Costa Mesa woman competes in ‘broken skull’ TV challenge
If Erin Toughill rakes in winnings on “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge,” she hopes to use them to protect skulls much more fragile than her own.
The Costa Mesa resident, a full-time boxing trainer, is among the contestants this season on the reality show hosted by the veteran pro wrestler. Toughill stands to win $10,000 or more if she bests her opponents, and she’s committed to donating those funds to an animal nonprofit, if they come through.
Why animals?
Well, she claims — maybe tongue-in-cheek — to like them more than people.
“I have a 5-pound toy Yorkie, who’s like my BFF,” Toughill, 37, said last week at Costa Mesa’a American Gym, where she often trains. “She’s my shadow. So all my friends would laugh. They’re like, ‘You look like you should have a 150-pound pit bull, but you have this 5-pound little lap dog.’ She’s awesome.”
Toughill doesn’t know yet which nonprofit she’ll benefit — but then, she also can’t reveal yet if she won the prize. For one day last fall, she filmed her episode of the show, which just began its second season of pitting contestants against each other in a series of boot camp-style physical challenges. It will air Jan. 25.
She may have more than a few fellow Costa Mesans tuning in. Toughill, who has competed as a professional boxer and MMA fighter, spars regularly at American Gym and prepared for “Broken Skull” at Innovative Results, another training studio across town.
Corey Beasley, the studio’s owner, put Toughill through a rigorous workout in the weeks before filming, dragging barrels, pushing sleds, carrying kettle bells and the like. A fan of “Broken Skull,” Beasley said he’s waiting with rapt attention to see how his client fared.
“We’ve got the DVR set,” he said.
The show, broadcast on CMT, consists of 10 episodes — five for each gender — during which contestants face off in three athletic challenges, such as racing up a hill to ring a bell or smashing a series of concrete slabs with sledgehammers.
Austin, who cultivated an antihero persona with World Wrestling Entertainment, stands alongside and delivers color commentary. (“I haven’t seen someone hold onto a leg like that since Thanksgiving!” he exclaimed on a recent episode as two women tussled in the dirt.)
At the end of each show, the last remaining contender earns a chance to try the Skullbuster, a half-mile obstacle course designed by Austin. Among the 10 segments of the course are the Nutcracker, in which contestants must leap across a series of wooden posts and make it across a spinning log, and the Holding Pattern, a wall climb over a pit of water featuring separate handholds and footholds.
A contestant who completes the course and beats the time set by the reigning champion wins $10,000. On the other hand, if the contestant fails to complete it, the $10,000 goes to the record holder. The reigning female champion, Heather Hudson, had pocketed $50,000 as of last week, according to CMT spokeswoman Amanda Murphy
Toughill, who said she hadn’t heard of the show before friends recommended that she apply, spoke fondly of her time filming.
“It was an awesome experience,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like that. And I love competition, and I love violent, aggressive competition. I mean, that’s why I was a fighter. I enjoy it.”