The Contender was created and executive produced by
Mark Burnett. During its original run, it was a co-production between Burnett's production company and
DreamWorks Television, with DreamWorks' co-founder
Jeffrey Katzenberg serving as an executive producer. The series’
tagline is “The Next Great Human Drama”, and its soundtrack was scored by
Hans Zimmer. Before the show premiered, rival American television
Fox network rushed to air a competing show,
The Next Great Champ, hosted by
Oscar De La Hoya. The show performed very poorly, with the final episodes being relegated to cable
FSN. In an effort to distance itself from the Fox disaster, NBC opted to hold airing its show until spring 2005. On May 16, 2005, the series was cancelled. The first season cost NBC $2,000,000 per episode. Reruns were seen on
CNBC. On August 11, 2005,
ESPN announced that it was picking up the rights to a second season of the show, which began airing on the network in July 2006, although special editions under the
Contender title are currently airing as of March, 2006. ESPN also announced that it has options to renew the series for two additional seasons. However, on April 10, 2008, ESPN announced that it was canceling the series. Executive producer
Jeff Wald maintained that the show would continue on another network. It was later announced the show would move to Versus.
Najai Turpin suicide On February 14, 2005, one of the 16 contenders,
Najai Turpin, despondent over personal matters, committed suicide, shooting himself while sitting with his girlfriend in a parked car outside the West Philadelphia gym where he trained. In his memory, the producers set up a
trust fund for his daughter Anyae. The show still aired in its entirety, with a special tribute to Turpin. == Seasons ==