The Superstars (2009 edition)

The Superstars is an American television series first aired by ABC on June 23, 2009.

Filming

On January 6, 2009, Variety reported that Juma Entertainment and Blue Entertainment Sports TV would produce a six-week series on ABC starting on June 23, 2009 featuring pairing of celebrities and athletes with one pair being eliminated each week.^[1] Principal location filming took place in the Bahamas.

The participating stars are:^[2]

Judges' Scoring summary

Superstars (2009 edition) July 2009

     indicates the team eliminated.

     indicates the teams that went to the Obstacle Course.

     indicates the team that won the rubber match.

     indicates the winning team.

     indicates the runner-up team.

     indicates the third place team.

An early leaked clip showed Supermodel Joanna Krupa displeased with the performance of her teammate, Terrell Owens. This occurs in the first episode, during an elimination competition involving the obstacle course in which Mr. Owens gets tangled in the cargo net obstacle and loses a race.^[3] Lisa Leslie also struggled with the cargo net obstacle to the point that she became disoriented and reversed her direction, exiting the obstacle in the wrong direction and almost racing towards an obstacle she had already completed. These two teams (Owens/Krupa v. Leslie/Cortese) then go into a final race to determine who goes home. Although Owens performed better this time, Cortese stayed close enough behind him that Krupa was unable to outrace Leslie and Owens/Krupa were the first team eliminated from the competition. Krupa continued to vent her frustration and disappointment in Owens' performance well after the race was over, stating that she expected better results from such a well-known athlete.^[4] They had lost a kayak race earlier. A better performance in any of the events (the duathlon, in which they finished middle-of-the-pack, two kayak races that they lost, and two obstacle course races that they lost) would have permitted them to stay in the competition. However, there was no explanation as to why Owens/Krupa with their fourth-place finish (20 points ahead of two teams that tied for fifth place) were even in a "tiebreak" situation to begin with, and the show was also silent on what tiebreaker separated the two fifth-place teams, sending one to the obstacle course automatically while putting the other in a "rubber match" kayak race against Owens/Krupa—who clearly finished 20 points ahead of the fifth-place teams in the standings.

Along with Leslie/Cortese, Capriati/Charvet also struggled during the first round of competitions; most significant was Capriati missing the exchange of the bike between the teammates in the first event (a 1.1 mile duathlon) when she failed to spot it propped against a barricade where her partner had left it for her, and had to run nearly the entire distance of the road course.

In the second episode, a team is disbanded due to injury and Owens and Krupa are allowed back on the show to compete in their stead. Jennifer Capriati and Dan Cortese withdraw from the competition due to injury that Cortese sustained during the show.

The hosting cast is ESPN's John Saunders, former NFL All-Pro defensive tackle Warren Sapp, and NFL sideline reporter, fitness model, and TV host Jenn Brown (an accomplished athlete in her own right, having captained the University of Florida softball team).^[5]

References