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.

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'm foaming at the mouth

looking forward to giving this a shot.

I've just tried to get my mind as even as I could be.

Nothing's getting under my skin.

- I want to see someone else's blade do the stuff

that I'll be doing here today.

I've seen the competition.

My response to that is, "What competition?"

- Blade wielders, welcome to the most extreme,

most challenging knife competition ever created.

You, helmet, off.

Thank you, sir.

I want to look all you guys in the eyes.

You and your blade are about to be tested

in a series of time challenges.

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,

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 too high to hit.

Next up is Ice Pick.

You must chop into a three-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 the sheet of metal.

- I think this course is gonna be a challenge.

Looks pretty tough, but hey, I'm down.

- 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 prize

and the title of Knife or Death champion.

I'm honored to introduce to you,

US Army veteran

and Special Forces Green Beret, Tu Lam.

- The strength, durability, the sharpness of your weapon

is critical today.

Our very own blade guru and "Forged in Fire" champion

Travis Wuertz will give your blade a final look

before you get a green light to tackle Knife Fight.

- Blade wielders, you may go prepare for the competition.

- This course is any blade wielder's dream.

I'm gonna show the world I came to win.

My name is Chris Coplin,

I've been doing Filipino martial arts;

I'm starting my 11th year.

My blade is 80 years old.

The reason that I'm bringing an antique to this abusive

competition is to prove that they are made to last.

- What do you got there? - I have a Moro barong.

- Do you have any idea where this blade came from?

- It came from Sulu in the southern Philippines.

It is an antique. It's World War II era.

- Nice thing about traditional designs are

their design is based on performance

and generations of practice.

These old designs were time-proven.

Blades are just hardened on the edge

so that leaves all this meat to be soft, to absorb blows.

Congratulations, your knife has made the cut.

- Thank you.

I came here to do my teachers proud and to win.

- Chris Coplin, when he was a kid,

he always wanted to be Leonardo from the "Ninja Turtles."

Tu, I am far from a rocket scientist,

but why would you bring an antique, an 80-year-old blade?

- Well, that's the great thing about this competition,

we see different competitors tying to their roots.

And Chris is just bringing in the traditions

of the Filipino martial arts.

- Hopefully he has sharpened it in the past 80 years,

'cause he's gonna need it tonight.

Trail Blazer begins!

First dowel down, second dowel down.

See how he's using his full body.

- I love how he's side-stepping.

- Beautiful.

- He's not wasting any movements.

- A flash going through Trail Blazer.

- The next obstacle, Stick and Move.

That thing can destroy the foundation of that box.

He needs to hit it at a downward angle

because that thing's dangling on a chain.

That's where the Filipino martial arts come in at.

- He is destroying that box.

- He's efficient with his movements and his strikes.

- Nice! Total destruction.

On to obstacle number two.

The blade is doing its job. On to number three.

Oh, beautiful job!

Ice Pick is up next.

- My concern, Bill, is the handle.

It's a round handle.

- You don't have that grip strength.

- Substantially cutting that block of ice.

One more whack and he's gonna get it.

There it is, red liquid. Moving on.

Lifeline, up next.

Remember, one cut through each object.

He better take his time here.

And right through the fish!

Lifeline was his bitch.

- He utilized the Filipino martial arts,

he attacked at angle one.

So, he was coming in at 2:00 and coming out at 7:00.

- He is gonna need to get through

the last obstacle, Curtain Call.

Easy slice, 80-year-old blade.

So let's see how he goes through the sheet metal.

Let's see how it holds up.

Two, three... - I love the two-hand approach.

- Four, five swings and he is through.

Chris Coplin destroys the course!

- I'm feeling fantastic.

My barong performed flawlessly. It made me proud.

- Chris just proved that it doesn't matter

how old the blade is.

As long as it's made well, it's gonna survive.

But will it be enough to move on?

- My name's Adam Lavender,

from Gray, Georgia and I'm a stuntman.

I use a blade pretty much every day just with my job.

Because of that I've been training in weapons since 1997.

I'll do a lot of sword fighting

and that kind of developed into making blades.

I'm absolutely ready for anything.

- What have you brought me today?

- Got my version of a modified kukri.

I just felt that it was diverse enough

that it would really benefit

any of the challenges thrown at me.

- So you made this knife? - I did.

Absolutely, hand forged.

- This fine blade is light.

The edge geometry comes almost all the way

into sharp, with almost no secondary bevel.

That's gonna lend itself to cutting very good.

That being said, I'm gonna strap in and give it a try.

Congratulations, your knife makes the cut.

- Thank you, sir.

This course is awesome. It's huge.

It's everything I thought it could be and more.

My competition, they seem like a lot of great people,

but I want to win.

- Here's Adam, professional stuntman

trained in martial arts swordplay.

- Adam is bringing a modified kukri blade.

Kukri is a Nepalese chopping blade.

You see a lot of Gurkhas use that.

- There he goes. - Oh, yeah.

He's hitting that thing with power.

- Yeah, starting from the ground,

right through them, one whack apiece.

Boom! Last one, right there.

Right across the finish line. - No problems with that blade.

- Let's see how it holds up with Stick and Move.

If you were Adam, how would you attack that box?

- I would hit the corners of that box

and break up the structure of the box.

And he's hitting it low.

- See how he's breaking up the structure of that box?

- Yeah. - Oh, yeah there he goes.

Counterweight's down.

- Hit it low, hit it at an angle.

- There he goes.

Second counterweight down.

Third one, remember, double insulated here.

He's got to get through both of them.

Destroyed Stick and Move!

Across the finish line,

Adam with a successful run there.

- That kukri burned through Stick and Move.

- Yeah, there, you see him inspecting his blade,

doesn't look like it's taken any damage.

I would hate to be that ice block

with Adam walking up with that kukri in hand.

Let's see what that kukri can do.

Boy, he went through there quick.

- Bill, notice how he freed up his non-blade hand.

He allowed the freedom to move on that swing,

maximize that swing,

It made short work of that ice.

- One false move on Lifeline

and he is out of the competition.

Remember, if he doesn't make a clean cut all the way through,

he is eliminated.

[dramaated.

There he goes, up to the chicken.

Oh.

- And he is eliminated on

the first obstacle of Lifeline.

I am shocked that the kukri

failed to take down the chicken.

You would think that its sharpness

would have no trouble.

- He stopped too short.

You need to cut through that object.

- I just didn't take the time to

take a breath, focus, and go.

I thought the chicken would be easy.

I was more worried about the fish and the pipe

and, you know, overconfidence will get you every time.

- I guarantee you, this man is devastated

that he was eliminated on the first swing of Lifeline.

- My name's Jessi Lyes.

I've competing in blade sports for about six years now.

I'm the first women's national champion.

I live for the adrenaline

and I love playing with all the sharp blades.

When I started blade sports competitions,

I competed with all males.

I'm not afraid of them.

If I bring my best game, I will win.

- What have you brought me today?

- This is my competition chopper,

made especially for me, for blade sports.

It's a badass blade and it'll take everyone out of this game.

- I know it's a great knife, it has a nice bevel.

The edge is thick enough to take

just about anything could be thrown at it.

It has a flight false edge to kind of act like

an airplane wing to reduce resistance,

passing completely through an object.

Just gonna do a little physical test

to make sure this blade is safe to compete.

Congratulations, the blade has made the cut.

- All right.

- Good luck in this competition.

- Thank you.

I have strength behind me.

Not just physically but mentally,

I'm ready to take this on.

- Jessi steps up to Trail Blazer.

- She is moving out with a purpose, Bill, look at that.

That chopper, she's wielded it before in competition chopping

and she has succeeded.

- But, there's no one blade is the answer to this course.

- Jessi has been in chopping competitions before,

but nothing like this.

Jessi is off!

Oh, indecision there, a little bit.

Oh, now she's got the confidence going.

- Yeah. - Look at her go!

Right through that course.

Trail Blazer complete.

- That's impressive.

- There she goes, Stick and Move.

Let's see how she attacks it.

Notice the technique,

hand behind the back, classic chopping sport position.

- She needs to destroy that box by trying to take out

those corners and keep it low.

- She's about there.

There she goes.

Counterweight down.

- Attack angle two does not provide

the power as attack angle one.

I would attack at that angle and not the reverse angle.

Angle one has more power.

- She's moving on, no counterweight touched.

- She needs to continue to hit the same area.

- Is fatigue setting in? What do you think, Tu?

- I think it is.

- Two penalties on Stick and Move.

She steps up to Ice Pick.

- She needs to keep on attacking the same area.

Do not switch. - Indecision takes time.

- I like the way she improvised

that technique with double hands.

- She's close to completing Ice Pick.

This is a strong woman with no quit in her.

- There she goes. - Moving on.

Steps up to Lifeline.

- She needs to stop, regroup, and look at the task at hand.

She only has one swing.

- Here comes the dreaded chicken.

- And she could not complete it.

She is automatically eliminated.

- Bill, I'm telling you, angle two,

the reverse strike is not a powerful strike.

The angle one, downward swing, is probably the best angle.

- I went at it way too fast and just kind of

tried to fly through it,

and that hurt me.

- My name is Wayne Melligan. I'm 33 years old.

Born and raised in Pensacola, Florida.

I'm a wild country boy, pirate,

backwoods swamp ninja.

I absolutely love it.

This gold tooth, it's real pirate.

- What have you brought me today?

- I brought a beast.

I call this the guillotine.

28" overall:

16" blade length, 12" handle.

It's designed for two-hand use.

This thing, just the weight alone, could

just slice straight through a piece of paper, push cut.

Just wait till you see the guillotine in action.

- You made this knife yourself? - I made that.

That's made out of M4.

- Well, this is a fine blade.

You have a nice balance.

You know, with the hand, it gives

a little bit of counter lever.

I see no structural issues.

Just gonna do a couple of performance chops.

- Sure.

- You're right. This is a beast.

Congratulations, your blade makes the cut.

- When Goldberg and Tu see what I'm gonna do to this course,

they're gonna be shocked.

Respect the blade.

- Check out this blade.

- He calls it the guillotine. This is a modified chopper.

It's basically the same metal,

same density as a competition chopper,

he's just doubling it up.

So, if he gets tired, he could double up on the grip

and swing it like a baseball bat.

Hopefully the fatigue will not set in.

- The rock n' roll country boy,

maniac pirate steps up to Trail Blazer.

There goes Wayne. Double hand.

Beautiful, right through both dowels.

Fourth one not an issue. - The weight of that thing!

Just cutting through, no issues.

- Final dowel, finish line.

- He still has a lot of fight in him.

- Next up, Stick and Move.

Here he goes.

- Oh, my God! - Oh, boom!

First one down.

Second one.

Counterweight hits the ground.

Third one...

it hits the ground!

Wayne crosses the line in record time.

This kid is a berserker.

- You definitely see the crazy in this one.

- There he goes.

both: One... - Two, three.

Four, five, six, right through it.

Decapitated the ice block.

- I'll tell you, I'm watching his technique

and I'm seeing him releasing those hips

and driving that blade through the obstacles.

- Okay, but guess where he is stepping up now?

Lifeline. We've seen people fail here.

- There's no doubt that that blade can go through this,

but does he have the precision to will it just right?

Up to the chicken, destroyed it.

Up to the fish,

right through it.

Last one.

Beautiful! No issues whatsoever.

Keeping his momentum rolling,

Wayne moves on to Curtain Call.

One slice though the pork.

One more obstacle to go.

And two slices right through the sheet metal.

What an impressive run by Wayne! - Wow.

He had the technique,. He had the blade.

He had the power,

and he utilized all three of those elements.

This guy is a madman.

- He is, and he brought a madman's weapon.

- You don't want to come into a competition

like this against a guy like me,

with a gold tooth like this.

- My name is Jon Morford.

I got into the blade world

through historical hand-to-hand combat.

I'm very passionate about the early medieval era.

Hand-to-hand to combat in the Viking era was extremely gory,

disembowelment, limbs being cut off, blood everywhere.

Yeah, that's what I love.

- So, what do you got there?

- I have an early medieval Viking-age seax.

Because of the way it's curved, in the Viking era,

it can chop tree limbs or body limbs.

- Do you know the blade steel? - It's 5160.

- Awesome. This is a heavy blade.

It's got a good handle. It's got a good grip.

But, I'm still gonna do a couple chops,

just to make sure it's safe.

- Enjoy.

Well, congratulations,

your knife makes the cut.

Good luck in the competition.

- Thank you, very much.

I plan on going berserk in this course.

- Jon Morford, the modern day berserker.

John's blade was forged by Master Grendel,

"Forged in Fire" veteran.

- Let's see how he wields his blade.

It's a short sword.

It's usually wielded with one hand.

My only concern is, that's a small handle.

Blade hand gets tired? He can't really double up.

- Stepping up to take on Trail Blazer.

- With a big yell, Jon is destroying it!

- Now, that is power! - That is power.

- He's bringing that warrior mind-set.

- Big Jon is slashing through those dowels

like a medieval Viking.

- Wow, that is scary.

- That was pretty intimidating.

I'm shaking a little bit over here, Tu.

- Stick and Move,

let's see what he's got.

- Oh, he's hitting it at the right angle.

He's destroying that box.

You need to hit it down and he's doing it.

- Uh-oh, uh-oh.

Lost his blade.

- That's a heavy blade to swing.

But he recovered from it.

- He recovered and he destroyed that box.

Here he's on to the bucket.

- He's having a lot of issue with that grip.

- See how he's readjusting it? - Yep.

Looks like the blade got stuck a little bit.

Two counterweights down.

A look of frustration in his eyes.

I'll tell you what, though, he tore through Stick and Move.

But, he keeps dropping that grip, he keeps losing it.

- That's a heavy blade, Bill.

That's a heavy blade, small handle,

and the fatigue is starting to set in.

- That's unique, he's hitting

at angle two instead of angle one.

- Jon's choosing a backswing specifically

because of his grip issues.

You would think he'd have much more power

swinging through instead of back.

- Yes.

- Oh, completed the Ice Pick.

Now, moves on to Lifeline.

This is where I think he has an advantage.

He ought to be able to slice through these three.

- Absolutely. This blade is heavy.

It's made to chop things through.

He does not have a problem with the blade length.

It's his angles of attack here.

- Just sliced right through it just like that.

On to the fish.

Nice cut! - Whoa.

- Beautiful power, beautiful follow-through.

Absolutely destroyed Lifeline!

Now, he takes on Curtain Call.

- Man! - And he has violent--

- And one more time, losing the grip on his blade.

I think this might be an issue right here, a little bit.

Three, four...

All the way through with seven!

- Beautiful performance by Jon!

Jon had a terrific run.

But will it be enough to get him to Dead Run?

- I had a really hard time not running,

and just getting to the next objective

and just tearing into it.

I berserked through it,

and now I'm just gonna have to wait and see what happens.

My name's Jacob Gaten.

I'm 19 years old. I'm just a country guy.

I like to hunt, fish, ride my horse.

I use my knife just about every day.

I've been making knives for about five years now.

I have probably made close to 500 knives.

I got into knives when I was eight, or so.

Learned to throw them, and chop everything in sight, really.

- What have you brought me today?

- I brought you a kukri-bowie hybrid.

- Did you make that knife yourself?

- Yes, sir. - Awesome.

- It's got a real thick spine, lot of weight to it.

I've chopped through anything and everything

I can think of with this blade.

- Well, it's a nice knife.

It's definitely a beast, it's got a lot of mass.

I'm just gonna do a little physical test,

make sure it's safe to compete.

I hope you forged this by hand

because it swings like a hammer.

Congratulations.

Your knife makes the cut. - Thank you.

This blade has never let me down.

I've skinned out 200 deer, at least, with it.

- Here comes Jacob.

19-year-old kid, full of energy.

He is a "Forged in Fire" champion.

- He custom-forged his own blade

which he took from a kukri and a bowie knife.

So, the kukri knife has a great chopping to it.

But the bowie knife was known in history

for the Battle of the Alamo.

This fighting blade, so it's gonna be

interesting seeing a cutter

and a fighting knife all in one.

My only concern is, can he hold on

to that blade, a heavy blade.

It's gonna be hard to keep a hold of.

- Stepping up to Knife Fight,

Jacob Gaten, today's youngest competitor.

There goes Jacob at Trail Blazer.

Right through the first dowel,

second dowel, easy, heavy blade.

- Not gonna hold him back,

those pegs are just gonna cut right through.

- Oh, and he's doing it methodical.

He destroyed Trail Blazer!

Through the first obstacle.

Now, Stick and Move.

Okay, let's see the strategy he's got with the box.

This box could be a killer. Oh.

- That's what I'm talking about, hit it in the corner.

- What a quick--he is destroying that box.

- He's efficient with his movements and his strikes.

- That heavy blade's working well.

Counterweight one's on the ground, he's moving on.

Logical application,

he didn't need a martial arts background to understand that.

- He just knows about working on a farm:

what is functional movement that will work for him?

- Look at that! - Jeez.

- Counterweight three hits the ground.

He's done.

This young bull is taking

this course by the horns.

- Great blade there, Bill.

Look at that ice fly.

- I'll tell you what, he flew through Ice Pick.

- Notice how he only works one angle on that ice,

the most powerful angle, angle one strike,

and is just busting through that ice.

- He's Robin Hood crossed with Rambo.

Next up, Lifeline.

- Lifeline's cause some competitors a lot of problems. Lifeline's caused some competitors a lot of problems.

With his youthful determination,

is he going to take the time

necessary to set up and look at the proper cutting angle?

- Angle two does not provide the power as attack angle one.

- But it worked.

Oh, right through it! Very impressive!

- Pipe--oh!

- Nothing is stopping Jacob right now.

- I'll tell you what, he is flying through this course.

- That is the fastest time I ever seen

going though Lifeline.

- All he's got to do is finish strong.

He has got a very impressive run working.

One cut through the pork loin.

Here he goes with the sheet metal.

Two cut, three cut, he's through.

Beautiful performance by Jacob!

- Check it out, Bill, he is not even winded.

- He's 19 years old, for God's sake.

- With the lack of experience he had in the chopping world,

he came in on fire.

- That was one hell of a performance by Jacob.

The question is, is it gonna be good enough

to hold up so he can advance to Dead Run?

- My name's Brian Everett

from American Canyon, California.

I'm a correctional officer,

been doing that for 30 years.

I had an inmate try and stab me.

Started seeking out training in

how to deal with knives better,

ended up falling in love with edge weapons.

Been doing Filipino martial arts for about 27 years.

Never afraid I'm gonna fail. I am ready to kick ass.

- What have you got for me today?

- Today I bring you a kukri.

The history of the kukri can actually be dated back

to almost 2,500 years.

My blade is very, very hard and very, very sharp.

- The lanyard is not my favorite.

I would love to see a forward lanyard on this...

- Okay. - Because in that case,

it keeps the blade from leaving your hand,

instead of tethering it to you,

should it come out of your hand.

The rear lanyard does nothing to help you hold on to it.

I'm gonna take a few swings to make sure this blade is safe.

- We'll see how it does.

- It's not a phenomenally sharp blade,

but it will cut.

Congratulations, your knife has made the cut.

- Thank you. - Good luck.

- I love competing. I love trying new things.

And I'm gonna attack that course with everything I have.

- Brian Everett.

Not only is he the second

Filipino martial artist today,

but he's the third competitor

we've seen wielding a kukri.

- What I want to know, is that Filipino martial arts

fighting style ideal for this kukri?

It's a different blade fighting;

it's more self-defense, versus chopping.

- Ryan believes his Filipino martial arts training

will help him.

We're gonna see if that's true.

Ryan's on a mission.

First one down. Second one down.

No problem whatsoever.

- This is what it's made for.

It's made for chopping through stuff.

So, he chose the right blade for Trail Blazer.

Let's see how he stacks against Stick and Move.

- What do you think, Tu?

- Well, he's attacking it like the Filipino martial arts;

he's attacking angle one and then he's returning angle two.

And his martial art's coming into play.

Look at his non-blade hand.

He's keeping that out front to utilize

that as stability as he's swinging.

- Counterweight reaches the ground.

He's moving on.

Oh.

Great line of attack.

Weight hits the ground.

- Hit it down at an angle.

Hit it low.

- Beautiful, all three down.

On to Ice Pick.

Top of the ice, gonna take him a little bit of time.

- Now he has to dig down to try to find that pipe.

He should have attacked it at those corners,

which he's doing right now.

He's using a lot of force.

His fatigue is gonna start setting in.

- See the red liquid present.

He steps up to Lifeline.

- Notice he's breathing hard. It's all about angles.

- And follow through.

He's off.

Remember, no resistance from a dangling target.

And it didn't matter on the first one.

- You see how he came in on a downward angle.

- On to the fish!

Rushed through the fish,

did not get a clean cut through.

- That's a powerful strike

coming down at angle one,

but he didn't follow through with it.

- I thought it would be like butter,

and, uh, it surprised me.

- Jacob, Jon, Chris, and Wayne,

all four of you completed Knife Fight.

You should all be very proud.

But, only two of you move on to Dead Run.

Jacob, your time was one minute and eleven seconds.

Looks like you're moving onto Dead Run.

- You better get ready.

- Yes, sir.

- With a time of 58 seconds, and our fastest time today,

the competitor who will face Jacob is...

Wayne.

Congratulations.

Chris and Jon,

Jacob and Wayne put up better times.

You will not move on to Dead Run.

Take your blades and go.

- I channeled a berserker right out from my heart.

I messed up a little bit, but I think I had a good run.

I felt good about it.

- Jacob, Wayne. It's time to go outside.

Let's do this.

Wayne Melligan turned in the best time on Knife Fight,

no penalties,

58 seconds.

That still is hard to believe.

I cannot wait to see what's gonna happen.

While Knife Fight was the ultimate test of blades,

Dead Run is the ultimate test of

speed, timing, accuracy, and precision.

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 ascend the stairs,

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

to a stack of hard sugar cane.

In Dead Run, the clock never stops.

For every challenge not completed,

time penalties will be added.

- What's the difference between this course and that first one?

That I will be walking away the champion today.

- Here he goes, Steak Knife.

- It's a heavy blade.

His timing and accuracy needs to be on point.

He's moving with a purpose.

That reach is definitely helping him out.

- Oh, look. - Missed the last one.

Now he has to wait for that thing to swing

all the way around again. - Yep.

- Still hasn't cut through,

lost a lot of time

and he took a penalty there.

Now, he's off to Extinguisher.

First bottle, nailed it.

Second bottle...

nailed it!

Weight of the blade's getting it done.

He missed the third flame because his timing was off.

It did not extinguish the flame.

He incurred a couple penalties now.

Here is where we believe he has

the advantage with that size blade.

Static targets.

Just destroying that meat.

But he's swinging the blade with such force,

the weight is not landing in the scale.

The problem is, there's no more weight

to put in the scale.

It's gone.

He's not sure. He's wasting some time here.

Into the ice.

- Wow, he cut through that fast!

- Four hacks and that ice is gone.

But, with the meat, he was short 12 pounds.

Moving on to Free Fall.

With the weight of the blade,

a moving target could present a problem.

- His first one.

- Do you think he was fatigued there, at all?

- I think so. - He got the second one.

He got the third.

Oh, he got it.

Sliced right through that one.

Missed that one.

The weight of the blade, the speed of the watermelons,

that's a combination of two things he cannot conquer.

Now, he goes to Strike Zone.

Each object must be cut in half in order to advance.

- See how he's doubled up on that blade,

doubling up the handle.

He has powerful swings going on right there.

- Jeez.

That blade weight is not a problem.

- Absolutely destroying

the water container!

- Nice. - Two-handed chop.

- That's how I would have done it,

two-handed chop.

There's no stopping that thing.

- The sharpness of that blade is not even in question here.

Look at that.

- Moving on, Fire Storm.

Last obstacle.

Cut the two ropes, drop the platform...

Ascend the stairs,

cut the sugar cane

and your time is revealed.

- Yeah!

- And his time is...

7 minutes, 15 seconds.

Respectable run through, except for the fact that...

that time is pumped up

because of every one of those penalties he incurred.

- That may put him behind, we'll see.

- Fast run from Wayne,

albeit incurring a number of penalties.

A quick, clean run by Jacob, he takes the cake.

- I've chopped pine trees with this blade.

I've chopped deer heads off with this blade.

- Here he goes.

Uh-oh, missed one.

Oh, great cuts there. Got one more coming.

Second time around.

Nice!

That's a deceptively tricky challenge.

As he makes his way to Extinguisher,

what's your prediction here?

- I think that he may have a hard time here,

with the length of that blade.

If he cuts too early on this one,

that water is not gonna reach that candle.

- Hand-eye coordination. Missed it on the first.

He's losing a bit of momentum here.

Got it, but the water did not extinguish the flame.

- He needs to find that sweet spot.

- The flame did not go out.

First two are still lit.

- Third. - Got it.

- Missed the fourth, first swing.

Got to take his time, collect his thoughts.

Still lit.

Three penalties. He's moving on to Weight Cut.

- That ice tears up the blade, so it's about that durability.

Different approach here, he's attacking the ice first.

- Different approach but he destroyed it.

Now, here is where Wayne had an issue.

- With the shorter blade, he should be a little bit

more precision to how he is gonna hit this thing.

- Tell you what, he is going through it quick.

Making up time on his way to Free Fall.

- With a big knife, he could have

some problems with his timing.

- Here he goes.

Oh, got the first one.

Got the second one.

Upwards strokes there,

looking like a good idea.

I think he missed that one.

- See how he's keeping his blade centerline to his body.

That reduces the amount of swing that he needs.

- Beautiful job. He's on to Strike Zone.

Each object must be cut in half in order to advance.

The sugar cane giving him some problems.

- That blade maybe getting dull.

- He did not get through the first container,

that will be a penalty.

Wow!

Made pretty darn quick work of those bottles.

- Oh, absolutely. - Here he goes with the fish.

- Right in half.

- Oh, he is swinging that thing with some force.

Uh-oh, the sharpness of the blade, an issue here.

- He needs to stop and recollect his thoughts.

He's not planting that foot.

He's not applying the proper swinging.

- That blade is suffering, and his time as well.

Here he goes.

On to Firestorm, last one.

Cut the two ropes, drops the platform,

ascends the stairs,

cuts the sugar cane, time revealed.

Nice, right through the sugar canes.

One slap, done.

The question is, is it enough?

Two competitors fly through the course,

but Jacob had 8 penalties,

Wayne had 19.

- Anybody's game. - It's anybody's game.

7:15, Wayne's time.

Jacob's time is...

5:01. - Jacob takes it.

- Whoo!

- Look at that happiness.

Jacob is on top of the world.

Youngest competitor to compete

and he is the winner.

- Yo, man, you got me.

Eh. Lost it, man.

Stupid mistakes cost me.

I think probably about half my time

on that clock was penalties.

- Good job, Jacob.

Way to go, kid!

- I can't believe I won.

I--I'm still in shock about it all.

My blade performed great.

Honestly, I don't think I could ask for anything more of it.

- Congratulations. - Thank you, sir.

- We'll see you at the finale.

Soak it up. Not too much, though.

- Can't wait to see you in the finals.

- Mom, Dad, hey guys. I won.

I'm going to the championship round.