The Contender

[theESCO]

How cool is this show? I don't even like boxing, but this has totally sucked me in.

[allelish]

Me too, it started here yesterday. I couldn't leave the T.V even though i had stuff to do. Alfonso hammered the fuck out of Manfredo. Good fight. Awesome show.

[theESCO]

Wait till the Ishe/Ahmed fight, that shit was awesome.

[The Big Timer]

Yeah dude the Ishe fight was unreal! I loved it. However, I think next Sunday's episode has the dude from Philly boxing who later kills himself....it should be interesting to see how they play that out.

[allelish]

Yeah dude the Ishe fight was unreal! I loved it. However, I think next Sunday's episode has the dude from Philly boxing who later kills himself....it should be interesting to see how they play that out.
WHAT!!?? He kills himself? 'Cause he loses?

[theESCO]

Finish with a Jab

'The Contender' hadn't even aired yet when one of its young boxers killed himself, raising questions about the effects of 'reality' on real people

By Dan Steinberg

The Washington Post


In the reality TV world that Najai Turpin entered when he was picked for The Contender, he lived in an eight-bedroom Southern California loft -- "extraordinary living quarters," as the show's executive producer and co-host, Sylvester Stallone, describes it in the first episode.

In the real world, Turpin lived with his younger sister in a north Philadelphia housing project where "if you spit, you spittin' in someone else's yard," as a neighbor, Anthony Williams, put it.

In the reality TV world, Turpin spent several weeks training in a state-of-the-art gym with 15 other boxers who were promised "an opportunity of a lifetime": a chance to win $1 million during the show's live finale, a fight at Caesars Palace. In the real world, he trained with his friends in a one-ring gym where a painting of a fighter who was murdered last year hangs on the back wall.

Turpin's Hollywood life will unfold over 15 episodes as The Contender -- which premiered Monday and moves into its regular Sunday time slot tonight at 7 -- chronicles the "hopes, triumphs and defeats" of the boxers featured in the latest version of one of television's most lucrative and successful forms of programming. But in the real world, Turpin will not be watching. On Valentine's Day, three weeks before the show's debut, in which he vows to "fight my way out of the ghetto," Turpin shot himself in the left temple with a small caliber semiautomatic weapon after a conversation with the mother of his 2-year-old daughter. He was 23.

After Turpin's death, representatives of the show -- a collaborative production of reality TV mogul Mark Burnett, entertainment heavyweight Jeffrey Katzenberg, former boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and Stallone, star of the "Rocky" movies, the quintessential boxing fairy tales set in Philadelphia -- said a tribute to Turpin will be added in a future episode. Otherwise, nothing else would be changed because, Burnett explained, "it would be totally spin TV to re-edit because of a situation that had nothing to do with the show months and months later. . . . We are showing the reality of this guy's life."

Burnett's belief that Turpin's involvement with the show was not connected to his suicide is shared by police and Turpin's family and friends.

Family members say Turpin was happy in California and was ecstatic about the show when he returned to Philadelphia. Not all of his friends agree. They say that Turpin felt lonely and isolated and that he violated the show's rules by secretly calling them.

"It broke him down when they took him away from his family and all his friends," said Frank Walker, an older fighter from Turpin's Philadelphia gym. "They took him out of reality and put him in a reality show. They took a real person and made him into a character."

A natural

Given boxing's tradition of hardscrabble underdogs and overflowing emotions, it was perhaps a natural subject for reality television, a genre that has thrived on elimination contests in which viewers come to identify with charismatic contestants. Both NBC and Fox announced plans for boxing elimination shows last year, leading to a prolonged squabble between the networks.

While the Fox show, The Next Great Champ, was a failure last fall, The Contender boasted a bevy of heavy hitters, led by Burnett -- who produced Survivor and, more recently, Donald Trump's reality show, The Apprentice. As the show's debut approached, boxing seemed once again in the cultural consciousness, with Ken Burns' two-part documentary on Jack Johnson airing on PBS in January and Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, about a scrappy female fighter, winning multiple Academy Awards.

In a teleconference shortly after Turpin's death, Burnett said the show was more like a documentary than a reality show "because they're not fish out of water, people placed in an unusually stressful situation. This is a bunch of professional boxers, highly trained young men doing exactly what they normally do, which is fight each other [ with ] the goal to feed their families and try to achieve greatness."

Burnett said producers were drawn to Turpin for three main reasons: the Rocky connotations of a working-class Philadelphia fighter; the charisma and smile that dazzled female employees in Burnett's production company; and the drama of Turpin's background, because "with boxing, if you don't know their story, you don't care about them," he said.

And Turpin had quite a story. He had grown up in a housing project with minimal contact with his father and had lost his diabetic mother to a heart attack when he was 18; he helped support two younger siblings by working as a prep cook.

Even before his mother's death, Turpin got into fights in high school, beating up bullies, according to his trainer, Percy "Buster" Custus. When he was about 15, an older friend, Yusef Mack, encouraged him to go to the James Shuler Memorial Gym in "the Bottom," a West Philadelphia neighborhood.

Friends at the gym said Turpin was a slick, smooth fighter with quick hands who immediately took to the sport. "Ain't no doubt in my mind that he was going to be a champion," said Melvin "Mr. Mel" Carter, a 76-year-old trainer at the gym where such talk is now standard; one former fighter, Will Morris, said Turpin would have been a legend.

Turpin also was a loner who some relatives said retreated even more after his mother's death. He talked about her constantly, asking relatives whether she would have been proud of his boxing career and telling friends how much he wanted to be reunited with her, to be under her wing. He talked about getting rich and building a big house where his brothers and younger sister, his nieces and nephews could be with him all the time. And he was obsessed with giving his daughter a better life.

The Contender seemed to offer such an opportunity, so in early June, Turpin, Mack and Custus went to a tryout. Mack was too heavy for a show that would feature 158-pounders, and only Turpin earned a callback.

Custus worried about Turpin being away by himself for the first time and also that Turpin would fall under someone else's sway since trainers would not be allowed to accompany their fighters. But in July, Turpin set off for a round of interviews that Burnett said included two psychological screenings and five hours of written tests. Of about 60 fighters, 16, including Turpin, were brought back for the six-week taping in August.

"He was a happy guy -- he left happy, started happy," co-executive producer Jeff Wald said. "He never gave us a day's worth of problems."

Family members said Turpin was initially uncomfortable in the reality show dynamic but grew more comfortable by the end. In contrast, friends said he told them he was racially taunted by one contestant, whom Turpin later confronted off-camera. The trainer and a cousin said Turpin called and told them he wanted to leave. Other friends said Turpin told them he felt less like he was in training camp and more like he was in jail.

Burnett said he didn't know about Turpin having any racial confrontations; Turpin was secretive and seemed to take great pleasure in evading security, Burnett said.

The Contender was supposed to debut in November, but the feud with Fox's show led to a delay. Then the show was pushed back from January to February and then March as NBC searched for a time slot. Contestants had signed contracts not to talk about the results and not to fight until every episode had been broadcast; in the meantime, they were paid up to $1,500 a week to continue training.

Friends and family who describe Turpin after he got back from California seem to be talking about two different people. Several friends said he seemed less interested in boxing and put on 20 to 30 pounds -- a problem he had always encountered between fights -- and he began partying.

Others say he told them how badly he wanted to fight. "The money they gave him, the stipends they gave him wasn't enough to keep his drive as a fighter," Custus said. "It's like torquing up a racecar, just torquing it up and not letting it take off. It's like holding back all this thrust. It's gotta go somewhere."

Turpin told at least 10 family members and friends that he had advanced to the show's final and would have a chance to win the million dollars, and he introduced himself to girls by saying "I'm NBC," or "I've got NBC money."

Burnett will not say how Turpin fared but indicated that, in addition to the finalists, eight boxers would fight before the main event.

In the week before his death, Turpin twice left a training camp with Custus and three fighters in the Poconos, telling Mack he couldn't get focused and wanted to go home. Custus and the show's producers said he left the camp to tend to a personal matter. Turpin's girlfriend has declined all interview requests, putting out a statement saying the couple had issues, but "more love than issues."

The night he died, Turpin called a friend, Donnell McGriff, and promised that after that night he would stop partying for good. He had already called Custus, and they had made plans for the trainer to bring him back to the Poconos the following morning. He went to a club, met a local rapper and told her "everybody's gonna know me, I'm gonna be the champion of the world," Walker said.

A few hours later he was dead.

The funeral was held in a neighborhood church, attracting hundreds of mourners, including 12 fighters from The Contender and a host of television producers and executives. A continuous loop of footage of Turpin played on a television in a stairwell. The TV showed him running, Rocky-like, up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Outside the church, Stallone said the tragedy spoke to the fact that the show's contestants lived in "such a real world . . . real flesh-and-blood guys, you know, real salt-of-the-earth men."

Sadly, all too real in a world -- or a medium, at least -- where "reality" has lost its meaning.

[The Big Timer]

.....yeah it sucks man....

[EnderDove]

So far I like the show but fights need to go longer than 5 rounds. I dont care if that works for tv, they should be going 8 rounds or so.

[varock]

i love this show too. i have all 3 episodes downloaded. it's so dramatic and when the music comes in on the final round, it's like you're watching a real life "rocky".

[The Don]

Great show. It's tough though because they make you like all the fighters so it's hard to root for one. Except the pretty boy Ahmed ... I enjoyed watching Ishii stick it to him.

[The Big Timer]

I hated Ahmed so much and his girlfriend is hot as shit as well, which made me hate him even more. I also didn't get how he was an arab from denmark who spoke with a puerto rican accent and he fought for the east coast team?!?!

[EnderDove]

Something else I dont like is how they slow it down for big punches and things like that, just show the damn fight the way it is. This show could end up hurting boxing because it will draw in the wrong kind of fans instead of educating fans that are on the fence and them bringing them more into the sport.

[AshesAshes]

i was just ognna make a thread about this..this show is awesome...i loved watching ishee kick the shit out of that cocky ass guy.....he was way too cocky for his own good im glad he is off the show...ishee backed his talk ill give him that..

[theESCO]

I think they're gonna bring Ahmed back though.

[AshesAshes]

I think they're gonna bring Ahmed back though.
:headshake did it bug anyone that the guy thought he was hot shit cause he (kicked sugar ray's ass in a sparring match)

[The Don]

:headshake did it bug anyone that the guy thought he was hot shit cause he (kicked sugar ray's ass in a sparring match)
Yeah, that pissed me off. No respect for one of the greatest fighter of all-time.

[varock]

they should bring manfredo back. that guy was cool.

[OnLegendary21]

I'm not really a tv person, or a sprots fan for that matter. But I decided to watch this show and it turned out to be pretty cool. I was hopeing Ahmed would've gotten knocked out for being such a tool but it was only 5 rounds.

[The Big Timer]

god i hope it's not ahmed they bring back...

[AshesAshes]

anyoen else excited about tonights episode?

[beforeaflame]

I am; I'm hoping Najai wins. He's fucking swoll.

He's had the one guy against the ropes three times.
He better fucking win.

edit: he fucking gave up. :(

[AshesAshes]

fuck that sucks he had chicken pox they vote so hopefully ahmad dont comeback

[The Big Timer]

Tonight's episode was unreal.

[AshesAshes]

Tonight's episode was unreal.
yea this show is awesome..i record this show..this episode was really sad :(

[beforeaflame]

I know; When they displayed the RIP segment of it all, I was in shock.
I also am curious as to how he died and whatnot.

I really thought he was going to win during the first two rounds he went through.

[AshesAshes]

I know; When they displayed the RIP segment of it all, I was in shock.
I also am curious as to how he died and whatnot.

I really thought he was going to win during the first two rounds he went through.
yea he seemed to just give up the fight...he shot himself in the temple..

[AshesAshes]

Yeah, that pissed me off. No respect for one of the greatest fighter of all-time.
yea fo sho thats what i thought

[varock]

turpin really owned that guy in the 2nd round and i thought he had a good chance of winning. but towards the end of the fight, it just looks like he ran out of gas and was just trying to stay on his feet. his daughter was so cute though, and it killed me to think that he ended up leaving her behind.

[beforeaflame]

yea he seemed to just give up the fight...he shot himself in the temple..

Wow, it didn't occur to me that he might've killed himself.
That's so fucking sad.

It was a gun wrencher when they started talking about his daughter, and how the contender set up a college funding to help her in the future.

[AshesAshes]

Wow, it didn't occur to me that he might've killed himself.
That's so fucking sad.

It was a gun wrencher when they started talking about his daughter, and how the contender set up a college funding to help her in the future.
yea its way sad it really got too me when it showed him playing with his daughter.....sad stuff :(

[The Big Timer]

Here in Philly they showed footage of his funeral back when he killed himself and Sly and Sugar Ray (no, not the gay singer) were pawbearers in the service.

[AshesAshes]

damn the fight tonight was awesome.one of the best fights ive seen on this show that little 18 yearold kid can fight.

[varock]

it was alright. that tarick guy tired himself out quickly and it seemed all he was doing was jabbing him and holding him. he pulled it out the last round but it was too late by then.

[AshesAshes]

it was alright. that tarick guy tired himself out quickly and it seemed all he was doing was jabbing him and holding him. he pulled it out the last round but it was too late by then.
yea if that fight went longer i bet tarick would of knocked him out