Full Metal Jousting

So, I'm not normally someone who really goes for "reality" television. It's some of the least realistic stuff out there, ironically. There have been a couple I've liked, such as Who Wants to Be a Superhero and a couple of the various talent shows out there, and I've been meaning to try that post-apocalyptic one... what's it called? The Colony. But I think I've found a new reality show that I actually like. It's called Full Metal Jousting, and you can watch it on the History Channel.



So Full Metal jousting is all about bringing medieval jousting back as a modern, extreme sport. Apparently it already kind of does exist, (outside of Ren Faires, even!) but only on a very small scale. So this series is an attempt to both train more professional jousters as well as raising awareness, and hopefully popularity, for the sport.

So they found 16 participants from various backgrounds, ranging from tournament jousting and rodeo work to stuff as generic as being an ex-marine. Things are about what you'd expect. They get broken up into two teams, and each week one person from each team faces off, simulating a tournament. Eventually it will be the last two and the winner gets $100,000. Each episode shows them training a bit more and then ends with the joust. Intertwined with the interesting scenes are the apparently obligatory "drama" scenes where we see the various personality clashes that invariably arrive when you get 16 people into tight quarters with little room for avoiding each other. But honesty, I don't care for those parts. They just detract from the interesting parts: the training and the actual joust itself.

Bottom Line: Overall, I'm quite enjoying the show. I dunno if I would ever pay to go to a jousting tournament on my own, but I'd say that so far the show is more interesting than the move "A Knight's Tale". (And I rather liked that movie.)