Last week's series premiere explained that this show wasn't just a reality series - it was about real jobs. Contestants will be taking on real-life, difficult and dangerous jobs, and the one who survives to the end will win an amount equal to the combined salaries of all the jobs put together.
The challenge the first week was crab fishing, where they had to face very long hours, treacherous conditions and lots of heavy lifting. Two of the women, Michaela and Sandy, ended up being the best of each of their boats, showing more effort and determination than some of the men who didn't think that women belonged out there or would be able to handle the job. The bottom four performers as decided upon by the two ship captains had to go back out and were given a second chance to perform better. In the end, Senta was sent home because she kept saying she couldn't do a task or that she needed help constantly.
This week, the task was long-haul truck driving through the most dangerous terrain - the Dalton Highway in Alaska, up near the Arctic Circle. In Fairbanks, Alaska, the contestants were given truck driving lessons to obtain a driving permit. The task was going to consist of a two-day drive, 250 miles each day going north. The first leg was from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, Alaska. Half of the drivers drove that route (there were two drivers per truck, each with a certified instructor), and some had an easy time, while others had more difficulty with driving, especially down-shifting. Chris had such a bad time at one point that his time was cut short, and his instructor replaced him with the other driver.
The second day of the drive was from Coldfoot to Deadhorse, Alaska, and the other half of the drivers had to drive that route, including the Atigun Pass. To me, the division of the driving that way didn't seem fair, as the first leg of the drive, while still difficult, was nowhere near as difficult as the second leg, especially with having to go up and down Atigun Pass. That was different from the first challenge, where they each had to do the same duties. There were a couple of scary incidents, but everyone made it through ok. However, Chris didn't do any better this day than the previous. After his fellow driver made it over and down the Pass, the instructor decided to give Chris another chance and let him drive the rest of the way to Deadhorse. Chris was apparently still angry about the previous day, though his anger wasn't directed just at himself for screwing up, but also to the instructor for replacing him before his leg was up. Chris started calling the instructor names, and the instructor was not having it. What kind of an idiot is Chris that he doesn't know that with the kind of work these guys do, they were not going to put up with people talking crap to them, in their own truck no less? He ordered Chris to stop the truck, and he told the show staff that he didn't want Chris in his truck anymore, so Chris rode elsewhere. There were some people who screwed up on this challenge who knew they'd screwed up and took responsibility for it and just hoped others did worse, but there were others who just didn't seem to understand that they were the ones who had screwed up, and sometimes, screwed up big time.
Phil, Chris' driving partner, was declared to be the best of the group.
The bottom four this time were Amy, Bryce, Chris and Rommel. They had a competition where they had to back a truck into the dock within certain parameters, gaining penalty time if they ran over a cone, and then they had to unhitch the trailer and drive the cab past a certain point. The one who took the longest would be sent home.
Bryce went first but miscalculated so had to straighten himself out before he could back up again, and he took quite a bit of time, so he was worried. Next was Rommel, who did very well, beating Bryce's time by quite a bit. Next up was Chris, who had trouble controlling his rig, probably because he'd had relatively little driving time, and he ended up taking more time than Bryce. Last to go was Amy, who had been incensed when her driving partner Rie had admitted when asked that Amy didn't do very well. Amy apparently didn't think it was that big of a deal that her truck was out of control for a little while, and it was just because the instructor helped her through it that they made it out without any kind of harm or accident. Amy wasn't very good at the last challenge crab fishing either, so I was rooting for her to go. She backed up the truck fairly well, but she made one fatal error. Her cab was at too much of an angle, so when she tried to unhook the trailer, the pin wouldn't come out, no matter how hard and how long she tried. Finally, her time exceeded that of Chris, and she was eliminated. In Amy's final speech, she made some comment about not back-stabbing people. Ummm, yeah, ok, still sore that Rie told the truth, and by the way, so far at least, this is one reality show where it is literally impossible to back-stab someone. Your fortune lies entirely on the merit (or demerit) of your performance. People can talk all they want (though Rie didn't volunteer the information - she was asked), but ultimately the decisions come from the professionals who are witnessing the contestants' performances.
Just for interests' sake, I found this great collection of pictures from Arctic Alaska.
And here's video of what it's like to drive Atigun Pass on Dalton Highway.
Next week's challenge is also in Alaska - gold mining.
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