As we move in to the more serious side of the game, we start to see the kids really get dirty.  It's always fun to watch as they begin wrapping their brains around cause and effect and exactly how they might get what they want and more importantly, to what cost?  This is when we on the production side begin to feed into all of the drama and hypothesize the many possible outcomes. TJ becomes just as fascinated with the game play as we do and in some respects, as a professional athlete, he comes up with better ways to manipulate and ultimately predicts the kid’s behaviors even better than they themselves are able to forecast.  We are constantly surprised by certain characters- Ev?  You couldn't write the stuff that this young lady comes up with in playing this game.  I have worked on 11 of these challenges and have always considered myself pretty savvy about how things will go down and who will do what and when... I stand corrected this season, as I have been constantly surprised and impressed as well as frustrated by the choices our players have made.

I mentioned TJ before and realized I have not talked about him much.  He is probably exactly as one would picture him without exception.  The man is as straight up as you can get and busts his ass at whatever he decides to take on, be that riding BMX, composing music, or MMA (which I have been the unfortunate recipient of on occasion). He is the consummate athlete and competitive as hell and wants to win in all things no matter what the subject matter.  In addition to all of that, he is as cool as hell and easy to work with in what can sometimes be a problematic environment...picture the base of a mountain on a rainy day in Africa when it's cold as hell and we are wearing winter gear...."Hey man, it's meant to be warm today so you got to read your copy in that t-shirt even though you're wet and freezin' your balls off...cool? Oh yeah, and there's a bunch of baboons angling towards the craft service area next to you but it's cool...as long as you don't look like you are holding something that they might find interesting...You should probably cover your watch though...just in case...." TJ's response has always been the same..."OK, no problem, Let's do it."