LAST EDITED ON 03-26-06 AT 01:19 AM (EST)

OK, I admit it. I'm probably the one person over the age of 17 that watched this show.

For those of you who have never seen any of the Endurance shows, the competition is between 7 boy-girl teams of 12-15 year olds. Their youth makes them gullible and prone to manipulation. Then add in the fact that the show depends a LOT on luck, and it's interesting to see who survives.

The team pairing is one of the things that makes the show interesting. This time, one of the kids got to pair everyone after winning a challenge -- but he chose to pair everyone with his or her chosen partner except for Daniela, who was paired with Jonathan on the Purple team when she really, really wanted to be paired with little (5-1) Michael (who is already 15, so he's likely going to be a shrimp). She was visibly upset and expressed it. As they were adjusting to working together, Daniela and Jonathan finished last in the first challenge; they also finished last in a challenge in which the team that finished last would become one of the two teams designated for an elimination challenge. However, they lived through that and ended up winning four challenges, reaching the final two.

(Meanwhile, the girl who ended up paired with Michael lamented her bad luck for the whole show, since Michael turned out to be an untrustworthy "rat" disliked by all.)

Their opponent in the final two was the Red team of Franke and Erica. Erica is a native Hawaiian, a surfer with such impressive upper-body strength that she won both of the hanging challenges (in the first one, all of the original teams were left; she was the only girl left in when there were five boys left -- and she still beat 'em all). Franke was the comedy relief of the contestants, but he was also weak, which is why Red only won the two challenges.

But the finale is all about luck, once you get there. In a see-saw battle, Red prevailed, and Franke and Erica won the trip to Costa Rica.

Highlight moment: the screaming match between Isaac and Jeszie, the Green team, about which team to saddle with a handicap for the next challenge when only four teams were left. They hadn't decided by the time that they were at council (I can't really call it "tribal council," but you get the idea) with host JD Roth, and the situation got so tense that each of the girls from the two teams that were likely recipients of the handicap (Blue and Red) tearfully begged for the Green team to give the handicap to her team to stop the argument. Somehow I can't see that happening on Survivor.

Soylent Green: recycling America, one person at a time.

• RE: Endurance: Tehachapi,Puffy, 10:09 PM, 03-26-06
• RE: Endurance: Tehachapi,trigirl, 09:16 AM, 03-27-06
• RE: Endurance: Tehachapi,survivorscott, 04:07 PM, 03-27-06
• RE: Endurance: Tehachapi,toddE, 11:26 PM, 03-28-06
  • RE: Endurance: Tehachapi,DropYourBallsJon, 04:30 PM, 11-25-06

I catch Endurance whenever I have the chance. It's so much like Survivor...a great show.

Thanks to the Amazin Syren
©Syren Creations, 2005
Yes, I'm over 17.