I have never been a fan of car racing, NASCAR or otherwise. But then again, I had never seen a race car (or a racetrack) in person before. When I went to the Walt Disney World Speedway for the first time to test the challenge, I had the incredible experience of seeing one of those incredible machines up close and personal. There is no way for me to describe the raw power harnessed under the hood of a NASCAR, but if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.
The racetrack challenge was a particular favorite of mine. When testing this challenge, it became apparent it was not going to be as easy as it might appear at first. Ok, fine, hitting a 400-yard drive might never seem easy. But the real obstacle on pit road was the definite “break” to the right, which meant that any ball that landed to the right of center without some degree of draw on it was going to bounce out of bounds. This became very evident when the players hit their shots. For me, the biggest surprise in this challenge (besides Kevin winning) was how many players came up less than ten yards short of the finish line. I guess next time we’ll make it a 390-yard driving challenge.
The look on Mike’s face when his brother Pat pulled up was priceless. And the interesting part was that it was actually Pat who called us about coming on the show. Obviously, it was great having him on, but the real surprise was when he showed up to the Magnolia course with his good friend and Tampa Bay Rays star Left Fielder Pat Burrell. It was a treat for everyone to have them on the set.
It’s interesting how some shows just seem to have all the right pieces fall into place. For this show, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Andrew was going to elimination. All the players wanted to see him go, and so when everyone ganged up on him during the B-R-E-A-K challenge, we all knew it was time to see how he would react under the pressure of elimination.
The biggest challenge we had with the elimination challenge turned out to be weather. All the shots were tested, and we determined each location was very fair given the size of the circle and the obstacles faced by the players. However, in between the fourth and fifth location, a huge downpour moved through the golf course and soaked the green. So after re-chalking the circle, we resumed the competition. As Vincent soon found out, the green was now very soft, and the players had a hard time controlling the spin from the 125-yard location. But of course, they were able to adjust by the next spot.
We are now over half-way through the season, and there is still some great golf left to be played. Thanks for watching!
