Reality shows abound these days – People getting Punk'd, Survivor-ing, being the Biggest Loser, or trying to bag Flavor-Flav. Discovery Channel's Fit to Live offers an interesting twist.

There's a fire in your office building. Can you make it down 90 flights of stairs...? Your car is submerged in water...can you swim to shore...?

“What the heck does this have to do with Carectomy?” you might ask. And, hey – what were you doing in that car before it went into the drink anyhow?

The connection is that our sprawling car-laden society has properly fattened us up and watered us down to the point that many of us would not survive the show's tests. Turns out that time behind the wheel, slurping Cokes, hasn't prepared us well for real-life struggles after all.

The fitness challenges aren't all focused on dramatic life and death situations; as the show points out, we rely on basic fitness levels for mundane tasks like running to catch a plane or grabbing your loose dog before it escapes.

As show host Dr. Pamela Peeke says, “I am redefining 'fitness' as a more comprehensive and holistic concept that goes way beyond the old definition of a buffed body. I’m asking people if they are Fit to Live to survive a life and death scenario that takes them out of their usual comfort zone. Do you have the mental and physical ability to save your own life or that of others if pushed to do so?”

Maybe some of the carectomy patients out there think they have what it takes? Perhaps all that walking, cycling, and even transit-riding have given you some base endurance and a leg up on the competition. Round 2 of Fit to Live is having an online Casting Call right now for their next four-week training program that will both get you into shape and expose your experience to the whole TV-world.

Photo via flickr by Spiritualmonkey.

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