America’s Toughest Jobs, Episode 9 Commentary – The Best Wedgie I Ever Had
Boom, boom, boom.
We are back for the penultimate episode of the lowest rated show currently on NBC. So, likely back for the second to last episode ever. This show may follow Treasure Hunters down the path of failed NBC reality competition shows that really had great promise. It is never a good sign when a show moves from Monday to Friday and finally lands on the wasteland of Saturday.
Anyway, I have basically enjoyed this show for the most part. There are ridiculous parts – like the overly dramatic announcer that over-articulates everything – but it is a good premise. I wish that the individual legs had some sort of prize attached to the winners, but these are the kind of things that would get worked out in future seasons. For their sake, I hope we get to see it.
This week the Final Five go to Mount McKinley in Alaska. I have said this earlier in the season, but I have had too much exposure to Alaska in 2008. Way too much. Climbers of Mt. McKinley have had issues – 700 rescued since 1976 and it can get to 100 degrees below zero with 100 mph winds. Intense. So our friends will become rescuers for this week.
This is the first task that I think is ridiculous. While they may not have been great at some of these jobs, you can at least see them as possibly doing them for a living. And they were at least involved in what would be some real simulated workplace environments. This one is not. Seriously, they are not guiding mountain climbers and they are not in a life or death situation. For obvious reasons, of course. But I was kind of taken out of the moment on this one because the whole thing was a bit outlandish. Sort of like a ride-a-long with a police officer. They are not bringing you to crime scenes.
As it turns out, they needed to learn how to fall properly and dig into the snow with their pick to prevent sliding into a crevasse. They also would learn to properly rescue someone who has fallen into a crevasse. This task was the most interesting one of the evening. The third task was to climb up the mountain a bit, sort of simulating how they would be linked to actual climbers.
As usual, Michaela rocked the challenges. Not as usual, so did Steven. Ben was solid enough and the three of them cruised to the finale. Sandy and Rommel were struggling this week and the final battle between them was tight. Sandy edged him by 12 seconds in dragging a dummy up from a crevasse fall. And yes, it was a mannequin, Chris had not returned for an episode.
Some thoughts:
- Why was the head boss a child? Seriously, the dude looked like he was 14 years old. And yet he has summitted McKinley 13 times and climbed Everest twice.
- I loved the announcer’s usual hyperbole – prevent someone from “sliding to a cold, dark death.” This guy should be the new voice of movie previews.
- The self-arrest task was interesting for a while, especially when they added the part of dragging the Final Five through the snow while they tried to get a foothold in the ice. After slamming themselves down in the snow and ice for two hours for practice! Sandy struggled, but didn’t think so.
- Ben thought that the temperature changes were “like a teenage girl’s emotions.” I hope Ben has all daughters some day.
- Gotta love Steven’s head bandana and sunglasses. Makes him look like Vanilla Ice’s less cool younger brother. Yes, he makes Vanilla Ice look cool. Interesting note: I went back to my alma mater for Homecoming a few years ago and was amazed that my fraternity house played “Ice, Ice Baby” and that they lost their ever-loving mind when it played. It turns out that song is cool now. Who knew!
- Rommel couldn’t tie knots (not that I could do much better) but amazing that it likely cost him a trip to the finals. After all the tough jobs, knots did him in.
- The breakdown for the crevasse rescue: Steven rescued Ben, Michaela rescued Sandy, Sandy rescued Rommel, Ben rescued Steven, and Rommel rescued Michaela.
- Steven rocked this challenge. Ben had a fun comment, “I am not inside a glacier.”
- Michaela struggled at first and then turned it around and rocked it. Man, this is a tough lady. As Sandy dangled, she shared that it was the best wedgie that she ever had. Images. Must stop the images.
- Rommel dangled and said that his “babies were being crunched right now.” Again, bad images.
- Ben had it tough because Steven is a giant. Steven dropped so fast that Ben’s pick was pulled from his hand. That said, good job adjusting and dragging Steven from a much greater distance than anyone else had to manage.
- Rommel struggled and Michaela kept falling, a point that she was getting quite nervous about!
- Then they had to climb, and this was somewhat boring. Beautiful landscape shots, but a bit boring. Basically, Sandy bitched a lot and blamed Steven for being too tall. Michaela loved every minute of it. Of course. Rommel kept messing up with the clipping process. You know, what enables them to stay on the mountain and not to plummet. Michaela lamented that his errors could have led to their death.
- At the final lineup, Ben called out Rommel and Michaela called out Sandy. That is one thing this show does better than any other – it makes the contestants talk smack about the others to their face. Sandy tried to defend herself and again, I have no idea what she said.
- According to Dodge Ram, these guides make only $15,589 a year. Wow, that is low. Makes me feel slightly guilty. The total for the season is now exactly $298,000.
- Ben’s furry hat in his confessionals is even more goofy than his dreds.
- Michaela wins the challenge for being level-headed. I really thought Steven was going to win. Rommel and Sandy battle to rescue a dummy. Sandy does it in 4:41 and Rommel… ah, tricky editors, we don’t see the time until Temple tells them that Sandy is going to the finals. She goes nuts and hoots and hollers and jumps around in Rommel’s face. Nice sportsmanship, Sandy.
- Rommel opened his own karate school back home. Good for him.
- The Final Four is Michaela, Ben, Steven and Sandy. Stunning that Steven is there after his early struggles, but he is finishing strongly. I think Michaela is the favorite; she has been consistently the best. But who really knows.
The Finals will encompass revisiting the three toughest jobs of the year. I was wondering what they would do. It seems hard to decide what would be the absolute toughest job in America. Perhaps America’s Toughest Jobs producer?
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