If their current plans holds, Miss GEICO Offshore Racing team partner Gary Goodell and renowned custom motorcycle builder Paul Teutul, Sr., who became a celebrity as one of the lead characters in the “Orange County Choppers” reality television show on the Discovery Channel, will be teaming up on a new A&E Network reality program called “American Xtreme.” According to Goodell, shooting for the first episode—the script is still being written—is scheduled to being in three weeks for its July 27 airing.
Goodell (left) and Teutul plan to deliver the best of exotic powerboats and motorcycles in their A&E Network reality television show.
“It’s going to be all about extreme boats and extreme bikes,” said Goodell. “Paul Sr. will handle the bikes. I am on the boat side. And we will be taking trips and going on adventures together, all related to extreme boats and bikes. We’re even talking with a major boat builder about a collaborative ‘boat-and-bike’ build.”
Goodell was quick to point out that while the weekly will regularly feature the Miss GEICO Offshore Racing team, it will present much broader in scope of extreme motorcycles and powerboats.
“The Miss GEICO team will always be integrated throughout every show,” said Goodell, whose 39-foot GEICO Caveman Cigarette sportboat will included in the program. “We’ll be focusing on boats such Gino’s (Gargiulo) Lamborghini boat and John Woodruff’s Windship, maybe even the Spirit of Qatar’s turbine boat. The boat part of the show could also be focused on events like the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and SkaterFest.”
According to Goodell, the agreement with A&E Network calls for 13 episodes with an option for 13 more, as well as a possible four-year deal. The first three episodes have been planned.
“There’s nothing holding back production, everything is a done deal,” he said. “We start shooting in three weeks.”
For Teutul, who has 13 years of on-camera experience, the new program presents an opportunity for a fresh start in familiar—as well as unfamiliar—territory. The Orange County Choppers shop founder and figurehead met Goodell at a boat show last year. The two became fast friends and began a collaboration designed to blend their respective passions.
“You have to reinvent yourself, if you know what I mean,” said Teutul. “That’s what I’m doing. Even after 13 years, I really like doing TV. I think that ‘boats and bikes’ is little bit different—it’s not your usual thing. You relate motorcycles to cars, but there are a lot of similarities between bikes and boats. Both are about speed and creativity, and the people who own them tend to be pretty interesting. I think the OCC ‘caveman style’ mixed with the these boats and their owners will be pretty interesting. And we’re going to be building some amazing bikes to match the boats.
“We have been working on this for some time,” he continued. “I have a feeling this is going to be like the beginning when we did our show 13 years ago—or bigger.”