Prime Video
Well, PBR fans, there’s a new show on Prime Video that will put you in the dirt of a rodeo arena without any chance of injury. The show titled “The Ride”, which premiered on May 30th, follows an ensemble cast of PBR Team Series bull riders, team coaches, and front-office executives throughout the inaugural season of the PBR Team Series.
Traditionally a solo sport, PBR entered a new era with the creation of the PBR Team Series in 2022. Under the new format, riders on eight teams compete in head-to-head, five-on-five matchups in order to conquer as many bulls as possible and earn the highest aggregate score to win games across a 28-game regular season, and advance to the championship tournament in Las Vegas. The show is an honest, unvarnished, behind-the-scenes journey into the new team league, with co-producer Kinetic Content getting the deepest access PBR has ever provided to an outside crew, according to a press release.
“In other sports, people are often coached, and you get what they’re told to say,” says co-producer Jamie Elias. “It’s rare to watch a (reality) series and see people exactly who they are. These bull riders are absolutely true to themselves – through the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
In trying to answer the proverbial question, why do they do it, “The Ride” offers viewers a raw view of the top athletes in the world’s most dangerous organized sport, from the locker rooms to the bucking chutes and back home to their ranches during the week.
The new docuseries’ inception began in the summer of 2022 when Elias and Executive Producer/Director Micah Brown brought three camera crews to the PBR team events to shoot the series. What makes this behind-the-scenes series so unique is no one could have imagined the personal tragedies that would soon affect several riders – and their entire teams.
“Bull riders aren’t reality show stars or actors,” Brown says. “We had to gain their trust so they could open up and be vulnerable. That happened across the season and, with the fragility of life hitting close to home, produced an emotional depth to the riders that going to resonate with viewers.”
This show’s timing couldn’t be more fitting as well, since this year marks the institution’s 30th anniversary and the completion of the PBR World Finals, which took place right here in Cowtown.
“These are riveting stories of family, brotherhood, passion, and dreams against the backdrop of the world’s most dangerous organized sport now redefined in the PBR Team Series,” says PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason. “The compelling episodes that unfold will entertain everyone whether they are a fan of PBR bull riding or about to become one.”
The cast for this new series consists of:
Austin Gamblers Coach Michael Gaffney
(Athletes)
- Jose Vitor Leme
- Ezekiel Mitchell
- Dakota Louis
Carlina Cowboys Coach Jerome Davis
(Athletes)
- Boudreaux Campbell
- Daylon Swearingen
Oklahoma Freedom Coach Cord McCoy
(Athletes)
- Chase Outlaw
- Eli Vastbinder
