Constable: Wheaton man takes on 'Broken Skull'
A top wrestler and football linebacker during his school years, Todd Carroll missed that physical competition when he became a working adult. Especially when he found himself sitting behind a desk.
“I was in investment consulting, and I hated it,” says Carroll, now 27 and living in Wheaton. Gravitating back to his love of physical challenges, Carroll has been working as a Hard Gainers Athletics fitness coach and personal trainer at the Glen Ellyn Park District's Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center since he left the finance world.
Still, the 5-feet-11, 188-pound trainer, who resembles “Captain America” actor Chris Evans, longed for some serious competition.
“I always want to find a way to keep that in my life,” says Carroll, who takes that desire to the extreme in the reality television show “Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge,” airing at 7 p.m. Sunday on the CMT network. In Sunday's episode, hosted by six-time World Wrestling Federation champion Steve “Stone Cold” Austin, Carroll and seven other men compete in grueling one-on-one competitions until the last man standing gets a chance to take on the “Skullbuster” obstacle course for a chance to win $10,000.
“To see that water tower with the giant skull on it, I started getting nervous,” says Carroll, who filmed the episode in June and can't talk about how he did until after Sunday's episode. “Steve Austin obviously is really cool to meet. I mean, he's Steve Austin.”
The show, named after Austin's ranch in Texas and not a life-threatening injury, reaches more than 4 million viewers a week across all platforms. It pits contestants in events with names such as Trench Warfare, Chain Gain and Pain Train. The first person to get the better of his opponent, finish the task and ring the bell moves on to the next battle.
“I was able to use my old wrestling skills on the show. That came in handy,” says Carroll, who wrestled and played linebacker at Downers Grove South High School.
An avid fan of “Broken Skull,” Caroll says he “was losing sleep over this show because it's awesome.” Submitting a video application, surviving the interview process and being picked for the show made Carroll shift into high-gear.
He normally trains five days a week, but “I bumped it up” for the show, he says. “Flip some tires, push some sled, whatever it may be.”
Watching “Broken Skull” is different from being on it.
“You're yelling at the TV when you watch it on TV. 'Don't do that! Do that!'” Carroll says. “It becomes a lot harder when you are doing it. It's probably one of the hardest, most challenging things I've done in my life.”
Friends, family, co-workers and clients are throwing a viewing party Sunday to watch the show. It airs opposite the NFL's Pro Bowl, “and nobody watches the Pro Bowl,” Carroll says with a laugh.
“I'm rooting for Todd because he's great motivation,” says Sylvia Reuling, 49, of Glen Ellyn, who works out with fellow Hard Gainers trainer Eric Lewis. She says Carroll inspires her and her 17-year-old son, Peter.
“We're proud of him,” says Lewis, 29, of Wheaton, noting that Carroll sets a good example with his dedication and hard work.
With a 2011 Southern Illinois University degree in communications with an emphasis on radio and TV, Carroll says being on the other side of the camera was fun, but not easy.
“The sun was coming down, beating down hard,” Carroll says of the filming last June in California. “I was sucking a little more air than I wanted to. I threw up after an event.”
But the trainer says the entire experience was “very, very cool.” Now that he's getting some airtime on a reality TV show, friends suggest the single man would be a natural on “The Bachelor.”
“I don't know about that,” says Carroll. But he is sure about one thing as a result of competing on “Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge.”
“It gives me motivation and adrenaline to get stuff done,” Carroll says. “I absolutely want to get in better shape.”