An East Texas man has been bringing some new popularity to a medieval sport on a new reality show. 
It's a History Channel show called Full Metal Jousting and local rodeo champion Rope Myers is trading in his lasso for a lance to take part. 
East Texans can usually find Rope Myers, at the Sky Ranch Arena, training horses and running the livery.

But the rest of the world can see rope, on the reality show, Full metal jousting. 

"I didn't think I would ever be on a reality show," Myers said.  

Myers, a world champion steer wrestler and a 2002 Olympic gold medalist in Command Performance Rodeo, has spent most of his life in the rodeo arena. 

When he was settled with a family at home, Myers decided to hang up his saddle, but he never lost that competitive spirit,  and that's what brought him to Full Metal Jousting 

"My wife actually signed me up for it, mainly because she knew the competition part of it would be something that would flip my trigger," Myers said. 

Something about Myers must of flipped the show's trigger too, because before he knew it, he was flown to Mississippi for 10 days of training 

Myers had to put on more than 80 lbs. of armor, learn how to ride with a lance instead of a rope, and figure out how to knock another man off his horse.

"Pretty much the day we got there, they said saddle up, and we saddled up and they trained us how to ride in that style of riding, and how to handle your joust, your joust lance and hit a target," Myers said. 

"Jousting is one of those things that even when it goes well, it hurts pretty good. I did break a finger which is not a big deal,"Myers said. 

The show works like a typical jousting tournament, starting with 16 players, then the elite 8, final four, then the championship round, with the final jouster winning 100 thousand dollars. 

"Nah, I can't tell you if I win or lose, but if I had a dollar for every time someone's asked me that, I would already have the 100 thousand," 

Myers says he doesn't think the reality TV world was for him, but he did enjoy the sport. 

"After it's all said and done I enjoyed the process I enjoyed doing it. Would I want to do it again, probably not that part of it, but as far as the jousting I liked that part of it," Myers said.  


Full Metal Jousting video provided courtesy of The History Channel.