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Episode Nine - India: Kushti Mud Wrestling
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Watch our exclusive interview with Ed to get a real insight into what it was like to stay in India and compete in kushti mud-pit wrestling.
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Exclusive - Ed on kushti wrestling
Watch our exclusive interview with Ed as he describes what it was like to stay in Kolhapur and take part in kushti mud-pit wrestling.
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Exclusive - Video diary footage
The athletes take us on a tour of their new home in India.
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Preview - The athletes arrive
Preview: The athletes arrive and meet the locals.
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Preview - Local traditions
Preview: The athletes are introduced to some of the local customs.
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Preview - The competition
Preview: The athletes witness the competition for the first time.
Kushti Mud Wrestling
It's the penultimate week of the competition and the athletes are travelling across the busy Indian city of Kolhapur.
After his triumph in Sumbawa, JJ has drawn level with Ed and Wolé creating a three-way tie for the lead.
In their ninth challenge our boys are in for a heady cocktail of stale sweat and caked dirt as kushti wrestlers.
Kushti Wrestling
The aim is simple... To get your opponent flat on his back.
The lads are entering into a major competition in which each of them will fight a single bout. Crowds flock to watch a bill of matched fighters battle it out and our boys will be a star attraction.
Training and Rituals
Usually on Last Man Standing the athletes live with families in a village but this time it's boot camp. The lads have a tough regime rising before the sun and living in a very basic changing room with the other trainees.
The conditions are almost more than Joey can endure but it's actually Murray who leaves first – for the sake of his knee which took a battering in Kamchatka and the Philippines.
Before training, the young wrestlers pay homage to Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god. He's a god of infinite strength but also a god of patience and mindfulness, perfect inspiration for kushti.
Wrestler JJ's the obvious favourite but after an awkward roll his shoulder pops out of its socket. After an x-ray he's forced to make the literally agonising decision to pull out.
Wolé's massive power puts him at an advantage but even the pros find it hard to work out who to pit his blunt technique against.
The Final Competition
The atmosphere in the huge stadium is electric and with thousands of spectators. It is quite unlike any other challenge the athletes have faced.
Ed's the first of our lads in the pit and despite his light weight he flips his opponent to win and throws down the gauntlet for his fellow athletes.
Joey's next and to beat Ed's performance he needs to wrestle with style. It's a long fight and he dominates his opponent but can't push on to victory despite his opponent's prone position and ends up on his back.
Wolé's the man the VIPs want their photo with and his fight starts well but once again a fast kushti counter-attack ends the bout. The fire fighter is floored.
Jarvis is the only athlete not to have won an event and this time around he's really focussed. Fast and strong he rallies from a defensive position to be awarded the bout.
It's up to the judges to decide who had the better technique. Jarvis counter-attacked from the prone position and is awarded two points. Ed however performed a classic kushti flip and to his astonishment is given three points.
Ed is last man standing in India.
This third win puts Ed ahead of both Wolé and JJ. Will they be able to make up ground in the final episode?
The final challenge - Pacific Canoeing in Papua New Guinea
There are no upcoming episodes of this programme.
Six intrepid athletes travel the world to compete against the most remote tribes on earth at their own sports.
Production Blog
Production Co-ordinator Tim Pyke takes us behind the scenes in India.
About India
India is part of a natural sub-continent located south of the Himalayan range. It is the second most populous country after China.
India gained independence from Britain in 1947 and is now a vibrant democracy with an expanding economy and a rich multi-layered cultural heritage.
Find out more about India:
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Stuck in the same 40 yards by 40 yards square for the next 6 days with 70 other sweaty blokes... that doesn't sound like my idea of a party.
Ed - Series two athlete
Locations: Series Two
The journey for series two:
Ethiopia > Burkina Faso > Nepal > Brazil > Bhutan > Kamchatka > Philippines > Sumbawa > India > Papua New Guinea
© MMIX
Comments
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Awesome episode best so far, I was hoping Joey won this one, no one seems to like him cos he comes accross spoilt but i think he is just frustrated as hes not performing as well as he feels he should be. Great for Ed tho come on son do it for the UK dont wat those yanks winning another Last Man Standing. Murray will be back caught a glimps of him on the trailer for the next and final challenge. Last Man Standing rules!!!!
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More episodes like this please. There seems to be a lot of endurance events which can be a little boring. Nothing like a one on one fight for suspense and excitement.
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Ed's been my favourite since the start. I want him to win!!! Show those big guys that brain over brawn and mind over matter is what makes a true winner!!
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I loved this episode, love the whole series, I think the creators have the right balance between fighting and edurance events, please make a series 3, just classic television in my opinion
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We will miss the LMS when it ends, the whole family finds it gripping. There is so much to it, travel, culture, sport and personal stories all thrown in the same show. Sure hope there will be a series 3.
If Ed wins it'll prove you can be a winner, still be a decent guy and not an egomaniac. Joey's very educational as the perfect example of how NOT to behave abroad or anywhere actually. Really impressed with Kushti wrestling as a technical discipline. Would be nice for Jarvis to at least have a win as he has been unlucky. Roll on next week!
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Quite simply, the best show on television.
I think Jarvis really deserves a victory (poor bloke!)
JJ seems to win when there's a lot of luck involved (the cattle-racing & archery ones)
Shame about Murray's knee but I see from the trailers that he is back!
Well done Ed, triumph over adversity.....He looked embarrassed to win the last one though....
Joey is hilarious to watch, such a moaner before realising he can actually do it....
THERE MUST BE A SERIES THREE!!!!!!
Fantastic show and as the poster above mine said, it has everything!
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Brilliant series from start to finish. Jarvis to win - something! The guy's got a great personality and, even better, looks fantastic. The video diaries on line are really funny - can you post more? Please make a third series (guys though, not girls) Best thing on BBC TV at the moment.
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Another superb episode. The first two series of this show have been brilliant and long may it continue. The producers have to be commended for picking a great bunch of guys and some excellent challenges for the to undertake. Please film a third series, preferably in/on BBC HD.
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has to the best thing on telly but they must be running outof ideas LOL
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sixtyone is right about Jarvis .he was very unlucky not to win when the judge failed to see that was an illegal kick to the nuts
They are all good athletes and the makers done well to bring together a group with different personalities. Its good to see people adpt themselves mentally and phisically to win that event.
One guy that stands out is Joe. When Joe trains for an event he can be so negative and so disheartened when things go wrong..but then something goes right for him and that smile comes to his face and that of his trainers ,
But please is it possible to buy a box set of the seriies?
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Happy for Ed to have got another win, but disappointed for Jarvis, it really would have been good for him to get his first win here.
Didn't see the first series, but am really hooked this time around and will look forward to series three.
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I really hope that you decide to make another last man standing series, as I would love the chance to apply. I think it crosses the boundaries between sport and culture, and inturn changes the beliefs of all athletes and even the audiance....It's the ultimate competition!!
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this series sucks! and was so obviously rigged from the beginning. At least the the last series each of the athletes grew through the experience - this one a cocky endurance guy, Ed, has been given a gazillion endurance events and no reason not to think he's god's gift. He shouldnt win!
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Wole will never be the last man standing in my eyes, the last event was the only one he won fair and square, Ed should have been last man standing, he won in both endurance and fighting so Orange Popcorn wind your neck in! Wole did not win his first two events fairly, Ed should have taken the first one and Jarvis the second so I wouldn't hold my head high!
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In the end, I have to say, Wolé just wanted it that bit more and is deserving of the title.....
Ok, so he got lucky in the kick-fighting (poor Jarvis), but I felt Ed got lucky in the Kushti wrestling (poor Jarvis!)....
Worth the licence fee alone.....I'm gonna miss this show!
I trust the next series starts next week???????????????????? ;o)
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lol Sixtywon!
I didn't really mind who won - I just didn't want Ed to win.
I feel quite deflated now... JJ should have won even though there was no possible way of it happening :P
Hope the next series will be as inspiring as the first!
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