Spike TV's Hot New Series 'Deadliest Warrior' Spawns Online Original Show 'Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath'

Spike TV's Hot New Series 'Deadliest Warrior' Spawns Online Original Show 'Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath'

Spike.com Greenlights Digital Series After On-Air Premiere Of "Deadliest Warrior" Scored Record Ratings And Garnered Huge Online Traffic

"Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath" Premieres Today On Spike.com

NEW YORK, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV's new hit original series "Deadliest Warrior" reigned supreme with viewers on-air and online and will now be spun off on Spike.com with the launch of the original digital series "Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath." This new Web show will be an online video round table discussion that will launch on Spike.com following each on-air premiere of the "Deadliest Warrior."

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060322/NYW096LOGO )

"'Deadliest Warrior' has captured an enthusiastic and highly engaged audience," said Jon Slusser, SVP, Spike Digital Entertainment. "The series is inspiring widespread debate online and is receiving an unprecedented number of comments on Spike.com. 'Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath' will harness the enthusiasm of this community and transform their lively debate into a video round table."

"We are thrilled with the on air performance of 'Deadliest Warrior,'" said Sharon Levy, SVP, original series, Spike TV. "And now with its explosion online, we truly have a cross platform success on our hands."

"When Paninee and I created the show, we thought that by using science and technology to evaluate the lethality of each warrior and his weapons, it would end the debate about who truly is the Deadliest Warrior," said Gary Tarpanian, executive producer, "Deadliest Warrior." "Ironically, the opposite has occurred and more people than ever are debating the issue online."

In each episode of the "Deadliest Warrior - The Aftermath," host and "Deadliest Warrior" expert Kieron Elliot will discuss with other experts the unanswered questions and counter arguments submitted by the fans. The show will explore the inevitable controversies stirred up by these epic match-ups between warriors with fervent and knowledgeable fan cultures. The conclusion of each episode will feature a sneak peek of next week's episode on Spike TV and allow the "The Aftermath" panel to make their predictions on the next battle.

The April 7 premiere telecast of "Deadliest Warrior" scored the highest ratings among Men 18-34 and 18-49 for a one-hour cable premiere this year and the online traffic soared. Through three original telecasts, "Deadliest Warrior" has averaged 1.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched original series on the network. For the last three consecutive weeks, the show is the number one Spike TV show on Spike.com and its video content has had over 660,000 video views since its debut and has posted consecutive double digit growth in weekly audience size. "The Deadliest Warrior" audience is highly engaged with double the video views per visit versus the average for the site as a whole.

"Deadliest Warrior," which airs Tuesday at 10:00 p.m., is an unprecedented, non-scripted series that pits two of the most feared warriors civilization has ever known against each other. To collect all significant data on these legends of combat, "Deadliest Warrior" assembled a fight club that consists of three series regulars: Geoff Desmoulin, a biomedical engineer and karate black belt who uses high-tech sensors to collect the data; ER doctor and UFC physician, Dr. Armand Dorian, who analyzes the lethal potential of each attack on the human body; and computer whiz, Max Geiger, who tracks all the test findings to ultimately run in a battle simulation program. Along with the use of 21st century science and the latest in CGI technology, each episode enlists warrior-specific world-class fighters and experts to provide insight into what makes these combatants tick, analyzing every facet of their unique skills of destruction, culminating in a head-to-head final fight between two legends of the battlefield that will produce the deadliest warrior.

Other highly-anticipated showdowns this season include: Pirate vs. Knight, Taliban vs. IRA, Yakuza vs. Mafia, Viking vs. Samurai, Green Beret vs. Spetznaz, Maori vs. Shaolin Monks, William Wallace vs. Shaka Zulu and Ninja vs. Spartan.

"Deadliest Warrior" is produced for Spike TV by Morningstar Entertainment ("Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force"). The series is executive produced by Gary Tarpanian and Paninee Theeranuntawat. Tim Prokop serves as supervising producer and director. Sharon Levy, SVP, original series, Spike TV and Tim Duffy, VP, original programming, are the executives in charge of creative for Spike TV.

Spike TV is available in 97.7 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at www.spike.com/press.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060322/NYW096LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Spike TV

CONTACT: Aileen Budow of Spike TV, +1-212-767-3952,
aileen.budow@spiketv.com

Web Site: http://www.spike.com/

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