Contender Asia Episode 2 - Sean sends James home

Disagreements are already beginning to surface. Not something we're not expecting - a house of 16 Muay Thai fighters who will in the end fight each other. The main target for disagreement is the Wild Boar's leader, Rafik, and apparently was a consensus between both groups.

"Hey Frenchie, You, Big Mouth, Small Heart" - This was a comment made by Yodsaenklai to Rafik, just before the choosing of fighters. Coming back to the beginning of the show, Rafik tried to throw reverse psychology on his team mates, telling his team out of the blue that Yodsaenklai wants to fight Sean, and these words were apparently from Yodsaenklai himself. The rest of the team, of course, didn't believe him, unless what he said did come true. In fact, they thought it was pretty fucked up of him. And of course, we don't forget the famous challenge Rafik once proposed to Yodsaenklai at the home of Fairtex. The video can be found here.

There is something about Rafik, the propensity of him betraying his team for the sake of himself, I would say, is rather high. Doubleheaded, they call him, and a definite watch on the show. While watching the show, I began to wonder if some things that were said and done were actually scripted. Let's take for example Yodsaenklai-JWP's conversation on the first episode when Yodsaenklai took out the belt he won from JWP in Sydney, Australia. That part was scripted, definitely. Or how about James' part in the recap when he wrote "Trevor the tiger heart was here"? This Rafik part, however, could possibly be just mere coincidence such a fighter was chosen to be on the show. Whatever it is, I personally think that he doesn't have a very attractive attitude.

Recap
Naruepol shared with the crew after his fight - "In my last fight, I fought for Thailand, my father, mother and my camp manager. I’m a Thai fighter. I miss home everyday but I’m not finished with my job." There's something about Thai people I cannot put a word to but I have a lot of respect, for them; not only because they can fight well but that they have a non-defeatist spirit; focused, strong, determined people and I suppose this kind of spirit is what makes up most of the national sport.

Inside the Tiger Kings' room, the team members were shocked to see Trevor's bed empty and his stuff gone. It was a pretty emotional moment when they realized that they weren't even given the opportunity to say goodbye. James wrote on the wall behind Trevor's bed - "Trevor the Tiger Heart was here". The Wild Boars, on the other hand, were getting smug over their victory and Naruepol described the fight as "Easy, easy" with cocked eyebrows. There was then another showcase of Rafik's over-competitive attitude.

The Challenge
Unfortunately for the Tiger Kings, they seem to be on an unlucky streak. This time they lost the challenge by a matter of milli-seconds.

The teams met Jaymee and Stefan at the Singapore River, clad in team-colored shirts and bandanas. Their challenge for this episode was Dragon Boat racing. The first team to cross the finishing line wins. Previously determined to upset the Wild Boars, the Tiger Kings found themselves pissed off at the Wild Boars after the terrible defeat. Fingers, once again, were pointed at Rafik. Rafik's over-confident and competitive personality was beginning to annoy the hell out of the Tiger Kings, throwing not only snide remarks but getting smug about their eventual victory. I'm not saying that the rest of the team was less snideful that he is but Rafik pissed the Tiger Kings off, especially because he was the team leader and most of them, especially JWP cannot wait to send him home. The Wild Boars were rewarded to a treat on a luxury yacht off Sentosa Islands while the Tiger Kings were sent back to the loft.

Who is a better team leader? I have both my hands up for John Wayne. Yes, his team lost two challenges. I personally think that the Tiger Kings lack the kind of spirit and motivation evident in the Wild Boars. Rafik's persona of a "cheerleader" is influential. He is able to garner support from his team mates and influence his team mates to work together. Everything on his side is pretty easy, everyone's feeling happy and the atmosphere is light and victorious. John Wayne's side, however, seizes an astronomical amount of heavy air. Probably bogged down by the pressure of losing more team mates. However, John Wayne's attitude towards losing is diplomacy. He acts like a big brother to the rest of his team, a lot of warmth and trust, which is something the other team lacks.

Hands up for John Wayne.

The fight - Sean redeems himself
Sean was the last to be chosen to represent the Wild Boars. I believe Sean wasn't chosen first not because he wasn't a good fighter but because his reputation was kept pretty much under wraps and had an overall of only 31 fights. This time round, he was eager to fight. He volunteered himself and the team cheered him on. The Wild Boars knew their best bets at winning the Tiger Kings were to fight either Zach or James. Sean picked James.

James, himself, didn't have much of a reputation and Sean thought he was the best bet. James had a lot of emotions in him at that time and as Preacher said, one shouldn't carry too much emotions into the ring.

James lost the fight to, I would say, his toe cramp. It was no doubt that Sean was dominating most of the first round. However, James himself was doing pretty well too. He had quite a few good moves and I think both of them are pretty much on par in terms of skills and power. The match could possibly result in a draw if not for the toe cramp. ContenderAsiaFans again gave an excellent play-by-play commentary on the fight.

Overall, great episode, more training videos this time round. Things are finally beginning to roll.