Niel and Eric Mattek, Cedar Grove High School graduates, will travel to the Ellsworth area Aug. 28 and try to qualify for one of 10 spots on the "Battle of the Bow" television show, which airs on the Sportsman Channel.
"It's very exciting for us to have this opportunity. We hope to advance to the final (10) and bring home the camera (to) film our entire archery season for the nation to see," said Niel, who lives in Port Washington. "We're feeling really confident right now, but you never know what they're looking for."
The Aug. 28 judgment day in and around Ellsworth, in Pierce County, will be filmed. The brothers, Niel said, will be rated for on-air chemistry, their work on the battleofthebow.com and Facebook Web pages and their success answering Season 1 trivia questions. They also must have secured a $2,500 team-name sponsor by Aug. 14. They have.
"This process has been going on since January of this year," Niel said. "Eric and I each have our own individual pages on the Web site at this point. We've continually been contributing to them throughout this process, as well as to the site in general through discussions, blogs, etcetera."
On Oct. 16, the 10 finalists will do a midseason wrapup — a group filming day — and in March the winner of Season 2 will be crowned.
"We're a typical Wisconsin hunting family," Niel said. "We've been hunting since age 12, so that's one thing we feel really comfortable talking about (in front of the camera)."
Niel was an assistant wrestling coach at Lakeland College from 2002-04. Eric, 27, lives in Milwaukee and works with his brother at Motorsport Composite in Grafton. Niel also has a side business, Numbskulls Taxidermy.
The 13-episode show will begin airing on the Sportsman Channel during the first quarter of 2011.
"None of the people are doing this for the money," Niel said. "It was their dream to give everyday hunters the chance to hunt on TV. That would be the prize for us."
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