Ile Reality TV - 'X-Treme Warrior' films episode on island
 

By Terry Jacoby, The Ile Camera PUBLISHED: August 11, 2006

  Elizabeth Molinsky had never backed down from a challenge, especially when it came to physical fitness. But the 25-year-old Grosse Ile resident believed she might have been in over her head when she lined up at the Grosse Ile Airport with seven other girls participating in the Comcast reality series "X-Treme Warrior."

"Many of these girls were professional athletes, and I felt like I didn't belong," Molinsky said. "I have always been physically fit and have taught everything from kickboxing to aerobics, but this was a different level for me."

While the winner won't be announced until the show airs after Nov. 1, Molinsky felt like a winner. "At the end, I was very hungry, very tired, very sore and very hot," she said. "But I never gave up. That's the one thing I am most proud of." Molinsky also was proud that Grosse Ile was picked as one of the locations for the 13 episodes that will air on Comcast, including a final show featuring the previous 12 winners competing for the ultimate title.

"Grosse Ile was just a perfect spot," said Leona Larson, the show's executive producer. "We wanted to be near a major city and loved the airport and the airport hangar. We want every location to be unique, and the activities the competitors are put through are based on the location."

The Grosse Ile show includes the airplane pull, which viewers shouldn't expect to see in any other episode.

"That was very difficult," said Molinsky, a 1999 graduate of Grosse Ile High School who recently graduated from Michigan State and now works for DTE Energy. "I also don't like swimming because of a bad experience I once had. "And they had us swimming down the Detroit River. But I ended up finishing second, even though they had a person on a Jet Ski filming me and asking me to tell the story about my bad experience — while I was swimming."

The star of the show is the always-intense and always-motivating Omar Akl. From 1993-2000, Akl held three championship titles for Lebanese boxing, kickboxing and Muay Thai. In 1996, he won the European kickboxing championship in Yugoslavia, and in 1998, he won the world military boxing championship in North Carolina.

For some athletes, winning the race is the goal, but for Akl, winning was only a step in the right direction.

"I had a dream, ever since I was a small boy, to make it big in America," he said. "Everyone I knew had the same dream, but I knew to make that dream a reality I had to be better, stronger and more talented than anyone else."

It paid off. On Valentine's Day 2000, Akl arrived in the United States to start a new life. Part of that new life now includes host, trainer and star of "X-Treme Warrior." "He was great," Molinsky said. "He was very inspirational and never let anyone in the group quit. I always felt that I was fit, but when someone like Omar tells you that you're fit, it makes you feel good." Akl put the women through some very difficult workouts.

"It was a lot harder than I expected," said Molinsky, who heard about tryouts for the show through her job as a physical trainer at Lifetime Fitness in Canton Township. "We worked out a total of 18 hours in three days, including 12 hours straight on Thursday in very hot weather."
Larson hopes a bigger network picks up the series.

"It's a fitness-based reality show that turns the viewer into a participant," she said. "It's a multimedia motivational experience that doesn't just challenge the show's contestants, but challenges the viewers to get off the couch."
Akl is the key to the show's success.

"Omar is a great motivator for not only the competitors on the show, but for the people watching at home," Larson said. "It's a very positive show that can change people's lives."

Larson also praised township officials for helping bring "X-Treme Warrior" to the island.
"The township was fabulous," she said. "They did a great job of making this a reality."
Grosse Ile Township Manager Dale Reaume was glad to help.

"They approached us about using Grosse Ile for an episode, and we felt it would be a great way to showcase the township, the airport and the entire Downriver area," Reaume said. "They arrived on Aug. 2, but the whole deal wasn't finalized until July 28, so it went right down to the wire to get everything done that needed to be done."

Reaume praised the efforts of sponsors including Brooklyn Air, Cygnus Systems, Accumed Billing, Sharkey's Riverfront Tavern, the Grosse Ile Pilot House and the Police and Fire departments.