World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is a television series documenting a long-range multi-day expedition race in which teams race non-stop with little to no sleep over mountains, jungles, and oceans. The series is a revival of the Eco-Challenge series first broadcast from 1995 to 2002. The race took place in Fiji in September 2019, and the television series documenting the race hosted by Bear Grylls premiered on Amazon Prime Video on August 14, 2020.
The race was contested by 66 teams of four from around the world. The race encompassed trekking by foot and traveling in various non-motorized forms of transportation, including paddling and sailing in an outrigger, paddleboarding, mountain biking, and whitewater rafting, requiring skills such as rappelling, climbing, and canyoneering. No modern technology can be used in navigation, and only a map and compass were provided. Expedition problem-solving skills were required to meet any challenges the teams may encounter along the way. All members of a team must complete the race; should any team member quit or cannot complete the race, the entire team would be eliminated.
I worked in both the field during the shoot as a drone operator and in post production as an editor. As a two man drone team, I handled the cinematic aerial shots operating the camera on the DJI Inspire 2 all over the island of Fiji, and launching the drone from various boats on the ocean.
In post production, I finished two episodes working with the story producers to craft the story and character arcs focusing on the struggles of the various teams and their journey through the World's Toughest Race, Eco-Challenge.
Amazon Vignette on the Behind the Scenes work of the Drone Team that I was on to capture aerials for The World's Toughest Race.