Last man standing

challenging

Nafeesah Ahmed speaks to the host of Discovery Channel’s ‘One Man Army’, a show that tests the parameters of the phrase, ‘survival of the fittest.’

Mykel Hawke is a man who dons many hats. As a US Army Special Forces ‘Green Beret’ veteran, he loves his role as an instructor at his own survival training and adventure school and has authored several books on survival strategies.

He also spearheads a Humanitarian Assistance Team along with having nurtured a successful television career.

With over 20 years of combined military and survival experience, he has travelled the world, learning how to operate and survive in the toughest of situations and the most formidable of locations. From war-torn regions to treacherous jungles, from scorching deserts to the Arctic ice caps, Mykel Hawke has survived it all and more.

And after having seen him take on the wild with his TV journalist wife, Ruth England, on the popular reality TV series Man, Woman, Wild, if you thought you’d seen it all — think again. He is back with the zeal of an operative, fresh off the boat.

You can now catch Mykel throwing out challenges that only the fastest, strongest and the smartest men in America can survive, on Discovery channel’s latest reality-competition series, One Man Army.

With Mykel Hawke as the host, the show brings together contestants from the military, law enforcement agencies, as well as top fighters from Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and other extreme sports. Each episode puts four contestants through three challenges of speed, strength and intelligence, during which the last man standing gets to take home a $10,000 prize and of course, the much coveted title of the ‘One Man Army’.

Speed, strength and skill

The tasks are daunting, ranging from a demanding round of target shooting in a moving vehicle and crossing a laser-filled room without touching a beam in the ‘speed round’ to walking on a treadmill all night long, only to be faced with the daunting task of breaking down a series of doors and concrete walls during the ‘strength challenge’.

Or for that matter, the most complex of ‘intelligence challenges’, which involve escaping out of a locked jail cell or breaking the codes on a series of safes, all the while hanging upside down — each of these tasks prove to be the ultimate test of their agility, endurance and quick thinking.

Speaking on the difficulty levels of the tasks, Mykel says, “All the challenges have elements that are extremely difficult for any human, but again, most contestants have had prior exposure to that type of environment, due to their extensive training.” He goes on to add, “However, one challenge that stands out, as the most difficult one, is the ‘water coffin’, a challenge in which competitors must escape from a sealed, water-filled container. But because the psychological fear of drowning is so strong, even the most experienced of contestants fail to perform.”

When asked how he would fare if he were to step in as a contestant, Mykel replies, “I had to make sure every challenge on the show was something that I could do. I have tried them out. However, it is not whether one can do these tasks or not, but how well one performs on the day of the competition against the others.” He adds, “The surprise element in the show is that often, the person who finally wins is not the one the audience thinks will win”.

And that is exactly what happens in the second episode where a young weapons instructor walks away as the winner beating the more experienced contestants. In the episode that follows, an Air Force Intelligence operative, intimidated by the idea of having to perform a water challenge, manages to pull off the ‘water coffin’ task successfully, whereas his more experienced competing entities fail miserably. 

With the first ten episodes of One Man Army all wrapped up and with some new shows on the anvil, Mykel lets us in on his future plans, “I intend to expand my school so that I can reach out to more people and make training available online. I’m also developing a whole line of products that are meant to help people in difficult times and situations, including designing video games for kids to teach them about survival. And of course, I’d like to keep on making shows to entertain and educate the public.”

He goes on to share, “When it comes to work, I always try to do new things and that often presents a host of obstacles, but the key for me is to be patient, to hold on to my vision and to find a solution or a way around the problem, thus keeping the
warrior spirit alive within me.”

So, when a recent post on his facebook page read, “Every day, every challenge is a chance to refine the warrior spirit within,” it certainly felt very apt. 

And last but not the least, a question that perhaps lingers on in everyone’s mind, including people who are familiar with Mykel Hawke’s line of work is — has he ever experienced extreme fear?

This question brings forth a huge burst of laughter from him, as he confesses, “Yes, I have experienced fear on so many occasions that I have actually lost count. I have been shot at least 80 times in my life, and if it wasn’t for fate stepping in, I wouldn’t have survived!”