PHYSICAL 100: ITALY | PROBLEMATIC PILLAR SCENE

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I just watched Episode 5 of Physical 100: Italy, and I really have to apologize to the producers.

I didn't like the way the five people were brought back into the game.

Hmmm...

The Pillars of Hercules is similar to the challenge from Physical: Asia. However, instead of two participants balancing each other out, it's one fighter who has to power through because his team's lives depend on him.

For starters, credit is due to Alvise Rigo. The dude may have had main-character syndrome in the bridge-making, temple game, but when he said he could do The Pillars of Hercules for another half an hour after the elimination of Filippo Pici, I believed him. He looked unfazed while holding the pillars in place.

The dude is also an actor, so if there's going to be an Italian Captain America or Superman in the near future, Rigo has to play him for what he did in the challenge.

And sure, you might say that Elisa Fuliano got the short end of the stick in the challenge, but even if this were an individual battle, I thought it would have been hard for her to win, judging by the other people still left at that point.

So, the challenge itself wasn't the problem.

Now, here's my problem.

Why is Physical 100's "rise from the dead" game a team competition?

Moreover, is it okay for one man to dictate the survival of four other people?

I mean, I get it if the whole team survives with each and every one of them doing their part, but I can see The Pillars of Hercules as more of a final game than a revival mission.

Also, I wonder how cool it is for the four other people to ride the coattails of Rigo. I know team competitions are a combination of those who deserve to advance and those who got carried, but there is a reason why Physical 100 isn't called Cheerleading 100.

This is a revival challenge, and I really want to cheer for the people who got back into the game. In past Physical 100 incarnations, we've seen the participants fight and claw against their former teammates to get back into the game. In Physical 100: Mexico, their revival game had the participants do whatever was possible to prevent their torso casts from hitting the ground. The four players who returned held their torsos for over six hours. Not only did the qualified participants fear them, but they also had no business judging them because of the hell that they went through.

This is my problem with the way the producers of Physical 100: Italy chose the players who would return.

Just imagine if Rigo reaches the finals against one of his teammates, and that teammate wins the title. I know it's fair play, but still, you helped that person get back into the game by powering through the pillars while that person just watched.

And then, I had to change my Netflix settings, switching from English-dubbed to the original Italian with English closed captions because I thought the voice-over of Zeus, or whatever Roman god the voice-over is supposed to be, was, for lack of a better term, a dickhead.

ZEUS WAS SO ANNOYING!

I know Alvise Rigo did well in that game, but you don't have to call him a true hero. If they call the MVP of this challenge a hero, then they should call the winner of Physical 100: Italy a Roman god!

I mean, way to rub it in to his coattail-riding teammates.

And then, after the eliminated athletes were bashing their torsos, Zeus returned to shower Alvise with even more compliments.

I mean, enough already!

I wonder how a legendary swimmer like Federica Pellegrini would take this. Even in relay races, they award medals to those who participate in the race, not to those who cheer from afar.

How can you root for these players if their sole reason for surviving is watching their captain beat the odds? I will repeat this in my blog over and over again, but I don't like this one bit. In fact, I detest this so much that I didn't really give a damn about the plot twist.

Well, I mean, it took me a while to grasp the situation.

And yeah, that reveal was so evil!

So, SO EVIL!

AND I LOVE IT!

All of a sudden, it makes sense why the challenge was the way it was.

However, for the twelve other former Olympians, pro athletes, fitness specialists, and gym rats, I think they would have preferred getting eliminated because of their own doing rather than standing there with another competitor holding their future in their hands.

The thing about the Italy version and the Mexico version is that Italy has glamour, while Mexico has grit.

Except for the Místico deathmatch segment, I enjoyed the other series more. But then, I need to finish watching both versions before I can give my real verdict.

So I'll stop with my whining now.