Post a Comment        E-mail this Article to a Friend        Join the List

MTV's Gauntlet III: Frank and Jillian in love/dominating in the Gauntlet, Rookie team gets new member

It seems that Tyrie was altogether forgotten by his Rookie teammates on The Gauntlet faster than he was booked  by police for urinating outside his Denver Real World crib (oh, Reality TV insults…) My last blog on the previous Gauntlet episode predicted correctly, the rookies would get Real World Phily's MJ  as their new team member. I will admit this was sheer luck and that this proves the forums on yahoo have some credibility in a citizen-journalist type of way.

This week’s episode sent both Janelle and Zach, both Rookies, to pack their belongings and get out of Mexico. In a valiant effort to save his Rookie-lover, Frank protested Jillian’s nomination into the Gauntlet for what I imagine to be a solid three hours without MTV’s editing. Alas Jillian was sent in and proved once more she can pick up balls and run with them. Zach was sent home by Frank in some sort of puzzle arranging competition. It only makes sense that Frank could defeat Zach in his mind games, as earlier in the episode someone refers to Frank as “just a big nerd.”

As was shown in the episode preview, a female from the Rookie team hits her head and is taken by ambulance to the hospital. Said female ended up being Melinda who was then whisked away –or just carried—by her longtime fiancé Veteran Danny.  Melinda ended up with a concussion and opted out of participating in the second challenge in which players pulled each other across a wire severeal stories in the air and jumped.

The Gauntlet is now being sponsored in some way by the Army, in that each episode now has an Army Strong Moment of the Episode. This Episode’s Army Strong moment takes place in the first challenge during which the teams have to move a car across the beach, using pieces of wood as “slats” to make a road of some type.

Each team also has one steering player, for the Rookies it is Jillian and for the Veterans our immortal woman Coral makes an appearance behind the wheel. At the last minute the Veterans suddenly abandon the slats part of the challenge and push the car into the finish line for a victory, which more than stumps me.

Since when does abandoning one of the defining criteria in any life challenge mean that you can keep going without losing or disqualification? Maybe Episode 5 will reveal that the Gauntlet is just as scripted as the Hills, but with a lot more strange individuals who have already proved they cannot survive in LA.