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The Blue Ridge’s Greatest Badass Is a Ballroom Dancer
Anthony Coppage Defies the chances—and stereotypes. Brawny and muscular, lined in tattoos, Coppage has labored for years in elite safety offering government safety. Nevertheless, he gave all of it up for his nine-year-old daughter, and he now works as a ballroom dancer close to Waynesville, N.C.
Anthony Coppage was additionally Southern Appalachia’s first and solely contestant in Bare and Afraid, a survival actuality present on The Discovery Channel. Individuals are paired up and despatched into the wilderness to outlive for 21 days fully bare. They have to forage or hunt for his or her meals, assemble shelters, construct fires, and keep away from lethal predators.
Anthony Coppage first appeared in Season 8, the place he was dropped on a Brazilian island. After 4 days, Coppage turned so dehydrated that he was medically evacuated. However he was given a shot at redemption this yr in Season 15, which came about within the South African desert.
Though Coppage has many years of bushcraft expertise and expertise, he says that an important a part of survival is managing your thoughts. Anthony Coppage shares with BRO his psychological method, earlier errors, and what it’s wish to strip bare on digital camera.
BRO: Why did you select to reside in Western North Carolina?
AC: I had been working safety contracting in Vegas, the place everyone seems to be the worst model of themselves. I used to be throwing folks out of golf equipment, rescuing prostitutes, combating intercourse traffickers. Then my daughter was born. Daughters wreck you. They steal your coronary heart. I rapidly determined that I used to be not elevating her in Vegas. So I opened a map and appeared for locations the place there have been forests and mountains. Web site unseen, I packed up my RV and drove throughout the nation to Waynesville, N.C. My daughter and I lived in an RV park by a creek for a number of months whereas I figured issues out.
BRO: How did you grow to be a ballroom dancer?
AC: Working safety, I had carried out all the pieces from government safety to anti-piracy. There was a number of violence. I’ve damaged my ribs and my nostril a number of occasions. Fortunately, I’ve additionally been in a position to save a couple of lives alongside the best way. However all that began to weigh closely on me. I began seeing everybody as threats or victims. I constructed obstacles round myself and lower off mates and relationships.
I needed to make a change. I went all in on ballroom dancing, and ultimately I ended up competing professionally. After I moved to Western North Carolina, I opened a ballroom dance studio — American Ballroom Firm. Ballroom dancing immediately breaks down obstacles and places you in touch with folks straight away. You get to carry somebody in your arms. When I’m dancing, I’m fully within the second.
BRO: How did you apply to Bare and Afraid?
AC: I had by no means watched the present, however I had carried out a number of search and rescue, mountain climbing, and mountaineering. The present reached out to certainly one of my colleagues and requested if I may be . I didn’t suppose I’d do effectively. I felt like I had used up all of my luck on this life staying alive whereas working safety. I utilized, however I handled it as type of a joke.
However then I acquired a name asking, ‘Are you able to pack up and go in 4 weeks?’ All I knew was Brazil. I skilled exhausting for my first look, and I anticipated the Brazilian Amazon. After a month, I used to be jungle-trained. Then they dropped me on an island.
BRO: What did you do in a different way in making ready on your second look?
AC: In Brazil, I pushed it too exhausting and too rapidly. I used to be going as exhausting as I might looking for meals, and I overdid it. I ended up fully dehydrated on day 4. I didn’t wish to faucet out. I needed to set a great instance for my daughter. I needed to indicate her the right way to overcome adversity. However I had grow to be so dehydrated that the medics couldn’t even get an IV in my collapsing veins.
After that have, I used to be actually upset. I not often talked about it. To really feel like I failed at one thing simply tore me up. Worst of all was the concept my daughter would see this.
I waited 5 years for a shot at redemption. Lastly, this yr, I acquired one other name, and some weeks later, I used to be on a flight to South Africa. This time, I didn’t practice in any respect, apart from strolling round barefoot to construct calluses on my toes. Most of survival success is psychological, I’ve discovered. You want some fundamental expertise, however largely it’s a psychological recreation.
BRO: Did you acquire weight forward of time?
AC: I placed on a number of weight. For a month earlier than, I ate peanut butter and avocados—and in addition ice cream and junk meals. It’s rubbish weight that burns off rapidly, particularly for me. The extra muscle you carry, the extra vitality expenditure you’ve got.
BRO: What was it wish to be bare in entrance of the digital camera and different folks?
AC: The primary 5 minutes are the weirdest. The digital camera crew, the manufacturing assistants—are they observing me? I needed to strip down after which have a traditional dialog as I used to be being filmed. However the awkwardness goes away shockingly fast.
BRO: At age 51, you might be one of many older individuals. Was {that a} issue in any respect?
AC: Age is only a quantity. Individuals don’t begin dying till they cease dwelling. Lots of people simply exist. They don’t actually reside.
BRO: Do you keep in contact with any of the opposite individuals?
AC: We discuss usually—in all probability each few days. Though it was solely 21 days, we have been collectively 24 hours a day. It was intense, and it introduced us nearer than most individuals ever get to expertise.
BRO: Have been there any moments in your second look when you considered quitting?
AC: This was my private trophy: I can say 100% that I by no means as soon as doubted myself. It’s what I’m most pleased with. I used to be not going to let my daughter down.
I noticed others go darkish. After they begin specializing in the ache, they have a tendency to maintain sliding down the darkish tunnel. For this second time, my focus was on managing my head.
BRO: Does your Bare and Afraid expertise follow you while you return residence, or does it fade after some time?
AC: I believe it stains your soul. I don’t give it some thought daily, however I do know it’s at all times there. No matter else might come and go, redemption is everlasting. Most likely the perfect half is my daughter’s response. She now says, “Let’s do the Bare and Afraid problem. I wish to be partnered with you. However let’s convey sleeping baggage. And snacks.”
Cowl Picture courtesy of Anthony Coppage
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