'The Titan Games' Season 2: Meet Matt Chan, Central Region champ who tested his mind, body and spirit on show
The story of Matthew aka Matt Chan on 'The Titan Games' makes for an inspirational tale. The firefighter who had suffered a leg injury a while back did spectacularly in the challenges, where he defeated his opponents in the first episode. However, he lost to Titan Joe Thomas by a mere second. Nevertheless, he made a spectacular comeback in the third episode of the Central Region finals and defeated Thomas at Mount Olympus.
Speaking to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) about his experience, Chan says, "Each of the different events were just so unique and unlike anything I had ever done before, that it was hard to strategize or to think about what or how you are going to approach each of the obstacles. Doing well was just not so much about being confident with a strategy and necessarily competing against your fellow competitor, but more so just kind of doing the best that you could do. And that's kind of the way that I followed each of the events throughout the entire competition that I was part of. And it worked well in my favor."
Chan revealed how his injury had gotten him down and worried. "At the time when it happened, I was competing at a sport called CrossFit and it really got me down because I could no longer compete at the same level at that sport. So having the opportunity to compete on a different stage, which, you know, as grand as it was, was under The Rock's supervision. It was just a chance in a million that I made that show and it turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I got to test out my leg and see how it performed."
On his biggest lesson from the show, he says, "Believing in myself has allowed me to continue moving forward in the show. I did have a slip up when I went against Joe. I really faced two giant men. Both of those guys were 30 to 60 pounds heavier than me, maybe even 70 pounds heavier than me. They were both very talented athletes and I just did what I could do. And I went at the speed that I should go and believing, believing in myself, that was the biggest takeaway for me. You don't know what you're capable of until you put yourself to the test. And it's not necessarily just putting your body to the test, it's also testing your mind and spirit."
He says that his earlier defeat at Thomas's hands left him demotivated and upset. "When I finished that event with Joe, I was of course disappointed, because I was so close to beating him. I was beating myself up. After a couple of hours, my wife told me, 'You know what, all you gotta do is just get back there again and face him again'." Chan and Thomas are on good terms. "Joe and I text back and forth. You know, we were on a Ray ESPN radio show yesterday together, and it was a lot of fun to chit chat with him. He's a very talented guy and fun to talk to. He's fun to be around," says Chan.
Speaking about Dwayne Johnson, Chan says, "Dwayne Johnson is an imposing individual. We didn't have a lot of one-on-one interactions. Every time we did have an interaction, he was courteous. He was down to earth. He couldn't have been nicer to us. I got the impression that he was just one of the most down to earth people that I've ever met. So, it was nothing but positive experiences."
Tune into NBC, 'The Titan Games', on Mondays at 8pm.