Only one of them officially made it to the finish line, but lifelong friends David Ellison and Matthew Klumpenhouwer are calling their recent appearance on the Mantracker television series a great team victory.
Respectively known as “Rusty” and “Klumpy,” the duo appeared on the May 22 episode of season six of the series on Ontario Life Network (OLN).
Ellison managed to make it to the finish line – 35km away from the start, in the Dolores River Canyon in Colorado – without being captured by real-life cowboy and tracker Terry Grant and his guide Garnett Weese.
Klumpenhouwer was not so lucky, getting captured 2.4km from the finish, but it was his strategic call late in the game to split up that allowed Ellison to sneak past Grant and Weese and ultimately make it to the end.
“We came into this together as a team, we wanted to finish it as a team,” Ellison says near the end of the episode. “If it wasn’t for one, the accomplishments for the other would not have happened …
“I believe we’re both victorious, because if it wasn’t for the sacrifice that he made for myself and our team, it wouldn’t have happened at all.”
A dairy farmer on the west side of Mapleton Township, Ellison told the Advertiser the experience was a positive one that helped solidify his friendship with Klumpenhouwer.
“I think we did all right at the end of the day,” he said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Colorado … it was a pretty good experience overall.”
He noted the pair received “overwhelming support” in the community both before and after their episode aired on May 22.
“We’ve had quite a few positive comments,” Ellison said, noting a local feed store even had a sign rooting for him and Klumpenhouwer.
A few days prior to the OLN airing of their episode, Ellison and Klumpenhouwer got together to watch it on DVD.
Their families generally enjoyed the episode, which Ellison said producers have called one of their top five favourites over six seasons.
But Ellison’s wife was not impressed with one scene in the episode, during which Ellison voices his love for his family in case anything bad happens, before traversing a rocky cliff edge to avoid the Mantracker.
“She was a little perturbed that way,” he said jokingly.
Klumpenhouwer, who now lives in Perth County but resided in Palmerston at the time of the taping, also said he did not have any regrets about appearing on the show.
“None at all,” he declared.
He agreed the show was popular locally and joked that Ellison is now like “the Justin Bieber of Listowel” with his new found fame.
Joking aside, Klumpenhouwer was a little disappointed with the “bad judgment call” that led to his capture, but he made it clear at the end of the show that both men did everything in their power to win.
“I couldn’t have tried any harder,” Klumpenhouwer says to the camera after being captured. He later added, “I got captured, but I won.”
He credits Ellison with the pair’s success, saying his friend was the perfect person with whom to appear on Mantracker.
“He’ll give everything he’s got, and then a little bit more,” Klumpenhouwer told the Advertiser. “I was pretty proud of Rusty … I’m so glad we went together.”
To view the full Mantracker episode, visit www.oln.ca.
