Beg, Borrow & Deal

Premise
The series featured two teams of four pitted against each other. The object of the game was to get from one point in the United States to another, while completing sports-related tasks from a list given to them at the start of the game. However, the contestants were only allowed the clothes on their backs and their drivers' licenses; they could never handle any form of money. This forced the players to "beg, borrow and deal" for meals, transportation and nightly lodging. Further restrictions included:


 * Contestants could only use someone's help for 12 hours (such as transportation or housing aid)
 * Anything provided to the contestants had to be used or disposed of in 12 hours (such as food)
 * Contestants had to rest for at least six hours per 24 hours
 * Only one sports task could be complete per state
 * Only five tasks could be completed per time zone

The Sports-related tasks were scored from 1 to 3 points, with 10 points needed to complete the game. The first team to reach the designated finish line having completed 10 points' worth of tasks won the game and tickets to four major championship events of the following year.

Airing

 * The network aired two seasons of seven episodes each. One aired in late 2002, and the second aired in mid-2003. In the UK, the show was aired once on ABC1. In the rest of Europe, episodes were broadcast on the North American Sports Network in 2005 and in Canada on GameTV beginning in 2007.


 * In 2002, ESPN reran the first season in a marathon day after Thanksgiving.


 * The second season suffered from poor ratings and was pulled from its original primetime slot while remaining episodes were exhausted in a midnight time slot and the show was cancelled soon after.

Notable Contestants

 * John "Bubba" Britton, who was one of the winning team members in season 1 was an intern for current United States Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
 * Josh Gates from season 1 was also in Flavor or Love 2 he had a cameo appearance as a waiter when Flavor Flav takes Delicious and her parents out to dinner. Gates has also presented many TV shows including his own show Destination Truth where he searches out strange creatures that are sometimes shroud in myths and legends.
 * Season 2 contestant Kerri Kasem is the daughter of late radio personality Casey Kasem and has become a TV personality in her own right since the series ended in 2002.

Trivia

 * The show was originally called Beg, Borrow and B.S..
 * The show's title is a parody of a 1967 song by The Ohio Express called Beg, Borrow and Steal.
 * The Mandt Brothers were also executive producers of former ESPN shows Jim Rome Is Burning.

Links
Season 1 site (via Internet Archie)

Season 2 site