When filming began for the upcoming season of the Golf Channel’s Big Break reality series, Eugene Smith thought he was prepared for anything—competing head-to-head with the other contestants to survive another week, mastering golf challenges and trick shots on the fly that would never occur in a real round of golf, giving up his cell phone for the duration of the shoot.
Despite being a fan of the show, what the 30-year-old Glen Ridge native wasn’t prepared for was “how many people it takes to put on a reality show. They had, like fifteen cameras going at once, sound guys, lighting, crew, it was just amazing. I had to report to makeup for the on-camera interviews and the PR stuff, and I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
No, they weren’t. As one of six male and six female contestants on Big Break Prince Edward Island, Smith was held pretty much incommunicado at the Mill River Golf Course resort on the lush-as-Ireland Canadian island. “They don’t tell you anything in advance about the next challenge,” he says. “You go to bed wondering what you’ll be doing tomorrow.” Smith, who won the NCAA Big East championship in 2000 and was Seton Hall Athlete of the Year as a senior in 2001, has played on the Canadian Tour since 2004. To see how he did, catch Big Break, now airing. The finale is June 29.