New Zealand-born television presenter Charlotte Dawson is used to dealing with fighting on Australia's Next Top Model, but says the tension on the boxing reality series The Contender is a whole new ball game.
Host Dawson, who is also a judge on the Australia's Next Top Model, says viewers can expect plenty of biff when The Contender premieres on Wednesday on Sky Sport 2.
"The models are planning to out-model each other, these guys actually want to bash the s . . . . out of each other," Dawson said.
"The tension is real."
Co-hosted by Daniel Amalm, the show features 14 professional super middleweight boxers from Australia and New Zealand as they compete for the prize of fighting Anthony Mundine.
The New Zealand boxers are Auckland's Adrian Taihia and Te Awamutu dairy farm worker Daniel MacKinnon.
Kenyan-born Kariz "Peter" Kariuki also trained in New Zealand for four years.
The show is based on a US series and also shows footage about their personal lives.
Dawson described the contestants as "insane" and willing to do almost anything to win the prize.
Flamboyant contestant Sonni Michael Angelo, who is originally from the Congo and calls himself "jungle man", said he was determined, and believed he was "better than the best".
"When I arrived at The Contender I was crazy," Angelo said.
Another contestant, Luke Moloney, a Victorian state champion from Melbourne, has even gone so far as to get a huge Contender tattoo across his stomach.
The boxers are trained by Paul Briggs and Billy Hussein, who has trained the likes of Danny Green and Vic Darchinyan.
"They're unbelievable athletes," Hussein said of the quality of the contestants. - AAP The Contender screens tomorrow at 3.30pm on Sky Sport 2.
