NBC
Watch NBC's new athletic competition show The Titan Games, and you might notice a familiar face. Yes, besides Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the show's host. One of the competitors is Derik Scott, 30, who grew up in St. Louis and whose parents, Kevin and Dana Scott, owned Scotts Gymnastics in Crestwood.
The show, a 10-episode arc that premieres January 3 at 7 p.m., sees competitors face off in challenges "designed to test mind, body, and heart." Scott, who is an attorney and now lives in Los Angeles, got his athletic start at a young age. "My whole life was basically spent in a gymnastics gym," he says. He won his first national championship at age 7. "For me, gymnastics was not only my foundation for athleticism, but it also allowed me to compete with my brothers in things like [The Titan Games], on a much smaller scale."
Scott is dedicating his performance on the show to one of his brothers, Ian, who died in a car accident when Scott was 12. "He was a little bit older than [me], and we always looked up to him as a role model when he was alive," Scott said. "When he passed away, he was still in that place of lore. If anything, it just solidified who he was to us. ... So not only was he my brother, but my role model, and also the person who I wake up in the morning and think, 'I want to make him proud.' I want Ian to feel like the things that I do in my life are a commemoration to him. So that's why doing something so epic like The Titan Games just made sense. I'm going to go out here, I'm going to compete, and I'm going to show you in the most ultimate, epic competition ever. You're going to be proud of my actions."
The toughest challenge Scott faced on the show? Mount Olympus, a huge mountain that competitors have to scale, perform an obstacle in the middle, and race down—before the opposing competitor can do so. "The Rock always talks about [how] it's meant to break you. And if you're not ready—physically, mentally, emotionally, however you want to call it—it will break you for sure. The scale and epic-ness of that obstacle is unrivaled."
