One final thought enters my head as I start towards the stairs, “Don’t trip, don’t trip!” My friends who have been on the show told me that you don’t want the first thing everyone sees is you tripping up the stairs. You’ll be embarrassed and it will set you up for a bad run. As I reached the top of the stairs, I jogged up on the main platform and the lights hit my face. I rip my shirt off and throw it to the side. Just so you’re aware, I did not go shirtless as soon as I got on camera. I had a lot of confidence at the time but not that much. I was wearing two shirts. One reason why is because it kept me warm. The other reason was because my producer told me to take off one shirt which was my “alternate colors” to reveal my main red and green shirt. I also took my glasses off and ran up to the star on the ground and looked to my left and saw all my exhausted friends and family who waited up for me all night long. Filled with adrenaline, I wave to them and run up to the start platform. It was a red platform with a trampoline waiting for me at the end of it. To my right, I hear a producer count me down, “three, two, one, go.”
All nerves fade away as I let out a roaring “Come on!” Then took off straight to the trampoline and started my run. Even though it was in the temperature was in the 40s everything was going to plan. I grabbed the pole with a firm grip. Quickly I spun around and climbed to the top of the pole as it tipped over to the end platform. I let my feet hang to spot my landing and took off, climbing up the blocks leading to the second obstacle. Many people had failed this obstacle, but I was feeling confident. When I got to the top of the blocks, I reached up and grabbed the nun chucks and immediately panic. They were soaking wet. My heart sank. I fumbled with them to try and get a half decent grip before going. After a few seconds I realized I was taking too long and just had to go for it. My grip was terrible, and I knew it was unlikely that I would clear this obstacle. I push off the blocks and by the time the I got to the first drop my hands slipped to the bottom. The second obstacle was immediately after, and I go flying down towards the water.
Everything I ever wanted literally just slipped out of my hands. You can only imagine how I felt. My whole life dreaming of one moment. Years of training for this very show just to let it end in seven seconds. I let everything I ever wanted slip out of the palms of my hands in a short seven seconds. The lucky number seven will now haunt me for years.
Red lights surround me marking the end of my run. I walk to the side of the pool with all the cameras in pure shock and disappointment in what just happened. I literally have never failed a course that fast. Cameras rush over to me as I still try to process the fact that I’m already in the water. Although I am upset, I put a smile on my face to try and convince myself that it’s ok. There wasn’t anything I could do. I gave it everything I had but it wasn’t enough. As I climbed out of the pool, I was asked what happened and I was given a towel. I wrap the towel around my shoulders and told them that I just couldn’t find my grip and I knew I couldn’t wait any longer because I didn’t want to sike myself out. I also told them I was happy for the opportunity, and they escorted me back to the competitor tent. My story producer came running over as I was walking back, and she wanted to make sure I was ok because she knew I should’ve done better based on what she’s seen from me. I told her that I was perfectly fine, and I wanted to go to my parents to let them know I was ok.
After meeting with my parents and hanging around them for a while, they decide to go back to the hotel, and I make my way to the competitor tent to dry up and warm up.
Not even thirty minutes later the producers “take lunch” but that’s not before telling us that they are doing re-runs again and I was going to be one of the first ones to go. Lunch break is only an hour so that’s how much time I have to get everyone back home to get everyone back together, make sure they log back on to the virtual sidelines, and get my parents back on set. My dad told me to focus on preparing myself and he would handle getting everyone back. I only brought one pair of red socks and my compression pants were soaked. There was no way I was running in wet socks, so I change them for a blue pair which didn’t match my outfit but that didn’t matter. I didn’t care about running in wet pants, but I changed to my other red and green shirt and thankfully I had an extra pair of shoes to wear.
The hour goes by, and everyone is ready to go. My friends are online waiting and my parents to my knowledge are there. I watch the guy before me clear the second obstacle, so I know something changed and it was a good change. The producers told me to just run to the red platform and wait for them to give me the countdown. The only thing going through my head was “Take two! Show them what you got!” By God’s grace I was given a second chance. I couldn’t let that go to waste. “Three, two, one, go.”
All thoughts leave my head. I had pure tunnel vision. The light, cameras, and audience all disappeared from my vision. The first obstacle went just as smooth as before. I spun around to the opposite direction as I did in the previous run, but it was clean. My heart was beating out of my chest as I climbed back up the boxes to the nun chucks. I was out for vengeance. There was no way I would fail the same obstacle two times in a row. Not in front of the whole world. I reached up for the nun chucks and as soon as I felt a huge sense of relief go through my chest. It felt like they wrapped skateboarding grip tape around it. This time I got a firm grip on it and launched off the platform. Back-to-back drops and my hands stayed in one spot. I slide to the end of the track and threw as hard as I could towards the dismount platform. My body rotated in midair to land as forwards as possible. As I neared the dismount, I tried to get my feet on the platform, but my first foot missed, and my heart sank. For a split second I thought I underthrew the dismount. Thankfully, my second foot hit the platform and I pushed myself up quickly to get both feet secured on the platform. Overfilled with excitement I let out a victorious roar. Locking back in I dash through the four horizontal spinning logs. Knowing I needed to pick up the pace I run immediately into the fourth obstacle. This one was very technical. It was all about hand eye coordination. I was on this paper airplane looking thing. You go from the nose of the paper airplane which is bouncing on bungees to the outer wings. Then you have to throw yourself to a small triangle piece on the back side. In the middle of the obstacle there is a bar suspended by bungees which drops super close to the water when you grab it. I had to watch out for my feet while I was swinging on it. I built up a massive swing that was way too big for where I was going. I hopped from the bar to another small triangle. The next move made me throw form the small triangle to an under grab to the wide triangle. Once I threw myself over the wall onto the dismount, I let out another roar. At that point I was able to see how long I’ve been on the course. Only 45 seconds. It definitely didn’t feel that long. The coldness starts creeping into my body. I take a quick rest to catch my breath. Only one more obstacle before my very first buzzer! The fifth obstacle was called the cubes. The Cubes resembled a two-by-two Rubik’s cube. Mind you, I have never been able to solve one of those. Today was going to be the day I was going to solve them. There were three cubes and they each had one move to make to lock them in place. I jump up to the first cube and made my way into position. Quickly I realized that I didn’t plan this obstacle very well because I couldn’t find the hand position that I wanted. I start to panic so I quickly launch myself to the second cube. That was the easy one. It spun on the bottom side and locked in with no issue. The buzzer was finally in view. Joy filled my body as I throw myself to the final cube. My hands got into the slots with ease but I forgot about one thing. The left side of the cube tilts down. Without me being prepared for the tilt my hands slip off the ledges and I plummet down towards the water.
The red lights surround me as my run ends once again. Excited and proud of how far I got, I throw me hands up and shout one last time. Freezing, I hurry out of the water and get another towel. As I was putting the towel around me, I tell the cameras that was so much fun and walked back to the tent.
It didn’t hit me until later that night that my season was over.
My final placement was 6th out of 30, which put me in a qualifying position to move on to the semifinals. They filmed that the next day. Although I don’t have time to talk about it, you can click this link to watch my run against the veteran Brett Sims.