Fitness trainer competes in TV 'Challenge'
FREEPORT — A Freeport area man will be one of eight competitors testing their strength, stamina and endurance in the newest round of “Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge” airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on the CMT cable network.
Bobby Woods, 33, a 6-foot-3-inch, 230-pound fitness trainer, went head to head with other hopefuls in contests with names such as “Rip Off,” “Loaded” and “Dead Weight” for the right to be the sole contestant to take on the ½-mile-long obstacle course, the “Skullbuster,” and a chance to win $10,000.
“Broken Skull Challenge” is a reality competition show. Each episode sees contestants go head-to-head until the last man or woman standing earns the right to take on the “Skullbuster.”
Austin has said “Challenge,” which debuted on CMT in June 2014, is a “bust ass show” for regular and hard-core athletes to prove in front of the world that they're tough.
“ It has done well and returned this January stronger than ever. The premiere had nearly 2 million viewers and a record-setting debut with a .51 rating among men 18 to 49 and a .46 rating among adults 18 to 49,” said Sarah Mooney of CMT corporate communications. “The show also just picked up its first Directors Guild of America Award for outstanding direction in the reality programs category.”
“It was just a show I watched with my wife. This is what we like to do. This is the type of training we enjoy,” said Woods, who graduated from Freeport High School in 2001, the same year he was state champion in the 110-meter hurdles.
Woods went on to play football at West Virginia University until he had to give up a scholarship when his father went to jail and he had to provide for his siblings.
“My dad was incarcerated. As a result, I gave up my college football career at the time to come home and be supportive of the family,” he said.
Woods later played for Edinboro University until a shoulder injury ended his football career.
Today, Woods works as a program manager for Kaplan Test Prep and as a personal trainer at Body Revolution in Freeport with his wife, Lindsey.
“Steve Austin ends every show by calling out the audience to go to the website and apply to compete,” he said.
“I did, and they asked for some photos and profiles. A couple of months later I got a phone call,” he said which led to video submissions, more phone calls and Skype interviews.
Woods said the audition involved “a really long process.”“They started with 12,000 people and in five months they got it down to 12,” said Woods. “We were flown to Los Angeles, and the final eight were picked after evaluations of our physical abilities and personalities.”Woods said the eight contestants were a mixture of body builders and arena football, rugby and CrossFit athletes.“There was a lot of military backgrounds on top of that,” Woods said, adding the field was all males between 215 and 235 pounds.Woods, who signed a nondisclosure agreement, couldn't talk about specific physical challenges he faced in the head-to-head competition.“I would just say as a general statement what was challenging and humbling was the caliber of the athletes and the toughness of the competition,” said Woods. The competition was filmed last summer.Being on the television show filled a need he had for competition, he said. “I always wondered if I had continued my career at WVU. This was to remind myself that I was capable of making it as far as I did,” Woods said.Steve “Stone Cold” Austin, six-time World Wrestling Federation champion and 2003 WWE Hall of Fame inductee, hosts the show. Although the show is taped outside of Los Angeles, CMT said the outdoor scenes are designed to look like Austin's actual Broken Skull Ranch near Tilden in South Texas.“He was a real gentleman,” Woods said of Austin. “He was always intense. I thought it was part of his wrestling persona, but he's that way all the time.”Using his knowledge of the “Broken Skull Challenge,” Woods has created a class for his clients that replicates what you would face in the Skullbuster.Woods said that while he and his wife and two daughters will be watching Sunday, there won't be any watch parties.“I don't want to make too big a deal of it, “ he said.“I have no regrets. I think the experience was a bit surreal at times. You don't really think about what you are getting into. It could set you up for humiliation,” said Woods. “But I was happy with my effort, and I'm thinking it was an awesome experience.”
