Fat Guys in the Woods RRG episode airs this Sunday
Jul 23, 2015 13:42:58 GMT -5
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Post by Greg Stamper on Jul 23, 2015 13:42:58 GMT -5
Three area co-workers shine in Sunday’s Season 2 finale of ‘Fat Guys In the Woods’ on The Weather Channel
By Jill Whalen
Published: July 23, 2015
When three co-workers from DBi Services in Hazleton signed up for a chance to appear on The Weather Channel’s reality show, “Fat Guys In the Woods,” they didn’t expect to hear anything back.
“Really, it all started as a joke,” said Jim Larson of Ashley.
Three hours later, the trio was talking with producers. And before they knew it, Adam Dawson of Barnesville and Adam Coomer of Drums were headed to the Red River Gorge of eastern Kentucky where they would survive on sips of water siphoned from an algae-laden pond and pinches of millipede-like wood lice.
Over the next seven March days, they’d also have to build a shelter, start a fire and catch fish — and do it all with a major handicap.
Viewers can catch the episode — the show’s Season 2 finale — at 9 p.m. Sunday on The Weather Channel.
Although Coomer hunts and fishes, Larson and Dawson had mostly avoided the outdoors.
“I lived outside of Philadelphia for almost 20 years,” Dawson explained of his disconnect with nature.
But that’s the draw of the show: it takes Average Joes to extreme locales to test their survival skills. Host and survival expert Creek Stewart teaches the men, and had a number of intense challenges in store for the guys.
“Two hours into filming, we found out we had to rappel down a 200-foot cliff,” Coomer said. “And at the bottom of the cliff is where we found out that we would have to work with one arm for the week.”
Stewart spared no mercy when it came to the local guys.
“When they came up to me, I said, ‘Your week starts here and either you go over this cliff with me, or you go home,” Stewart said by telephone from Indiana. “And when you look over a cliff like that, it is terrifying. I thought for sure that one of them would be going home that morning. But they are friends, and I think that that helped them through it.”
The “friend” twist is new to the second season, and the show accepted applications from friends, co-workers and families. The local trio would later learn that more than 5,000 groups had applied.
And while all three were familiar with the prime time show, they had no idea that Stewart would order a sling for their left arms, and forbid them from using them for the rest of the week.
“This particular episode is a standout episode when it comes to extreme challenges. These guys just didn’t catch a break from the very beginning. I was pushing them with everything I had to see what they could get out of the experience,” Stewart said.
Having only three functional arms encouraged teamwork, Stewart said. But it also magnified the difficulty of just about everything. Building a shelter, for one, came with minor injuries.
“Jim (Larson) smacked each of us twice in the face with the ax,” Coomer said.
“It was a 5-pound ax that you’re trying to swing with one arm and hit a stake in the ground,” Larson argued.
“But all of us managed to do it without hurting anybody else – except for you. Twice,” Dawson said.
The guys finished the shelter — nicknamed “the funk bunker” — in about six hours.
Sleep came easily.
But food? That was another story.
Under Stewart’s tutelage, the trio makes traps for fish. They also ate wood lice after Stewart claimed the land crustaceans taste a bit like shrimp. Four months later, it’s still a touchy subject for Larson, who cringes when he thinks about the handful he shoved into his mouth.
“We also drank pond scum,” Coomer offered.
All three agreed that nothing was worse than trying to start a fire on the fifth night. It was frustrating, cold and coyotes roamed within earshot.
Through it all, Larson was the positive to Coomer’s negative. Dawson kept it together, acting like a father figure to his younger counterparts.
By week’s end, Coomer and Larson had lost a dozen pounds between them. Dawson dropped 22 pounds from his 6-foot, 7-inch frame.
Co-workers and friends have told the guys that they can’t wait to see the show, and based on the friends’ banter and humor, assume footage will be “hilarious,” Coomer said.
“We don’t know what they are going to show. They filmed us for six days and we did have a lot of fun,” Larson added. “But the show is kind of serious.”
Expect laughs, tears and everything in between, the guys said.
“Just being out there. It was an opportunity that none of us ever had before and never will again,” Larson said. “I think we all got an experience that we will never forget.”
jwhalen@standardspeaker.com
standardspeaker.com/community/three-area-co-workers-shine-in-sunday-s-season-2-finaleof-fat-guys-in-the-woods-on-the-weather-channel-1.1916199
timesleader.com/news/local/374818/in-focus-luzerne-county-fat-guys-find-out-there-is-more-to-survival-than-eating-bugs
By Jill Whalen
Published: July 23, 2015
When three co-workers from DBi Services in Hazleton signed up for a chance to appear on The Weather Channel’s reality show, “Fat Guys In the Woods,” they didn’t expect to hear anything back.
“Really, it all started as a joke,” said Jim Larson of Ashley.
Three hours later, the trio was talking with producers. And before they knew it, Adam Dawson of Barnesville and Adam Coomer of Drums were headed to the Red River Gorge of eastern Kentucky where they would survive on sips of water siphoned from an algae-laden pond and pinches of millipede-like wood lice.
Over the next seven March days, they’d also have to build a shelter, start a fire and catch fish — and do it all with a major handicap.
Viewers can catch the episode — the show’s Season 2 finale — at 9 p.m. Sunday on The Weather Channel.
Although Coomer hunts and fishes, Larson and Dawson had mostly avoided the outdoors.
“I lived outside of Philadelphia for almost 20 years,” Dawson explained of his disconnect with nature.
But that’s the draw of the show: it takes Average Joes to extreme locales to test their survival skills. Host and survival expert Creek Stewart teaches the men, and had a number of intense challenges in store for the guys.
“Two hours into filming, we found out we had to rappel down a 200-foot cliff,” Coomer said. “And at the bottom of the cliff is where we found out that we would have to work with one arm for the week.”
Stewart spared no mercy when it came to the local guys.
“When they came up to me, I said, ‘Your week starts here and either you go over this cliff with me, or you go home,” Stewart said by telephone from Indiana. “And when you look over a cliff like that, it is terrifying. I thought for sure that one of them would be going home that morning. But they are friends, and I think that that helped them through it.”
The “friend” twist is new to the second season, and the show accepted applications from friends, co-workers and families. The local trio would later learn that more than 5,000 groups had applied.
And while all three were familiar with the prime time show, they had no idea that Stewart would order a sling for their left arms, and forbid them from using them for the rest of the week.
“This particular episode is a standout episode when it comes to extreme challenges. These guys just didn’t catch a break from the very beginning. I was pushing them with everything I had to see what they could get out of the experience,” Stewart said.
Having only three functional arms encouraged teamwork, Stewart said. But it also magnified the difficulty of just about everything. Building a shelter, for one, came with minor injuries.
“Jim (Larson) smacked each of us twice in the face with the ax,” Coomer said.
“It was a 5-pound ax that you’re trying to swing with one arm and hit a stake in the ground,” Larson argued.
“But all of us managed to do it without hurting anybody else – except for you. Twice,” Dawson said.
The guys finished the shelter — nicknamed “the funk bunker” — in about six hours.
Sleep came easily.
But food? That was another story.
Under Stewart’s tutelage, the trio makes traps for fish. They also ate wood lice after Stewart claimed the land crustaceans taste a bit like shrimp. Four months later, it’s still a touchy subject for Larson, who cringes when he thinks about the handful he shoved into his mouth.
“We also drank pond scum,” Coomer offered.
All three agreed that nothing was worse than trying to start a fire on the fifth night. It was frustrating, cold and coyotes roamed within earshot.
Through it all, Larson was the positive to Coomer’s negative. Dawson kept it together, acting like a father figure to his younger counterparts.
By week’s end, Coomer and Larson had lost a dozen pounds between them. Dawson dropped 22 pounds from his 6-foot, 7-inch frame.
Co-workers and friends have told the guys that they can’t wait to see the show, and based on the friends’ banter and humor, assume footage will be “hilarious,” Coomer said.
“We don’t know what they are going to show. They filmed us for six days and we did have a lot of fun,” Larson added. “But the show is kind of serious.”
Expect laughs, tears and everything in between, the guys said.
“Just being out there. It was an opportunity that none of us ever had before and never will again,” Larson said. “I think we all got an experience that we will never forget.”
jwhalen@standardspeaker.com
standardspeaker.com/community/three-area-co-workers-shine-in-sunday-s-season-2-finaleof-fat-guys-in-the-woods-on-the-weather-channel-1.1916199
timesleader.com/news/local/374818/in-focus-luzerne-county-fat-guys-find-out-there-is-more-to-survival-than-eating-bugs