The Zach Nichols Podcast - The Brad Fiorenza Interview | ZNP EP. 56

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

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All right, welcome back to the Zach Nichols podcast. I'm here with the big logistics. What's up with it? Who else we got? You're so rude, Zach. No, I'm here with my San Diego. Yes, sir. Big brother, the beard himself, Brad Fiorenza.

Did I say that right? You did. It took me years. Fioreenza, Fioreenza, Forenza. How Italian is that? It's very Italian. I'm only half Italian, though. So it's kind of misleading.

Gotcha. Mr. Brad, Fioreenza. a one more round of applause for my fucking brother in the house. Thank you. Dude, it's crazy. Like, we just met, you know, we were here once ago, and I really feel like, you know, like we're a kindred spirit to a certain extent. So happy to have you in the house.

And thank you for coming to Detroit, man. Thank you for having me. And I want to thank you guys for doing this because I will say from the episodes I have seen you do an incredible job. It really does promote the franchise. It's been a huge part of my life. And it's a pleasure to be here. Let's actually start there because thank you, first of all.

It's easy to do a good job when you're having a good time. And we have a blast here. But you've mentioned it multiple times and you've said, like, this show is part of the fabric of your being. Sure. And I feel that, too. Like, I feel that. I felt like that more than I felt most anything, any other challengers said. So why don't you just, like, kind of explain that to us?

Like, what is the challenge? Like, it's, I mean, it's been 20 plus years. Gosh, it has. 20 years exactly, right? Because your real world season was 04 in San Diego. Wow. Yeah. I mean, we filmed an 0.

Yeah, okay. That was an iconic season. Thank you. We had a blast. And God, it's actually crazy to think that far back. I mean, really, if you think about filming your original real world season, think about like even like Zach before he saw a challenge, how different he was, because I know I was. I remember filming real world San Diego and just thinking like, okay, when this is over,

I'll go back to work and get the bank and that'll be that. You know, you're probably like, I'll hop right back on my crotch rocket, head back to Chicago. Probably the greatest entrance of any real-order ever. Brad rolls in on a crot rocket. Everyone else gets off a plane, you know. Not you, my man. You rolled up in a crotch rocket firing on all cylinders. The only crazy thing about that was the bike got shipped,

and it made it look like I rode from Chicago to San Diego on a 600, and that would just not be peaceable. But thank you. It was a cool entrance. Picking up Jamie was amazing. But truly reflecting back that far and then thinking about my first challenge, Battle of the Sex is where I just got voted off and we were keeping a stats sheet and that was just out the window at the end. It was basically a outdoor alliance.

Then Inferno 2 was my first challenge with elimination rounds. And, God, I'm thinking back that far, I mean, you do become, you play this game long enough and you really do feel like it becomes a part of you. And in fact, I'm really glad that you brought this up. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. But like, there's certain attributes of this challenge that have been around forever. you know like uh for example my least favorite the eating challenge trivia but then there's like certain classics like balls in the mud you know what i mean absolutely and and there's a there's a handful of other ones like balls in the mud the heights over water um grabbing rings or whatever

dangling carabiners they have off of cliffs and stuff and i feel like that truly in my opinion i'm one person represents the competitive fabric of the game you know and i feel like sometimes especially recently, I've been thrown off where I don't even know what game I train to play when I show up. Oh, that's 100%. It's changed so much. Yes. It's becoming more cerebral, I feel. It's becoming more like balance and circus game centric.

Sure. But you're right. There always have been, balance has always been a huge part if you're over the water or jumping from platform to platform. But yeah, it always just goes back to that feeling of being alive, though. you know a hundred percent that's i think that's like i mean adrenaline is one of the most powerful drugs in the world and so is so isn't being in everland you know yeah yeah like you just go back there and you're like that kid again like anytime i went back on the challenge anytime i would go back there especially after the one break that i took and you took a long break at one point

when you go back it's like you you never left right and it's a great feeling it really and you're back in the in the bunk beds about new youth yeah all day which you My friend have found. You look fantastic. Thank you. Yeah. Same brother. Like I say,

well, you know, I think you could still kick my ass. I never would have thought you think that. And I still think you'd give me a good run. I'd give me a good run. Yeah, like there'd be some bruises,

but dude, you're fucking ready to go. You don't want to be in a hall with this guy. Hey, hey, you don't have to get ready if you stay ready. 100%. That's your quote right there,

ma'am. I love that quote. And people have, have been using that since you said it. Well, I love that. And I do try to live by that. sometimes it's more difficult to stay ready than others because life gets difficult.

But I'm curious getting back to the like competitive fabric of the game. What are your thoughts on All-Star Season 4 and the challenges that you saw, for example, like the spinning of the bus, unlocking the suitcases. And I'm not knocking the games that were laid out. What I'm asking is like as far as a ratio. I mean, you know, you always expect a few surprises. That's fair. You know, you don't know what it's going up to each day.

But is there any challenge that stood out to you as like a classic on that, on that season that reminded you of like the balls in the mud or the heights above water like the old days, you know? Yeah. Or like the classic challenges. So the first one that you guys did where it was just running up and down, that is, that's my bread and butter. I loved when we were on the beach in Spain looking at Africa. And I got to just run back and forth and carry pallets. It's like that was punishment as a kid.

So I love that. that one to me was you did great in that one. Yeah. And so you're right. That was the only one I did good at me. Well, you're, that's my thing is like you train for these old school, these workhorse challenges,

and you expect to have the one or two where it's like, okay, I'm probably going to get last year. This is going to be the one I'm going to an elimination round. Right. But that one to me was like a classic workhorse challenge, whereas you're right now, the rest of the season did seem very gimmicky. It seemed very circus game-esque.

which we all know that that's not my cup of tea. Sure, same. I feel the same way. And I actually kind of forgot about that first challenger, right? That was a pretty straightforward shot. And it was very misleading for me on that season to come out, be the first guy to finish on that. Yeah. And then it was all downhill from there.

Well, and there's also something to be said, like, when I try to golf and something else is on my mind, I might as well not even be out there. And I said that prior on the show, I was like, there was a feeling, because listen, I've, I've still. Like, I've seen you do some incredible feats in person. Like, you're one of those people that I've competed with where I'm like, he's an animal. And you, like, you are. Like, the underwater one in, in Vendettas, where you, Shane, bananas did that. But, like, I think you were, besides Shane, like, you crushed.

Oh, Tony, too. Tony's was insane as well. But you've done some incredible athletic feats. So I said to Pierre and I said to whoever we ever broke it down with, I was like, I'm not going to. base Brad's challenge career. I'm not going to even count this one towards, I'm not going to, like,

because I knew you weren't checked in mentally. You're right. You know what I'm saying? And when you're not checked, it's like trying to hit a golf ball or trying to bat or play any sport. If you're not there mentally and you have other things on your mind, you know, it's just not,

you can't compete at 100%. Sure. It's a great point. And to touch on that a little bit, specifically on season four, I just ended a almost decade-long nightmare experience in family court. Yeah. I just feel bad for anybody that's going through anything even remotely close to what I experienced.

But I will say on season four, it was unfortunate, especially with the time differences, at like 2 a.m., I'm making calls to my attorney on the side of the house with bad service in the middle of the night while everybody else is sleeping or, you know, unwinding and enjoying their time together. And I spent a lot of nights staring at the ceiling, think, about the personal issues I had going on, and I didn't realize how much that was going to affect my game. Watching it, it was a lot easier to see in my own mind preparing for season four and, you know, just my outlook on the season itself. I planned on leaving it all on the field. I thought I was going to do great work.

I did come out of a rough breakout right before that. So you're just getting hit from every ankle. I felt like, you know, I felt like, I really felt like I was taking blows from Tyson or something, you know, like metaphorically, psychologically. And to watch the season, to see when I missed the seat when I was partnered with Laurel and everything else, like I had so many mistakes where I'm thinking, what, like, what is, like, what is going on here, you know? And I try to stay ready. And I'm one of those people where, like, if I can't sleep, I'll go to the gym and I'll, push myself to earn sleep. Well, I know that on Final Reckoning.

I'd wake up and you're like, dude, I worked out twice and had breakfast three times. I'm like, bro, I was asleep for five hours. Like, what the fuck? Because you were just, like, you were locked into that one too. But like, I can't imagine. It's therapy for me. A, not being able to call your children while you're on a show because that's one of the reasons what one of the many that have kept me out is the kids and just loving that stage that we're

in. And number two, you're wondering, like, At least like a lot of people, they're like, when as soon as I go home, I'm going right to them. You don't even know the next time you're going to see them. And, yeah, I wouldn't be able to compete under those circumstances. I'd be an absolute wreck. I would have absolutely been a puddle of tears. But the one thing that I will say is what is beautiful about that whole thing is you showed up and you competed and you were transparent with your fans.

And that's one of my favorite things about reality TV. And we come from you more so than I, come from. from an age where reality TV was all about learning and growing and out in front of people so that people who are going through the same thing can be like holy shit like you know it's okay what I'm going through or there's other people that are going through this and that was a big part of reality TV for me so you being there and trying to battle through that is is very admirable from at least me but what another thing I'll say is I just thought of this when you're talking about it I think it was it is all stars three you were in the final correct yeah

And that was where you were with Kayla on the beach at the end. And I forget who else was there. But I know Kayla was there. But I know like when I watched that, I almost was like, holy shit. Like that is such a, you were like master splinter on the beach right there. You were like, listen, guys, you're watching Wes and John A paddle to a win. And you just said, it sucks right now. But you're going to look back on this moment.

And you're going to have such a profound feeling of joy and happiness. And this is a beautiful moment. And you were almost able to take that moment with him and teach him a lot of in that and that was pretty cool too. Thank you for that. And you bring something to reality TV that these new punks they don't understand and they'll never bring to it

because you were on reality TV before there was Twitter. I'm sure they probably were like, hey Brad, you got to fire up of MySpace when you get out of here. Right, right, for the back of the show. Yeah, you got to, and then Facebook came out and everyone was probably like my mind is blown. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I'm glad we touched on that.

We got it out of the way, ripped the Band-Aid off because there's just a lot more things besides All-Stars 4. I mean, listen, you go back- Can I say one thing on that before? Say whatever you want. Okay, so I just want to say this. That concludes the free preview of the Zach Nichols podcast. So go to Patreon and subscribe to see the rest of the shit that we talk.

Go do it. Now.