Throwback to 2016 – That Time I Was On A Reality TV Show

ByLisa Traugott

It seems like the internet is full of throwback photos from 2016, and here’s a very random moment in my life: I was on a reality TV show called American Grit, hosted by WWE/Movie Start John Cena.

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American Grit is the story of 16 civilians divided into 4 teams led by real life elite military heroes called the Cadre.  Each week we do tasks inspired by actual training missions (called evolutions) done in each branch of the military.  The winning team gets immunity.  The three losing teams have to face The Circus: a brutal obstacle course followed by an endurance test that continues until someone gives up or their body gives out.  In Navy Seal fashion, the loser has to ring a giant bell signifying to everyone that he or she can no longer move on.

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The contestants on American Grit

From the audition process, to facing each military-style challenge, and having to keep it secret from everyone until the show went live, it was a truly insane experience.

My main goal was to not get kicked off in episode one. There were nine episodes and I made it to episode five, which was amazing. Two of my teammates actually won the whole thing! And they truly deserved the win. Clare Painter was an Alaskan fisherwoman who won Crossfit competitions.

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and Mark Bouquin was a lumberjack (who has a twin brother – who was also a lumberjack).

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David Neville, the other member of my team, was an Olympic gold medalist in running.

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Our mentor was Noah Galloway, a purple heart recipient who lost his leg and one arm in the Iraq War. His catchphrase was, “Y’all be humble when you win.” It was unfathomable to complain about anything realizing he literally gave an arm and a leg in service to our country.

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I’m still scratching my head at how I ended up on the show, lol. My claim to fame was that I lost 50 pounds by entering a bodybuilding bikini competition and blogged about it on SheLosingIt.com. (In this picture I’m standing in my old jeans, holding my memoir, “She’s Losing It!” which is actually pretty funny. It’s like a Rocky for moms and is available on Amazon.)

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Holding my memoir “She’s Losing It!”

Every time a team won a training mission, John Cena would give them a reward. Our team kept winning, so we saw him more than the other contestants. The coolest thing ever was winning the first mission, where we had to carry a heavy log up a hill, answer some riddle and set it upright.

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Team Noah wins evolution 1

While everyone else ate cold food back in the barracks, we got to have a steak dinner and do whiskey shots with John Cena.

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Each evolution got harder that pushed us mentally, physically, and emotionally. Honestly, I loved it. Unlike other teams snickering with each other (it was a reality-TV show after all), our team really clicked.

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Team Noah before an evolution

We were all given clothes to wear in our team color. (Team Noah wore green). The funniest thing about reality-TV is that even though it was snowing outside, they wanted the women to wear crop tops and shorts. (It was on FOX…) I was too cold to wear shorts, like Clare, but since I was a bodybuilder, my abs were looking pretty good back then! My book might be named She’s Losing It! but during covid I found the cookies again, lol. This picture is inspiring me to hit the gym, honestly.

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Team Noah in the barracks

Here are some photos of the evolutions:

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Carrying trunks through the snow
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