MTV's new surprise hit, "Bully Beatdown," has scored strong ratings for the network in its first two episodes.
And as former NFL wide receiver, King of the Cage veteran and "Bully Beatdown" week two pro fighter Michael Westbrook (1-1) recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
www.mmajunkie.com/radio), the full experience was a hit in his eyes.
"We had a lot of fun shooting it over the course of the time that we were there," Westbrook said. "It was a really, really good experience."
Westbrook faced 6-foot-7 bully "Vince" in the series second episode, entitled "Vince: The Roommate From Hell."
Westbrook had little trouble submitting "Vince" four times in the opening round before scoring a TKO in the second round with a series of heavy right hands. The Michigan native said he had a bit of a bully experience form his own childhood to draw on for motivation.
"I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's in the city of Detroit," Westbrook said. "There were bullies always. You always had to protect yourself and always had to fight."
"We had this one bully in my neighborhood named Joe. I don't even know if he's still living because he was a dope dealer. But he came down the street and wanted to fight me. Joe was like two years older than me. When you're like 11 and 12 (years old), two years is huge. So, not making any excuses, but I was scared of the dude. He was bigger than me and older than me. So I ran in the house, and my mom was like, 'Um, what are you coming in here all wide-eyed for? What's wrong with you? Why are your eyes all wide-open like that?'"
Westbrook said his mom refused to shelter him from the aggressor.
"I was like, 'Well, Joe is outside,'" Westbrook said. "She was like, 'Joe's outside? Well you better get your [expletive] ass outside. Never let a guy punk you in front of your own house.'
My mom, back in the day - you know, it was like the 70's - she had her little, I'm going to call it a cigarette. She had her cigarette, and she came to the porch in her houseshoes and she said, 'Now you whoop his ass.'
"I'm like, 'What? This is Joe we're talking about.'"
Ready or not to confront his fears, Westbrook's mom insisted he stand up to Joe.
"She was like, 'If you don't whoop his ass, I'm whipping your ass - so you go ahead and go to work,'" Westbrook said. "She made me fight this dude. He's looking at her like, 'This [expletive] is crazy.'
"He's like, 'Is this OK to fight in front of you?'
"She's like, 'Go ahead. Start it. Get to work.'
"I'm like, '[Expletive].'"
Westbrook said the following exchange wasn't anything like he's able to execute now, but the show of courage did the trick.
"So we just start scrapping, right there in front of the house," Westbrok said. "I did well, and probably actually won the fight.
"We just kind of flailed around. I thought I was bringing it, but I was 12 years old. I was probably just flailing around for the most part, just trying to punch him in the face. It was just going back and forth for the most part."
Despite the lack of certain resolution, Westbrook didn't ever again have to walk down his street afraid.
"We got up and kind of looked at each other," Westbrook said. "He cussed at me a couple of times. I said a couple of cuss words to him. He walked away, and Joe never messed with me again after that.
"That was my only real bully experience, me running from him and my mother telling me she was going to whoop my ass if I ever ran from somebody again."
After Westbrook was through with "Vince" on "Bully Beatdown," the former bully also seemed set to leave his enemies alone. But Westbrook believes the show failed to broadcast some of the best moments of the experience.
"The stuff that I wanted to see, people didn't get to see," Westbrook said. "I talked to (Executive Producer) Mark Burnett about it. He was like, 'I don't know if the world's ready for that.'
"But the funny part to me about the whole show was after the fights were over how all the fighters were throwing up in the back. Every bully was in the back puking their guts out. It was just like all over the place. They couldn't stop throwing up. It was hilarious. I was like, 'They should show that on TV. That's the part I want to see.'"
Westbrook said his time on the show wasn't financially beneficial, but the exposure on the MTV-broadcast show was worth the effort.
"This wasn't lucrative at all," Westbrook said. "But it was great for exposure. If people wanted to see me or any of the other fighters on camera or behind the scenes talking, just for any prospects for anything other than fighting, it was great for the exposure.
"We got paid for it, but it wasn't something you could do for a living if we weren't getting the exposure."
Nevertheless, Westbrook said he'd be back if the Jason "Mayhem" Miller-hosted series made it beyond its initial eight-episode run.
"I think MTV is probably going to call ['Bully Beatdown'] back for another season," Westbrook said. "They've already asked me to do the second season."
"Bully Beatdown" airs Sundays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
