Discovery TV show films on Pensacola Beach
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

When the sun is high over head roasting the back of your neck, what's better than being on Pensacola Beach to soak up some rays or splash in the waves? How about flying down the highway on a world-class custom chopper motorcycle at full speed with a film crew in a helicopter to catch your every move?

That's exactly what contestants from the Discovery Channel's "Biker BuildOff" were doing Tuesday, March 7. Future reality television combatants, Ivy Trosclair, a small shop owner and prize winner from New Orleans, and the legend from Big Bear, California, Kevin Alsop came to Pensacola Beach to film segments for the show.

"We were looking for a really scenic and spectacular spot," Dawn Fitzgerald, a producer for the show said. "This will be the only helicopter shot in this episode, it will probably be in the opening, and you couldn't ask for a better day."

The Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) was more than happy to welcome the production crew to Pensacola Beach.

"We met Saturday with the producers," SRIA General Manager W. A. 'Buck' Lee said, continuing: "People get to see that stretch of road, I think it's one of the most beautiful in the union, with the sugary white sand and the emerald green water. It's good publicity for us to say 'look how beautiful Pensacola Beach is.' Any time we can get free publicity, we'll take it."

Representatives for the Discovery Channel were unable to pinpoint the exact air date for the show featuring the beach, but mentioned it would probably be near the end of summer.

"Biker Build-Off," the consistently popular series that made custom bikebuilding a mass culture phenomenon, is back for its fifth season on Discovery, launching in the fall of 2006. As with the previous "Biker Build-Offs," each builder will be given two weeks to create a custom motorcycle, from the ground up. Although aesthetics are crucial to all the builds, the contest also requires the bikes to work; the builders must ride them as far as 1,000 miles to major bike events, where attendees vote for their favorite. The episode featuring Trosclair with Metry Custom Cycles (MCC), and Kevin Alsop with Big Bear Choppers (BCC) will depict the builders' journey from New Orleans Louisiana to Daytona Beach Florida. The contestants will arrive just in time for the Daytona Beach Bike Week.

Metry Custom Cycles and Big Bear Choppers are not new to competition building, winning several national awards each. One chopper on hand by MCC was the infamous award winning "Gold Digger." The bike is aptly named because it ran out of gas before filming could wrap.

Many members of the cast and crew who were likely on our beautiful shore for the first time, had nothing but compliments for the natural serenity of the beach.

"It's so beautiful out here, the weather is perfect, the water is really green. Daytona doesn't look like that," Fitzgerald said.

"This isn't my first time out here, it's always beautiful, but [today] is amazing," Trosclair said.