'Ferocious' Team Black and coach Luke Willson take the championship in Canada's Ultimate Challenge

"It doesn't mean a thing without the ring." That was Team Black coach Luke Willson's motto. Going into Canada's Ultimate Challenge he predicted that his team would be unstoppable. "Do not give us a lead, because you'll never see it again." 

But by the second round, Team Black was in a rough spot: dead last place, "I think I made some mistakes as a coach, I am definitely disappointed," said Luke.

The change in Team Black's coaching strategy started with the players. Devon MD Jones told her coach, "Luke, I like you way too much now. As a coach, I need to hate you a little bit. So I don't know what that looks like for you."

"This isn't just for fun. We're not here to meet friends and travel Canada. We're here to freakin' win," said player Bradley Farquar.

Coming from the high-pressure world of the NFL, Luke knew how to get results out of his players. He replaced his "nice guy" approach with a "mean coach" persona, channelling everything he knew from football to prepare his team for a gruelling grind of the hay bale challenge.

It was the moment everything turned around. "That's when we came together. Luke motivated the crap out of us and just winded us up so much and just let us go," remembers Bradley.

After that, Team Black rose steadily up the leaderboard, winning the regular series. Then they targeted Team Teal in the semi-final, leading to their elimination.

In the finale, Luke pushed his team to the limit. "We have to go to a place Orange is not willing to go. We have to go there together. We came from the motherf******* mud. We were God dang dead last. Dead last. We won the semifinals. It was do or die then. And now our backs against the wall again."

Team Black fought hard.

"They were ferocious," said Luke about his players, "they believed in what we were trying to do. And it really showed."

Going into the last challenge, a high ropes relay obstacle climb along the cliffs of Cape Enrage, Bradley was last to traverse the high ropes, "I'm floating through the sky. I feel like a superhero." 

"I am so pumped but I am still trying to keep it in. The whole team, I can hear them screaming and yelling down there — they think we got it."

And with that, Team Black took the championship.

"I am still in disbelief that we came out on top as the champions," said team member Alana Warnick, "the way that we conquered all of the challenges was absolute poetry."

The secret to their success was teamwork. "At no point did I ever really feel like my team didn't have faith in me," said Luke who, as an ex-football player, worked hard to create a cohesive team, "and part of the role [as coach] is making sure that your players know that you have belief in them."

"Knowing that I had teammates that support me unlocked something in me," said player Vince Rojas after their victory.

"I wanted to win, I wasn't sure how to do it and Luke was my guide. He likes to throw punches and stomp on throats," Bradley told CBC Sports Reacts "and I took on that role, it's not really who I am but you can think that is who I am and if you're scared a bit… sweet!"

"We buried five Olympians," boasts Luke, "I learned that beyond a football locker room, even in the real world, the sum is always greater than each individual part."

So congrats, Team Black. Enjoy your hard-won trip to the Paris Olympics. "As a coach, seeing four individuals come together and create that bond, have that team chemistry and care as much as they did was something special," says Coach Luke.

Watch Season 1 of Canada's Ultimate Challenge on CBC Gem now.

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