Original subtitles

- Throughout history,

the blade and one's ability to wield it

has been the difference between life and death.

Tonight, America's top bladesmiths, martial artists,

and knife experts bring their weapons

to the toughest challenge...

- Come on, let's do this! - They'll ever face.

- It's a grueling gauntlet

designed to put their blade wielding skills...

Whoa! To the ultimate test.

He broke the knife in half!

The top two competitors move on to Dead Run,

the final showdown,

for a chance at a $20,000 grand prize.

Total carnage!

Who can do the most damage in the fastest time?

Whose blade, and dreams, will shatter?

And who will earn the title of Knife or Death champion?

- I've probably made 500 knives,

but the unknown of what

we're gonna cut in this competition,

it's pretty intimidating.

- I've been a blade sports competitor for a while.

I've done some crazy stuff in my life.

Nothing like this.

- Blade wielders, I'm Bill Goldberg.

This is the most difficult, intense,

and utterly bad ass knife competition ever created.

Welcome to "Forged In Fire: Knife or Death."

Many of you have forged your own blades,

others had them made to their own specifications.

We've got katanas, competition choppers,

and traditional bowie knives, among others.

You and your blade will be tested

in a series of timed challenges

that focus on precision,

technique, strength,

blade sharpness, and durability.

It is my honor to introduce to you

Special Forces Green Beret Tu Lam,

a martial arts master, and weapons expert.

- If your techniques are on point,

if you choose the right angles,

have efficient movement,

you can win this competition.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the first course is Knife Fight.

The Knife Fight course is a true test of speed and power.

The first obstacle you'll face: Trail Blazer.

You must cut through six wooden dowels,

each releasing a lit torch.

When the torches fall, igniting the steel pits,

it's time to move on to the next obstacle,

Stick and Move. You must stab, slice,

and cut through three separate containers

to release enough contents

so that the attached counterweights

reach the ground

before the containers rise to high to hit,

and before you cross that line,

or you will be penalized.

Next up is Ice Pick.

You must chop into a 3-foot block of ice,

puncture the plastic pipe,

and release the red liquid.

Then you move on to Lifeline, a sudden-death obstacle.

You must fully slice through three hanging objects

with one swing each.

Fail to slice through the thickest part,

your run time ends,

and you're not allowed to go on

any further in the course.

If you make it this far,

your last obstacle is Curtain Call,

where you must cut completely through the wall of meat,

and did the sheet of metal.

Your time ends when you plunge your blade

through the tree stump.

- That course is frightening.

There's ice blocks, and there's wood boxes.

I'm gonna put some good strikes on it,

but I sure hope my blade doesn't break.

- Fish, chicken, holy hell!

This is a competitor's dream.

Every cut I like to do is here.

- All obstacles you leave unfinished

will incur a 25-second penalty.

After every competitor finishes and penalties are added up,

the two that make it the farthest the fastest

will move on to our second, even more grueling

course challenge: Dead Run.

The winner earns a cash prize,

and a spot in the grand champion showdown

at the end of the season

to vie for a $20,000 cash prize

and the title of "Knife Or Death" champion.

- We station our very own blade expert,

and "Forged in Fire" champion,

Travis Wuertz before the start of this run.

He's gonna give your blade one final once-over

before we give you the green light to tackle Knife Fight.

If he finds any problems with your blade,

he can disqualify you from this competition.

- Time to get your hands dirty.

- The adrenaline is flowing.

I'm ready to compete. I'm gonna win.

I'm Karl Groger,

and I'm from Holtsville, New York.

I enjoy competing in martial arts competitions.

I also hold a black belt in Iaido,

the way of Japanese samurai sword.

The blade that I brought is a shinken,

which is a live Japanese katana.

There is a confidence and a spirit

that shoots through the blade into me.

It should be able to cut through anything

you can throw at me.

- Hi there.

Thank you.

It's great to see somebody

go through a lot of the practice

of the art of the Japanese sword.

- It's been a part of my spirit my whole life.

That was hand forged to the specifications of my body.

You can't take a sharpened blade out of Japan.

They're actually considered national treasures,

so I was lucky enough to have found a Japanese smith

that actually lived in China,

and they were able to send it to me

here in the United States.

- Yeah, this is a beautiful blade,

but it does seem to have a little bit of wiggle.

This can affect the performance of the blade.

I've to do a little bit of testing,

make sure it's safe and handles well

before you're allowed on the course with it.

- Hai.

- This is a fine blade,

and this definitely makes the cut.

- Thank you, sir. - Good luck.

- I've come to "Knife Or Death"

for one reason: to win.

- I'm really excited to see Karl.

He is the modern-day samurai.

The katana began to develop

when the Mongolians invaded Japan.

A sharper blade was needed to pierce

the Mongol warrior's leather armor.

Let's see how it cuts through a box and gravel.

- Hai! - His blade, by far,

is the largest blade in today's competition.

- You have 28 inches of cutting power.

He can wield this thing with one hand,

or he can double up with both hands.

- Is bigger better? We're gonna see.

- See how he's hitting at a downward angle?

- Clean cut! Power!

- He's dropping those hips. He's dropping the legs.

- He's through, he's through.

The torches are down. It was precise.

He got the angle of attack,

and he generated the power needed

to blow right through those dowels.

Next up, Stick and Move.

- He's going towards thrusting motion.

- Samurai blades employ soft metal.

He may e trying to preserve his blade here.

- The katana is a long blade.

Thrusting, versus slashing the corners,

is not gonna give the penetration to cut through.

It's slowly releasing those contents.

I would've utilize the power of that blade.

- He's leaving the crate

before that counterweight reaches the ground.

- In the Special Forces,

you make sure that threat's down before you move on.

- Now he's gonna try and slice through the first bucket.

Let's talk about cardio right now.

You see him slowing down.

- He's feeling the pressure and time.

- Now onto the second bucket.

The second bucket's counterweight

reaches the ground.

He needs those two counterweights

to hit the ground before you cross that line,

or it's a 25-second penalty.

Oh, he gave up on the box, and the first bucket,

and crossed the line

before the two counterweights hit the ground.

Two penalties on Stick and Move.

- This ice is going to make or break Karl.

The katana is a long blade.

He needs to hit it at the proper angle.

- Look how he's attacking it. - Yeah, and he's attacking it.

Angle one. He's coming down, but I would also come up

at an angle to open up that cavity.

- Is he getting a little bounce from that ice?

Oh my God, his blade is actually bending.

But he's through the tube. There's the red liquid!

- He bust through that ice,

but he's definitely concerned about that blade.

- And as you see, he's manually bending it back.

- Definitely gonna play in Lifeline.

- Karl is competing with a bent blade,

and he's gonna need total concentration and skill here

on Lifeline.

Through the chicken!

Nice!

Karl is staring down sudden death.

Ugh.

Unfortunately, Karl can't move on and complete the course.

- He stopped too short.

You need to cut through that object.

- Look at those eyes,

and on that face is complete disappointment.

- First off, hell of a run,

but were standing in front of Lifeline,

which was sudden-death.

- I took that fish for granted, you know?

I kind of just stopped right here.

Unfortunately misjudged it a little bit.

That's really disappointing. The sword didn't break.

My spirit didn't break. I really should've been able

to cut through that fish with ease.

- Well, we'll see if your time is good enough

to put you outside in Dead Run.

- Hai.

I'm proud of the way I handled the course.

I think I did it with pride,

and I look forward to being the winner.

- Two other competitors will have to reach

or pass the fish faster than Karl

in order to knock him out of the competition.

- My name's David McConnell,

and I work as a machine repairman.

In my down time, I'm forging blades.

I was on "Forged in Fire."

It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to.

I came in second.

I absolutely do not want

to come in second on this competition.

- Welcome. What have you brought me today?

- Bolo knife.

- Who made this knife? - I forged it.

- I see you have a nice thin edge.

The spot--I shouldn't be able to do that.

You know, you do have a little bit of a dull spot,

but it looks like a fine blade.

I'm gonna do a little bit

of test chopping before you're allowed on the course with it.

- Please. - All right.

Well, this part may not be as sharp as this part,

all parts cut.

Your blade has made the cut. Good luck.

- Thank you. I'm feeling a lot of anxiety.

I just want to cut something.

- David McConnell is a "Forged in Fire" veteran,

and this cat knows how to forge a blade.

- Bolo knife throughout history was used to cut down

thick vegetation.

- Obviously, these are good chopping tools.

- But if he doesn't know how to use balance,

like a martial artist, which he lacks those skills,

he may have a problem.

- And he's about three times the size of his blade.

He's gonna have to come down with all his force.

David's off!

First dowel, right through it.

Resetting--right through the second.

- See how he's resetting?

He's getting his base down, he's dropping those knees--

- Making his cut.

- He's definitely using his body.

- Yes, sir, that bolo's going right through it.

Whack!

Success on Trail Blazer for David.

- Beautiful run.

Now he needs to refocus the mind.

- Up next, Stick and Move.

- David doesn't bring a lot of raw power,

so it will all depend on the strength of his blade

to penetrate these tough objects.

- He's going for each corner, not specifically one.

- Oh, he's gonna bust through that box.

- He is blowing right through it!

Oh, my God! - Whoa.

Oh, my God! metal clattering

No, he broke the knife in half!

Oh, my God! - Whoa!

- Can you see the disbelief in David's eyes?

I'm telling you, man, that is a testament

to the difficulty of this course.

- Now, unfortunately, we had a catastrophic blade failure.

Your blade made clean cuts on the dowels,

and I attribute a lot to your edge geometry,

that convex sharp edge.

I would've liked to see the knife survive a little longer.

You really got me excited to see what you could do with it.

We do see some enlarged grain, but at the same time,

this was the thin spot in it.

So unfortunately, your time on "Knife and Death" is over.

- Thank you. - Here's your tip.

- You know, this competition meant a lot to David,

but his blade failed him,

a blade that he constructed himself.

- I'm feeling total frustration.

My blade broke.

I've never had this failure before.

Just bad heat treat.

I'm so competitive.

stammering A-and this kills me.

- Two competitors up, two competitors down.

- My name is Rodrigo indistinct.

I'm originally from Brazil, and right now,

I live in Atlanta, Georgia.

I'm a judo black belt, a jujitsu black belt.

The blade I'm competing with is a kopis sword.

It's a Greek style.

They say back in the years, it used to help

when you cut a head off, all this stuff.

Every morning, I make my orange juice with my blade,

cutting the orange, and stuff, you know, I love it.

Opa! You ready?

I'm coming for you all.

I brought you a kopis.

- A kopis? Who's the maker?

- There's a guy from the mountain,

up in North Georgia, this guy is great with knives.

- This is an impressive blade to hit a small target.

- Yeah, I'm ready.

- I'm gonna do a little bit of testing myself.

- Right on.

- This is a fine blade.

Congratulations. Your blade makes the cut.

- Appreciate it. Thank you.

Be ready, because I'm gonna rock and roll.

- Look at the energy from Rodrigo.

- This is a kopis blade.

The hoplites, back in ancient Greece,

they were armed with a spear and shield.

They had their kopis blade. They use that as a side arm,

so once Persians would breach the spears,

hoplites, they would transition to these short swords

and, man, I tell you what-- - Carnage.

- I feel this is one of the best blades

to bring into this competition.

- This is gonna be fun.

- Got hung up on the dowel.

- With a man his size, it shows how hard

these things can be to cut through.

- There he goes. - Now he's dropping his base.

- Absolutely.

- First one, he didn't drop the base.

- Boom, boom, boom. Goes through all of them.

Okay, Rodrigo stepping up to Stick and Move.

Let's see how he destroys the box.

He's blowing it apart! - shouts

- As the contents fall out, it's only going to get higher.

- Is he gonna be able to have the weight hit the ground

before it's out of his reach?

One counterweight down! Second obstacle!

He may have ripped that bucket open,

but the counterweight did not touch the ground.

Whoa! Right through it!

Unbelievable power and ferocity he attacked that with.

The first bucket's counterweight

did not touch the ground

and he's already past the line. There's the penalty.

- He's attacking low.

He's picking the direct line to that pipe,

and that's the way to go.

- Complete!

He moves on to Lifeline.

Sudden-death obstacle.

Remember, one cut through each object.

If not, you're out of the challenge.

- Ah, completed number one.

He even had some words to the chicken.

Karl couldn't get past the fish.

Let's see what Rodrigo can do.

Oh, my God!

He wasn't able to get through.

- No! bleep. buzzer sounds

- You see, he did not release those hips.

He did not drive through that blade. He stopped short.

fish didn't fall.

- I don't understand with each of these contestants

why they don't get to that point...

- Wow. - Take their time,

and go through it like a hot knife through butter.

What is it gonna take for somebody to defeat this course?

- I'm Jo Carruthers,

and I'm from Mooresville, North Carolina.

I love being a competitive chopper.

Going through a 2x4 or hitting a dangling rope,

slashing through all the water bottles,

being out there with the big guys,

and people going, "Wow!"

It's just a blast.

- Welcome. Let me take a look at your knife.

- It is a 12-inch behemoth chopper that I made.

My husband and I have a machine shop

where we make our knives.

- And you heat treated this blade yourself?

- Yes.

- So this is a sole authorship blade?

- Sole authorship blade.

- Good for you. - Thank you.

- This is definitely a structurally sound knife,

and I'm gonna do a little bit of testing.

All right.

Congratulations.

Your blade has made the cut.

Good luck in this competition.

- I'm here to show the knife world

that girls can do this too.

And I would love to come home with a win.

- She has a lot of experience in the competition world.

Choppers also refer to stone tools

used as far back as 2 million years ago.

These choppers are the modern version

of one of man's earliest inventions.

- I'm excited to see it.

buzzer sounds

See, here's where the power, or lack thereof,

may come into play.

- I would definitely drop my base.

Use the legs, use the structure of your body

to be able to drop and cut through that.

- Yeah. - She's just using

her upper body and her hands right now.

- She got through. A couple little stumbles,

but she's moving on to Stick and Move.

- It's gonna be a little bit of a disadvantage,

'cause see how she has to swing almost at a different angle up,

you know, if you're shorter.

She's getting a little fatigued,

but hey, you know what? She's not quitting.

- There's no doubt about that.

She has got the true warrior spirit.

Well, moving on.

- Swing through it. - Lack of power.

- You have to swing through it, just like a boxer.

You have to swing through that target.

But I want you to look at her footing.

She's not really locking in that place

like a boxer or a martial artist.

She hits at one angle. The contents start spilling,

then she'll hit the other side of the bucket.

You need to continue to hit the same area

consistently to release those contents.

- Second bucket's counterweight

reaches the ground.

Two counterweights hanging,

there are two penalties.

Got through the pipe, there's red liquid.

But she is gassed, for sure.

Lifeline concentrates on the angle of entry,

and the speed in which you wield it.

- On to Lifeline. Can she fully slice through

three hanging objects with one swing each?

Fail and you're not allowed to go on

Jo did not get through any fu the chicken!

The rules state that you must cut completely

through the thickest part of the chicken.

Jo only cut through the leg,

for that, she's unable to finish the course.

- I wanted to make it through the course,

but I'm proud of my performance.

Probably the coolest thing I've ever done.

- I'm Pat Biggin, and I've been a part-time bladesmith

for 13 years.

As a kid, my grandpa gave me a knife

that his dad had made for him during World War II

during his naval service.

And it kind of kicked off my interest in making blades.

In my spare time, I participate

in extreme obstacle courses.

I do all my events in a kilt.

My family is traditionally Irish.

And it gives me a little bit of extra insulation

and padding to move around in.

- What have you brought me? - I have brought you a chopper.

- All right. So who forged the blade?

- I did. - The blade's got nice weight.

Yeah, definitely has some chopper edge,

except little bit more of a point.

So what's this? What you got here?

- Uh, it's a bamboo hardwood floor

from when we redid the house floors,

and the bottom black is the rubber floor

from my gym we put in.

- Well, I'm gonna do some testing

before you're allowed to go out in the competition.

- That sounds like fun.

- You ready?

- Hell yeah.

- This blade makes the cut. - Thank you.

Got a lot of adrenaline running right now,

so I want to use that energy,

focus it on all the obstacles.

I hope I leave this course in pieces.

- As Pat walks up to Trail Blazer,

let's talk about the blade he's bringing to the competition.

- This is a heavy chopper, so any downward angle,

he's gonna slice through like butter.

My only concern is, there's not a lot of blade there.

Blade hand gets tired, he can't really double up.

Only 5 inches of handle.

- He kind of looks like a Viking.

- He does. buzzer sounds

- There goes Pat, right through the first dowel.

Not an issue whatsoever. Taking his time.

- That chopper cutting through, no problems.

- This is about power and this is about strategy.

And he goes right for the corner.

He's about to destroy that entire box.

Full destruction!

There he goes, moving on.

Box is down, the question is,

with the shortness of that blade,

how is he gonna take this on?

- There's not much blade,

so he's able to wield that thing a lot faster.

- I don't think there's any question

that Pat's getting a little winded here.

- There's a lot of strokes, a lot of movement.

- He's through! He's through!

He's done with Stick and Move. On to Ice Pick.

I don't know about the shortness of that blade,

how it's gonna be attacked.

- But he's hitting it hard. - Man, he is going through it.

- He has no problems with that, and I truly feel

that it's because of the shortness of the blade--

allows him full control over that weapon.

- Well, that, and the size of his biceps.

- That grip is wearing down on that ice.

- I'm watching him attack that ice, and I'm getting fatigued.

- When you have thick gloves,

you don't have that grip strength.

See how he's readjusting? - Yep.

- The kill shot. Nice!

Readjusting his grip again, you see that.

No margin for error in Lifeline.

One swing, and not a clean cut through,

and you're out of the challenge.

This is gonna be tough.

He did not get through the chicken!

Unfortunately,

Pat cannot move on and complete the course.

More than half the competitors

have stepped up to Knife Fight,

and not one has made it past Lifeline.

At the end of the day, that chicken kicked his ass.

- My name is Craig Singleton.

I got interested in blades about six years ago,

when I started getting into African martial arts.

It wasn't Daniel-san, Mr. Miyagi type of thing,

it was just a combat defense tool.

The blade I brought is custom handmade from Palestine.

It's a simple blade.

It's stocky, it reminds me of myself.

There is no competition.

- Well, what have you brought me today?

- I brought you a bowie.

- How have you trained with this knife?

- I just got it recently,

so I did a couple of cutting on fruit.

- Well, it's a very fast blade,

but it doesn't have a whole lot of mass up front.

You know the old proverb,

"Man with short knife needs long arms."

You're gonna need some long arms to swing this sucker,

but I'm gonna do some testing.

Gonna determine whether or not

you're able to compete with this blade.

- Ready. - Right.

So I definitely felt some resistance cutting.

That kind of comes to the overall

lack of mass in the tip.

But ultimately, what I can do with the knife

has nothing to do with what you can do to a knife.

Your knife makes the cut. Good luck.

- Thank you. Oh, I'm cool right now,

but when it's time to go on this course,

I'm hitting the ground running.

- Craig Singleton,

wielding, for the first time today, a bowie knife.

- It was used by Jim Bowie in the Battle of the Alamo

for a self-defense type of weapon,

versus chopping through something.

Well, he comes from an African martial art background.

It's used to breach, it's used to eliminate the threat.

I just don't know how it's gonna do in this competition.

- But he's got the guts to step up to the plate,

and he has, ultimately, the guts to take on

"Knife or Death."

buzzer sounds Here he goes.

- bleep.

- Okay, we've got problems from the beginning.

I think he almost lost the blade out of his hand.

- See how he readjusted his mind?

- Yes, sir.

And he is attacking it with fervor.

Look at that. Destroying the course!

Up next, Stick and Move. Here he goes.

- He's trying to attack low.

Now he's coming at attack angle two.

- He is going to gas out before he gets anywhere.

That is my prediction.

- That is not the blade to be hitting

at the corners like that. - Yeah.

Although, he's got some aggression going towards it.

He's not giving up.

- I can see the martial art background coming out.

- One thing's for sure:

he has the will and determination.

He's not giving up.

He is going for broke.

He's getting success now.

One counterweight finally down.

On to the second part of Stick and Move.

- He definitely needs to change his pattern of attack.

That's not cutting through.

- Adapt and overcome.

Now, I can't see from this angle, but I don't know

if he's been able to even penetrate that yet.

The blade's bouncing off. I don't think the edge

is anywhere near sharp enough to be doing this.

His blade broke right off the handle!

buzzer sounds Instant disqualification.

- There's your problem.

This being such a thin blade,

the tang--I don't have a better word than bleep.

laughs

But it was a pleasure watching you swing it.

- Thank you. - Unfortunately,

your time on "Knife or Death" is done.

Would you like a souvenir? - Sure.

- laughs

- I am disappointed in the blade,

because I paid some money for it.

I figured that I was getting a quality for my money.

- What he lacked in blade, he sure made up for in heart.

- When I was eight years old, my dad handed me a knife,

pointed me to a deer and said, "Skin it,

and don't cut any holes."

I figured out I might as well just start making my own.

My name's Jo Smith,

and I use every bit of my engineering background

to build my knives.

I've been a blade sports competitor for a while.

This is the knife I'll be bringing.

This blade is bad ass.

It's sharp.

I could shave you bald with it.

- What have you brought me?

- I brought you a competition blade.

Cleaver style, no point, built to a spec

that is good for cutting, chopping.

- Do you have any blade sports experience?

- I'm the 2017 Amateur Points national champion.

- Awesome. So did you forge this blade?

- Correct. - Very polished edge.

- Correct.

- Your intent is to sever anything this blade

comes in contact with.

- With speed and that polish, it'll go through anything.

- Well, we're gonna do a little bit of testing

before you're allowed on the course with it.

- Have at it. - All right.

This is a fine blade. It definitely makes cut.

Good luck. - Thank you, sir.

I'm extraordinarily confident in my blade.

It'll do anything I need it to. I'm gonna win this.

- I can hear them, now I can see him.

Big bad Jo from Jenks, Oklahoma,

stepping up to the plate!

- Looks like the Lone Ranger little bit,

with an attitude and a huge knife.

- This dude looks like an assassin in a Coen movie.

This guy lives, breathes, and eats choppers.

- Look at that thing, though. - That's unbelievable.

Right now, the course is his adversary,

because it's kicked everybody's ass up until now.

Not one competitor completed the course.

So far, only two have even made it past the chicken.

Jo is the last one up,

and he's got to make it to the fish

to even have a chance of moving on.

- Come on, let's do this! - Jo's ready.

He's about to jump out of them boots.

buzzer sounds Jo starts Trail Blazer!

Right through the first, right through the second.

Good God!

- Oh, yeah. - Speed, precision.

Unbelievable! - Unbelievable!

- Jo got through there in half the time it took everyone else.

As he steps up to Stick and Move,

we've seen people have an issue with that box before.

Let's see how Jo attacks it.

And there he goes, here we go!

- I would attack a little lower,

'cause he's hitting it high,

and is counters are not dropping.

He's just trying to destroy the box.

- Looks like he's trying to destroy it and he did.

Jo moves on to the second obstacle.

There we go, counterweight's down on the first.

Looks like he's exerting a little bit more effort.

Counterweight two did not touch the ground, though.

And you see him take the deep breath.

You see the enter of angle right there?

Jo is destroying the course!

Second counterweight did not touch the ground, though.

That will incur a penalty.

Okay, now we're testing that blade on the ice.

- On the top! - Completely different strategy

than we've seen before.

We are watching a pro at work. Taking his time.

Strategic.

And he's wearing half of that ice.

I see red. It's a pass.

No one's made it through.

Can Jo defeat Lifeline?

Here we go.

One cut--oh, successful through the chicken.

Absolutely easy. buzzer sounds

He rushed. - bleep.

- Did not take his time. He didn't analyze the object.

No question, he didn't follow through.

You can't tell me that blade's not sharp enough

to go through that fish.

- That blade will cut through it.

- I feel like I let everybody down.

- Jo is devastated.

- bleep things off of me.

- This is a national level champion

so this should tell you how hard this course is.

- Jo, that was an incredible run,

unfortunately, it ends here at Lifeline.

But your time on "Knife or Death" may not be over.

- Thank you, sir.

- What I love about all these competitors,

they had fight in them.

- Well, they didn't have a choice,

because this course fought back.

And it won.

Blade wielders, nobody completed

the Knife Fight course.

There were two catastrophic blade failures,

and you are the three who made at the farthest.

You all made it past the chicken,

but got stopped by the fish.

Now, it's down to who did it faster.

Jo, your time, including penalties,

was one minute and 37 seconds,

the fastest time today.

Congratulations, you're the first competitor in Dead Run.

- Thank you, sir.

- Rodrigo, your time in Knife Fight,

including penalties, was two minutes and two seconds.

Karl, your time, including penalties was...

Three minutes and 28 seconds.

Rodrigo, congratulations.

You earned the right to face Jo in Dead Run.

- Yeah!

- Sorry, Karl,

but your run on "Knife or Death" ends right here.

- Thank you. Good luck.

I'm pretty disappointed.

I should be holding the championship trophy right now,

and I'm not.

- We have an epic battle set up for Dead Run.

And the winner will get the chance to come back

for the grand champion showdown

for the chance to take home $20,000.

- I'm feeling pumped, I got a job to do.

Let's get it done. Let's go home.

- Gentlemen, behind me is the most difficult

blade course ever built.

This is Dead Run!

While Knife Fight was the ultimate test of your blades,

Dead Run is the ultimate test of your speed,

timing, accuracy, and precision.

- bleep. It's about to get real.

This course, it's twice as long

as anything we've done so far.

Let's see what happens.

- Steak Knife: from the platform,

cut each steak in half.

A solid slice will keep the swing moving.

Extinguisher: cut the rope, release the bottle.

Cut the bottle on the downswing to extinguish the flame.

Weight Cut: cut the necessary 40 pounds each

from the meat and the ice block to advance.

Free Fall: you cut each watermelon as it drops.

Only exposed red fruit counts.

Strike Zone: behind that curtain

is a variety of objects that you must attack.

Cut the rope to bring down the curtain,

and the objects are revealed.

Every object must be cut in half.

Dead Run ends with Fire Storm,

where you must cut two ropes to release the platform,

fight exhaustion to ascended the stairs,

and the clock stops only if you can make one final chop

through a stack of hard sugarcane.

In Dead Run, the clock never stops,

and for every challenge not completed,

time penalties will be added.

The fastest time wins.

Rodrigo, you're up first.

Please take your spot in the starting position.

We'll see you gentlemen at the finish line.

- Look at that intensity!

- My only issue with Rodrigo going through is,

can he contain his excitement?

buzzer sounds

- This is my first blade competition ever,

and I made it all the way to the finals.

Nothing's gonna stop me today.

buzzer sounds shouts

- There he goes! He's up to Steak Knife.

- The technique to this is slicing at an angle.

Definitely the length of that blade is helping him out.

He has more power behind that swing.

- He let that thing swing all the way around,

and didn't make another cut.

Moving on to Extinguisher.

There is an unknown factor here.

Even if you break the bottle open,

it doesn't ensure that the water's

gonna put out the flame.

- When that bottle's going, he needs to pinpoint

where he's gonna attack it,

and hit it at that angle.

- It did not extinguish the flame.

- Look at that water! - Oh, got that one!

- There it is!

- Beautiful shot!

- He needs to do that again. Find that spot.

- Yeah, the problem with getting it on the back swing

is it's not angled at the flame.

Okay, he got the final candle.

He incurred a couple penalties now.

He's on to Weight Cut, one of the obstacles

that I think he may have a little problem with.

- The ice tears up the blade,

so it's about that durability.

- 40 pounds each.

- He's attacking it pretty high,

so that big chunk is gonna drop.

- The amount of strikes that he's taken,

it's continually dulling that blade.

Oh, look at that. He goes on the meat.

Almost lost some grip there.

- You can definitely see that blade is wearing down.

- Yeah, so is his cardio.

There's no question about it.

He's gonna be exhausted after getting through this.

He's moving on and came up one pound short.

40 pounds-- that's a time penalty

for each pound he was under.

- This is all about hand and eye coordination.

- Two for two.

Four for four, he's on it!

- He's finding that spot. - Oh, he missed it.

- Oh, he missed it. - He's going.

- Oh, he's there! - Nice!

- Find that spot! - Final one!

And he gets it! - Yes!

- Moves on to Strike Zone.

Okay, right here is where were gonna see

the sharpness of that blade.

Does it have an edge on it left?

Objects in Strike Zone must be cut completely in half

before moving on and the time's ticking.

Rope first, having some issues with it.

- He needs to drop his legs!

- Doesn't go all the way through, he's going home.

He's through the rope.

- He needs to attack each one of these items.

- Yeah, I don't think he's got an issue

with going through these,

but he needs to get some speed going there.

He just took those apart.

Sugarcane--whack! Onto the fish.

Gave everybody problems inside. Problems outside too.

Two swipes.

- You can definitely see the dulling of the blade--

it's wearing it down.

- He's having some serious issue

with that pork belly right there.

Okay, moving on to the final one; Fire Storm.

Rodrigo's exhausted.

His blade's dulled, but he's got to cut the stairs free.

He's got to ascend to the top and stop the clock.

Okay, he's got a make up some time here.

Finished!

Time will be revealed.

- Ha!

- 5:46 for Rodrigo!

Rodrigo's time included four 25-second penalties.

He had two at Extinguisher, one at Freefall,

and came up 1 pound short at Weight Cut.

Let's hope that that 1 pound

is not the difference between victory or defeat.

We've got Rodrigo's time. Let's see what Jo's gonna do.

- When I failed on Knife Fight earlier,

I was devastated. I didn't know what to do.

I got a chance to redeem myself.

I came to prove my mettle.

I came to prove myself.

- It's difficult to get through the meat

when it's dangling and swinging.

- Jo is through Steak Knife.

He's on to Extinguisher.

Extinguisher is the ultimate test

of your timing and accuracy.

Jo missed the first one.

That's a penalty.

There's a hit!

Nice shot on the second bottle.

Candle's out.

He's found his stride.

Another hit!

- He's finding that perfect timing now.

- Oh, another miss.

Two penalties out of Extinguisher,

but time to move on to Weight Cut.

- This ice chopping is no joke,

it will wear on your grip.

That ice is a blade destroyer.

- Whoa! Right through it!

40 pounds instantly.

Just like Steak Knife,

that thing is flying right through the meat.

The sharpness on the blade is just unbelievable.

You can tell he's done something like this before.

- Yeah, you can definitely tell he is a professional chopper.

- Headed to Free Fall.

This is gonna be nuts.

Whoa! Misses it!

- He needs to get that timing down, Bill.

- No question.

Got the second one, missed the first, got the third.

Good precision, good hand-eye. Look at that. He is on it.

- That short blade is easy to wield.

- On it!

Oh, he's even eating some of it.

He only missed one. Beautiful job.

- That's impressive. Impressive.

- Jo's on fire. He's headed to Strike Zone.

- That chopper is extremely sharp.

- Okay, we're gonna find out if it's long enough

going through those bottles.

And he destroyed it!

That is carnage!

This one--destroyed.

He's gotta do this to move on.

Right through the pork.

- That was fast. - Fire Storm!

He's headed up.

And he's through!

Rodrigo's time: 5:46.

- Yeah!

- That is one happy camper up there.

Jo is on top of the world, literally.

This guy took failing on Knife Fight so hard

that he turned it completely around, redeemed himself,

came out here and he destroyed Rodrigo's time.

- Congrats, Jo.

- My friend, thank you.

- Thank you, man. Congratulations, man.

I feel a little disappointed,

but I feel great as well

to be a part of this very tough competition.

No regrets at all. I would do everything again.

If the life gives you chicken feet,

make a stew out of that.

- Ooh!

Oh, boy!

I fell down in the mud, got up,

wiped it off, came out here, and kicked its ass.

Damn, that feels good.

- You did a hell of a job,

and would we will see you at the grand champion showdown,

where you will compete with five of your fellow champions

to see who will take home $20,000.

- Boys, you better take a deep seat in a faraway look.

I just punched that ticket for the grand championship round.

Let's rock 'n roll.