I enjoy the premise of the show. I love Survivor and Big Brother, and this is like Survivor without the social dynamics of having to vote off people...so basically just the challenges (some Survivor fans hate the challenges part, but I don't). The way each challenge has it's own reward and each person is playing for their own charity but as part of a team kinda reminds me of Tough as Nails, which I enjoy as well. I also like the idea of celebrities out of their elements (I watch DWTS, too...I watch too many competition shows, haha). So this had a lot of promise for me. It's pretty cheesy, as I have come to expect after watching Celebrity Big Brother. But the one thing that was BY FAR the worst part of the show was the host, who is some WWE/boxing announcer guy. His overly-dramatic, harsh voice and manner of speaking, not just in announcing but during normal conversations with the competitors was so unnaturally jarring and unpleasant that I wanted to turn it off. The editing is also dumb, with dramatic slow-motion moments during challenges intended to make what they're doing (rowing, crawling through mud) look even more grueling. The final "tribal council" type event (no voting, just campfire share-your-feelings, waiting to see if someone rings the bell to leave) was also just super dramatic with crying and life struggle stories that may be genuine but came across to me as emotionally manipulative since the conversation doesn't seem natural or organic and is being led by the harsh and robotic host guy. There is also a ton of misdirection in the editing and ominous musical scoring to try to draw out the drama of will-they/won't-they ring the bell. It was all just too over the top. But I could deal with that and probably enjoy the show if they would just get rid of that awful host. If I stop watching (which is definitely a distinct possibility, but I'll give it another week or two), it will be because of him.
