Look, Ma! I’m on TV. I mean, it’s my TV — but the point remains!
What’s in a nickname?
Apparently everything for the Texas Water Safari.
This 260-mile trek in the Lone Star State from San Marcos to Seadrift is affectionately dubbed “The World’s Toughest Canoe Race.” Each year hundreds of brave paddlers test their emotional, mental and physical fortitude in this truly life-changing event that gives contestants four days to complete the task.
Last summer I took part in the race as part of a British reality TV show called, “Go Hard or Go Home.” Now if you want to learn how I got involved, go ahead and check my enterprise work on the subject.
After months of wondering when the episode would air, it finally appeared on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on Jan. 27, 2014. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, I was able to have a full copy of the show just a few hours later.
It was the third episode in the series and each episode runs about 48 minutes. Most of it, as expected, is dedicated to those changing their lives training for the event, with the final 10 minutes centered around the actual event. Due to the fact that I joined the cast late — after one of the contestants failed a drug test (anabolic steroids) — my appearance lasted those 10 minutes, punctuated by a monologue in which I spoke the fateful words, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Needless to say, those words came back to bite me as I got well acquainted with a tree and capsized once on camera (many other times otherwise) going through a dangerous section of rapids. Perhaps the toughest aspect of it all was that I didn’t get to complete the challenge and had to pull out after 33 miles.
Truth be told, I should have asked, “What’s the best that could happen,” because that would have been more fitting. I got an experience that will last a lifetime, and this summer, I will return to the Texas Water Safari with a new teammate (possibly teammates) and finish the entire race.