Colo. Firefighter-EMT Wins $100K on NBC Competition Show

Broomfield Enterprise, Colo.

Keeping the secret that he won “The Titan Games,” an NBC competition series hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, for 13 weeks wasn’t easy for Matt Chan.

The show’s second season, which kicked off May 25 with a two-hour episode, ended season Aug. 10 with Chan, a firefighter and EMT with North Metro Fire Rescue District, atop Mount Olympus.

Not only could Chan brag about his victory over the likes of former NFL stars and Olympic gold-medal winners, he walked away $100,000 richer.

This season, the competition was broken into three regional brackets: West, Central and East. Within each region, Johnson selected one male and one female professional athlete to serve as Titans.

That included 10-time NFL Pro-Bowl lineman Joe Thomas, two-time Olympic gold medal-winning Claressa Shields, Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz, Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Hannah Teter, professional stuntwoman and American Ninja Warrior star Jessie Graff and five-time UFC champion Tyron Woodley, according to the NBC’s website.

Contestants fought for the chance to compete on Mount Olympus, Johnson’s all-encompassing final obstacle that tested “strength, speed, stamina and heart,” according to the site. To become a Titan, competitors needed to defeat one of the professional Titans and then keep that position on top of Mount Olympus.

Chan said the turning point in the competition was defeating Thomas. When he first showed up, he noted other contestants were bigger and stronger, but as the competition went on, he gained confidence with each opponent he bested.

In the finale, the Titans battled against one another, with one man and one woman emerging as Titan Champion and each winning a grand prize of $100,000. Had one of the professional athletes won, their prize money would have gone to a charity of their choosing.

Dani Speegle, 25, won in the women’s competition.

Chan said Johnson, who is “larger than life in more ways than one,” talked to contestants as if they were all on the same level. Johnson called the week of finals and expressed his gratitude that Chan competed this season.

“I think that says a lot about his fiber,” Chan said.

Chan’s journey didn’t run in a straight line, however.

After an athletic audition, Chan was placed on the alternate list for the show, but producers still invited him to attend a month-long recording in Atlanta in February, according to an article in The Denver Post. That was a tough decision, since it meant taking off a chunk of time from work to essentially watch the show from the sidelines. But he decided to do it anyway.

After getting a shot on the show due to an injury, Chan battled his way to Mount Olympus during the Central regional competition, where he took down Thomas. Chan kept that spot through the champion round.

“It was absolutely thrilling,” Chan said. “Having my wife there with me made it all the more special.”

Chan, who has a background in IT, got into firefighting after he volunteered for Grand County in the early 2000s. He has been at North Metro Fire since 2007. He became interested in competing when he watched the show last year when it premiered.

“I got hooked,” Chan said. “Everything looked like so much fun.”

Chan has been involved in sports and athletics since he was 5-years-old, swimming competitively at Western Illinois University, co-creating a CrossFit-rooted program called TrainFTW, which trains other athletes and working out at least an hour each day. Over the years he’s competed in challenges such as the Leadville 100 MTB in 2019, the CrossFit regional competition in 2015, and the Crossfit Games in 2012 where he came in second place.

In 2014, a bicycle accident resulted in him getting airlifted from Nederland to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, according to an article in The Denver Post. Doctors told Chan he would never walk again. Chan bled internally and blood flow was blocked in one leg for nearly an hour, which increased his chances of needing an amputation.

After three emergency surgeries and rehab, he was not only able to walk again but compete at the same level as before.

He told The Post he applied for The Titan Games after seeing the final episode of Season 1 and thought “I’m going to submit my video and keep my fingers crossed.” He didn’t hear from the show for over six months but was then invited out to come out and show he had the physical abilities to perform.

Four Coloradans competed in the first season in 2019. Chan, originally from Chicago, lives in Denver and considers Colorado home since he’s lived here for 20 years.

Chan said he received support from the district through the entire process.