INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

The Grueling ‘American Grit’ Challenge Will Bring Competitors To Their Knees

By Charlinda Robinson
Published on: 06:33 PST, Apr 9, 2016

The new series, American Grit, gives eight men and eight women a chance to push themselves both physically and mentally, and to experience what it’s like to be part of an elite team like the Navy SEALs or the Army Rangers. Zap2It shared that the Reality TV Competition genre as a whole is about to be taken to an entirely new level with American Grit.

American Grit executive producer and host John Cena states in a sneak-peek clip that the show is about perseverance, courage, determination, and team work.

“The more successful you are as a team, the more successful you have a chance to be as an individual,” Cena says.

American Grit was filmed in the Washington State wilderness, and four teams will compete against each other in a wide variety of challenges based on actual military training exercises. The training they will endure during the American Grit challenge is so tough that it is guaranteed to break participants.

Each American Grit team will be mentored by former military members from the Navy SEALs, Marines, Army, and the Army Rangers. The goal of keeping their American Grit team intact and functioning all the way through to the end will be their biggest challenge.

Rorke Denver is a former commander of the Navy SEALs, and he was an assault team leader in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in both East and West Africa. From there, he was later involved in training other SEALs until he closed out his active-duty career. He feels that his job on American Grit will be to motivate and inspire his team, and believes the winner of the competition will be someone who is determined to never quit.

Tee Hanible (gunnery sergeant) served in the Marines, and was one of the first females to be deployed to Iraq. She wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself, and wanted to see the world and to travel, but was looking for a challenge at the same time. For her, joining the Marines gave her everything that she was looking for. She hopes to bring a sense of cohesion, helping the participants to establish what it means to be part of a team.

Noah Galloway (sergeant) served in the 101st Division as an Army infantry soldier. In 2005, he hit a trip wire and woke up six days later. He lost his left arm above the elbow and his left leg above the knee. He believes that even if someone is in excellent physical shape, but that their mind is weak, then they won’t be able to go the full distance. He will be working to make sure his American Grit team pushes themselves to see just what they’re made of.

Nick Irving (sergeant), is also known as “The Reaper” and shares in a video clip that he was a sniper team leader with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He originally wanted to become a Navy SEAL, but was unable to join their ranks since he is color blind. Fortunately, the Army picked him up and he became a Ranger. He feels that he will be bringing valuable experience to his American Grit team. Like Galloway, he believes that the person with the strongest mindset will come out on top of the American Grit challenge.

All the American Grit challenges are designed with the idea of working together as a team in mind. The eight men and eight women that make up the four teams will need to use every ounce of their strength and endurance to complete each challenge, and to push through the pain and self-doubt.

“The thing that I clung onto is the 16 that were chosen, although very different, had one common thread,” host John Cena says. “Their statement when given a challenge is ‘I will never quit. I will never give up'” The WWE superstar then adds, “‘American Grit’ is going to test that resolve.”

The American Grit teams will be put through different “evolutions” which is a Navy SEAL term for difficult training exercises. These are exercises no team wants to lose because if they do, they are sent off to an event called “The Circus.” They then must go through a series of physical obstacles and eventually end up participating in an endurance test which goes on until one person ends the test by walking away.

If someone decides they cannot continue the American Grit challenge, they must ring a giant bell just as they do in the Navy SEALs, notifying everyone that they are finished. Keeping each and every team member is important because as a unit, each team has the potential to win up to a million dollars, and that breaks down to $250,000 per competitor on the winning team. American Grit is different from other competition shows because in order to be successful, these competitors must do their best to help each other and to work together as a complete team.

Will you be checking out this new show? Leave your thoughts, comments and opinions below. American Grit premieres on Thursday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

[Image via American Grit/Facebook]

Share this article: The Grueling ‘American Grit’ Challenge Will Bring Competitors To Their Knees
John Cena
More from Inquisitr