Ben Willis

== Summary ==
Ben Willis is the creator and host of The Gauntlet. Originally proposing the idea to his eighth-grade history teacher, the idea was tested as a game on Zoom thanks to inspiration by Chelsea Amaral. After the end of the Zoom Era, the first season, New Beginnings, began on October 7, 2021, with a handpicked cast.
He has been consistently hosting and creating each season. Zoom seasons have since been given to Jessica Gillooly to host.
== The Creation of The Gauntlet ==
=== 2017-2019 ===
In 2017, Ben watched his first season of the CBS Reality Show "Survivor." Since then, he had become obsessed and binged every season the following summer. Through 2017-2019, he began hosting Survivor games at lunch during school. Almost every single immunity challenge was just a math quiz composed of a single question, and votes were done on either sticky notes or flash cards. This ended abruptly in 2019 due to self-induced drama.
=== 2020-2021 ===
With the pandemic leading to a more isolated lifestyle, a different approach was taken entering eighth grade. Ben had noticeably come out of his social shell. After a rock paper scissors tournament was held at lunch, he had developed an advanced version and played it in his civics class, which followed lunch each day. He began having a lot of ideas and emailed them to his teacher. Included was one taking an extremely, almost identical, format to Survivor. The day this was explained, Chelsea Amaral visited the class. Ben befriended her and through a conversation, he gained the courage to actually attempt to host the game outside of school. The following Friday, the Prototype Season of the Zoom Era took place.
=== 2021-2022 ===
After the Prototype Season, four other seasons were held as well as an all-stars season. In addition, Jessica's Zoom Gauntlet was also created. The all-stars season was announced to be the last season of The Gauntlet as finding available time slots had been too much of a struggle. However, after his health teacher showed the first episode of Survivor: David vs. Goliath in class, he gained inspiration once again. Stuck with what to do, he came up with the idea to host the game periodically. The first season, New Beginnings, began on October 7, 2021. and that is where the current game stands today.
=== Resolutions Era ===
When planning the eighth season of The Gauntlet, a lot of new ideas struck Ben. In early 2023, he decided to treat the game much differently and give each season its own dedication and era. The franchise expanded with a more elaborate YouTube channel as well as special bonuses and unique immunity challenges. This has been dubbed the "Resolutions Era" and started with the season of the same name, Resolutions. This era also brought forth The Gauntlet Podcast, which is a series in collaboration with best friend Kat Mini.
=== Revival Era ===
==== Summary ====
The series was initially cancelled in November 2023. In reality, it was in the works of being rebooted after the disaster that was Mystery Island. On January 5, 2024, the official announcement was made that The Gauntlet was returning and the twelfth season, Y2K, would be commencing on March 1. The Revival Era consists of all the traits of the Resolutions Era but includes the move from Snapchat updates to updates now being on the new Instagram account. Casting was also made public throughout the US and Canada, due to the North American Numbering Plan.
==== New Judge System ====
Previously, artistic challenges were judged by a different group of people each challenge, with Ben always making the final call. Moving into the new era, this was changed. Each season would feature a different panel of judges, who will remain permanent for the full duration of the season. Individual guest judges may be brought in depending on the challenge given. For example, the first season to utilize this, Y2K, featured a permanent panel of three judges, with an extra special guest judge for three of the four artistic challenges. Gauntlet legends Emilee Dunham and Maddy Kearns helped bring this to fruition.
==== Pace Changes ====
The most important aspect of the update is the new pacing methods. Pacing is much slower, which in turn creates much longer seasons, but allows more participation no matter how busy schedules are. The pacing would speed up at final five to a challenge and tribal council every twenty four hours unless an outside interference occurred. It was sudden death and strain to show how bad some people really wanted the crown. These decisions were made with the help of Gauntlet icon and Second Chance winner Jessica Gillooly.
== Challenge Development ==
==== Creating & Hosting ====
Challenges are an essential element to The Gauntlet. Without them, the game literally would not exist. For the first season, challenges were limited but versatile. Everything was ran and managed by Ben the whole time. Many challenges were trivia games that were commonly played in both middle and high school, being Kahoot and GimKit. The latter was later discontinued due to connectivity issues, and was replaced by Blooket game-modes such as the Battle Royale, which was favored much more. Other games were simply hosted on the chat such as the Scavenger Hunt and the psychological challenge, RED/BLU. Challenges were very solid in New Beginnings, but not adequate as the Scavenger Hunt occurred twice. Some challenges were also reinvented from an ORG Ben competed in back in 2021, such as Greed and later Everybody Is Here, which was introduced in Brains vs. Brawn.
==== Personal Influence ====
Of course, his inflated ego has a strong grip on many of the challenges and their development. This is especially present in Celebrity Recognition, where a lot of icons being sent are some of his personal favorites. His strong appreciation of Lady Gaga resulted in the creation of InstaGaga, which is a speed challenge involving her Instagram page. Speaking of "Gauntlet Icons," Melotika's Cyber Party was a variation of Music Mania that took place in All Stars 2. Silky Nutmeg Ganache had the greatest impact, being a bonus character in Everybody Is Here and most importantly being the final image of the Silky Puzzle every single time. Other influence takes place as well, such as his love for certain mobile games like Photo Roulette and the short lived Massachusetts-New York fad that was I Want Watermelon. Bitmoji Party is another example of this before Snapchat shut it down and the challenge was marked as discontinued. Where U At? is particularly interesting as it is a speed challenge that exclusively features a Kenny McCormick plushie that Ben hides in certain photos. This does not end the influence strictly by Kenny as he made other prominent appearances such as being a bonus character in Everybody Is Here and an essential clue to others. Even if some challenges aren't directly inspired by Ben's personal life, naming is very frequently. That's Hot was easily taken from Paris Hilton while Style Savvy was named after one of his favorite video games. The most glaring example is Life Research. If the name was not evident enough, it is a mystery hunting challenge that involves contestants piecing together clues highlighted in documents from Ben's google drive in an effort to find a code hidden online. It's difficult makes it a challenge limited to All-Star seasons. Even if some of the challenges are under an influence, it doesn't make them any less effective nor any less fun!
== The Gauntlet Podcast ==
He had the idea of doing a Podcast for The Gauntlet. After proposing the idea to his best friend (at the time) Kat in February, the idea began to take shape. On February 11, 2023, the announcement of the upcoming series was made on the YouTube channel. All episodes would be released onto the same channel with a gif serving as a visual. On March 8, 2023, the first episode was released where Ben and Kat reflected on the eighth season. The episode was simply titled Resolutions. A week later, a two-parter episode was released featuring World Tour contestant Allyson Leary. Afterwards, the series went on a hiatus and is yet to return, but not officially discontinued. Most recording sessions took place in their high school's library, so progress took a hit as it was closed in early April.
== Personality Assessment ==
Basically, every single Personality Assessment question that has even been on an application, compiled into one.
* Favorite Color: Lavender
* Self-View: Beauty
* Favorite Aspect: Strategy & Votes
* New Years Resolution (2023): Nothing
* Favorite Day: Friday
* Favorite Beverage: Dr. Pepper
* Favorite TV Show: South Park
* Favorite Food: Salmon Sushi
* Favorite Store: Target
* Favorite Movie: Stalked by My Mother (2016)
* Favorite Celebrity: Lady Gaga
* Favorite Artist: Lady Gaga
* Favorite Album: ARTPOP (2013) / Born This Way (2011)
* Favorite Scent: Vanilla
== Promo Look History ==
File:Bensummer2022.jpg|Default (S1-S7)
File:Resopromo.JPG|Resolutions
File:Season9promo.jpg|Dynamic Duos
File:S10fakephoto.jpg|All Stars 2
File:Ben11.jpg|Mystery Island
File:S12benicon.jpg|Y2K
== Socials ==
* Instagram: @papertowelsben
*TikTok: @papertowelsben
* YouTube (Personal): @papertowelsben
* Youtube (Gauntlet): @The Gauntlet
Category:Hosts
Category:Local Celebrities