“You got robbed!”

“What were they thinking?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I couldn’t believe it!”

These were just some of the emails, text and comments on social media sent to me after people saw Core-Tex get eliminated in the first round of the finale.  After hearing all of the supportive feedback I felt a little vindicated after having to keep this secret for four months after the filming.

But I have no regrets.  Sweat, Inc. was a fantastic experience overall and the Core-Tex® has gotten some valuable exposure.  All three of the judges were authentic and genuine in their feedback and there were many great lessons for me that did not even make it onto the show.  There is no question in my mind that all three judges were 100% committed to make it a great show about the business of fitness.

By now we should all know that what we see on a reality show is just a fraction of what occurs on camera.  Even so, with firsthand knowledge of how much was shot - I was blown away with the minimal amount of footage that actually made the show.   There were so many great moments that were cut.  One of the most memorable for me was during my final pitch, when Jillian Michaels said that she has been training since she was 18 years old and that the Core-Tex was the most innovative product she’d ever seen in all her years of training!  

How We Got Here

The process began late spring 2014.  I was contacted by a casting producer who had done Shark Tank and invited me to submit the Core-Tex for a new fitness competition reality show.  The interviews, phone calls, emails went on for more than a year.  Finally, in June 2015 it looked like we were really going to do this.  But I still did not know exactly when.

Up to this point, there were all kinds of “possible” start dates going back as far as October of 2014.  Originally, I was doing my best to keep my schedule clear in case we started shooting.  But with all of the speaking and events I do, I had to just book them and let it play out.

It’s July 3, 2015 and in 3 days I fly to London to speak at Fit Pro’s “Meeting of the Minds” on July 8 and then their conference on July 9- 10.  About 9:00 p.m. on July 3, I get an unexpected call from the producer asking me to be in LA to shoot my initial pitch on Tuesday, July 7.  I explained to him that I will be on a plane Monday and need to honor my obligation and commitment with Fit Pro. 

Over the next 90 minutes the producer manages to reschedule my shoot for all day Monday and book me another flight out on the red eye that night.  On Monday, I spend 12 hours on set.  I’m then taken back to the hotel, where I showered up, got dropped off at LAX and arrived in London about 1:00 a.m. July 8.  At 9:00 a.m. that same morning I was on stage presenting.  For my body that was 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night in San Diego.  It was a reasonably intense 48 hours!

 The Initial Pitch

The initial pitch went great.  What was shown on the show did not fully convey how much the judges loved the Core-Tex.  At the risk of sounding cocky, I was 100% confident I had won the initial pitch.  I began my pitch by saying, “I want to make a contribution to the movement industry”.  And that has always been a goal of mine with the Core-Tex and it was great that I had a chance to share that ambition of mine with the judges.

There was a lot of fun moments with the judges and some pointed questions they fired at me.  When all was said and done, the Core-Tex had really spoken for itself.

Control Subjects

The rules for training your subjects were pretty straight forward-use your product or program to train them.  And that is what we did.  Team Core-Tex trained hard for 2 hours, 5 days a week together with one day of active rest and one day of working out on your own at home (I loaned Luke and Eljae a Core-Tex each to train with at home).  And if you know me, it was science based and in the best interest of Luke and Eljae’s well-being.  To their credit they did everything I asked of them and worked as hard as anyone could imagine.  Here’s what Team Core-Tex did NOT do:

• Use all kinds of other products or activities outside of the Core-Tex
• Use a facility designed to sweat all the water weight out immediately before the final weigh in
• Have professional make-up artists contour muscular “definition” prior to going on camera

When we lost the Control Subject Transformation part of the competition, I was disappointed but still very proud of what we had accomplished.  Luke and Eljae’s results were better than some of the other finalists and Luke and Eljae only trained for 3 weeks with me because of my London trip.  Everyone else had trained for four weeks.  Luke and Eljae are in their mid-thirties and therefore older than most of the other control subjects on the entire show.

 The Finale

You need know only a little bit about exercise to understand how many variables go into the results of an exercise and nutritional plan.  And the results of two people’s progress in no way represents how everyone else would or would not respond to your product or program.   So when the judges came out during the finale and announced that the first elimination would be based on a comparison of the control subject’s past results, I was pissed.

How are the results of two people more important than the innovation, versatility, business model, scalability, industry knowledge, industry network, preparation, delivery, etc.?!  It was total BS and I knew it.  And it looked to me like the judges were not happy with the idea either.

All of the contestants entered that filming of the finale fully expecting to start a new round of competition amongst all the finalist.  No one thought for a minute that the elimination process would have not given us a chance to actually compete. 

I was never given the opportunity to deliver the follow up pitch to the new guest judges added for the final.  The opportunity was lost based on past data I could do no longer do anything about. You may have noticed that I was the only one of the first 4 eliminated who they did not show in an exit interview. I can only assume it was because of what I said on camera.

The producer asked me while on camera with a soft, empathetic voice, “tell us how you feel about being eliminated”.  My response was, “I feel spectacular!  I wasn’t eliminated because my product was not innovative. I was not eliminated because my business model wouldn’t work.  And I wasn’t eliminated because the judges didn’t like my product.  I was eliminated for what was probably the least valid measurement of what the Core-Tex can do”.

Who knows why the “powers that be” made the decision to eliminate the first four finalists the way they did.  As a competitor, I felt it ultimately hurt the credibility of the show. It defied the logic of any competition where you compete to move to the next level.  When you have cleared the initial challenges, you move on to face the next challenge and leave the other challenges behind. 

I watched the finale on TV just like everyone else, not knowing the outcome until the end of the show.  While I watched, I could not help but to compare the Core-Tex and our business to the finalist. You will have a hard time convincing me that we did not deserve to win the grand prize.

In the end I am truly grateful for the experience. The opportunity to work with Jillian, Randy and Obi and gain from their experience and input was phenomenal.  They are the real deal.

My family and my business both were effected by the commitments I made for the show-but my family, my team and my clients were all extremely supportive through the entire journey. So I thank you all!

Onward and upward as so many of you have encouraged me to do.  Watch out for all of the big things happening in 2016 for Core-Tex!

Anthony