Imagine running through the woods, trying to escape a hunter, knowing every move could be your last.
It’s like a scene from a horror movie, say Magnus Mulliner and Jeff Bremner, the first set of nine groups featured on the new Outdoor Life Network series Mantracker.
The show pits two strangers — “the prey” — against High River’s Terry Grant — the “Mantracker” of the title — who was trained by Search and Rescue to find missing people in the bush. The goal of each episode is for the prey to race through the Canadian outdoors and reach a predetermined finish line before the Mantracker hunts them down.
Mulliner and Bremner had to trek through the wild terrain of Longview for their adventure. The pair was given 36 hours and a three-kilometre headstart to outrun the Mantracker, who had a horse and professional training on his side.
“It’s a unique concept. I can’t think of other shows that have run with this theme. The whole idea of pitting man against man in a situation like that,” says Bremner.
Survival skills
He and Mulliner used their different backgrounds and knowledge to try and outwit the Mantracker.
Bremner is an oil and gas prospector from Medicine Hat and Mulliner is a wellness and fitness consultant who recently moved to Calgary from Britain. “Jeff was kind of used to eating crickets, so he gave me an insight into how much Crocodile Dundee he truly was,” says Mulliner.
While Brenmer describes the Mantracker as ominous and relentless, Mulliner is a little more candid about the hunter.
“Take no prisoners, holy smokes! You relate it to a movie: if you were in a horror movie and you had Jason coming towards you, how would you feel? It is a scary thing.”
When it was all over, both Mulliner and Bremner say they enjoyed the experience. They learned a lot about themselves and what it takes to survive. “It ranked right up there as one of the very best things that I’ve done in my lifetime … It confirmed the notion that I still enjoy extreme, radical life,” says Bremner.
Mantracker makes its debut Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then repeats at 10 p.m. on the Outdoor Life Network.
