Bully Beatdown


Bully Beatdown is an American reality television series created by Mark Burnett which aired on MTV. In each episode, show host Jason "Mayhem" Miller challenged bullies to fight against a professional mixed martial artist for a chance to win $10,000. The money they got depended on their performance against their opponent, with any money they didn't win going to the bully's victims. If the bully managed to submit or knock out the martial artist at any time, he/she won a $5000 bonus.

Format

Episodes in the first season were broken into four segments. In the first segment Mayhem shows a tape victims have sent to him asking for help with a bully. This was followed by Mayhem meeting with the victims and briefly discussing their problems. Mayhem and the victims would then confront the bully, and Mayhem would offer the bully $10,000 to fight a professional MMA fighter. In all of the episodes that aired, the bully accepted. The next segment consisted of Mayhem bringing the bully into his gym to see how the bully fights in order to help him determine whom to put in the cage against him. During this segment, Mayhem introduced the bullies to their corner man, and usually discussed the fight with the bullies a little. This segment would end with the victims meeting the fighter who would be fighting their bully and some clips of the bully preparing in the locker room. The next segment began with Mayhem standing in the ring with the victims and introducing them to the crowd. After a brief introduction, the bully would then be brought out to boos from the crowd. Mayhem would then let the bullies and victims have a few last words before bringing out the fighter. The cage was then handed over to Big John, who would begin the first round of each fight after a short segment explaining the rules. Round 1 is a 3-minute grappling only round. The bully starts the round with $5,000 but loses $1,000 every time he is forced to tap out. The next segment began with an explanation of the rules for Round 2. Round 2 is a 3-minute kickboxing round. The bully wins $5,000 if they can survive the entire 3 minutes, but does not get any money if he quits or gets KO'd or the referee stops the fight. After the round ends, Mayhem deals out the money, and asks the bully if there is anything they want to say to their victim once the fight ended, in which is almost always an apology.
In Season 2, the format of the first half of the show was changed significantly. The show starts with Mayhem in the cage. He first presents the victims' tape, and after that he is joined by the victims in the cage. This is then followed by a tape from the bully, with them explaining why they pick on their victims, often overcut with footage of them at work, playing a sport, or working out. The next segment would begin with the bully already having agreed to fight. Mayhem would interview the bully and the show would then cut to fight night. This would begin with Mayhem introducing his victims to their fighter, and leaving them to tell their story to him. Meanwhile, Mayhem would head over to the bully's locker room and briefly discuss the upcoming fight with them. This is followed by a shot of side by side stats showing the heights and weights of the bully and the fighter. This was occasionally accompanied by another piece of information, often as a joke, such as the unconfirmed fighting records of the bullies. After this the bully would be brought in to the cage and the rest of the episode would proceed in the same manner as in the previous season.
Season 3 followed the same format as Season 2 except that the fight rounds were extended from three minutes to five minutes. In this season's first episode, Mayhem fought the bully himself in addition to serving as the host.

Controversy

It has been suggested that Bully Beatdown is largely staged and that in most cases "the bully/victim combo had never even met prior to the taping of each episode". One of the "bullies" depicted had included his appearance on the show in his acting resume. Another bully is a professional stuntman who had previously appeared in other TV shows.
In response, Jason Miller wrote what he labeled a "troll post" in which he called the show "completely fake" to mock those who call the show fake. Miller later stated on his blog that the physical beatings depicted on the show could not be faked. He referred to the bullies as "douchebags" who actually believe that they can beat professional fighters. Miller maintained that the show is "legit".

Cast

Air DateEpisodeBullyVictimMixed Martial artistMoney earned by bullyMoney earned by victimViewers Rating/ShareDemo
3/22/09Season 1 Episode 1RyanAlanTony Bonello$2,000$8,000
3/29/09Season 1 Episode 2VinceJosh & AdamMichael Westbrook$1,000$9,000
4/5/09Season 1 Episode 3ChristianBrian & CameronConor Heun$0$10,000
4/12/09Season 1 Episode 4JonathanSergio & JasonJake Shields$2,000$8,000
4/19/09Season 1 Episode 5EriqLindaJon Murphy$0$10,000
4/26/09Season 1 Episode 6DennisStan & AndreyThomas Denny$10,000$0
Online OnlySeason 1 Episode 7GarrettKyle & RobertJake Shields$0$10,000
8/13/09Season 1 Episode 8JamesSeanBen Lagman$7,000$3,000
8/27/09Season 2 Episode 1BrandonSean & AlexEddie Alvarez$0$10,000
9/3/09Season 2 Episode 2JasonJosh & BrettJon Murphy$2,000$8,000
9/10/09Season 2 Episode 3RandallJeffersonJake Shields$5,000$5,000
9/17/09Season 2 Episode 4NathanMartin & AdeshAndrei Arlovski$0$10,000
9/24/09Season 2 Episode 5WesChrisTony Bonello$1,000*$9,000*
10/1/09Season 2 Episode 6ColtTimmyTony Lopez$1,000$9,000
10/8/09Season 2 Episode 7GarrettNicholas & EricMichael Westbrook$3,000$7,000
10/15/09Season 2 Episode 8EmilAnthony & MoNick Gaston$0$10,000
UnairedSeason 2 Episode 9MarquezRichard & EdwardQuinn Mulhern$6,000$4,000
UnairedSeason 2 Episode 10HarleyLewisRicky Legere$9,000$1,000
11/4/10Season 3 Episode 1AndySteven & TaylorJason "Mayhem" Miller$0$10,000
11/11/10Season 3 Episode 2NickChris & BlairJeremy Horn$0$10,000
11/18/10Season 3 Episode 3AmandaKeikoMichelle Waterson$0$10,000.920.6/1.4/1
12/2/10Season 3 Episode 4EvermontJesse & ColtonBobby "King" Green$0$10,000.773.5/1.3/1
12/9/10Season 3 Episode 5KevinAnthony & SamTyron Woodley$1,000$9,000.898.6/1.4/1
12/16/10Season 3 Episode 6MikeLorenzo & JoeyEddie Alvarez$0$10,000.756.5/1.3/1
12/23/10Season 3 Episode 7JordanAustin & MicahJoe Riggs$0$10,000
9/28/12Season 3 Episode 8TayfunChucky & YunasNick Gaston$0$10,000
10/4/12Season 3 Episode 9BrettZackAbel Cullum$1,000$9,000
9/28/12Season 3 Episode 10DavidKeith & AlexSam Oropeza$0$10,000
9/29/12Season 3 Episode 11TylerJoe & DylanDaniel Cormier$0$10,000
10/4/12Season 3 Episode 12MichaelWilliamDaron Cruickshank$0$10,000

Reception

The debut episode was the number one program in its time slot among males 12-34.