Spike TV's Groundbreaking Hit Series "Deadliest Warrior," Where the History of War Collides With Modern Science, Kicks Off a Third Season of New Matchups on July 20

LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After two seasons of fervid debate, Spike TV's multi-platform hit show, "Deadliest Warrior," is back to put more speculation to rest, lining up more legends of war to go head-to-head in a fight to determine who will reign supreme.  This revolutionary third season will create an even more comprehensive composite of these formidable combatants than any previous season, with more in-depth segments and scientific exploration.  "Deadliest Warrior" returns with 10 one-hour episodes on a new night with more unprecedented matchups, including the first female warrior and first fantasy matchup, beginning Wednesday, July 20 (10-11p.m., ET/PT) on Spike TV.

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The debut episode, "George Washington vs. Napoleon Bonaparte," features two larger-than-life generals who both fought in the age of revolutions, now meeting for the first time on the battlefield.   America's first great general, George Washington, who defeated the British empire against all odds to become known as the father of the world's most powerful nation, will square off against Napoleon Bonaparte, the brutal French warlord turned emperor who terrorized Europe in his quest to conquer the world.  

Other highly-anticipated matchups this season include the series' first female warrior Joan of Arc vs. William the Conqueror, Genghis Khan vs. Hannibal, Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot, U.S. Army Rangers vs. North Korean Special Operations Force, Crazy Horse vs. Pancho Villa, Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernan Cortes, French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkhas and our first fantasy matchup Zombies vs. Vampires.  

The new season of "Deadliest Warrior" is focused on enhancing the viewer experience and more definitively crowning a winner with several updates to the show, including:

• New Co-host Navy SEAL Richard "Mack" Machowicz ("Future Weapons"): Mack brings a warrior's perspective to this series, as well as a weapons and battle tactician's expertise.  He provides viewers with a richer understanding of the men behind the weapons and insight into their specific military strategies.
• New Armory Segment: resident weapons fabricator David Baker will discuss how he makes each weapon.  He also covers the weapon design and historical data behind the weapons.  
• New Digital Combat Engine: created by former Green Beret and military based game designer Robert Daly, it incorporates complex weapons data, damage probabilities and more than 100 different X factors.  The new combat engine will also simulate 5,000 battles, upped from the previous 1000.  
• X factors: series will now take into account hundreds of critical intangibles that will be given numerical values based on analysis of the warriors' lives, tactics and psychological profiles.  These can range from the warrior's diet and physique to the terrain to what type of disease was prevalent and the extent of medical attention available at that time.  
• Chalk Talk: a new segment led by Mack, where each warrior's most infamous battle's strategy will be drawn out on touch tables to uncover weaknesses and strengths.
• Geoff's Fabrication Lab: for the more unorthodox scenarios, co-host Geoff Desmoulin will describe in depth his thought process and the science behind the test fabrication in order to collect the most accurate data.  
• Expanded role of Dr. Dorian: co-host Dorian will still analyze the trauma to the human body, but will now delve into the physical and psychological traits that have shaped each warrior – many of which become X factors.
• Warrior Specific Experts: each side will now feature one historical expert and one weapons expert.

Spike.com will feature exclusive "Deadliest Warrior" content, including the Web show "Deadliest Warrior – The Aftermath" – an online round table discussion following each on-air premiere of the "Deadliest Warrior," as well as special videos and past season matchups.  Additionally, users can sign up for the Warrior's Den newsletter at warrior.spike.com and follow @Warriors_Den and @Spike_TV on Twitter to get additional content, spoilers and information for the new season.  

Leading up to the highly anticipated third season premiere, Spike.com debuts a special "Deadliest Warrior Preseason Aftermath" that will preview what viewers can expect to see from the new season, including sneak peek footage from upcoming episodes and an exclusive look at the season premiere.  Hosted by Kieron Elliot, the special will highlight popular topics from the show, such as new technology, weapons and the warrior lineup.  Hosts Richard "Mack" Machowicz, Geoff Desmoulin and Dr. Armand Dorian will be on hand to give their expert opinions on these topics and will also answer Facebook and Twitter questions from fans.  The final matchup of Season 3 will also be exclusively revealed during this special.

Each new episode of "Deadliest Warrior" will be made available in HD for download-to-own the day after the episode premieres on iTunes, Xbox, Sony Playstation and Amazon Video On Demand.    New episodes in SD will also launch day after air on Samsung's Media Hub (Galaxy Tab and other devices).  

Building on the success of the series and last year's hit downloadable game, "Deadliest Warrior: The Game" which sold over 400,000 units, the new warrior-based fighting video game, "Deadliest Warrior: Legends," will reach beyond weapons and armor and put gamers back on the battlefield with the most legendary warriors in history.  This version will feature new heroic warriors, new fighting options, a more precise projectile system, more arenas and a new campaign mode.  The title, published by 345 Games, will be available on Xbox Live Arcade and Sony Playstation Network this summer.  

"Deadliest Warrior" is produced by 44 Blue Productions, Inc. with Rasha Drachkovitch and Tim Warren serving as executive producers. Sharon Levy, Tim Duffy and Jeff Savaiano are Spike TV's executives in charge of production.  

Spike TV is available in 99.4 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, 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 http://www.spike.com/press.   Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

SOURCE Spike TV