''The Contender'' is an American
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...
series that initially aired from March 3, 2005 to January 7, 2009 on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
, and
Versus and currently airs on
Epix
Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...
. Each season of the series 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.
The series was created and executive produced by
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', '' Survivor'', ''The Voice'', and ''Sh ...
. The first three seasons of the show were hosted by
Sugar Ray Leonard
Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professional ...
, who shared hosting duties in the first season with actor
Sylvester Stallone. Leonard departed the series after season three and
Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983) and '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award a ...
joined as his replacement.
On January 22, 2018, it was announced that the series was being revived by
premium cable
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
network
Epix
Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...
for a fifth season which premiered on August 24, 2018.
Premise
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.
Production
The series’
tagline
In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, s ...
is “The Next Great Human Drama”, and its soundtrack was scored by
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...
. Before the show premiered, rival US television
Fox network
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...
rushed to air a competing show ''The Next Great Champ'', hosted by
Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...
. 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.
On May 16, 2005, the series was cancelled. The first season cost NBC $2,000,000 per episode. Reruns were seen on
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
. On August 11, 2005,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
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. It was later announced the show would move to Versus.
Najai Turpin suicide
On February 14, 2005, one of the 16 contenders,
Najai Turpin
Najai "Nitro" Turpin (December 19, 1981 – February 14, 2005) was a professional boxing, boxer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, USA.
He was a contestant on reality TV show The Contender (television series), ''The Contender''. ...
, 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
A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the " sett ...
for his daughter Anyae. The show still aired in its entirety, but with a special tribute to Turpin.
Seasons
Broadcast
The show ran for fifteen weeks through 2005 on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
in the United States of America. The show ran in the UK on
ITV2 and was repeated later in the week on
ITV, and now airs on
ITV4
ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...
. It also aired on AXN in India, and on the Spanish language network
Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...
.
The second season, featuring
welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, at 10 pm ET/PT, on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
.
The third season, featuring
super middleweight contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Tuesday, September 4, 2007, at 10 pm ET/PT, on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
.
The fourth season, featuring
cruiserweight contenders, premiered in the U.S. on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at 10 pm ET/PT, on
Versus. A fifth season produced by
Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', '' Survivor'', ''The Voice'', and ''Sh ...
and hosted by
Andre Ward
Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super) ...
aired on
Epix
Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's pr ...
in 2018.
International versions
See also
* ''
The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA''
References
External links
Official Epix era website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contender, The
2000s American reality television series
2005 American television series debuts
2009 American television series endings
2010s American reality television series
2018 American television series debuts
American sports television series
NBC original programming
ESPN original programming
NBCSN shows
Epix original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by DreamWorks Television
Television series by MGM Television
American television series revived after cancellation
Television series created by Mark Burnett
Television series by Paramount Television
2018 American television series endings