The Graphic’s definitive guide to Spike TV’s hit show ‘Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.’
James Riswick
Associate Editor
If writing articles was an event on “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge,” I most definitely would have been painfully eliminated.
You see, this article was originally supposed to be filled with wonderful quotes and comments from the four cast members/voices and the executive producer of the hit Spike TV show “MXC” who I was supposed to interview way back in April, long after the final Graphic had rolled off the press.
“MXC” has gained a cult following not only at Pepperdine but across North America, and I was certainly interested in finding out how it was created. The show’s insanely funny commentary makes the show so much more than just making fun of circa-1987 Japanese people getting the shittake mushrooms knocked out of them in a variety of zany, painful ways.
So what happened, you ask? Did those snooty TV types back out on an interview with a college newspaper reporter?
Not at all. In fact, we talked for longer than originally planned and they were all incredibly funny and very nice. They even asked to use my name as one of the “contestants” (keep an ear and eye out for me.)
“Indeed,” as Vic Romano would say, it was I who screwed up. To make a long story short, I accidentally deleted the interview sometime in early July having never transcribed it. I felt like I had just got smacked face first into one of those Sinkers and Floaters then sprayed down by Herbie the Steamy Pile.
All the witty banter was gone, all the words of wisdom imparted to me by Victor Wilson (Vic Romano), Christopher Darga (Kenny Blankenship), John Cervenka (Captain Tenneal/Guy La Douche), Mary Sheer (every girl) and Executive Producer Paul Abeyta had disappeared faster than you can say, “Right you are Ken!”
So, although this is merely a shell of the “MXC” exposé it might have been, I have nevertheless racked my brain and researched the show to the best of my ability. Here are some of the behind-the-scenes tid bits and wonderful factoids about this cult classic in the making.
So with my sincerest apologies and most severe self-irritation, as the Captain would say … “Leeeet’s go!”
What is MXC?
“Most Extreme Elimination Challenge” debuted in the summer of 2003 just before The New TNN became Spike TV, and has since then been one of Spike’s most successful shows, drawing about 600,000 viewers per episode. Many have described it as “Jack-ass” meets “Iron Chef,” which is a perfect description. Throw in a touch of “American Gladiators” and a dash of “The Man Show” and you’ve hit the nail right on the head.
“MXC” is the English-dubbed version of the Japanese game show “Takeshi’s Castle” that aired in the late 1980s. Unlike the British version of the show, which directly translated what was said and going on, “MXC” throws everything away but the actual video footage. Commentators Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship call the painful-looking action, which usually involves highly energetic contestants crashing into walls, mud, murky water and several other things. They never seem to get hurt, but it’s sometimes hard to imagine how that’s possible when they get so painfully eliminated.
Two teams compete in four to six contests, and each is comprised of people from various professions. Some include circus performers, former child stars, dairy workers, the adult film industry and whatever else will yield comedic commentary. A winner is usually declared at the end, but that really doesn’t matter at all. Instead, it would seem that the point is to follow what Vic and Kenny always say, “Don’t get eliminated!”
How they do it
Since nobody involved in the show speaks Japanese, the producers and actors have absolutely no idea what’s going on when they go about transforming an episode of “Takeshi’s Castle” into “MXC.” All sound is removed and the actors watch the games that will make it into the show on any given week just as you would sitting at home.
Actors Wilson, Darga, Cervenka and Sheer are all improvisational comedians and as such just sit there and make up what they think the Japanese contestants might be saying. A script supervisor named Herb (who, according to the actors, is the inspiration for character Herbie the Steamy Pile) jots down everything that was said and transforms it all into a useable script that the actors will later perform for the final version.
09-09-2004
