I think it’s fair to say that I am officially hooked on the new series of Last Man Standing. If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, then I suggest you take a quick look at my first post on the subject and then come back here. Alternatively, you could pop along to the show’s homepage on the BBC website to read up.
This week’s show saw the atheletes travel to Burkina Faso in Western Africa. Here they would compete in traditional Samo wrestling for the small village of Nyon – the groups hosts.
Samo Wrestling
Samo wrestling is highly physical and energy sapping, one wrong step swiftly results in smashing to the ground.
The rules are… you wrestle on your feet.
If you go down… on your front… your back… even your knees – you’re out. It’s that simple. – BBC.CO.UK
The general feeling in this episode was one of fun. The locals seemed to be far more sociable and training seemed more enjoyable than the last episode in Ethiopia. Perhaps because the atheletes were not getting their skulls split open by seven foot long sticks.
As usual, the atheletes were put through initial training. Wolé quite predictably stood out due to his size and strength. Ed fell by the wayside after injuring his knee and took no further part in the episode. I thought Jarvis and JJ might be good in this one, and Jarvis did show a lot of early promise. JJ, as a wrestler, seemed to find it difficuilt to adapat to fighting on his feet – something I findd strange. OK, so the moves are different when you wrestle on the mat, but the principles of leverage remain the same. Still, perhaps I’m being too critical.
There were some rather interesting scenes in the show that involved sacrificing poultry to crocodiles (or alligators – I’ve no idea. They had big teeth and looked like they wanted to eat people, not birds). In what amounted to a pre-season friendly, a suprise prospect stood out in the form of Joey. He looked strong in a series of matches against another local village.
The main event rolled around and Jarvis wiped out. JJ got one victory but dropped off. Murray stole one – which did the impossible and made him smile even more. Wolé drew the first match, won the next. Joey did the reverse. With those two tied, the third match would be the decider. Wolé, who had been talking up his size and strenght all show got dumped on his arse while Joey won.
I was pleased to see Joey with a bit of fighting spirit but he still seems to be a bit of gobby shite. Everyone is complaining about Wolé being mouthy – rightly so, but I think Joey is coming across as being just as verbal.
Anyway, the show is fantastic and there’s a few interesting bits popping up on the official site, including production blogs and interviews. Make sure you check it out. There are also LMS features on Youtube and Facebook.
Next weeks show will have the atheletes competing in endurance runs through the mountains of Nepal. I’m going to cast a predicition and say that Ed and JJ will be the top two. Hopefully Ed’s knee is fine. I’m going to say that JJ wins. I also think that Wolé and Murray will struggle. I can’t wait to find out if I’m right. I can’t wait to see the next episode. Broadcast times can be found here:
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