An American Grit Lumberjack Wedding
This weekend #TeamNoah was reunited for the wedding of Mark Bouquin to his beautiful bride, Melissa. For those of you who watched the John Cena reality-TV show “American Grit” that I did on FOX this spring, you will recall that Mark is a giant lumberjack and his wedding was everything you would expect a lumberjack wedding to be.
It was held outside with the autumn forest serving as the backdrop. David (the Olympian) is also a preacher and he did the service, complete with American Grit catchphrases, and Clare (the Alaskan fisherwoman) was a bridesmaid.
While the groomsmen waited they took turns throwing hatchets into a log and they cut the wedding cake with an ax. It was wonderfully, perfectly them as a couple.
It was so much fun catching up with my teammates!
SEASON 1 SPOILER ALERT
Mark and Clare won so they are enjoying their winnings doing some home upgrades. David just booked a motivational speaking engagement and I’m training for my next competition in November. I was also happy to tell them about my transformation story being in Muscle & Fitness Hers last month, which was pretty exciting for me.
Noah (Galloway) wasn’t able to make it since he was running a race, but we are all trying to coordinate schedules to do a Tough Mudder race together in the spring, which would be amazingly fun.
Random relatives of Mark or Melissa would come up and hug me because they knew me from the show, and of course I had no idea who they were, but I’ll take a hug any day! Some of them knew my husband, Henri, too since he’s on the cover of my blog, so it made the entire wedding seem friendlier. Plus we were drinking raspberry cheesecake shots which makes everyone chummier anyway.
The last time we were all physically in the same room was December 21st at the final Circus. I’m so proud of my teammates and seeing them again was like there was never any time that lapsed between us.
It was so weird being a team, living together and doing these military training exercises together and being focused on our own dynamic (which was wonderful, by the way) and then actually seeing the show months later, and hearing all the stuff that was said about us by other teams behind closed doors. It was a surreal experience to say the least.
Melissa’s aunt noted that we all seemed to get along pretty well and asked what Noah was like as a cadre.
“The first thing he told us was that we should be ourselves and not try to say anything outrageous just to get on camera. He reminded us that when the show was over we would have to live with ourselves, so be sure to protect our character and good name. And after our very first win, as the cameramen were coming towards us, he faced us and said, ‘Ya’ll be humble.’ That really set the tone for the team and I’m really proud of my time on the show.”
Between dancing and posing for pictures with dead creatures hanging on the wall we caught up on other cast mates we still keep in touch with and talked about what we think Season 2 might be like for the new cast.
Touchdown Tony (NFL player) said on the first day of filming, “People are put together for a reason, a season or a lifetime.” We had our reason and the very first season; I’m looking forward to friendship that lasts a lifetime.
Congratulations Mark & Melissa! May you have a lifetime of happiness together.
Lisa 🙂
Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two….and Original Cast Member of AMERICAN GRIT, starring John Cena, on FOX!!!
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