Red Bull: Can You Make It? The Matadors

This year sees the return of the Red Bull Can You Make It? Challenge, aptly described by some as Jailbreak on crack (or should that be caffeinated drinks?).

The challenge will see 165 students teams from more than 50 countries attempt to blag their way across Europe using only Red Bull as their currency. Three teams from Exeter are vying for a spot in the competition, though they need your votes to even make it to the start line. We caught up with them in order to give you the lowdown.

We spoke to Connor, Ed, and Michael from The Matadors. Their first challenge was to select a meeting place, it’s a chance to make a small statement. Later that afternoon I find myself sat in the Waitrose Café, just off St Lukes.

Team bonding

So whose idea was it?

Connor got approached after doing so well in jailbreak last year.

So you guys didn’t take much convincing?

No. The best things are always the most spontaneous. We’d done Jailbreak last year, so it was always about the spontaneous angle.

What do each of you bring to the team?

Um…..Ed’s the problem solver, a bit of thinking on his feet – useful stuff. Connor doesn’t quite, there wont be a moment during the week when we are not going forward. Even if it’s sleeping, I want to be sleeping on a moving vehicle. Michael can talk to anyone, he could convince a herbivore to eat a 20 ounce steak. People see us as competitive from the outside, but once you get within, there’s even more competition. The adventure is gonna’ be great, but ultimately we are in it to win it.

Throwback

Have you got any secret weapons?

We can give you a clue, we’ve been feeding it for the past four weeks now and we’ve worked out how to fit it in a suitcase.

What’s going to be the soundtrack of your trip?

Black Eyed Peas numbers have done us well. Just take an old school Black Eyed Peas album like Elephunk, you’ve got Pump It, Let’s Get It Started and for when the other teams are giving us chat, Shut Up.

Have you got the lowdown on the other teams then?

Yeah, we know their weakness. They’re terrible at making signs. Shocking infact!

So you guys know your fonts?

Yeah. It’s all about the capital letters and the little letters, catching people’s eye with the fades. That’s what it’s all about – just don’t mention the spelling mistake on the opening title of our video. We spelt challenge with and “a” instead of an “e”. Challange – we’re already mentally in France.

It’s your vote we want

So who are you guys flying the flag for?

The Lukies, Ed isn’t technically a Lukie, but he’s a hybrid. He spends an awful lot of time on St Lukes. Being a Lukie it’s a cult, it’s a religion, it really is.

So why should be people vote for you guys?

What we’ve got over the other teams is that we can provide the people at home with entertainment as well. This isn’t meant to sound vain, but we don’t need to beg people to vote for us, we just click with people.

At this point Connor walks over to help a disabled man with his bags – what a gent.

You could say arrogant, but we’re not arrogant – just confident.

The Matadors could be flying the St Lukes flag all over Europe, if you like the sound of that, you can vote for them here.