock-out. (Although Anthony was still conscious.)

(Numbers refer to the episode in which the fight took place.)

Semi finals [edit]

These two matches will take place between the four remaining boxers, Sergio, Alfonso, Peter, Jesse.

13. Peter beat Alfonso on points.

14. Sergio beat Jesse on points.

(Numbers refer to the episode in which the fight took place.) On the final night in Las Vegas, Alfonso Gomez took on Jesse Brinkley for 200,000 prize. Alfonso was in better shape and connected better punches.

The Finale [edit]

For $1,000,000, from Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

15. Sergio beat Peter on points.

(For third place, Alfonso beat Jesse on points.)

(Number refers to the episode in which the fight took place.)

Fans Favorite Fights [edit]

These three bouts were staged as warm-up events for the final.

Jimmy beat Tarick on points.

Ishe beat Anthony.

Jeff beat Brent.

Guest appearances [edit]

• Cedric Ceballos
• Tony Danza
• Angelo Dundee
• Matt Stone and Trey Parker
• George Foreman
• Mel Gibson
• Ja Rule
• Dr. Drew
• Jay Leno
• Chuck Norris
• Burt Reynolds
• William Shatner
• Meg Ryan and Omar Epps to promote Against the Ropes
• Bill Goldberg
• Lewis White
• Tom Bei
• Mr. Met
• Mr. T
• Danny Green
• Vic Darchinyan
• Jason Sehorn

Weekly results [edit]

     Navy means the boxer won the team challenge and the match.

     Cornflower blue means the boxer lost the team challenge and won the match.

     Light blue means the boxer won the match.

     Cyan means the team won the challenge.

     Tomato means the boxer lost the match.

     Red means the boxer won the team challenge and lost the match.

     Dark red means the boxer lost the team challenge and the match.

     Gray means the boxer quit the competition.

Later Seasons [edit]

• The Contender 2
• The Contender 3
• The Contender 4

Related shows [edit]

Ty chempion [edit]

On October 17, 2010, the Ukrainian show Ty – Chempion («Ти чемпіон», translated as You are the Champion), the adaptation of NBC's The Contender, started on Ukrayina TV channel.^[2][3] The 10-episode show is hosted by Kostya Tszyu, Alina Shaternikova (both are professional boxers) and Denis Nikiforov (the star of Shadowboxing 2005 film).^[4] There are 13 contenders and all are current or former professional and amateur boxers.^[5] in the Finale fight for 1,000,000 UAH on December 12, 2010 David "Dato" Tabatadze took revenge on Bogdan Protsyshin.^[6] Previously in round 1 (show's episode 4) on November 7, 2010 Bogdan Protsyshin won the fight,^[7][8] but later Tabatadze returned to the show thanks to viewers SMS votes.^[9] The Finale received rating/share 3,7%/8,4% of 50,000 18+ age and 3%/7,8% of 50,000+ 14–49 age viewers.^[10] According to Kostya Tszyu, the season 2 of the show is in considering for production.^[11]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Sergio's official website
• NBC.com
• About.com Contender Guide
• Yahoo TV Contender Guide
• CBS News article on Najai Turpin's suicide (February 15, 2005)

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