Deadliest Warrior: Apache vs Galdiator

Spike TV aired the premiere of their newest hit show, Deadliest Warrior, on Tuesday evening, April 7th 2009. I had spent 5 weeks, on and off, in October and November sending Morning Star Entertainment my biography, film clips, and doing interviews with various members of their cast. Finally, the director called me one morning saying that they loved my last demo that I did at their studio in Burbank, California. They said they loved the fact that I brought my own Apache weapons and I broke half of everything I brought to show that if one weapons breaks, the Apache always had a back up. I demonstrated for the interview and close range weapons in their office hallway, and the longer range weapons in their garage parking structure. I showed them bow & arrow shooting, knife throwing, spear throwing, rock throwing, improvised weapons like a leg bone of a bison, and I added a few entertaining one liners. Next, was the filming date in late November of 2008. No one knew quite what to expect. None of the experts were given a script, a story board, or an idea of where the battle was going to take place (arena or field). We were not told of the weapons each member was using until it came time to use them. We did not have any practice time to use any of the weapons we used on set like the bow & arrow, tomahawks, etc. The only weapons I had practice with were the knives and tomahawks that I had brought, which luckily they let me use. When I saw the tomahawks they wanted us to throw, I said, “You have to shorten the handles; they are way too long.” They did shorten the handles, and it worked out just fine. We filmed for 5 days straight with almost every scene done on the first take. Alan Tafoya never used that bow before, and he hit all the targets on the first try. I threw knives from 5 feet, 10 feet, and 15 feet away and never missed one (thank God!). They filmed a couple extra times only to get different angles on us, but what you see on the show is the real deal. We had a lot of talent there. The Director, Tim Prokop, of Morning Star Entertainment was the best director I’ve ever worked with. A true professional, he had great communication skills. In fact, everyone of the 'behind-the-scenes' cast members were extremely great to work with.

The bow was of poor quality, but it did the job. The speed would have been a lot faster with a better bow. Alan Tafoya impressed Chuck Liddell with his tomahawk throws. Afterwards, Chuck said that his son asked him to learn how to throw a tomahawk so he could teach him; then Chuck asked Alan if he could teach him. Alan said, "Sure." And by the end of his lesson, Chuck was throwing pretty well. This part was filmed but didn’t air. I did a scene where I threw several knifes at a target on the ground but that didn’t air either. When I did the Horse Bone tomahawk shot to the skull and the fake blood hit the camera and camera-man, the Spike Executives wanted that scene deleted, but after the Morning Star Entertainment staff argued for it, it was finally used. Alan Tafoya and I each did a 30 minute interview on the Apache history and fighting culture, but they didn’t use more than a couple minutes of it on the show. I told the weapons supervisor Mark to bring in a live rattlesnake and/or scorpion and I’ll use it when I talk about how Apaches poisoned their arrows. He asked, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yes, I used to have a wild rattlesnake before I went to the Middle East. I had it next to my bed in an empty trophy case for two years before I let it back in the wild." Mark brought me a scorpion the next day, and so when I was talking about the History and the arrow poisoning, I told the director Tim that we got a scorpion we can use in the scene. Tim agreed, but he didn’t seem to care either way. When I reached in and grabbed the scorpion from the cage, then everyone’s eyes got bigger. I spoke for several more minutes with the scorpion on my hand. Everyone was happy it didn’t sting me (I was the happiest).

For those that don’t know some of the experts…Chris Torres (Gladiator) is a Hollywood stuntman, Mixed Martial Arts practitioner who used to train with Chuck Liddell, and he did all the stunt scenes for the latest James Bond video game, among others. He is also very familiar with Gladiator History and weapons. Chris lives in the Los Angeles area, and we got along great. Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell needs no introduction unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years. But I’d like to say for the record that he is a quiet and very polite guy. Chuck and I talked about his son, and he signed one of the UFC photo books for me. It was great working with him.

Steve Dietrich (Gladiator) is another very nice guy with whom I enjoyed working. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he’s involved in a lot of various areas in the Entertainment Industry…from consultant, to actor, to stunt man, etc. I’ve met his lovely wife and their new baby (very cute). Alan and I had dinner with him, and we usually sat and eat together during lunch on the set.

And for those of you who don’t know Alan "Colorado Warrior" Tafoya, he is a very humble person. He has a kind spirit, and he is a Christian. Alan brought sage to the set on the first day of filming and blessed the building before we began. Alan is a two time Soldier of Fortune Knife Champion (1999 & 2000), and he has studied various martial arts all his life. Alan and I taught the 14th Annual Apache Knife Fighting & Battle Tactics seminar in March at the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Alan also is the Lead Investigator with the Apache Police Department. His father, who passed away in 2000, was the Chief of Police at the Reservation for over 20 years, and one of his uncles was also on the force. His other uncle, whom I met, is a Medicine Man. Alan has two beautiful daughters (both in their 20s), and he has one grandson, all of whom I’ve met. Alan is also a direct descendant of the famous Apache Chief, Magnus Colorado. Colorado means "red," and Magnus Colorado means "Red Sleeves."

Although not everyone agrees with the show, you need to understand that a one hour show after commercials and review scenes is only a 30 minute show. And it would be impossible to show every scene in an arena, and then another scene out in the various outdoor terrains. It would be too time consuming to show all 1000 scenarios with the Gladiator winning 300 plus times and the Apache winning 600 plus times. Because the show features other warrior cultures on upcoming episodes, they can’t show every weapon used without it getting repetitive for viewers. For example, the Apaches also used the pistol, rifle, spear, throwing rocks, and horses…and the Gladiators at times used bow and arrow, chariots, and various other exotic weapons. And yes, it’s always hard to use a computer to determine the outcome based only on the weapons’ effectiveness. A poorly trained or unlucky Apache could lose to a Gladiator and vice-versa. Not all Apaches became great warriors and not all Gladiators won more than one fight. Many Gladiators were slaves or criminals that were expected to die, so they were given no training or very little training along with inferior weapons and armor (if any). The point at the end of the show when the Gladiator stops after punching the Apache, was to show that the Gladiator is trained to wait for the audience to decide if he would finish the fight or not (thumbs up or thumbs down). If a Gladiator is always trained that way, then muscle memory will have him do it whether he’s in an arena or not. The Gladiators in this show, Deadliest Warrior, were steroid-type-body-building actors. I doubt that any Gladiators were ever that built (but it did look cool). Most fights are subjective and impossible to predict the outcome 100% of the time. If you think you can do better in predicting the winners, then you should go to Las Vegas. Anything can happen in a fight, but by showing the possibility of 1,000 fights, it was as close as you can get to an educated guess. I’m sure you’ll see the spear, pistol, rifle, and other exotic weapons with similar range and effectiveness on upcoming shows with other warriors. 30 minutes to show everything is not enough. Look at the show as entertainment with an element of history and a little bit of testosterone (okay, maybe a lot).

None of us were told who would win, and I didn’t find out until I went to the producer’s preview of the show the day before (Monday, April 6th) in Hollywood. Even the actors and camera crew were told to film every scene twice…once with the Apaches winning and once with the Gladiators winning.

Spike TV markets to the Alpha-male ages 18-35 yrs old. They are owned by MTV, and they have 94-97 million viewers (and I believe most of them saw this episode). Spike TV advertised all over New York City and Hollywood, California. The show did spark huge interests in the knife fighting/counter-knife fighting community, as I’ve received thousands of hits and hundreds of emails from people all over the USA and Canada the first few days it aired. Several of my associates, students, and instructors have also gotten calls and emails from people that want weapon’s training (and I’m not even talking about Apache battle tactics), so I believe that it has helped all of us in the Knife community. Morning Star Entertainment has done shows for the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic. They have received several awards for their documentaries included several for their documentary on Billy the Kid.

Everyone is a critic, and I enjoy knowing that we all have the freedom to express our opinions…even if they are different from mine…we live in a great country!

Deadliest Warrior aired several times the first week, and you can also watch clips at www.youtube.com/user/snakeblocker. Personally…I had fun testing weapons for a full week and getting paid to do it. I enjoyed meeting new friends on the set, and I enjoyed reading the fan mail.