Ryan Metivier says there are people who likely think he was crazy for building an obstacle course in his front yard.

But that’s OK with him, especially since he might someday be known as the guy who won a lot of money because he built an obstacle course in his front yard.

Metivier, a 41-year-old chiropractor from Auburn, will be seen competing for $10,000 Sunday on a TV show called “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge.” The episode airs at 10 p.m. on the cable network CMT, and is hosted by TV wrestling star “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Each episode features eight men, or women, competing against one another in a series of physical challenges, including an obstacle course that changes with each show.

Metivier can’t say how he’ll do on Sunday’s episode, which was filmed in September in California. But he can talk about some of the physical challenges he had to tackle. In one segment, he had to carry 70-pound sandbags on his back while wading down a man-made river, then climb out and heave the bags over a wall. He was racing against another competitor, to see who could get all their sandbags tossed over the wall first.

“Once they get wet, those sandbags weigh about 120 pounds,” said Metivier.

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Some of the challenges on the show include hand-to-hand combat, with competitors trying to run various kinds of races while wrestling each other out of the way.

“All the challenges are pretty bare-bones and hard, nothing super technical,” said Metivier. “They change all the time. You don’t know what you’re going to face until you get there.”

Out of each field of eight competitors, one winner goes on to compete in the obstacle course against the winner from the previous episode. Whoever wins the obstacle course race, with the fastest time, gets $10,000.

Metivier, an endurance runner who has competed in several marathons, became enamored of obstacle course racing a few years ago while watching the NBC show “American Ninja Warrior” with his son and daughter. That show features athletes climbing ropes, jumping over walls, balancing on beams, and falling a lot.

He applied to be on that show, but got turned down.

Metivier and some friends even built an obstacle course in his front yard, to practice on. It’s got a dozen or so obstacles including a 14-foot wall, a rock-climbing area, and various kinds of monkey bars to swing from.

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“It kind of sticks out in the neighborhood,” said Metivier.

After being turned down by “American Ninja Warrior,” Metivier started looking for other obstacle course shows to apply for. Now he hopes the producers of “American Ninja Warrior” might see him on “Broken Skull Challenge” and give him another shot.

“I would watch (“American Ninja Warrior”) with my kids and thought it would be cool if they could see their dad doing that,” said Metivier.

Another Mainer, Jodi Theriault of Gray, was on “Broken Skull Challenge” in February. She finished out of the money after one episode. But the producers of another physical challenge show, History network’s “The Selection: Special Operations Experiment,” saw her and gave her a call. That show doesn’t have any prize money and is not a competition. She began appearing in the current season of the “The Selection” in December.

But Metivier is hoping he can win some money on “Broken Skull Challenge.” If he does, he says he’ll open an obstacle course racing gym in the Lewiston-Auburn area, so others who share his passion can come and work out and have fun.

And then people will see he wasn’t so crazy for building an obstacle course in his front yard after all.

 

 


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