Tuesday 27 January, 2004
Are you 'ard enough?
Watched the Britain's Hardest Man competiotion courtesy of those delightful chaps of Sky One.
Quite an interesting event, as physical strength alone would not see anyone through. For example, contestant's mental hardness was measured by having to hold your head in a casket being filled with ice cold water for as long as you are able, and breaking down a roof of a car so it can be pushed below a low a metal bar actually needed as much wits as brute force. Now I know that in order to break down the roof of a car most efficiently, you need to open the doors first, break the windows and only then start hammering the roof in. I wait with keen interest whether this facinating event will gain widespread popularity amongs the brits now that it is on TV.
There were all sorts of competitors in this first heat, but a young business manager won despite some tough competition fromw wide selection of hard men ranging from judo champions to tough-as-nails SAS paratroopers. He will advance to the finals.
Once whittled down to two competitors, the final was a good old-fashioned brawl where you aim was to throw your opponent off from a raised podium. Knees, elbows, eye-gouging and head-strikes were illegal, but otherwise you could do whatever you wanted.
Despite being faced by a certified killer with significant muscle mass advantage and superior grappling technique, the fresh-faced salesman managed to throw his ex-French foreign legion opponent off from the fight podium. Twice. Damn those salesmen.
Dragon/kolibri readers who are natives of Britain can enroll in the show by downloading the entry form here.
Posted by Dragon at 27 January 00:52, 2004I've always known that people in marketing are an evil and vicious lot. I feel that this is only further proof of that fact.
# 2 - Dragon (on January 27, 2004 09:21 AM):
My thoughts exactly Mikki. When you saw the contestants for the first time, you really wouldn't have picked the relatively slender, clean-cut pretty boy marketing professional amongst the mountains of muscle who competed against him. What do they teach the marketing students in those business schools?
# 3 - Mikki (on January 27, 2004 10:53 AM):
That's a good question, but it's gotta be something fierce. In fact, I bet you're kicking yourself for learning kung fu instead of giving business school a shot now...
# 4 - Chu (on January 29, 2004 08:07 PM):
My guess is their fierceness comes solely from the anguish they feel about their jobs :).
Not a big fan of Sales & Marketing, me. Not going back there :P.
# 5 - Dragon (on January 29, 2004 08:40 PM):
I reckon that this has a lot to do with the insane competitiveness that their job calls for. Marketing guys are simply unwilling to give up until they win, no matter what the situation is. I think it had a lot to do with this competition as well.
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