January 25, 1992, the pilot episode of MTV Sports premiered, and apparently more than just me and the crew were watching. In less than a month after it launched, we were airing in 72 countries and were one of MTV's top-rated shows worldwide. I obviously knew a lot of this was happening, but having never worked on a show before, it took a while for me to really absorb the magnitude of it. Maybe it was because I was still living in Los Angeles and the show was produced out of New York, so I really wasn't too involved in the day-to-day aspect of it. That being said, I do recall the first time the popularity of the show became extremely real for me.

Hot on the heels of the show's initial success, Volvo contacted us with the hopes of appealing to “younger, hipper” car buyers. Their idea, which in my eyes was a pretty amazing one, was to fly me 90 miles deep into the Arctic Circle to Kiruna, Sweden. There, they wanted me to test drive some of their newer models on an ice track, which, in turn, would be filmed for an episode of our show. It was episodes like this one that made me feel like I was in a 90s Mastercard commercial.

• Salary per episode—$400
• 3 pack of bandannas—$14
• Macy's silver hoop earrings (because they don't turn your ears green like the “gold”)—$20
• Crash a brand new speeding Volvo off an ice track into snow drifts, pet reindeer, and drink vodka in an ice hotel (not necessarily in that order)—PRICELESS!

After leaving New York, our flight had an early-morning layover in Stockholm. I think it was around 5 a.m. I remember the airport was basically empty, with the exception of our crew. Fewer than 10 of us were strewn out across a few benches trying to kill the two hours before our connecting flight to Kiruna. Then almost out of nowhere, walking in our direction, were three, twenty-something-year-old guys with duffles and ski caps. I glanced toward them as they got closer, figuring they were probably on our flight. They slowed a bit then said something in our direction in a foreign language that reminded me of the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show.

I turned to see what they wanted and they were just standing there smiling when one of them said, “MTV Sports? MTV Sports, yes?!” I responded with a thumbs up and a stunned, “Yep, MTV Sports.” I was caught off guard a bit to see how excited these guys were and how much they loved our show. We talked and took photos on their disposable cameras (remember those), then as the icing on the proverbial cake, one of them had me sign a bandanna from his duffle. They politely thanked us and hustled off to make their flight, leaving me and the crew sitting there jet lagged and amazed. I remember trying to grasp the fact that we were on the other side of the planet and just happened to get approached at 5 a.m. by three random guys who knew our show.

In reality, I was really proud because we were just a group of friends who were having fun creating a show based around things that we liked. To know that people across the globe not only watched it, but also enjoyed it, was kind of mind blowing. For me, this was the beginning of the realization that there was a huge underground population of extreme sports enthusiasts, even larger than I had thought. They loved us, because with MTV Sports we created a platform that gave them a voice and allowed them to let the world know they existed. (You're welcome X-Games…insert winky-face emoji here.) Yes, it was definitely an ego boost, but more than anything, I was overcome with gratitude for being in a position to be a part of the show as well as that underground movement.

After another month of the show airing, another thing in particular was becoming glaringly apparent…I was broke. The transition from my production assistant salary of $300/week to $400/episode as host of the show was hitting me right in the pocket where I carried my money. I would have said wallet, but I couldn't afford one at the time. Plus, the money I was carrying was more like loose change, so it would've just fallen out of the wallet anyway. This problem stemmed from the fact that we were only slated to shoot 20 episodes for the first season. As much as my 23-year-old brain would have liked to think I could stretch that $8,000 out for the whole year, I was still going to land quite a bit below the ramen noodle line.

So, I started looking for bartending jobs with the hopes that wherever I landed they'd be flexible enough not to fire me when I had to leave for a shoot. I also made Patrick Byrnes well aware of my situation, on the off chance he'd give me a pity raise. A couple weeks later, he let me know that after going to bat for me regarding my salary, that the show was just not budgeted to give me a raise. I figured as much but also wasn't sure what to do next, since I still hadn't found a second job.

Then he let me know one thing he had discovered. The show was budgeted to carry another production assistant on staff. So on that day, Dan Cortese, host of MTV Sports, happily accepted the position to become the West Coast production assistant of MTV Sports and personal assistant to Dan Cortese. I booked my own flights, cars, hotels, location scouted, you name it. I didn't care, I looked at it as being a triple threat, host, production assistant, and personal assistant, and that extra $300/week moved me not only above the ramen noodle line but well into the realm of the occasional Stouffer's French Bread Pizza. Life was good!