The athletes of Exatlón Estados Unidos: Mundial Edition were in full recording when Hurricane Fiona arrived at the sands of the reality show. “We live a nightmare because nobody is used to it and nobody wants to face the force of nature,” Frederik Oldenburg told Lourdes Stephen for Al Rojo Vivo. “That’s what happened to us that night. The athletes were sheltered but I was able to talk to them. We have already seen the area. We have panicked. It was a nightmare that night. Although it was a category 1 hurricane, it hits hard and moves everything. When it dawns is when you realize what happened. There are up to five destroyed circuits”.
Even the speed circuit was destroyed and the water circuit was submerged under the Chavón River. “Everything around the Chavón River must be completely rebuilt,” shared Oldenburg, who took to the streets of the Dominican Republic to distribute supplies to surrounding areas, located on the banks of the Chavón River. “We were there because those people live with us all the time. They watch the show when we’re recording it.
The water circuit is located in a very touristic area called Palmilla. We don’t even know the degree of magnitude of how the bottom of the sand is to rebuild it.”
When Fiona hit with all her might the area where the athletes were, they were sheltered but very scared. Telemundo sheltered the 20 boys, some of them had never experienced a hurricane. “The technical and production group was always aware [of the athletes] but that did not prevent them from being very scared,” says Oldenburg. “I talked to them, there was a lot of panic at first but then they calmed down because many of them don’t know or didn’t even know what a hurricane is.”
The twin athletes were separated when Hurricane Fiona hit
The Castillos brothers are from Costa Rica. Douglas Castillo and Esteban Castillos are the first twin athletes to compete in Exatlón Estados Unidos. Douglas belongs to the Famous team and Esteban to the Contenders. Being rivals, they have been separated and that is why they were not together when Hurricane Fiona was passing in the Dominican Republic, where the reality show is recorded.
Douglas could sense the moment that his brother was having a bad time. “I wanted to be with him,” Douglas told Oldenburg when they spoke after the hurricane passed. “This has happened to us since we were children.”
Oldenburg and the athletes have been in tears after surviving the experience of a category one hurricane. The athletes have already communicated with their relatives.
Two people died, and 12,000 were displaced, reported CNN en Español. In addition, thousands of people were left without electricity, overflowing rivers, the fall of a bridge and the demolition of trees is the panorama left by Hurricane Fiona on Monday, September 19, after passing through the Dominican Republic.
The consequences of the meteorological phenomenon, category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale out of a maximum of 5, led the Executive to declare the provinces most affected by the rains and winds associated with the hurricane an emergency zone: La Altagracia, La Romana, El Seibo, Hato Mayor and Monte Plata, all in the east, and María Trinidad Sánchez, Duarte and Samaná, in the northeast.
Exathlon United States: World Edition premieres on October 3
Exatlón Estados Unidos: Mundial Edition was planned to premiere on September 26 but was suspended until October 3. Hurricane Fiona destroyed the recording set of the Telemundo reality show. So they need to rebuild everything and it’s expected to come back on October 3rd.
The show had already started recording the first episodes so they had to pause until they rebuild everything for their big return to television.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.