'Say goodbye to the bromance.' Star coaches become reality show rivals

The razzing started in round 2. 

Coach Luke Willson explains his game plan, "I want to make the coaches question their own philosophies. I think if I can win that mental game, it's a big advantage for me."

By Round 5, it had ballooned into a full rivalry. Team Teal's Dustin Seidler swam into Team Black's Bradley Farquar and then won, setting off an incident.

"I'm pissed. I went out there with the idea that I was gonna win. Good job to Dustin but he's in my crosshairs — definitely going to come for him," said Bradley after his loss.

It was only the start of Team Teal's roll — they swept the round with three back-to-back victories. 

"Team Teal took all 18 points in this round of the challenge and that stung," said Team Black player Alana Warnick, "we gotta go out there and absolutely destroy them in the next round."

"We knew that we were pissing off all the other teams," said Team Teal coach Jen Kish. "It's been a long climb for Team Kish to get to that Number 1 spot. So, to all the coaches out there who hate seeing us win: See ya!"

Behind the scenes Team Black had an identity; they called themselves the Grim Reapers. "Let's have some fun with this," explains Luke, "we have the ability to send a team home. We can be the Grim Reaper with goals." And so, Team Teal was the next target. 

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"Luke and I were going at it,  he was trying to get under my skin," said Jen, "he's football. I'm rugby. The sports are very similar and we're both highly competitive." 

"It's a compliment for somebody to come after us non-stop. All that says is this is the best team and we've got to take them down," says Team Teal player Dustin who sees another opportunity to go head-to-head with Team Black player Bradley in Sudbury.

"Jen can hold her own. She was defending her team and keeping Luke in his lane when she thought he needed to be checked," said showrunner Jeff Thrasher about the rivalry. 

Since Team Black won the regular season, Luke gets a key advantage in his quest to see the end of Team Teal. "It's like he thought: 'I have to get rid of Teal ASAP because if I go to the final with them, we have we don't have a shot,'" says Jen. "He just kept saying, 'I'm going to come after you.' As the only female left to get Luke and Gilmore, I was 'bring it, I will take you guys on.'"

Will Team Teal survive? Find out what happens on Canada's Ultimate Challenge, now streaming free on CBC Gem.