Despite life inside the squared circle being full of risks in front of a live audience, Steve Austin says predicting the weather on live television was terrifying.
In January of this year, a number of videos featuring the former WWE Champion surfaced on social media, featuring Austin acting as a weatherman as well as working in a fast food restaurant. At the time, fans had no explanation for this bizarre behavior, but all was explained when A&E announced their upcoming series Stone Cold Takes On America.
The series sees Steve Austin traveling across the country in an RV and taking on a variety of tasks along the way, with the challenges intended to get the Texas Rattlesnake out of his comfort zone.
“I Failed” – Steve Austin On His Stint As A Weatherman
Speaking in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Steve Austin opened up about his discomfort when it came to predicting the weather alongside Madison Macay. Not only was the call time incredibly early, but Austin also admitted that he puts immense pressure on himself to succeed at something right away.
“Yeah, predicting the weather on live television scared the hell out of me. I made a living being on live TV, and you know, we went up there. First of all it was a 12:45 wakeup call, I didn’t sleep, 2:15 call time, I’m not a morning person.
“Then I go in and this wonderful lady Madison Macay is breaking down how she does the weather, and she is taking a [big] paragraph and taking the pertinent information and just condensing it down just on the fly. I am thinking hey I’ve got to do it just exactly how she is. And you’re never going to step into someone else’s shoes or someone else’s job and be that good automatically, but that’s what I expect out of myself.
“So moments like that crushed me, because I thought I did terrible. I love live television, because when that red light is on I am at my best, and I failed. But anyway, it was a ton of fun to make this show, I’m happy to have the opportunity.”
Stone Cold Takes On America premieres on April 30th on A&E.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Chris Van Vliet and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.