'Cannonball': Gamer Tanner Cortez wins $10k prize on the episode, proposes girlfriend on TV to celebrate
'Cannonball' returned for its second episode tonight on USA Network. Hosted by WWE star Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Rocsi Diaz, each episode features a group of people who risk jumping into deep waters from great heights over a series of challenges. There are five challenges per episode running for 60 minutes. Each episode features 5 challenges with a couple of athletes being eliminated from the competition after each challenge, based on their performance.
Only four athletes move on to the final challenge and this episode, one among them was 24-year-old Tanner Cortez, a gamer who not only made it to the finals but also delivered the winning performance. As his prize, he took away $10,000 with which he planned to buy an engagement ring to finally propose marriage to his girlfriend. The challenges this episode included Human Dart wherein athletes had to go down a 90-degree inclined water slide post which they'd be launched in the air. Each of them had to aim to hit closer to the bullseye, the closer they'd hit the target, the higher they'd feature in the rankings. The second challenge was High Bar wherein athletes were launched into the air and their aim was to hit the highest horizontal bar. The athletes who still stood in the competition at the end of two challenges had to participate in Side-Winder and Ripcord next.
Dr Tony Chin-Quee, Tanner Cortez, radio intern Chris and jewelry designer Phillip Lee were the ones who reached the finale. In the final challenge, Phillip achieved a greater height than Chris and Tony, eliminating them. It was now between him and Tanner and the latter won the challenge by a very small margin. While it didn't seem like it was his initial plan, Tanner decided to celebrate his win by proposing to his girlfriend on national television while an excited crowd cheered him on.
Fans who tuned in to the episode took to Twitter to share their love for the show. "#Cannonball was even better than last week. Keep ‘em coming!" wrote a fan. "The only bad thing about #Cannonball is it has to end sometime," wrote another. Another wrote, "As someone who loved #Wipeout, #Cannonball has brought back my love for summer watersports shows! Big props to @mikethemiz & @rocsidiaz for their awesome chemistry as hosts, too!"