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Reality Show

Season 1

Season 1 of Bullrun premiered on Spike on March 13, 2007. The season was
hosted by former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg.

Objective

  • Each day of competition contained three distinct stages – Leg 1, Heads-Up Challenge, Leg 2.
  • Each team begins the day by choosing whether to follow “My Way” or “The Highway” (both of these terms explained below under “Routes”). In the first leg, the teams must reach a checkpoint in the fastest time. However, if a team is caught speeding, that team receives a five minute penalty.
  • After all the teams complete the first leg of the race, the teams with the fastest times choose a lower pair of teams to compete heads-up in a challenge, in which the winning team will gain the faster time of the first leg between the two.
  • Finally, the teams compete in a way similar to the first leg, but a time bonus may be added midway on the routes, depending on the length of the second leg.
  • After all the teams complete leg two, the times for both legs (including time bonuses and speeding penalties) are combined. The team with the longest time to complete both legs is then returned the keys to their vehicle, in which they must immediately leave.

Routes

  • Before races begin, the teams have two options on how to get to their destination: “My Way” or “The Highway”. “The Highway” is the route the producers of the show have chosen for the day’s race. It is generally easier, but may take longer to complete. The second option is “My Way”. The only rule of these two options is that once a team chooses “My Way or The Highway”, it must stick to it until the end of the second leg of the day.
    • Example: If a team chooses “The Highway” for leg 1, they would have to select “The Highway” for leg 2 as well” Those that choose “My Way” must avoid “The Highway” route.
  • On Days 5 and 6, all routes were “My Way” due to short legs.

Other Rules

  • No GPS or Satellite Navigation systems can be used.
  • No cell phones.
  • No laptop computers.
  • No radio or CD player.
  • Speeding will lead to severe penalties, such as a time penalty. An arrest will
    lead to immediate disqualification.
  • At the start of each day, cars may only leave when instructed to do so.
  • Cars must start and finish each day under their own power, or the power of their drivers.
  • Cars finishing outside the maximum time allowed for each leg will get picked up by the ‘reaper’ and towed – leading to disqualification.
  • No ditching the chase vehicles.

Teams

  • The races on Bullrun are competed by 12 teams composed of 2 people (driver/navigator).

Winner

  • Team Exotic Rally’s Award Belt
  • The winning team was Team Trans Am. The father/daughter duo of driver Morgan Alsop and her navigator dad Mike Alsop from Lafayette, Indiana pushed hard throughout the entire rally to always place near the top of the leader board. Morgan Alsop’s impressive driving and Mike Alsop’s ability to find the shortest route and time bonuses lead them to dominate most of the race. Mike also drove the car for a few Challenges. Morgan Alsop was the only woman in the race after Team Scion’s elimination in Stage 1. They defeated Team Olds by almost 9 minutes.

Season 2

  • Season 2 casting was held in 2007 and 2008, and the show was filmed in December 2008, with the first episode airing on Speed Channel on February 19, 2009. The series continues to be hosted by Bill Goldberg.

Rule Changes vs Season 1

  • With the exception of the final episode, instead of the challenge being held in the middle of the episode, the challenge is now held at the end, and three teams participate in one challenge as opposed to two head-to-head challenges. In the final episode, the challenge is held in the middle of the episode like in Season 1 and it does not determine eliminations. Instead, all three remaining teams compete for time bonuses to be deducted from their overall driving leg times for the episode, 10 minutes for 1st place, 5 minutes for 2nd, and no bonus for 3rd.
  • Instead of choosing “My Way” or the “Highway”, the teams choose their own routes, but must pass through a number of checkpoints en route to their destination.
  • Instead of the slowest overall time in the episode being eliminated, the team that comes in last place in each challenge is eliminated.
  • Instead of the top two teams picking two teams each to go into the challenge, the slowest two times are automatically entered, with a third being selected by the episode’s time winner, with the exception of the 9th episode where the
    bottom three times are automatically entered and the final episode, where all three remaining teams are entered.
  • Time bonuses and racing for opponents’ times no longer exist.
  • Following an incident during the challenge leg in Episode 4, it was stated that the rules would require a team that was successful in the challenge but had immediately damaged their vehicle would have to repair their vehicle in time for the next stage, or their place in Bullrun would be taken by the team that had lost that challenge.

Teams

  • The winning team for Season 2 was Team Shelby. The friends and former brothers in law from Chicago, Illinois, Mike Lahalih and Spiro Tsaparas were one of the more consistent teams in the rally. Although they were unable to finish first in any of driving legs except for the last, their navigating was still good enough to avoid most of the challenges by finishing mid-pack, which allowed them to effectively fly under the radar. When they were forced into the challenges, the combination of their 725 hp Shelby Super Snake and Spiro’s impressive driving (Mike drove during the driving legs and Spiro drove in the challenges) made them one of the most formidable cars in the rally.

Season 3

  • Season 3 started on February 18, 2010. A $200,000 prize is awarded to the team that wins a 20 day, 4,000 mile rally.

Rule Changes vs Season 2

  • This season will consistently use two checkpoints and a final destination for the driving legs, followed by the same elimination challenge system as Season 2.
  • A new rule was added. There was a single immunity token (a gold wrench) available on each of the first seven days. The token is at a location well beyond the final checkpoint, so that a team’s decision to pursue the immunity implies that they will not finish first for the day. Whichever team gets it first has immunity from the elimination challenge. The immunity was removed on the eighth day, once there were only four teams ‘eligible’ for the 3-way challenge.

Teams

  • Season 3’s cars include (by elimination, and car number until competition is complete)

Winner and runners-up

  • The winning team for Season 3, earning the $200,000 prize, was Team Lambo. The brothers from San Diego, California, Allen and Bill Wu, were one of the more consistent teams in the rally. They captured 5 of the 7 immunity tokens available during the race, and finished first to fully avoid the challenge on another day. Part of their strategy included moving Bullrun signs to confuse other teams, issuing fake Immunity Cards, and turning various disadvantages into advantages – like being pulled over by police for a thorough search, then getting the police to give them a private escort through the local community.

Production

  • Bullrun was produced by Bullrun Productions, Maloof Television and Rocket Science Laboratories.
  • Season One was produced for Spike.
  • Season Two was produced by Bullrun Productions for Speed Channel, with original airings from February through April 2009. Bullrun founders David Green and Andrew Duncan Executive Produced the show. Grace Stevens was the Supervising
    Producer.
  • Season Three was produced by Bullrun Productions for Speed Channel, with original airings from February through April 2010.