Insta-kill. Monster kill. Kill faction.

Not familiar with these violent terms? Then you're not watching "Deadliest Warrior," Spike TV's most successful original series, which enters its second season tonight at 10 p.m. EST.

The brainchild of executive producer Gary Tarpanian, "Deadliest Warrior" takes two fighters from different historical eras -- such as a Spartan and a ninja, or a Viking and a samurai -- and compares their weaponry and battle skills. The goal is to determine who would likely win in a fight to the death.

Data on each warrior's weapons and fighting style is plugged into a computer program to see who would be victorious more times out of a thousand battles. This so-called deadliest warrior is then revealed to the audience through a simulated battle between live participants.

It's kind of a male couch potato's dream come true.

"The only thing missing is women," says Dr. Armand Dorian, the show's medical consultant. "There's everything else that a guy wants. You have big weapons. You've got computers. You've got science and history.

"You put all those things together and you bring it all in a show, and it doesn't get any better than that."

Asylum recently sent L.A.-based correspondent Jimmy Callahan -- a commerical actor currently appearing in DirecTV ads with Alex Trebek -- to the set of "Deadliest Warrior" to get the scoop on the show's second season, which is appropriately subtitled "Back for Blood." Read on for more from the program's talent and to see a video of a blade decapitating Edward from "Twilight" -- a doll version, that is.



A few years ago, Tarpanian came up with the idea for the show while trying to get his 14- and 15-year-old nephews interested in history. And because he's such a history buff, he wanted the show to be as accurate as possible.

"One of the things that makes our show stand out is that when we talk about these weapons, we test and evaluate them," Tarpanian tells Asylum. "I think today's viewers have finely tuned bullsh** detectors."

The results of the tests are gathered and analyzed by the show's three resident experts. Along with Dr. Dorian are Geoff Desmoulin, a biomedical scientist, high-speed camera operator, and martial arts expert; and Max Geiger, a computer whiz running a simulator developed by Slitherine Studios.

The three give commentary throughout the show as experts unleash their weapons on models made out of ballistics gel -- and in some cases, pig or cow carcasses (as in the photo above) -- to illustrate the damage that these blades and other instruments of pain could have inflicted on natural tissue.

The show prides itself on authenticity. "It's very realistic," says Dr. Dorian. "The type of injuries that we see, let's say on the side of beef that we demonstrated, is pretty similar to what you're gonna get [in real life]."

"It's very difficult to go and find a real practicing Spartan, obviously," adds Desmoulin. "But any modern warrior that we've had on the show has been 100 percent legit, especially in season two. These guys are as close as you can get that are alive today."

As far as the weapons the warriors are wielding, they use authentic pieces as much as possible, but there are some that don't exist anymore.

"When we got the unprecedented response online, we said look, we have to get everything right," says Tarpanian. "We brought in our own team to make those weapons. We owe it to the viewer."

And indeed, the basement below the Los Angeles studio is a virtual armory, with a full-time staff either refurbishing or creating the arsenal true to that given warrior. "If the weapon was made out of iron, we can't make it out of steel," Tarpanian adds.

Critics of the first season will find that they have implemented a new "X Factor Edge" variable to take into account certain warriors' special skills, such as a ninja's stealth.

Even better news: When season two premieres tonight, fans can expect to see even more action and gore.

"We cut a car in two with TNT, and every test has blood," says Desmoulin. "It's 'MythBusters' for weapons, and how can you go wrong with that?"

Here's a video of reporter Jimmy Callahan hamming it up on set with the show's ancient weapons expert, Luke LaFontaine. Watch to see how a Nerf battle axe, a plastic Jedi lightsaber and a "Twilight" doll (alas, poor Edward ...) fare against a badass Greek kopis.