Survivor. Wipe Out. American Ninja Warrior. MasterChef Australia. These are the names of the world’s most popular reality television competitions. But Amazon’s World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is a whole new step up, for not just reality television competitions, but any competition in general.
The premise of the 10 episode series is this – 66 teams of four will compete with each other to ‘travel’ 671 km in the island of Fiji with a time limit of 11 days. This sounds simple enough but the ‘travel’ part includes challenging tasks like outrigger paddling, mountain biking, rappelling, climbing, whitewater rafting, paddleboarding and canyoneering for at least 20 kilometers each. Teams will also have to trek uneven terrain for dozens of kilometers (can create sever knee and imbalance issues) and swim, some portions varying from 3 to 5 hours, in very cold waters (risking hypothermia). These conditions made the Eco Challenge extremely well suited to take on the name The World’s Toughest Race.
Out of the various teams participating, maybe 10-12 teams took on the challenge as a race. For the rest, it was a test of physical and mental (and for some, spiritual) endurance and completing the course itself was an accomplishment (which on viewing, one can understand, is true). Each team raced under a single country flag with the United States bringing in 22 teams alone into the competitions. We had our own representatives in the form of ‘Team Khukuri Warriors’ comprising of Tashi Malik (Team Captain), Nungshi Malik, Brandon Fisher, Praveen Singh Rangar and Col VS Malik (Team Assistant Crew Member).
The race was divided into 5 legs – ocean leg, jungle leg, river leg, highland leg and island leg, which were seperated by Camps, where the teams were able to take a breather. Watching these various men and women compete on these tough courses is extremely inspiring. Man vs. Wild’s Bear Gryllis was the host for the show, and he provided encouragement and support to the weary competitors as they reached camp.
Many racers faced this race not just as a challenge but also for soul searching and testing the extent of their willpower. Watching people fold & break and then finding the mental fortitude to push on forward is extremely captivating and is definitely a one-of-a-kind web series. But many did break and eventually weren’t able to continue for various reasons. 22 teams, one-third of the competitors were unable to finish the course for reasons varying from injuries to break in mental composure.
The closing stages was a fiery competition between Team New Zealand, Team Canada Adventure and Team Gippsland Adventure from Australia. Eventually Team New Zealand (who were also the favourites) managed to win, beating of the rest of the teams. Team Khukuri Warriors finished the race on the 10th day, and were placed in 36th position.
World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
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