Two brothers and their friend are going on a European adventure, with only a popular energy drink to get them to their destination.
Sasha and Kostya Tyoschin of Christina Lake, along with Addelyn Clemens have been chosen to represent Canada in the Red Bull Can You Make It Challenge happening May 21 to 28. The trio, one of five Canadian teams chosen to be a part of this challenge, will be dropped off somewhere in Europe and given 24 cans of Red Bull for currency to purchase food, transportation and a place to sleep. On the way, they have to film themselves and post to social media, as well as complete challenges to earn more cans of Red Bull to get them to their destination, Berlin, Germany.
They will have seven days to get to Berlin from wherever they are dropped off, said Kostya. They won’t know where they will be dropped off until they arrive, nor will they know what their prize is until they make it to Berlin, if they win.
“No phone of our own, no wallets and we start with 24 cans of Red Bull and they send us out to find our own accommodation, food and travel and it’s a point system. We win by earning the most points.”
All teams will be given phones with apps pre-loaded to help them post content to their pages on the challenge’s website and social media. They will also get information such as challenges and directions on these phones.
The point system, as Kostya said he understood, is there are three ways people can earn points: the first is by filming yourself, uploading it on an app on the phone to allow people to follow them; finding checkpoints with the apps on the phone and completing challenges; or covering the most distance.
“It’s not about getting to Berlin, first, it’s about getting as many points as you can and finishing in Berlin,” he said.
The trio found out about this challenge through Sasha, who sent it to Addelyn and Kostya. They decided this was something they could do, he said. They applied, calling themselves the Eh Team. However, they had to prove they could handle the challenge and post about it on social media. The trio made a one-minute pitch video of themselves searching for a cache of Red Bull in Trail, getting rides from Christina Lake to Trail.
It shows the team hitching a ride with people, scouring Trail for clues, following a map and audio clues to find a buried cache of Red Bull.
“We shot it that weekend in early February, we sent it in and we found out (earlier in April) we had been chosen to represent Canada,” he said. “There are over 60 countries represented in this challenge. People are applying from all over the world and I still can’t believe we were chosen.”
All teams will be flown out to Europe on May 20, with likely a hotel and meal the day before teams are released to their challenges, Kostya said.
You can follow the team on Red Bull’s website and see their pitch video on Instagram @kostyafilms.