‘Highlight of my whole life’: Iqaluit personal trainer embraces TV show stint

A personal trainer from Iqaluit says her experience on a CBC reality show was the best time of her life.

Victoria Coman, 24, currently lives in Ottawa where she studies at Algonquin College. Last summer, though, she spent her days climbing trees and testing her athletic abilities as a contestant on Canada’s Ultimate Challenge.

The TV show brings together an eclectic cast of everyday contestants for a series of physical competitions.

Coman joined the cast after being contacted on Instagram by a representative of the show, encouraging her to apply.

The contestants are grouped into teams. Coman’s was coached by former Olympians including Donovan Bailey and Waneek Horn-Miller.

Canada’s Ultimate Challenge airs Thursdays on CBC, with all the episodes available to stream for free on CBC Gem.

Coman’s team was eliminated in episode four. Now she has been able to take the time to reflect on her experience filming and the pride she felt in representing Nunavut on TV.

“I’ll never forget how hard we all worked together and, and those emotions that we all felt,” she said in an interview.

“It’s something that’s once in a lifetime, I guess.”

Growing up, Coman competed in several sports including biathlon, gymnastics and speed skating.

One of the coaches on the show was Clara Hughes, who won four Olympic medals for Canada in speed skating including a gold medal in 2006.

Having represented Nunavut in speed skating at the 2014 Arctic Winter Games, Coman described meeting Hughes as one of the highlights of her experience.

“I grew up with Clara’s photo in the locker room at the arena, so like I knew of her going into the show and to meet her on that first day when we met the coaches, I was like on cloud nine,” Coman said.

“I had a tear in my eye, just meeting her because, you know, she was one of my idols growing up.”

With Canada’s Ultimate Challenge behind her, Coman is focusing on her studies at Algonquin and her work as a personal trainer.

However, if the opportunity comes up she’d love to be back on the show again, or another show like it.

“Sign me up if that’s a thing, because I would totally do it all again, 100 per cent … I would do that whole thing again tomorrow,” Coman said.

“Honestly, that was probably the highlight of my whole life so far.”