Get Ready Bullrunners!
“Let’s get it on!” exclaims former World Champion, Bill Goldberg as he kicks off another episode of one of the few reality shows I can get into watching, BullRun. This is BullRun’s third season where it places twelve teams of two that risk their own tricked out rides in a several thousand mile race across the United States. GPS and all other electronic navigation devices are banned, and teams must solely rely on their partner as their only navigator. I am not a hardcore gearhead guru and know practically nothing about the nuts and bolts of automobiles, but I find myself seriously addicted to this show. I blame it on Xbox Live Marketplace making the first episode of the first season a free download, and I have not looked back.
The first season of BullRun was on Spike, but the show has since moved to the Speed Network. Each hour long episode of BullRun consists of three parts. The first third of an episode is a recap of the previous show and getting thoughts from most teams as they prepare for the next leg of the race. The second act has cameras installed in all cars and features highlights from each race as teams debate the fastest routes, take shortcuts that occasionally works against them and have brushes against the law.
Highlights of the day’s leg of the race are personally my favorite part of the show. Season two was notorious for teams making many ill-fated decisions when it came to shortcuts and misreading maps. This season features a clear cut antagonist to root against. From the first four episodes that aired of this season so far, everyone has ill will towards Team Lamborghini. Right from the first episode Team Lambo has been playing some dirty tricks, and instantly made rivals with the other teams. A new rule for this season is an immunity checkpoint where the first team to risk taking the time to veer slightly off course and grab it will receive immunity from the episode’s challenge event, which is the final act of the show.
The challenge is where teams risk their ride in a stunt course competing for top times to complete the challenge, usually consisting of explosions, obstacles and nonstop taunting from Bill Goldberg. These can turn especially nasty, because in previous seasons teams have wrecked their rides out of their desire to win. The two teams who place last in the day’s leg of the race, and a third team selected by the day’s race winner compete in the challenge with the team finishing last in the challenge getting eliminated that week. This season has saw Team Hummer placed in the challenge almost every episode, usually by choice of the day’s winner because Team Lamborghini keeps locking up the immunity. It has gotten to the point where other teams pick them because they love seeing them kick ass in their ride optimized for the all terrain challenge courses. The team shows tremendous heart, and is my personal pick to win the BullRun event.
As with every reality/contest show, you have to question how much of it is real and/or predetermined to begin with. Being a wrestling fan however, I have no gripes with whatever creative liberties the producers have instilled into the show as each and every episode is incredibly entertaining. Unfortunately Speed does not have a listing on the PSN/Xbox Live video marketplace, nor have I seen a listing on Hulu or any other online television streaming website for it. As far as I know, catching each episode when it airs every Thursday night on Speed at 10/9 central is the only way to watch. Make sure to check out the BullRun website for details on all the teams and the concept of the show. Finally, fear the spear!
May 3rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
[...] or viewable on their respective network’s website. One was a reality show I wrote about in my last article called Bullrun, which just had its season finale last Thursday. Congrats to Team Lambo by the way [...]