Most Extreme Elimination Challenge
"The World's Toughest Competition in Town!"
This American Gag Dub version of the wacky Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle is now called simply MXC. It changes the premise of the show, in that contestants are now trying to score points for their team, instead of competing as individuals.
The opposing "teams" (after which the episodes are named) are taken from industries or societal subdivisions, such as "Unemployed vs. Environmentalists" or "Fast Food Workers vs. Aerospace Industry". Whatever groups are involved, rest assured the hosts will have plenty of fun at the teams' expense.
There are typically four challenges, and about a dozen people attempt each challenge. Any contestant who successfully navigates the challenge scores one point for his or her team. At the end of the show, maybe five points have been scored. This should give you an idea where most of the show's humor comes from. The rest of the humor comes from the massive avalanche of jokes the wisecracking hosts make.
- Captain Obvious: Kenny.
Kenny: Well, here's the problem right here, Vic: He slips. And then he hits his head. If he didn't do that he would've won.
Vic: Great insight as always, Ken.
- Casanova Wannabe: Kenny Blankenship.
- Catch Phrase: Captain Tenneal's "Well, you're WRONG!" and "LET'S GO!"; the end-of-episode "DON'T! GET! ELIMINATED!"; Guy LeDouche calling the captain "Skipper", and saying "Guy like" whenever he's aroused, which is all the time; Vic Romano's "Right you are, Ken" whenever Kenny Blankenship has made an insightful observation, and "Indeed".
- "KENNY!"
- How about every time someone falls over, Vic shouts "OH!" and then usually makes a comment
- Captain Tenneal's "Get it on!" before a contestant goes through an obstacle.
- "Ooh, Guy like!"
- Clumsy Copyright Censorship: Due to some of the costumes used, the "Real Monsters vs. Commercial Mascots" episode was subject to this for the Season Two DVD release -- more than half of the episode was dropped and graphics covered other segments. This didn't apply to reruns on Spike TV, though.
- The Cynic: Captain Tenneal during his questions to the contestants. A very chipper one at that. Case in point:
Captain Tenneal: How many of you think high quality health care should be made available to everybody, regardless of income and ability to pay? Show of hands.
Everyone: (Raises hands) Yeah!
Captain Tenneal: You're all wrong. Rich people stay healthy. Poor people get sick and die. That's natural selection.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Naturally, played for humor: Vic Romano is a recovering alcoholic; he used to be a network news anchor until his drinking problem derailed his career. He also has three ex-wives, and in "The Amusement Park Industry vs. the World's Oldest Profession", it's revealed he was once a gigolo.
- Death Course: Many of the games from Takeshi's Castle; the dub exaggerates the danger for comedic value.
- Depraved Bisexual: Guy.
- Double Entendre: Probably half of the show's rapidly-delivered jokes. The other half are Incredibly Lame Puns.
- Eagle Land: In the Former Olympians episode, the United States is pitted against the rest of the world. The voice over and commentator constantly played up the USA's superiority over the competition; it was billed as "the classic battle between the best versus the rest".
- Embedded Precursor: The DVDs include a few original, unedited episodes of Takeshi's Castle with proper English subtitles.
- Fictional Political Party: One episode of saw Republicans vs. Democrats vs. Third Party; the majority of the "third parties" named are made-up, including the Brown Party, the S&M Party, the Wiccan Party, and GILF.
- Gag Dub: The dub completely glosses over Japanese text and the fact that almost all of the competitors are Asian.
- Grimy Water: A rare non-video game example. The bodies of brown water that the contestants often fall into are always given disgusting sources, such as runoff from the 4H Club of Calcutta. Additionally, the water is always referred to as "safety sludge" or "safety fluid".
- Hurricane of Puns: The quick descriptions of each contestant often include these.
- Metaphorgotten: Kenny is sometimes guilty of this.
Kenny: [on a female contestant wearing elbow pads] Heh-heh, you know what they say about a woman in elbow pads...
Vic: I think you mean knee pads, Kenny.
- Once an Episode: There's always one contestant with a Middle Eastern background named "(something) Babaganoush".
- Panty Shot: Expect an extreme close-up whenever one occurs.
- And always initiated by Kenny. Sometimes subverted though, in that when Vic thinks Kenny is going for a panty shot, he actually focusing on something else.
- Parody Names: All over the place.
- Product Placement: Occasionally, the MXC Impact Replay segments would have brand names attached to them. During the "Almost Live" special, all of the participants' helmets were marked with the McDonald's logo.
- Punny Name: Again, everywhere you look.
- Rapid-Fire Comedy: The commentators almost never let up. Between the on-screen action and the running commentary, you're bound to miss half the jokes the first time you see an episode, which makes for good repeat viewing.
- Sickening Crunch: Played for laughs, normally to sell what the announcers tell the audience about the obstacles. For instance, someone being run down by an obviously-styrofoam rock will be accompanied with bone-crunching sound effects and screams.
- Spiritual Successor: Wipeout, which trades out the Gag Dub for In-Universe sports commentary (but not as wacky as in this show's dub) and features Takeshi's Castle-style courses.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The interaction between the two hosts.
- Strawman Political: Captain Tenneal, whose opening conversation with the players often delves into conservative parody. Unusually for this trope, he's still portrayed as very likable.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: The abbreviation does not account for either "E" in the full title.
What do we always say? Don't. Get. Eliminated!