HALIFAX, N.S. —
Office administrator by day, gym beast and competitive bodybuilder in her off hours. And soon — reality TV star.
Dartmouth’s Chassidy Sule, 23, has a lot going on right now.
Not only does she have a major bodybuilding competition this weekend, but it’s also the premiere of the second season of Canada’s Ultimate Challenge.
Think Ninja Warrior meets Amazing Race. Strangers from across the country are put into teams of four to compete in elaborate challenges which “transforms Canada into an epic obstacle course.”
Discovered through Instagram and chosen out of hundreds of auditions, Sule is the only Nova Scotian on the show.
“I just felt so appreciative of all of it and it’s huge, because I’m the only one in Nova Scotia that was chosen,” she said in an interview before a recent workout at Fitness FX in Halifax. “I was like, I was chosen for a reason, let’s try to make Nova Scotia proud.”
Bodybuilding
Always an athlete (track, cheerleading, rugby, etc.), Sule took up bodybuilding two years ago.
“I think it’s the challenge, the routine. I’m such a routine person and I love having a plan and just following it,” she said.
“It’s hard but it’s a good hard.”
She wanted to get into fitness, and then later bodybuilding, for her mental health and for weight-loss. And then she wanted to compete to give herself a push in her training.
“That gave me a whole new light of fire, I was ready to go for it and take on a new challenge.”
Getting discovered
When a producer reached out through Instagram, Sule thought it was a scam. She had never heard of the show and here was a message urging her to audition.
“I thought there’s no way this is real,” she said.
Then she started investigating the show, watched the first season and thought it might be fun, so she filled out an application and submitted a video which got her through the first round.
“Part of me didn’t want to get too excited because it’s still in the early phases,” she said.
It took around two months before she found out she got in — beating out hundreds of other applicants.
It was filmed last fall in St. John’s, N.L., Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., Ottawa, Ont., Hamilton, Ont., Canmore, Alta. and in Revelstoke and Vancouver Island, B.C.
The winning team gets a VIP trip to Paris for the Olympics Games this summer.
And of course, Sule is sworn to silence.
Bonding with the team
At the start of the first episode, strangers are sorted into teams but Sule said her team grew incredibly close during filming.
“The day I met my team it was like we already knew each other.”
Other members of the yellow team are Paul Kobilke from Vancouver, B.C., Quinton Maclean from Oakville, Ont., and Shannon Torgerson from Warburg, Alta.
“We worked so comfortably with each other, all our energies aligned,” she said. “Honestly, I look at those guys like family now we’re so close. I’m telling you the challenges we’ve done together, the struggles, it brings you so much closer.”
What's next
Sule said in the beginning, she wanted to try reality TV because, like bodybuilding, it was different.
"It’s something that I never thought I would ever do,” she said.
And now it has her thinking she might try something else.
“I do want to apply to more television shows in the future,” she said. “I’m still figuring out what would fit best, I’m not sure if Big Brother would be my thing — I’m still pondering on that one.”
