Rennell ’07 Nabs Spot On Reality TV Series

Corey M. Rennell ’07 will soon boast more than climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, and surviving anthrax contracted from a sheep as among his feats.

Rennell will be one of six participants in an upcoming reality TV show produced by BBC and The Discovery Channel. Rennell said he will receive $10,000 for participating in the program.

Rennell was one of over 100 Americans who applied for the show, according to Louisa M. Griffith-Jones, associate producer for the BBC.

The program will feature three American and three British male athletes who will spend 20 weeks in eight different tribal communities over a 12-month period, she said.

While the participants’ destinations are kept secret, they will be traveling to isolated areas in places like Mexico, Sudan, and Brazil, she said.

The six men will spend several weeks adapting to each community, learning about a tribal sport unique to each community, and then compete against the tribe, Griffith-Jones said.

THE NATURAL

For Rennell, who is president of the Harvard Ski Club and the Harvard Mountaineering Club, spending time outdoors is almost second nature.

“I think that my friends know that I am passionate about the intersection of where athletics meets culture so there couldn’t be a more perfect opportunity for me,” Rennell, who is also a Crimson photographer, said.

The Adams House resident also has a special concentration in ecology, earth systems, and visual arts.

Others said that Rennell was a natural for the part.

“Corey was born for this role. This is perfect for Corey,” roommate Lief E. Fenno ’07, who is also a member of the Mountaineering Club, said. “He is insane and this is probably something he would do anyway without the TV show.”

Rennell said that his decision to apply for the show was made at the last minute. In addition to the application, Rennell said he needed to prepare a half-hour video.

“The night before it was due, I took an hour and made the film and sent it in the next morning,” he said.

The producers said they were “overtaken” by Rennell after screening his application.

“His qualification video was just incredible,” Griffith-Jones said.

Rennell said that in his video he played his guitar and dressed up in his ski, scuba, and rock climbing apparel.

Rennell said that while he will take next year off to work on the show, which films from this June until March of 2007, he intends to return to Harvard.

“I will walk with ’07 definitely,” Rennell said. “If another opportunity comes up I might take that but for now I’ll finish school.”

Others are awaiting the show’s debut.

“We hope to have showings in the club room when it comes on TV,” Harvard Mountaineering Club Vice President-Elect Caroline L. Pihl ’08 said of Rennell’s participation.

Rennell indicated that his time off has a price.

“I just found out today that you can’t have your cellphone, iPod, or camera. I don’t know how I am going to survive without those things.”

BACK TO THE PROGRAM

The show, which recently has been slated to be called either “Tribal Games” or “Last Man Standing,” is more of an “observational documentary” than a reality program, according to Griffith-Jones.

The other two American participants are a professional BMX biker, Jason L. Bennett, and professional lightweight strongman, Brad Johnson.

Being a strongman involves pulling buses, doing dead lifts with cars, and picking up stones, Johnson said.

He added that when he and the other applicants first saw Rennell, they thought “he was a professional soccer player.”

“I call him Crazy Corey,” Johnson said.

Producers have said that possible tribal events may include wrestling goats and sticking “a bird beak through your penis” as part of an initiation rite, Johnson said.

The show will air on the Discovery Channel in May 2007, Rennell said.