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| IG @PaulCalafiore_ |
It was in 2018 that MTV's The Challenge decided to dramatically expand upon its list of probably competitors with which to choose. And the first inklings of what would eventually become the reunited ViacomCBS came when former houseguests of CBS' Big Brother came onto Vendettas and then to the first season of the U.S. version of Ex On The Beach. There, the show that defines summer for every reality TV fan in America has gotten to expand its reach beyond those 100 days in publicized quarantine life in having to made a huge impact on The Challenge, whether you like it or not.
There's little doubt that the ringleader of Big Brother's MTV invasion is Paulie Calafiore of Season 18, who arrived in Hawaii for EOTB USA and then flew over to South Africa where he made it all the way to the end on Final Reckoning, and then again to the War of the Worlds II final. It would've been three straight appearances in the two-day marathon for the cash had he not faltered in the last elimination on the first WOTW season just as he did getting hurt in the Thailand heat. And of course, he found something he didn't get in the EOTB mansion: true love with Cara Maria.
Last summer & fall he watched his older brother Cody win Big Brother All-Stars after being on Season 16 two years prior to him moving into the famed summer house... and now Paulie is eyeing something even bigger than going for $1 million on a reality game show. And last month, he began his quest to follow in the footsteps of a few of his contemporaries and the headlining rookie of Double Agents into uncharted waters for anyone who's been on The Challenge but something as grand: the Olympic world.
In the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York lies a tiny village town known as Lake Placid, founded in the early 19th century as part of plans to develop iron ore mining but would later be where slaves called home. But by the turn of the century, the wealthy would turn this village into a resort town where winter sports and outdoor activity would give this place of roughly 2,000 residents its identity as a place of escape for many, and eventually become the epicenter for the development of American winter sport and its growth to becoming a leading powerhouse.
The backdrop of the Lake Placid Olympics were set in stone just a few months before the cauldron was lit when Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan, and prompting the U.S. and President Jimmy Carter to lead a massive boycott of eighty nations who didn't attend the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. It would then be followed later by the roles being reversed when Los Angeles hosted the '84 Olympiad, and the Soviets led a revenge boycott being joined by their Eastern European counterparts near what would turn out to be the end of the decades-long Cold War.
It was amidst that backdrop that, on a late February Friday night in 1980 in a tiny arena and on a sheet of ice, a squad of Soviet pro hockey players faced a team of fresh-faced college kids for what would become the singular moment of the 20th Century in American sport. A tense game that was perfectly set against the backdrop of the high stakes of the moment would produce a memory stuck in time and remembered forever: Team USA upsetting the Soviets 4-3 en route to winning an unlikely Olympic gold medal, and the call of the "Miracle on Ice" by Al Michaels still radiates today.
A standout in this set of world-class facilities at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Center is the bobsled run on Mt. Van Hoevenberg, built for the '32 Games where Eddie Eagan became the only Olympian ever to win gold medals at both summer and winter Games. When it debuted, the course took a more treacherous approach than what was offered in Europe at the time, offering longer and steeper dives and producing faster speeds for the sleds of the day that were anything but the technological machines of today. The run was redesigned two times to its current state of hosting not only bobsleigh, but also luge and skeleton as part of both the Olympic Training Center and the legacy of the '80 Games, also receiving National Historic Landmark status.
While we've been watching Total Madness and Double Agents without his presence, Paulie has spent the past year preparing himself for the tall task of fulfilling just as impossible a dream as when Lolo Jones first took up bobsleigh: a chance to compete for the U.S. bobsled team for the upcoming 2021-22 winter sports season and have a shot to make the Olympic team for the Beijing Winter Games of next year. Those who have followed his Instagram account have seen his three-month journey to get into tip-top shape to be a push athlete behind the quarterbacks of any sled in this team sport: the drivers.
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| IG @PaulCalafiore_ |
The COVID pandemic that caused the Tokyo Olympics to be pushed back and opened the spot for Lolo to compete on Double Agents also gave Paulie a fit when it came to training as gyms across this country where temporarily shuttered to curb the spread. And having to work out from home forced him to hire a strengthening coach, nutritionist and a team of specialists to put him into the same mode as other fellow aspiring Olympians and those who have competed on the global stage at the Games, world championships and World Cup events... a far different animal compared to training for The Challenge.
TMZ's story lists his training regimen of a couple hours' daily sessions testing virtual mobility, flexibility, strength training and sprinting (especially with the ladder where a strong start is needed for any sled to excel in any given run), and a strict diet of 5,000 calories. With respect to social distancing and similar to what's been the case with prospects for this year's NFL Draft, Paul took part in a virtual combine last fall before heading up to the Northeast... and after he had been passed over to join Cody in the Big Brother All-Stars house.
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| IG @PaulCalafiore_ |
In mid-March, while at the same track that Americans have trained on and the world's best compete every year on the World Cup circuit, Paulie had a chance to finally take for a ride in the four-man sled -. He began learning with how to load onto the sled before jumping into those and going for that 80 mile-per-hour joyride through the many twists and turns of a track that measures almost a full mile in length with twenty turns for which to navigate for sleds, and a vertical drop of 420 feet on a 10% grade from the start house up top to the finish line at the bottom.
It was during these training sessions that Paulie shared two multiple pic & video posts on Instagram where he got a first sampling of the kind of facilities he will have to contend with if the selectors choose him to be on the 2021-22 national team, and thus be considered for the Beijing Winter Games... and he also donned the Team USA uniform which, in the case of the bobsledders, happens to be designed by the same company behind the uniforms of The Challenge, apparel trend-setter Under Armour. He captioned, "Very grateful to be meeting some dope @$$ individuals always hyping up the rookies on their runs down and helping with the crash course in learning every this week."
When Paulie posted the two above posts on Instagram in mid-March while most American sports fans were fixated on dusting offer their March Madness brackets after the two-years' break, he got plenty of love from Challenge Nation and a few of his Big Brother alumni, led by his ride or die...
• @misscaramaria: Im the most excited superfan around. So happy to see you in uniform doing what you are made for 👏😍 real times, real athletes, real life! Its making my heart swell with pride and happiness!!!!! Team Usa the way you were meant to play! Im so so so proud. Thats my man! I be cheering you on wherever life leads you ❤️🇺🇸
• @corywharton_ig: Awwww soooo fuckin bad ass though tell me you don’t watch cool runnings before you go lol 😂
• @jordan_wiseley: Holy shit Batman! Looking FLY bro! GET IT BIG DAWWWG!!! 🇺🇸
• @turabi: 🙌🙌🙌🙌👏👏👏😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
• @derricklevasseur: LFG! So sick bro! Proud of you!
• @themarklong: Yes!!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
• @bayydayy: This is soooo awesome !! 👏🏾
• @mar8e: 👏👏👏👏
• @jozeaofficial: 🔥🔥
• @josh_martinez_: 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
• @iammikeyp: Crush it brotha!!
• @kayleighmariemorrisx: Feel the rhythm 🔥🔥🔥🔥😂
• @idrisvirgo: 🙌🙌👏
• @emilylongeretta: 🙌🙌🙌
• @amberborzotra: Yesssss so proud of you!!! Let’s goooo!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
• @jqskim: Epic af I wanna go@down at least 2 times please hahah
• @imdroc15: 🔥🔥🔥
• @natalienegrotti: FUCK YESSSS LET’S GO PARTNA OMG I’M SO PROUDDD
• @brettferri: this is fuckin awesome. get it big hoss!!!
• @cclemmentine: 👏👏
• @its_danibri: Yasssss!!
• @mtv_amanda: Proud of you bro!!!! Kill it! 🔥
• @kingfaithhope: Sooo dope
• @jossmooney: Sanka? Ya dead?
• @bradfiorenza: Nice work fam!! 🇺🇸 🙌
• @iamkamiam_: Yesssss Paulieee🔥🔥🔥
• @jenngeoghan: omg i know a guy on the team! well used to be idk if he still is haha so cool hope you kick some ass!!!
• @shaunt: 👏👏👏👏👏
• @anaiszanotti: Looking good 🙌
• @memphisgarrett: So fucking rad
If The Challenge would truly be taken seriously by more fans as America's fifth major pro sport as so many of us who watch the show think of ahead of UFC, NASCAR, soccer and other things - and provided that it is not derailed by yesterday's news of a possible boycott, then the realistic chance of not one but four past Challenge alumni competing at the same Winter Olympics next year would certainly vault the exposure of this show deeper into American consciousness -- and not just because of the love it's garnered lately when, a year ago this month, it had the sporting stage all to itself.
Paulie might be considered perhaps the ultimate rebel in the recent crop of Challengers to come on in the past few years. It is certainly evidenced in two finals appearances, the reputation he's garnered on there & his Big Brother season in between his debut season on Ex On The Beach, and him also being as athletic as he is going back to his soccer days at Rutgers. But the sport he is trying out for perhaps might be just perfect for him even if he would be competing in a supporting role: bobsleigh is a sport that's certainly not for the faint hearted as one of the fastest & most dangerous in the whole Olympic slate.
We all know that Paulie went for broke in that last pre-final challenge on War of the Worlds and paid the price for it. But in a sport when you ride in a sled with three others and where the objective is to put up the fastest time, you pretty much have to go for it in every run... it's most especially true when you have to be on your A-game for four runs over two days and with gold, silver and bronze medals at stake. If he does make the national bobsleigh team and then gets chosen by that well of worthy competitors, it's not just Challenge Nation that will be tuned in to watch him compete next February... the whole world will be joining in, too.
- I AM DC
#DCBLOG
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