A Man of True Courage: Angel Juarbe, Jr., of ‘Murder in Small Town X’

If you aren’t a longtime reality TV buff, you might not even remember Fox’s Murder in Small Town X, commonly abbreviated by fans as “MiSTX,” a show that aired in the summer of 2001. The premise was that the players, led and hosted by former police investigator Gary Fredo, had to follow clues to figure out who in the small town of Sunrise, Maine, was killing off the other citizens.

In this scenario, the players were brought in as outside detectives and the murderer informed them through a videotape he sent that he would play a game with them. He identified himself as one of 15 possible suspects. Every few days, he sent a red envelope containing a question about the investigation. If the group answered it correctly, one of the 15 suspects was cleared. But he also sent a black envelope listing two locations. One of those locations provided an important clue to the killer’s identity. The other led to the killer himself, waiting in ambush to execute the player. Each week, a Lifeguard was selected (by the last person “killed”) to direct the investigation and also pick one of the two players who would go to the locations described in the black envelope; the other person was selected by a group vote.

The winner would be the one who chose the right killer at the end, when only two investigators remained. That person would win $250,000.

Despite the fact that MiSTX seemed to have a number of dedicated fans, the show only aired for one season, with the winner being Angel Juarbe, Jr. But while he made it through fake murders unscathed, he was killed in an all too real moment, before he could even collect his winnings, when he went – in his real job as a New York City fireman – into the World Trade Center as part of the rescue on September 11, 2001.

Certainly every rescue worker who gave his or her life deserves recognition for that. But as this is the Hall of Fame specifically for reality TV, it is appropriate to note that Angel played the game in much the same way as he died – by helping others.

During the game, Angel showed himself to be a kind and caring individual – and an intelligent one. A few examples:

• Early in the game, players were told that if they were ever alone, they might be killed by the murderer. This was meant to scare the players and keep them together. Indeed, in just the second episode, Angel was left with fellow contestant Andy in a cemetery, guarding a grave that had been dug up. The local police officer character came to tell them that he was concerned about the safety of another grave and wanted to take one of them with. But wait – what about the warning that players who were alone could be killed? Angel told Andy to be strong and explained to him that he had to conquer his fear – and then went off with the “officer.” Neither was killed, but we saw a side of Angel that told us his feelings about facing fear head-on and not giving in.
• Although he originally was not one of her biggest fans, Angel managed to get along with the infamous Kristen – the show’s designated bitch – who was so disliked that she was sent to play the killer’s game five times in six episodes until she finally stopped coming back. But when Angel went on an investigation with her, he told her that he didn’t want to be a part of the negativity that was sweeping through the team. According to host Gary Fredo in an interview with RealityNewsOnline, Kristen’s response upon learning how everybody felt was to ask Angel how she could change. The two of them stuck together from that point until she was “killed.”
• On another investigation when Angel was with Kristen, they were supposed to train for a cold water dive. Kristen, however, felt claustrophobic in the suit. So Angel did the mission by himself and made sure to let her know that she would always be a part of the team.
• Also in the aforementioned interview, Fredo said he was lucky to be able to call Angel a friend. He further talked about how Angel had a very caring quality about him. While some of the other players had problems dealing with each other, Angel stood out as being somebody who was the exception. He kept the cohesion of the team.
• Numerous times, Angel was the one who came up with the correct answer to the killer’s question, thus allowing them to eliminate a suspect. This showed that not only was he a good at the politics of the game – he was never selected to play the killer’s game – but that he was also smart enough to follow the clues and answer the questions posed in the mystery portion of the game.

Angel had actually picked out the killer as early as the third episode, and he held to that until the very last minute, when the producers fed the Final 2 with a completely misleading clue that sent both of them in the other direction. Because both could not pick the same suspect, Angel ended up back with his original suspect – the villain of the story – by default. However, the fact of the matter remains that if the producers had not given them such a horribly ill-conceived clue that they had no way of interpreting the way producers did, he would have stayed with that suspect anyway.

More importantly than how he won, though, was that while he was on the show, he talked about courage several times. There he was discussing courage in the face of a make-believe murderer. That particular courage earned him a prize of $250,000 plus a car – neither of which he actually had a chance to enjoy. But when it really counted, he proved that same courage in the face of all-too-real murderers. For that, he lost his life, but he may have saved countless others.

Just one week after the game was over and Angel had been crowned the winner, but before he had even gotten his check for the win, two planes were flown into the World Trade Center. Angel was among the heroic rescue workers to respond to the attack. Ironically, the finale for MiSTX had originally been scheduled for that very evening of September 11, but had been pushed up to the 4th.

At around noon on that day, MiSTX message boards began having posts showing concern for Angel, with the focus first aimed at whether or not his unit would have even been called to the building. Soon people realized that he had, indeed, been on the scene.

It may seem odd to worry about what people on message boards were saying as part of a Hall of Fame induction, however, Angel became something of a symbol for people who otherwise did not have any direct connections to people in New York. Viewers felt like they knew him after having watched him week after week. So when he was reported missing, everybody who had seen the show felt that much closer to the tragedy.

People followed the news on message boards, hoping against hope that he would somehow walk out of the rubble. But it didn’t happen. Hours turned into days; days turned into weeks. It became clear that Angel had not survived.

However, as more news trickled out, we did find out just how he died as a friend of his related information to the MiSTX message board. He was in Ladder Company 12, which arrived shortly after the first tower fell. The second tower was still standing and Angel and his fellows entered a hotel connected to the WTC. They made their way up the hotel, escorting people down to safety as they went.

When his team was on the 14th floor, the call went out to evacuate. As they made their way down, the building began to lose structural integrity. At about the fourth floor, the stairs began to collapse. The only way down was going to be to rappel, but they had left their rope earlier in order to free themselves up for rescue operations. Angel was among those who volunteered to go retrieve the rope, and back up the stairs they went. On the way up, Angel radioed in about another firefighter who needed assistance.

Then the North tower collapsed. Those who were stranded on the fourth floor, waiting for Angel to return with rope, survived. But Angel and the other fireman who had been trying to help them were killed.

It was not until November 28 that Angel’s remains were found among the ruins of the Mariott Hotel. On December 1, they were laid to rest.

On September 27, 2002, the mayor of New York signed a bill naming 81 streets after heroes who died on September 11, 2001. One of those avenues, in The Bronx, was named for Firefighter Angel Luis Juarbe, Jr.

Angel Juarbe was a good man, a heroic man, a humble man, a courageous man, and much more. It is an honor to bestow upon him an induction into the Reality TV Hall of Fame.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Fame, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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