If the first chapter of Superstar Sex Challenge (April AVN) only scored AA, this outing, with the charisma-challenged Cody Adams and Jay Ashley as male contestants, falls even shorter. These American Gladiator takeoffs are technically competent, with a reasonably imaginative set, but are utterly mechanical. The imagination ends with the set design — and certainly doesn't extend to the script, which rarely strings more than four words together in a row, and never more than three without a cliché.

Here's a sex/obstacle course contest, but there's no competition — the guys never look at each other, or check out who's ahead. The feature has only the two male sex performers, over and over, in a tongue-in-cheek rivalry, but no one's thought of the most obvious event: a (humorous) who-can-keep-wood-longest contest.

There's Jonathan Morgan — competent in a thankless role — as host, but he has nary a word of voiceover to relieve the endless tedium. You have the cast above, which certainlyhas some top girls — but the awesomely average Cumisha Amado gets two sex scenes. What a waste! There's more eroticism in the credits of Baywatch, and gladiator Zap has more fun hanging off ropes and rolling around in an iron cage than the girls seem to have here.

It must be noted, though, that despite this series being one of the more conspicuous disappointments of the year, the first well-packaged SSC went to # 1 on the AVN sales charts; and the money spent on the set suggests more to come, so market accordingly.