Rick B. Checkin' in - What's the deal, fer REAL!!

[Last Rick Standing - fer' Real]

Hey all,

So sorry I haven't been on for a while, I'm slowly coming out of hiding ;-)..

I first want to thank all of you Ning / Tontine Veterans and everyone else for all of your words of encouragement as well as your support and patience.

I have been real busy re-assembling life after Reality TV and with all the stipulations I'm under, it's hard to know what I can and can't say about my experiences. Nonetheless, I've decided to open this discussion up to answer any questions you might have about my experiences with Reality TV "stardom". I can guarentee that the experience is much different than most of you would envision.

To avoid a cease and desist order from any big production companies or TV Networks, I want to state that all of my forth coming answers will NOT necessarily represent my experiences on ANY Reality Productions that I have participated in, just MY Opinions on what I think MIGHT occur in any given situation.

Outside of that, I will be happy to answer questions as time allows. I would LOVE to share all that I can, so ask away and please be patient..

[doone]

I don't want to bring up any bad memories but in the Monster Truck elimination did you think the grading was fair and balanced? One of the problems I thought the show had was that there was inconsistent judging week by week but then it may have been inescapable since you had different tasks and judges task by task. It made it hard for all of you to zone in on the scoring.

[Last Rick Standing - fer' Real]

Great ? doone (By the way, you rock. LOOOVEEE what you've done with the place)

OK, I can’t answer that doone, and before going any further, let me state that I am not talking about anything in this post that is related to any nationally syndicated TV show that I've been featured on. However, I had a dream the other night where I was in similar monster truck competition last week and let me tell you how that went..

In my dream, the company that "sponsored" the event had gone out of it’s way to establish a pattern of embellishment with their competitions and how they are conducted. Here are some “happenings”:

• Some competitors had to work more than others at times, especially towards the end of the competition, based on subjective judgment for “dramatic effect”. Surprisingly, I somehow ended up with “extra duty”, even though another ninja-like competitor, who was not chosen for “extra duty”, actually drove so badly that they drove off of the course, completely missing a set of ramps on the far side of the course during a crucial run.

• Monster Trucks are very interesting machines. Did you know that there is such a thing as a “Rev Limiter” chip in them that control how much you can accelerate? We were told that if you pegged the accelerator and ran the engine RPM’s against the rev limiter, you would be remotely shut down for not controlling the truck properly. Luckily, I was one of the few that had great throttle control in my dream competition. In fact, I did so well that, after my first run, a nice gentleman was sent over by the competition’s sponsor in between my last run to switch my neat rev limiter chip to make sure my truck’s performance was modified. Boy, that switch sure made a difference in how my truck performed. It was almost like driving a completely different truck. I love challenges…. How exciting!

• Funny enough, the “extra duty” competition was to perform a sky wheelie in a Monster Truck. Before the round started, we were told that the pass/fail judgment was to be based strictly on the following criteria:

o Acceleration Control (governed by the rev limiter chip and yer foot). Don’t continue to accelerate after you are in the air.
o Jump height (Get it up there)
o Jump recovery (Don’t phuck up the expensive trucks – Even though, it was later in my dream, I learned that the Competition’s sponsor had hefty insurance on the providers equipment any anything damaged would be replaced with shiny new replacements for free – hmm!)

It seemed weird that, with such subjective criteria, there wouldn’t be any appointed scoring or points system in place to delineate who would really win. O well, who needs points anyway, dreams can’t be perfect.

• In my dream, I was one of the two finalists that actually controlled the throttle to ensure proper landing of the truck (bada bing style). You can easily see if someone had poor throttle control by their landing. When they landed, you will see their rear tires spinning and kicking up large amounts of dirt, and or you will see them flip their truck.

• Did you know that monster truck crews are extremely efficient? In fact, after one of the fellow drivers flipped their truck on their FIRST run, the were able to come it, flip it over, haul it off the track, fix it while the other competitors were competing and then give that driver another chance to come in AFTER the competition was finished and make their second jump. Boy, was I surprised. Those guys are good!

There is much more that I can tell you about my dream, like when I was helping with truck repairs, I had funny things happen. One time, I was leaning inside a tire and different things would come out of my mouth other than what was really said at that time. Weird, huh?

Thinking back, i'm not sure if it was a dream or a nightmare..

[Last Rick Standing - fer' Real]

Thanks Sandeezz,

Yeah, it's one of the perils of the experience. The bottom line is that when you select the facts, you manipulate the truth. I think a lot of people are starting to see through that stuff, but nonethless, people love the drama.

In my dream, the competitive team actually got along with each other really well, the "sponsor" thought we got along too well. Early in the game, i realized that we weren't playing against each other, like texas holdem, we were really playing against the house like in black jack, so there was no competitive advantage to dishing on the other competitors.

I broke the game by making it a competitive love-fest and being a pillar of support, hence my early departure in the "dreamt" competition.

[doone]

Your card game analogy is great!

[Last Rick Standing - fer' Real]

Thanks doone. Any other questions?

[doone]

Did you have any dreams about fishing or driving trucks? I watched all of the episodes but after you left I would fast forward to the end of the show to see who was booted off. The fishing episode in particular was fascinating and interesting.