Original subtitles

- Last season, America's top bladesmiths,

martial artists, and knife experts stepped up

to the grueling new competition

that put their blade-wielding skills

to the ultimate test.

Whoa!

Total carnage!

Now a new batch of competitors with bigger

and badder blades are ready to take their shot.

The blade broke in half!

Who will be skilled enough and which blades

are sharp enough to earn to $20,000 grand prize

and the title of "Knife or Death" Champion?

- I think historically a blade has just always been

the first tool man has really had a use for.

I can't think of a day or a time I wouldn't need

to have one on my side.

- Blade-wielders.

Welcome to the most extreme,

most challenging knife competition

ever created.

Complete two punishing courses

and the winner earns a cash prize.

Then he moves on to the Grand Champion showdown.

vying for $20,000 and the title

of "Knife or Death" Champion.

First up...

Knife Fight.

The Knife Fight course is a true test

of speed and power.

Today, first up: Slice Twice.

Slice the sugarcane twice,

the second cut in mid-air before it hits the ground.

If you miss any cut, a 30 second penalty

will be added.

After four attempts, it's time to move to Slasher.

Once the sliding target is released,

you must cut completely through it

before it returns to its original position.

Failure to do so, and you incur a penalty.

Next up: Timber.

Use the proper technique to chop down the 2x4

and land it directly in the target area,

just like felling a tree.

After that, Ice Pick.

You must completely through a three-foot block of ice,

slicing through the plastic pipe,

and releasing the red liquid in the center.

Once completed, it's on to Life Line--

a sudden-death obstacle.

Slice through three hanging objects

with one swing each.

Fail to slice through, your run-time ends.

Next up, another sudden-death challenge:

Kill Shot.

You must fully slice through three sections

of ratchet straps with one swing each.

Failure to do so, and you're not allowed

to go any further in the course.

Your time ends when you plunge your blade

through the tree stump.

The two competitors that make it the farthest

the fastest...

will move on to our second, more grueling competition:

Dead Run.

Now I am honored and privileged

to introduce to you U. S. Army veteran

and Special Forces Green Beret,

Tu Lam. - The strength,

durability, and sharpness of your weapon

will be critical today.

Our very own blade guru,

Travis Wuertz, will give your blade

one final look-over prior to giving you

the green light to tackle Knife Fight.

- Good luck, blade-wielders.

You're gonna need it.

- I'm Allan Reed, 35 years old.

I brought a Bowie today. Uh, just representing

where I'm from-- San Antonio,

the home of the Alamo, the home of Jim Bowie.

We like to keep that spirit going.

My Bowie knife's a little different

from traditional blades, with, uh, just a little

added extra length on there.

My blade's approximately 14 3/4 of an inch long.

Everything's bigger in Texas.

- How long you been making knives?

- About ten years. - About ten years?

What's the blade steel?

- 80CRV2. - 80CRV2?

Awesome.

I have played around with this on some throwing knives.

It's tough stuff.

Any particular Bowies you were inspired from?

- I spent a little time in the Alamo museum and, uh--

- Ah, so you've seen some historical pieces.

- Yes, sir. - I'm gonna go ahead

and take a few swings on this tatami mat for safety

and just kind of evaluate the performance.

- Give it a whack.

- All right.

Well, the weight and balance

of a lot of typical Bowie knives--

this is an actual combat weapon.

It moves very fast. This particular one

doesn't have a whole lot of mass up in the tip.

Lends it to be very fast but not something with

a whole lot of power.

But this is a very fine knife.

Congratulations, your blade makes the cut.

- Thank you. I'm ready to go.

South Texas-- let's do it big, baby.

- Next up, Allan Reed.

- Allen being a Texan, he's coming in

with a legendary Texan knife.

It was used by Colonel Jim Bowie

This blade is a combat blade.

It's not really made to chop.

It's not made to hack through things.

- We will see if this is really about blade choice.

Allan steps up.

Slice the target twice-- first low, then high--

before it hits the ground.

There he goes.

Ah, missed that one. - It's about speed

and precision, here. - Missed again.

- Too slow. He's decelerating

and then trying to come back at angle three.

- He missed the final one, and he incurred

four penalties. - When he went

to the first sugarcane,

that course of action didn't work.

He went to the second sugarcane,

conducted the same course of action

the third and fourth.

He always continued to try to work a course of action

that didn't work in the first place.

- Yeah. Allan steps up to Slasher.

The competitor must cut each object in half

before it makes one full trip on the track.

And he's off.

First one!

No problem.

Second obstacle...

He cut the rope.

That's gonna be a penalty.

Okay, he's on to the final obstacle.

He needs to force himself to move after that box.

He's losing a lot of time, here.

He did not get it in time.

Another penalty.

He's stepping up to Timber.

Must chop down the 2x4 and have it land

in the scoring zone or you get a penalty.

Here he goes. - So you create a gap

and then chisel away at the back

and let gravity take over and fall into the target.

- He's hacking away pretty feverously now.

- You don't want to apply too much power

because you don't want that 2x4 to come off-track.

- Taking a wedge out, right here.

Doing a good job..

But he missed it.

- Too much power, and the 2x4 came off-track.

- And he expended a lot of energy.

All for naught.

Stepping up now to Ice Pick.

- Now, my concern with Ice Pick

is this is a modified Bowie.

Being a thinner blade, being a lighter blade,

I feel that he's gonna have a problem, here.

- He has got to chop all the way through

that 300-pound block of ice.

That thing is rolling in his hand.

- That is power.

- Oh! He's through!

Nice.

Okay, great job.

It looks like he's picking up a little bit of steam, here.

Let's see if he can use that to his advantage.

- You want to put a "X" behind that chicken,

and you want to swing and hit that "X."

- The last thing you want to do is stop short

of that target, especially if it's

a sudden death obstacle.

Taken down by the chicken.

- What I think happened here, Bill, was--as you can see,

he didn't really drive through that target.

- Come over here, Allan.

Let's get away from the swinging chicken.

It seemed like you had trouble generating power

with a knife that's meant to be fast.

Your run ends here at Life Line

but not all the times are in, so we'll see

if you make it outside in Dead Run.

- Not my best run, but still have

the opportunities and, um, we'll still hold strong.

- My name's Billy Sayers. I'm 40 years old

and I live in Ruthfordton, North Carolina.

I'm an English professor.

I also teach high school English full-time.

I have three children-- a daughter and two sons.

Every summer, I do a project with my kids.

Last summer, we started forging--

teaching ourselves blacksmithing--

and it just kind of progressed from there.

- What do you got, there? - Got a Roman gladius.

- I thought that's what it was.

- It, uh, started out as eight inches of leaf spring,

and I was teaching myself the techniques

to draw the metal out by hand and drew it out

to about 30 inches with just a four pound hammer.

- Nice. You're a glutton

for punishment. - Little bit.

- Well, that's all right. Now, uh, I like

double-edged blades, even if it's not for the amount

of cutting edge on both sides.

I like the geometry that a double-edge creates.

This ought to be a fun blade to swing.

- Awesome.

So this is a great historical piece.

The double-edge is gonna lend itself to flow through

an object very well.

Did a phenomenal job creating this blade.

Congratulations, it makes the cut.

- Thank you very much. - Good luck.

- I appreciate it.

- Stepping up to the course:

John William Sayers Jr.,

high school English teacher.

- Now he's coming in with a Roman gladius.

Now, this sword was known as the sword

that conquered the world.

But really, this blade is more of a thrusting

and piercing blade. - So he may have an issue

when it comes to slashing. - Yes.

- Let's see, here he goes.

Missed the first one completely,

incurred a penalty.

He got it. - He's utilizing

that rear edge. - Got the third.

Missed it.

Incurred a couple penalties, there.

Not too bad.

Moving on to Slasher. - I'm a little concerned

about this blade, first, because you can't really

double-up on the blade because we know that he needs

to hit them with power and meet that force.

- There you go. There's some power.

There's some force.

Boom! Right through them.

Uh-oh. Broke the apparatus.

It was not the proper technique.

He's hitting it too hard and too straight.

The goal is to cut through the objects,

not to bash them apart.

- He's getting on his tippy-toes.

You can't rock--drive a force when you're on

your tippy-toes. - Tough guy like you,

did you just say "tippy-toes"?

- Ah, didn't cut it in half.

Another penalty.

Completed Slasher.

Now he steps up to Timber.

- If he angles it right on the underbelly

of that 2x4, slowly creating that gap,

it's gonna fall where it needs to fall.

This is not the right technique, here.

He needs to create that gap underneath.

There he goes.

And he needs to watch his power.

He has no control. - And a miss.

- You know, Bill, about Timber, it's not about power, here.

- Okay, now moving on to Ice Pick with that blade.

He's worried about chopping with it.

- If he doesn't have the grip strength,

he's gonna have a weak wrist, and that's what we call

"the weak-wrist chop."

- Okay, here he goes.

- Looks like the blade... - He's attacking it.

- Looks like the blade is rolling.

- For sure.

Whoa, Billy. Right through it.

Right through the ice block.

300-pound ice block destroyed.

- Now this is about precision.

You know, Life Line gets a lot of people

because all the other obstacles

prior to this dulls this blade.

- Here he goes at Life Line.

Remember, sudden death.

The only penalty you get here is you go home.

There he goes, right through the chicken.

- This next obstacle, you have to slice it

with a sharp blade.

- Oh, right through the pork.

Okay, one more to go.

And he gets it right through the fish!

- That is power. - I tell you what,

he took Life Line and made it his own, right there.

Okay, Tu, you see him

stepping up to Kill Shot. - He needs to slash,

versus just hack.

If you hack away at the ratchet strap,

it's just gonna bounce right back on you, that blade.

- There it is. Right through.

- This is not an impact swing, this is a slicing--

- Power! Oh, nice!

- The last swing. - Oh, and he completed it!

- That is power! - That was awesome.

That was power, and that was a sharp blade

doing its work. - Now I know why this is

the sword that conquered the world.

- I couldn't be more happy about that run.

It was super fun. My kids are watching this.

They're screaming in the living room yelling,

"Go, Dad!" There's probably popcorn

flying everywhere.

- My name is Skye Hilton.

I'm 41 years old and I am from West Texas.

The blade I'm competing with is based on

a 13th century illustration from a French bible.

It's, uh, a falchion.

I teach, uh, historical European martial arts,

which consists primarily of bladed weaponry.

I do, on occasion, get underestimated,

uh, mostly because I'm female.

Every so often, someone's trying

to instruct me or tell me something

and they're like, "Oh, this is how you do a grapple."

And I'm like, "Oh, like this?"

And they're like, "Yes, yes, like that."

- So what have you got there?

- This is a 13th century falchion.

- This is a cool blade.

Is this a blade that was custom-made for you?

- That blade was custom-made for me.

- Do you know the blade steel? - It is L6 tool steel.

- L6 is a very tough steel.

Well, this is a 3/16 spine.

We have slight, kind of washed-out fuller,

that's going to essentially shift more weight here

by removing here.

And you have a nice edge on this.

I'm gonna stop talking and strap in

'cause I'm looking forward to swinging it.

That'll do. Congratulations,

because it makes the cut. - Thank you very much.

I want to finish.

The reward is just being able to accomplish this

and see how far I can go.

- Okay, here she comes.

Skye Hilton, 41 years old.

Tae kwon do practitioner and kendo.

We've had a number of martial artists

in the past, but never a kendo practitioner.

- Kendo is full-contact.

That means she suits up in the kendo

and she goes at it.

The thing about this sword, this is extremely sharp.

- Extremely sharp, extremely light.

It's a lot smaller than the one

we saw last year. - And I heard

she's mean with it. - Steps to Slice Twice.

Slice the target once low, then slice it higher

before it hits the ground.

Let's go.

Too much follow-through on the first swing.

- Made contact-- - But she didn't cut

all the way through.

- Nice.

- There's a penalty.

Not quick enough.

Stepping up to Slasher.

Remember, the competitor must cut each object in half

before it makes one full trip on the track.

- She has to hit that center line.

- Slasher.

- See, she needs to stay ahead of that target.

There you go. There she is. - Right through it.

- She has power. - Wow.

That is one sharp blade.

Wait for it to come back.

Better go! We'd better go!

She's got a penalty on Slasher.

She did not get that box in time.

Here we go with the dreaded 2x4.

Let's see what Skye Hilton can do.

- She's going from the rear and that's the wrong move.

Let's see if she switches it up.

I mean, it's not too late, but she needs

to whittle away at the underbelly

to create that cavity.

That's a lot of power. It's gonna knock it off-course.

- Oh!

Another competitor stepping up, wrong technique.

- See, that's just... - Heartbreak.

- A lot of power.

- Off to Ice Pick.

This is what took down the falchion last year.

We saw it break twice, maybe three times.

Let's see how she can compete.

- Look at how she's resetting.

- Look at her body movement.

- That grip strength...

- Is wearing her, Bill. - She's breathing harder.

- You can tell she's breathing hard now.

- And she's through.

- No giving up in that girl.

Skye Hilton moves on.

Okay, we're at Life Line.

As you know, sudden death.

- She definitely has the power.

She has the technique, but I'm wondering,

is the blade dull now

after busting through the ice for so long?

- Steps up to the chicken.

Boom, there you go. - That's classic kendo.

Did you see her set on position one?

- That's a beautiful movement. - And then you step forward

and let that momentum drive you down.

- Now for the pork loin.

Straight through the pork loin.

Onto the fish.

Beautiful. Absolutely flawless

through Life Line.

Skye Hilton versus Kill Shot.

- If she attacks this with the angle one attack

with more of a slash back, it's gonna generate

enough power on that slash to cut through.

- Oh, and she misses!

That's disappointing. - She didn't look

at the angle of attack on that ratchet strap.

She hit with the side of that blade.

- I hit it at a slightly wrong trajectory,

where I was trying to hit the very edge.

I came that close, but overall I'm pretty happy

with my performance.

- My name's Rob. I'm 56 years old

and I live in Nevada City, California.

The name of my blade is called Reaper.

It's, uh, sharpened on both edges

and, uh, it has a hook on the back.

It's a little different, a little more

badass-looking than the average machete.

- So what do you got there?

- Uh, this is a two-handed machete that I made.

It's, uh--I call the "bat-handle bolo"

'cause it's basically-- the handle is like a bat.

- Okay.

Do you have any idea on the hardness?

- Yeah, it's between 57, 58,

so I went on the softer side to make it a little, you know--

I'd rather have it bend than break.

- Very tough. Now, do you have any concern

of a bounce-back, this swinging back?

Because that's kind of-- could be some friendly fire.

- I control-- I can control it.

- All right, I-- I'll take your word for it.

Well, I'm gonna try out both your edges, I think.

Let's just see what happens, here.

You got a very nice blade here.

Congratulations, your knife makes the cut.

- Thank you.

I'm ready for this course. I have trained for this

for a long time.

I'm ready to just give it my all.

- Rob Weir steps up to the plate.

Nevada City, California, 56 years old.

Primitive survivalist with a survival knife.

- He took the traditions of a bolo,

what was made to chop.

He modified it with that hook, that bat hook.

- I can't wait to see this.

Here we go.

Missed the first.

- He tried to hit it from the spine

because his double-edge-- - Good job.

- Not a bad, not a bad-- - That's an interesting way

of doing it.

- Missed the third.

Well done on the fourth.

- I think what truly was an advantage

was that he had a rear edge and he had a front edge,

and he swung through and just reversed that cut.

- And it was a simple-- simple motion.

Let's see how the blade performs at Slasher.

He's ripping it up.

You know, I knew there was a reason

why I loved Rob and his blade.

He named it "the Reaper."

Uh-oh, one penalty because he didn't slice

all of the tubes.

- He needs to move ahead of that target.

- The clock is ticking. Seconds do count.

There's a penalty.

Tell you what, number of people who've had a problem

with that box, there.

Stepping up to Timber.

- Well, he's a survivalist.

He should know how to do this. - It's just like

felling a tree.

- But he needs to create that underbelly cut.

He's going for the rear. See? - Ooh.

Just missed it again.

Truthfully, as a survivalist, I thought

he would just nail this.

Off to Ice Pick.

- Look at his structure.

His torso is leaned forward, locking out his hips.

- I'll tell you what, he made up a lot of time there.

What he lacked in body positioning

he made up for with blade sharpness.

- And power. - And power.

- Notice, Bill-- look what he did.

He just reversed his blade. - Really?

- So that bat hook now is gonna catch that flesh

and bring it back in the path of that blade.

- That's a guy that knows how to use his blade.

God, he went through that-- look at that.

- See--see how he's using the hook to catch that flesh?

- Absolutely brilliant.

- Getting ready for Kill Shot.

- I would not use the reverse side of this blade

because it may catch onto the ratchet.

- But if he uses that straight edge,

could it slide off before he cuts through it?

- It could. - Oh!

- It could. It could.

- Oh, and he's using the, uh-- the curved edge.

- Oh, you know what, maybe that--

- Bam! Right through! - Wow!

- That was impressive! - That curved edge did work.

It pulled those ratchet straps back into the line of attack.

- That was an impressive run right there, my man.

- I'm gonna go ahead and pull the Reaper out of this stump.

- See how she did. - It performed phenomenally.

You actually made me giggle went you went through

the pork loin and it just didn't even move.

But we gotta see if your time's fast enough

to see if you made it out to Dead Run.

- I felt like I had a tactical edge.

Survivalists basically are-- are warriors.

I felt like I attacked it the best I could.

- My name is Ken Tucker.

I'm from Vancouver, Washington, and I'm 31 years old.

So ever since I was a kid,

I have always loved swords, knights.

My grandmother always told me about our Scottish heritage.

She told me that we had an ancestor that was one

of the knights of the Round Table.

So I'm not just carrying myself.

I've got my generations of ancestors with me.

Hi, Travis. - What did you bring today?

- This is my Oakeshott Type XIV.

named Thorn. - So who's the maker?

- I am. - You are.

You have an-- an aggressive edge.

- Yes. - It's not a polished edge,

and that's fine.

We're only maybe 3/16 thick.

You know, it's a nice thin geometry.

Let's take some swings and see how it performs.

This is about what you do with it.

Congratulations, your blade makes the cut.

- Thank you so much. - Good luck.

- All right.

I'm so ready for this.

- Ken Tucker busts through the gate

with a purpose. - He looks like a Viking.

- 30 years old from Vancouver, Washington.

- Well, Ken has 28 inches of cutting power here.

My only concern is, does he have the ability

to decelerate and change that angle

before that sugarcane shoot falls?

- Here we go.

- See, it's too slow.

He's hitting it way too high.

- Miss. - You want that first cut

to drop that sugarcane into the path

of his second cut. - Ah, missed that one.

- It's about speed here.

He's doing the same cut every single time.

- And it didn't work the first time

and he didn't adjust. - Well, that--that tells me

that his mind is not there.

- He incurred four penalties.

- Ken looks like he's built for power,

and Slasher is all about power.

- Good God, one hand.

- He broke the apparatus. - He went way too hard.

- One penalty because he didn't slice

all of the tubes.

He did destroy the box, that's for sure.

- This guy has a lot of power.

- Okay, let's talk about, uh, Timber.

- You need to whittle away and create a cavity

on the underbelly of that 2x4.

If he does it right he's gonna get it.

- He needs to come in underneath the belly

and then chisel away at the rear

and let gravity take over.

- Look at the bend on that blade.

The obstacle is getting thicker,

so you're gonna have to adapt.

Okay, couple more strikes and that should fall.

Oh, there you go!

Success!

First competitor today.

- He got lucky here.

He did create that gap in the back

but he should've created that underbelly cut.

- Okay, so I'm worried about it right here.

There was a lot of bend on that blade on that 2x4.

Here we go.

Boom. Great job.

- That is power. - Oh, I think he just did

a pretty damn good job.

Here's an event right here where I believe he has

a distinct advantage. - He personally built

this blade. He knows every in and out.

- Ken Tucker versus the chicken.

Through the chicken with ease!

Through the pork loin like butter.

- The sharpness and the power

right there showed, but right now

his eyes are focused on two inches

of ratchet strap.

- You need to come down, and you need to fold that sword

back into your body to give it that slashing motion.

- I don't know how confident I am right now in Ken.

Here comes the big swing!

- Will brute strength work on Kill Shot?

He'd better be careful with the straps.

They've got a lot of bounce.

First one down, now onto the second.

Success. - That's a lot of power.

Double hand. - I love how he adjusted

his grip towards the end.

- The Oakeshott long sword

performed well.

Yeah!

That was amazing.

I feel like I destroyed it.

It felt good. It felt like "Highlander."

I was gonna go like...

I think I've got it.

- My name's Earl Culver. I'm 48 years old

and I'm from Tampa, Florida.

My daughter loves pineapple.

The blade I'm bringing today

is a custom-designed blade by me.

I got interested in blades probably the first time

I ever cut myself with my grandfather's hunting knife

and I've just pursued them.

- What do you got there?

- This is a knife of my own design.

It is made out of, uh, 5160

with a, uh, distal taper.

- The 5160-- a nice springy steel.

Your distal taper is noticeable and it makes the weight,

the balance, the feel of this knife improved.

This is a very nice knife, very clean.

Let's take a few swings. - Absolutely.

- So your blade performs well.

You have not so much thickness, which is nice.

It's enough material to be robust,

and it's brought in to a nice fine edge.

You did a very good job in forging it.

It's nothing fancy.

That course eats fancy blades.

- And it definitely makes the cut.

- Awesome.

Thank you. - Thank you.

- This is a good knife.

This one, I'd--I'd be willing to bet my life on.

- Earl Culver pushing through the fence

with authority. - That's what I like to see.

A little bit of aggression here.

- 48-year-old from Tampa, Florida,

martial arts instructor and bladesmith.

- So let's talk about this chopper.

It's modified because it's 16 inches.

It's longer. This thing is extremely sharp.

- But he is also a master

of aikido and tae kwon do.

- Both forms of style is not really known

for blades and weaponry.

Aikido's all about the flow and movement of your body

to generate efficient power.

- Slice Twice.

There's one penalty.

There's two penalties. - He needs to create

that first cut to allow that sugarcane

to fall into the path of that second cut.

- Now he's at three penalties.

Got the last one.

- All right, so he already has three penalties.

He kind of rushed over.

He blindly just cut through them, and that's why

the sugarcane didn't fall in that path

of the second swing. - Okay, stepping up

to Slasher. - Well, the 16 inches

of blade--I mean, this thing has a lot of power.

This is a speed blade.

Long as he stays in front of the target.

- Here he goes. Whack!

Double-handed smash!

- That's what I'm talking about.

You need to swing-- how sharp that thing is!

- Okay, he sliced the box off of the tether.

That is a penalty.

- Let's see if he uses his sharp knife properly

for Timber, where he doesn't have to hit it

with too much strength. - Oh, yep.

Here we go. - He's hitting with a lot

of power, but he has no control.

I'll tell you what, that's so disappointing.

I mean, this is such a sharp blade that he--

he could easily whittle away.

- But it only took him about five seconds

to get through that.

Plus the 30 seconds for the penalty, right?

Stepping up to Ice Pick. - He has a lot of power.

I see him doubling up. - If that ice could

show emotion right now, it would be screaming

right now. - Doubling up on the blade,

swinging the hips through the target.

- Good God. Three strikes.

He went right through the 300-pound block of ice.

- Did you see his footing and how he released his hips

through that target? - It started

right from the ground.

Earl Culver steps up to Life Line.

Remember, sudden death.

One slice through each object

or you're going home.

Whack, right through it.

- I love how he's doubling up on the blade.

- Right through. Beautiful.

No problem whatsoever. Here he is at the fish.

- Look at that, yes. - Very smart.

- You have to hit the spine. That's what he did.

- Brilliant.

Now here we go-- another sudden death obstacle.

- There's no doubt this blade is sharp enough

to cut through those ratchet straps.

It's about slashing and not chopping, here.

Let's just see if he has the proper form and style

in his slashing methodology to cut through it.

You want to hit it at a steep angle

to hold the tension down on that line.

- We have seen this challenge take a number

of competitors down. Here he goes.

- Love how he's doubling up

on that blade. - Full power.

Beautiful. Here he goes, last one.

- He needs to push right through it at a angle.

There you go. - Nice!

- He didn't just place it in the log,

he drove it into the log.

That was impressive. - Very impressive.

- First time the hair stood up on my arms

with a competitor today.

- Now, I don't want to get your hopes up, Earl...

But that's what I'm talking about.

- Yeah! - Congratulations

on completing Knife Fight. - Oorah.

- Congratulations to the four of you

for completing the Knife Fight course.

So let's get right to it.

The fastest total time including penalties

was 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

And that belongs to...

Earl. - Oorah.

- You'll be moving on to Dead Run.

Congratulations. - Thank you.

I'm not competing against the other people,

I'm competing against the clock and myself.

No matter what, I will be getting out there

to use that blade to the best of my ability.

- You three had the closest time

of second-place finishers.

- I'm really excited about the possibility of moving on

to Dead Run. I can't wait to see

what the challenges are there, and hopefully

I'm ready for them.

- Only 11 seconds separated

the three of you.

Second fastest time including penalties was...

Second fastest time including penalties was...

4 minutes and 22 seconds.

The competitor facing Earl in Dead Run is...

Rob. - Whoo!

- Congratulations, my friend. - Yeah!

- Thanks, man. - Ken and Billy,

thank you very much.

You came close, but your time here

on "Knife or Death" is over.

- I feel great. I--I'm thrilled and honored

11 seconds, and the match was between four guys.

I was amazed. I was stoked that I was--

I edged them out by that much.

- Feeling confident, gentlemen? - Yeah, let's do it.

- Absolutely. - Well, I hope that lasts.

- That smile lasts. - Because now it's time

to go outside.

Strap it up!

I'll see you out there. - Oorah.

- While Knife Fight was the ultimate test of blades,

Dead Run is the ultimate test of speed,

timing, accuracy, and precision.

First up: Gauntlet.

From inside the circular platform,

you must cut each of the rotating targets

in half.

Ball Buster: Slice nine rolling balls

in half before they hit the floor.

Extinguisher: Cut the rope,

release the bottle, cut the bottle

on the down-swing to extinguish the flame.

Free Fall: You cut each piece of fruit

as it drops.

Any nick counts.

Fire & Ice:

Cut completely through the 400-pound block of ice

to trigger the flames.

Next, Crash Landing.

Cut completely through the flying targets

as they zip past.

Finally, Fire Storm.

Cut the two ropes to release the platform,

ascend the stairs, and stop the clock

with one final chop.

Remember, in Dead Run the clock never stops.

For every challenge not completed,

a 20-second penalty will be added.

- All right, we got Rob.

- We don't just have Rob,

we have Rob and the Reaper.

- Rob is armed with a modified bolo.

This double edge is a great hacking tool.

- First up, Gauntlet.

You must cut each of the rotating targets

in half.

Here he goes.

I gotta tell you, right now from the onset

he does not look focused. - Oh, man.

- He--he looks a little frantic out there.

- He needs to pick one object instead of shifting his eyes

to multiple objects.

This thing can be confusing.

There you go.

Pick up the target opportunity.

- Beautiful.

- Okay, he's not having a problem

with the heavier objects.

- I think that was a home run. - That was a home run.

- Difficulty for him.

He's draining those bottles, but what that's doing

is it's taking all the weight out of the bottles

and it's much harder for him to cut them in half.

- You've got to take out that bottle

in one clean swing.

- Time's ticking, and he needs to move.

- I would move on. There you go.

- Two penalties on Gauntlet.

Rob's up to Ball Buster and he's got

a much different technique than what we've seen before.

- It looks like more of a baseball bat type

of approach to it, so as that object's coming

he can track and read it.

I'm all about this angle right here.

- He missed that target.

Oh, missed that one too. - He's getting some penalties.

- Great shot.

Nope, penalty.

Boom, got it.

Last one.

Boom, got that one.

Okay, he's through Ball Buster.

He's on to Extinguisher.

- The strategy behind Extinguisher

is identifying the perfect sweet spot

and hit it so the water can splash directly

onto the flame. - Here we go.

Lot of...

- Oh, missed.

And he cut the rope!

There's one penalty. - He needs to find

that sweet spot.

- Oh, right through! - Nice!

- Okay, number two he got. - He got it!

- He moves on. - Found that sweet spot.

- Okay, he got-- - Way too early.

- Hit it way too early-- - And the wrong angle.

- Didn't extinguish the flame.

Okay, he got that one.

Two for four on Extinguisher, moving to Free Fall.

- This is about setting up that blade.

- Boom.

Nope, penalty.

- See how he's coming in at angle five?

- Beautiful shot. - He can track this movement.

- He can track it

and he's got a good baseball swing.

Ah, missed that one.

That came out a little quick.

Gotta be ready for it. One more penalty.

The hand-eye coordination is off at this point

in the course.

And he incurred four penalties.

Moving on. Fire & Ice.

What will the Reaper do?

- He has to use his whole body.

Drop that base.

See, he's just using his upper body right now.

- A 400-pound ice block in half.

This is tough.

Boom! He's done.

On to Crash Landing.

Remember, competitors must cut each object in half

- This is all about timing and position.

- He destroyed it.

- It--it looks like exhaustion

has finally taken over. - He needs to slow down

He needs to slow down and track that movement.

He needs to track that movement.

- Oh!

He misses. That's disappointing.

Dead Run is no joke.

- It's all about timing here. - Okay, beautiful slice there.

Okay, he's cut the rope, releases the bridge,

up the stairs.

Beautiful. He's through.

Firestorm completed. - Reaper.

- Let's see how many penalties Rob has.

13. Hopefully his time

was fast enough that penalties won't matter.

- Well, a lot of the-- the morning course

on Knife Fight was stationary. It was about power

and precision.

Dead Run is a complete different course.

It's not a stationary object where you can employ that--

that impact. - No question.

And I'm very curious to see how Earl comes out here

and does his thing because he completely destroyed

Knife Fight. - Yeah.

- I absolutely have enough energy and blade left.

As I'm approaching this, it's just one more obstacle.

The next one. - Earl Culver walks up

with his modified chopper to take on Dead Run.

- You know, these two guys, Bill, they're kind of

evenly matched. - But let's see

if it translates to outside.

Steps up to Gauntlet.

Boom! - He is blowing through

that pipe like it's nothing. - Two swings,

two strikes, three for three.

He just destroyed that one with the baseball slice.

Right in half. Five for five.

- He's splitting through those water bottles.

- He is, and he's cutting them

in half. He's not just releasing

the liquid, he's literally cutting them in half.

Beautiful job.

He got all of them. Earl Culver moves on

to Ball Buster.

Ball Buster shows you the hand-eye coordination

that you really need, the timing that you need.

- Nice. - Great shot.

One for one, here. - He's going with

a different chop versus the slice.

- There's one penalty-- oh, he got it.

There's two penalties.

Okay, looks like he got it.

- I mean, to me... - Boom, he got it.

- It seems a lot harder than the slice.

- It may be a lot harder but he's doing

a hell of a job.

Then right as I said it, one went right by him.

Oh, missed that one. I'll shut up now.

He's staring at four penalties.

Can he dominate Extinguisher?

The flame was not extinguished.

- Oh. - Looks like--oh.

- Almost, almost.

- He's definitely got the angle,

he's got the timing.

He's got the third one down.

There he goes. Number four.

Boom! - Wow.

- But he got two penalties.

- Earl at Freefall. - He winds up.

Thwack!

- Nice.

- Missed the third.

Well done on the fourth.

Bam!

Got that one. - See how he positioned

his footing? - Yes, sir.

- Got it.

Beautiful technique.

- His footing is great. You can see how he spins

into the next circle.

Look, see? Just spins and plants.

- Gorgeous. Way to go.

Boom. He did get one penalty.

Earl heads up to Fire & Ice.

Twice the size of the ice inside.

- I'm telling you, man, that thing is brutal.

This course is developed to destroy the blade.

Look at him drop his weight.

There's a lot of power coming down.

- There he goes.

Moving on to Crash Landing.

It's always an interesting view

when a, say, 100-pound sandbag

comes whizzing by you.

- You have to readjust because it's coming

from left to right. - Okay, he got it.

Okay, smaller blade, here we go.

We're gonna see how it fares. Beautiful shot.

- I think he's gonna do well here.

- I think hand-eye coordination

is separating these two contestants right now.

- Absolutely. - Oh, he got it.

Great job.

Firestorm.

Look at the power, he's-- - Yes!

- He's gotta ascend the stairs and make one final cut!

Then the clock stops!

Cut the tube, released the flames.

The fire--boom!

He's done.

That was an impressive run, but let's see

how many penalties Earl had.

Seven penalties.

Rob and Earl await their times.

Let's see how well they did.

Rob's time is...

Eight minutes and five seconds.

Earl's time is...

Five minutes and five seconds!

Earl is our "Knife or Death" Champion!

- Oorah. - Nice.

Congratulations. You've won the chance

to compete in our Grand Championship

at the end of the season for a chance at winning

$20,000.

- Yeah, I feel pretty good right about now.

Oorah! - A hell of a display

of bladesmanship. How do you feel?

- Feel good. - Surprised at all?

- No. Can I run it again?

I am ready to go back

and face this course again.

Uh, the finale is double what this one was,

so it should be just twice as much fun, right?