Mates go head-to-head in Ellis and Ridge-style competition to test rivalry
SIMON O’CONNOR / FAIRFAXNZ AN unlikely pair of mates from Taranaki have been selected from a nationwide search to emulate the 1990s made-for-TV rivalry of Marc Ellis and Matthew Ridge.
Ellis and Ridge had made their names playing footie for the All Blacks and the Kiwis.
The reboot of the rivalry that featured in several famous advertisements and had them fronting TV show Fresh-up In The Deep End, has been reimagined as ‘‘Chad versus Larry’’ and features Chad Smith, a tradie, and Greg ‘‘Larry’’ Taylor, a doctor.
Their rivalry started in third form at Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth.
‘‘At school, Larry was swimming champ and I was athletics. We always thought we were better than each other,’’ Smith said.
In Thailand in 2009 and 2010, they both competed and won amateur boxing matches, so the pair began arguing about who was the better boxer.
‘‘It was just about who would be a better athlete at different sports,’’ Taylor said.
Last year, the pair entered the competition to recreate the rivalry of Ellis and Ridge.
They found out in January they had been picked and would be competing on live on TV to find out who was the best.
‘‘Everything has happened very, very fast,’’ Taylor said.
As part of the show in Auckland, the pair will have to ride a mechanical bull, pull a couch loaded with people and eat a hot curry.