There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle related to the US version of the show, unlike ours which is totally kerfuffle free…

Apparently as one of the puff pieces they do about how awesomely fit contestants end up becoming they had a camera crew on hand to film a contestant running a marathon.

Only that isn’t exactly what happened, according to a variety of people who were actually there.

According to David Kleeman, a read of the blog at TV Barn:

I’m also big into the marathoning community and knew back in January that one of the members of the Black team (either Blaine or Dane) had attempted a marathon in Arizona, but did not complete it. Instead, he had been picked up by a van along the course and dropped back down somewhere prior to the finish and then he crossed the finish line and collected a medal a la Rosie Ruiz.

Apparently when the show aired that segment it made the claim that Dane had finished the entirety of the marathon and included footage of him crossing the finish line and receiving his medal and so on.

In actuality he was disqualified when the deception was discovered and thus is not on the list of runners to have finished the race.

The producers have since fessed up… kinda. They’re blaming unspecified parties for not telling them that the story they told them to go out and shoot was not exactly what they went out and shot.

In a more recent blog update Dane is quoted claiming to have gone back and run the missing 3 miles later in the day, alongside the producer’s apology.

It would seem that a contestant completing a marathon – even if it was a bit slow – would be achievement enough. But apparently not a good enough story for the producers of the show.

Just another reminder to be a little skeptical when it comes to what you see on TV… or the internet!