Donna Petrozzello of The New York Daily News reports that Ted Nugent, musical wild man and avid hunter, in a period of four days this summer reduced a group of city-dwelling strangers to sniveling ranch hands.
It was all for his VH1 special, "Surviving Nugent", and he makes no apologies for how he treated the rookie wilderness adventurers.
"I invented the middle finger," said Nugent, whose hits include "Cat Scratch Fever" and "Wango Tango". "I had to arbitrarily, subjectively and knee-jerkingly toss people out, which I did."
The reality show, telecast Sunday at 9 p.m., follows players who lived in a barn at Nugent's 2,000-acre Michigan ranch.
They competed to keep up with the rocker's unorthodox farm games and mercurial taste in the hope of driving off with the top prize, a Dodge Ram pickup and $25,000.
Nugent, a fervent defender of the rights of hunters and gun owners, didn't make it easy for them. Within minutes of meeting the ragtag contestants ? who included a vegan ? he banished one player for wearing cologne and later kicked out another for being wimpy.
Nugent also got son Rocco, wife Shemane and ranch hand buddy Big Jim in on the act.
"This is not only the road less traveled, but the swamp uncharted," Nugent said. "I wanted to teach them that a hands-on conservation lifestyle can be very attractive and very gratifying."
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