Full Metal Jackass

while the red team sports lannister colors, the hound is most likely pulling for the black team. joffery probably will root for the yankees.

with a cast that is a collection of bull riders, former military, horse riders, steer wrestlers, and theatrical jousters (a la medieval times) the show "Full Metal Jousting" at first seemed a lot like something the cast of Jackass would put themselves through..... some of the training methods are: ride a horse at full speed (in armor) as your coach smashes you with an aluminum bat as you pass him.... and having you teammates smash you in the chest with a battering ram so you can "get used to the impact"

yes, it was pretty entertaining... but it got old fast, as they were not really taking beatings that severe.

the show is 30 minutes too long.. the 'reality show' crap they try to add to show is a waste... most of these guys seem like they were not
cast to be 'characters' and therefore all of their camera speak is pretty dull.... listening to the coaches speak is the most entertaining - just to hear people speak in a educated manner of freakin jousting... i didn't realize there was a technique other than smash the other guy with a giant wooden pole....

the set up is pretty simple. two teams of 8 are trained to joust by a coach who is an expert in the game... each episode one member of the black team faces off against a member of the red team.   the added twist is, this is not like a regular reality gameshow - if you lose the joust you stay on the show and help your team train.... because there might be a chance someone gets knocked out of the show, and needs to be replaced.

and the chances of that seem very high after the second espisode.   this guy on the black team was apparently dominating practice, and was selected to compete in the joust vs the red team... but in practice, one of his teammats blasted him in the head, breaking some of his teeth, and cracking a molar in half. (yeah, he had previoulsy decided against a mouth peice... good thinkin)

you score 1 point for a hit on the opponents chest plate, 5 points if you break your lance off an opponents chest plate, and 10 points in you unhorse your opponent.... its negative -10 if you hit the other guy in the head... which stinks - but makes sense after seeing this guy get brained in episode 2. if you got points for a head shot, the show might be over already.

as they went into the final joust, the shot to the dome totally screwed with this guys confidence... he was more jittery than cole trickle when he got back on the track after his wreck with rowdy burns.  he predictably flopped in the final joust, getting blasted off his horse on the first pass. (each match is 8 passes)...

overall the show is pretty much exactly what you would think.... hopefully these guys get better, because the most frustrating part is seeing them consistently fail to smash each other (episode 1's joust was terrible) .... most of these guys seem to be picking it it up quickly, and i think there is a good chance this could be seriously violent by the end....

as it is now, it's still pretty good.... if you simply fast forward to the practice sessions and the final joust, you can bang out an episode in about 15 minutes.