Under Armour’s New Show “Ridge Reaper” Puts Company Executives in Extreme Hunts
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.02.13
Under Armour’s executives do not fit the mold of typical business leaders. In addition to being innovative in the boardroom, they also seek challenging adventures in the outdoors. It is not surprising to see Under Armour’s big boys to talk the talk and walk the walk, but to face extreme conditions in the hunt for the planet’s hardest sought game is something else entirely. The company’s Director of Outdoor Marketing, Bryan Offutt, is no stranger to roughing it. Neither is Chief Operating Officer Kip Fulks and his brother Koby Fulks. All three are in prime physical condition, but can they survive the arduous expeditions that professional hunter Jason Carter has in store for them?
“Everywhere from Nevada, where it’s 110 [degrees], to the winter months in Utah and Colorado, where you’re talking about high elevations,” Offutt told the Baltimore Sun. “You’re hunting with your backpack, which is 20 or 30 pounds, and you’re doing about 10 miles a day. If you’re not in shape, you’ll get left behind.”
Under Armour’s latest foray into the television world, Ridge Reaper, premiered last night on the Outdoor Channel to coincide with the company’s hunting apparel line of the same name. The four hunters will be traveling through the Rocky Mountains, Mexico, and Canada in pursuit of region’s largest game. Ridge Reaper will be separated into 30-minute episodes that follow an open-ended documentary style, but Offutt promises that the show will be anything but ordinary.
“A lot of shows on the Outdoor Channel or on other networks really revolve around white-tailed hunting, which is basically sitting in a tree stand or a ground blind, but mostly you’re just sitting still and trying to be quiet,” Offutt said. “We’re going after big game. […] We’re hunting trophies.”
The show came about after the four sportsmen started going on hunts together and filming their experiences. At some point, people began asking them when the TV show would air. With the help of filmmaker Adam Moffat, they decided to do exactly that. The team then went to the Outdoor Channel with their idea and it was quickly approved. The problem remained that only one member of the team, Carter, has experience on television. The Under Armour team is not overly worried. Offutt is a lifelong hunter and the Fulks brothers have a similar love for the outdoors. For now, it is all the experience they need.
“We’re going to show […] that hunting isn’t just in the fall,” he said. “It’s a 365[-day] story, and we live and breathe this year-round. It’s going to be pretty cool.”
You can watch the teaser for the show below:
