Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC) is an American sports comedy television program that aired on TNN/Spike TV from April 19, 2003 to February 9, 2007. It re-purposes footage from the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle, which originally aired in Japan from 1986 to 1990. The re-purposed MXC created a completely new premise, storyline, and characters, with two teams competing against each other à la a typical team sports broadcast and players trying to win points for their teams by surviving through different challenges. In the original program the Count and his underlings would follow the progress of the players as they moved through the course. In the re-purpose, Count Takeshi became veteran network announcer Vic Romano and the Count's flunky became young upstart Kenny Blankenship.
Most Extreme Elimination Challenge was created and produced by RC Entertainment, Inc. (Paul Abeyta and Peter Kaikko) in Los Angeles, California, and Larry Strawther (a writer and producer on a number of network sitcoms). The three were friends who had worked together at Merv Griffin Productions in the late 1970s. Strawther was a staffer on Dance Fever, which Abeyta took over as executive producer the following season, while Strawther stayed with Jeopardy!. Between jobs they would occasionally try to create their own projects. One of these was the 1990s talk show spoof Night Stand with Dick Dietrick. MXC is the property of both Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and RC Entertainment. The 2004 special episode MXC Almost Live is the property of Viacom International and was filmed in Orlando, Florida, by the producers of MXC.
Episodes
The premise of Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (as distinct from Takeshi's Castle) is a game show that is hosted by the eccentric characters Vic Romano (Vic Wilson) and Kenny Blankenship (Chris Darga), along with the field marshal Captain Tenneal (John Cervenka) and the field reporter Guy LeDouche (John Cervenka). The announcer (John Cervenka) would begin each episode with this standard introduction:
When the show was transitioning away from its full name, it briefly added "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge!" to the end of the opening.
Eventually, the opening introduction was changed to:
Usually, two or three teams of contestants compete in several turn-based and head-to-head challenges. The only episode done without a competitive team base was the first episode ever made, which was simply centered around the stereotypical antics of college girls. Even though this was the first episode made,DVD Audio Commentary for Season 1, Episode 7 it was the seventh episode of season one to air.
The contestants compete in a variety of challenges, usually four per episode, but occasionally as many as six. The challenges are extremely hard, and a majority of the contestants fail to complete the challenges. Throughout the show, painful failures to complete challenges are reviewed by Vic and Kenny in the "MXC Impact Replay" (briefly given sponsor names like the "Snickers Satisfies Replay" and the "Slim Jim Snap of the Day"), which is essentially a sports-themed playback feature. Occasionally, the Impact Replay is used for Kenny's pleasure, in looking at the female contestants, items, or random events in the series which he finds funny or disappointing. Contestants who do complete a challenge earn points for their team. The team with the most points at the end of the episode wins the competition. At the end of each episode, Kenny counts down the ten "Most Painful Eliminations of the Day", which usually focus on the events shown in the Impact Replay, but sometimes includes random events that involved the main or recurring characters.
Kenny and Vic, along with any other people around them at the end of the show, all end the episode by saying: "Don't get eliminated!" initiated by one of the two asking "What do we always say?"
MXC Almost Live and other special episodes On April 22, 2004, Spike TV aired a special edition of the show to start the third season, featuring skateboarder Tony Hawk and snowboarder Tara Dakides. The special was taped at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida, using students from nearby colleges and dubbed MXC Almost Live. The special edition is not based on the original Takeshi's Castle footage, but only has some added in for Vic, Ken, the Captain, and Guy LeDouche. Actors were hired to play those who would replace the roles of the latter two, named "Major Babe" (Michelle Sorrell) and "Gip LeDouche" (Eric Esteban).
Three other special episodes aired, all from Season 2, including a special nighttime episode, a "Monsters vs. Mascots" episode, and a special winter episode.
Spike initially held a contest in 2005 or 2006 in which the winner was to have his name and the name of five of his friends used in an episode of MXC and would also receive a viewing party of that episode for up to 50 people at a place of his choice. However, this contest never fully materialized and was canceled for unknown reasons.
Characters Main characters Vic Romano (voiced by Victor Wilson) is the co-host and play-by-play commentator. In Takeshi's Castle, Vic's character is Count Takeshi himself, the main character of the show. In MXC, Vic is level-headed, has a dark past of alcohol abuse, failed marriages, and various addictions, and generally treats MXC as a serious competition. Vic was once also a professional baseball player who became addicted to "everything", including every type of drug, alcohol, and easy women. He was a former news anchor who lost his job because "the scotch made the teleprompter blurry" and once was an airline pilot during his stint of alcohol abuse, but states: "Luckily, nobody noticed." Notable catchphrases include "Right you are, Ken!", "Good to know!", "I think you might be right, Ken!", "Indeed!", and "Kenny!", which is usually followed by him smacking Kenny's head with a paper fan, in response to Kenny's commentary of the action. He's especially fond of his 1974 AMC Matador coupe. The character is played by Japanese actor and movie director Takeshi Kitano, who also created the original series from which MXC takes its footage, Takeshi's Castle. Kenny Blankenship (voiced by Chris Darga) is Vic's co-host and color commentator. Blankenship is a high-school dropout whose uncle owns the network. Kenny's character is very unprofessional about hosting, far less serious about the job than Vic's character is. Despite his non-professional, simplistic stand-point, he claims to make ten times the amount that Vic does because of his uncle being one of the network bosses. Kenny has also been stated to own a condo complex from all the money that he earns from hosting and drives a Volkswagen Jetta. During hosting, in addition to providing additional information on each competitor or what entity they are a part of, Kenny usually spends his time commenting on the sexual appeal of the female competitors and how much he likes beer, pizza, and seeing the majority of competitors wipe out. Kenny's character was originally played by Japanese politician and comedian Hideo Higashikokubaru. Captain Tenneal (voiced by John Cervenka), whose name comes from the 1970s musical act Captain & Tennille, is the field marshal who conducts the contestants through each challenge with a sharp "Get it on!" (in the manner of former TV judge and boxing referee Mills Lane, whose courtroom show appeared on The Nashville Network, the predecessor of Spike TV). Near the beginning of each MXC episode, he is seen addressing the contestants as a group, asking whether some broad assertion relating to one of the topics in the episode is true. After the contestants raise their hands to show agreement, the Captain usually declares "Well, you're wrong!", but in a few episodes, he actually agrees with the contestants. He'll sometimes defend his opinion by saying, "Of course I'm right, I'm the Captain!" After further explanation and give-and-take with individual contestants, he bellows "Let's go!" and leads the contestants forward to begin playing the games. Captain Tenneal usually displays traditional attitudes towards social issues and speaks formally (calling Vic and Kenny "Victor" and "Kenneth," respectively) and takes pride in both his military service and modest pension. He is the author of a best-selling book (Well, you're wrong!) and is not above trading suggestive innuendo with the female competitors, almost all of whom are interested in him romantically. Captain Tenneal is played by Hayato Tani. Guy LeDouche (pronounced "gee" as in "geezer")(voiced by John Cervenka) is the MXC field reporter. He is portrayed wearing a pith helmet and his personality is that of a deranged and maniacal pervert of suggested French descent who has an omnisexual orientation, as he makes passes to many of the contestants he interviews, regardless of gender. Almost any interaction with the contestants arouses Guy, even those where they do violence to him, and he will respond with, "Guy like!", and sometimes responds with maniacal laughter. In addition to this, he is seen to have a romantic interest in Captain Tenneal, always calling him "Skipper". He has other family member interviewers who show the same behavior, such as "Lyndon" (which plays off political figure Lyndon LaRouche), "Geek", "Giddy", "Gip", "Goon", "Gawp", and "Gawk", along with females named "Gay", "Grandmama", "Gab", "Gin", "Gidget", and "Gal", with an unrelated reporter named Al Frankincense. Guy is played by Junji Inagawa. The family (and Al) is voiced by John Cervenka (male) and Mary Scheer (female). Guy, and his family members, along with interviewing contestants, will also announce the games that will be played in each episode, and will sometimes explain one or more of the games' objectives. Series Announcer (voiced by John Cervenka) Cervenka became the series announcer after replacing Jamie Alcroft who only announced the first four episodes. Cervenka was not credited as the series announcer until season 3 (where his role was called "Your Humble Announcer" in the end credits).
Recurring characters The following are characters who have established a semi-consistent name. However, their names may change to fit in with a show's theme or style of game.
Danny Glands (Voiced by John Cervenka), whose name is a play on the name of long-time Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans, is an MXC staffer who works in many of the games. His primary responsibilities include asking questions in Finger It (later renamed Hand Job), knocking down contestants in Brass Balls, and launching the soccer balls in Dirty Balls. He was also known as Jimmy Junk, Sugar Ramos Phiss, Golden Shower Boy, Barry Sosa, and Spin. The original actor is early 1980s J-Pop star Michiru Jo; he is notably skinny, and his voice actor adopts a nasal, nerdy tone. Skanky is a samurai who punishes contestants who fail to complete the Wall Bangers game, and sometimes also the Tumbling Dominoes of Doom and Clear Sphere of Fear games.
Chief Otto Parts (a parody of the Chief Auto Parts auto supply store chain) is a Native American who taunts the contestants in Rotating Surfboard of Death. Em on Em (a spoof of rapper Eminem) is a set of twin rappers dressed in rainbow ponchos and bowler hats. The main games in which these characters participate include Tumbling Dominos of Doom and Irritable Bowl Syndrome. The characters are also known as "Babe and Ruth", "Bud and Pud", and "Jessie and Jackson" among others. They are played by identical twins Shoji and Shoichi Kinoshita. In one of the episodes, a contestant was said to have the name Marshall Mathers. The Baba Ganoosh Family is a family of contestants from the Middle East who appear in nearly every episode. The last name "Baba Ganoosh" became a popular running gag throughout the series. It comes from Chris Darga's Lebanese heritage, in which baba ganoush is a popular entree.