Former Penn State football players and brothers Kyle and Tyler Lucas will appear on the athletic competition show The Titan Games, which will premiere on January 3 on NBC.

The show is hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who somehow found time to host this show while being Hollywood’s highest paid actor and a rumored presidential candidate. Probably not, but who doesn’t want to see #TheRock2020?

Goosebumps are guaranteed when you step inside the #TitanGames arena with @therock this January. pic.twitter.com/DjHuNMwecn

— The Titan Games (@nbctitangames) December 10, 2018

The 10-episode series will consist of contestants engaging in physically intense head-to-head competitions “designed to test the mind, body, and heart,” according to the show’s website. Winners of each event will earn the title of Titans and defend that title each week against new competitors until the finale, where the Titans will square off with one another until there is one male and one female Titan remaining.

It was Kyle Lucas’ attempt to try out for another athletic competition show, Netflix’s Ultimate Beastmaster, that landed the two brothers a tryout for The Titan Games.

“I made it to the final round of cuts [on Ultimate Beastmaster] and they told me ‘We really like you and we’ll keep you in mind for another show,'” said Kyle, who wrote for Onward State while in college. “At the time I thought ‘Sure, that’s probably what they tell everybody who doesn’t make it,’ but sure enough a week after Titan Games was announced in February, I got a call about trying out.”

After Kyle auditioned, the producers asked him if he knew anybody else who would be good for the show. Naturally, he reached out to his brother Tyler who also took up the offer.

Of the more than 10,000 athletes who applied and tried out for The Titan Games, both Lucas brothers were among the 100 invited to the final pre-show combine. The brothers ran through the combine with considerable ease, earning two of the 64 spots to compete on The Titan Games. They attribute their success in the combine to the familiarity they had with the events due to their experience playing football.

“A lot of what we did at the combine was football-related,” Tyler said. “Since my brother and I played at Penn State, a lot of the hard workouts we went through, the discipline, the motivation, and the strict schedule we had, definitely played a factor in getting us physically and mentally prepared for what the show was going to throw at us.”

Who’s ready for January 3rd?? @nbctitangames @TheRock pic.twitter.com/dubYN4DZ4V

— Tyler Lucas (@twlucas13) December 16, 2018

The Lucas brothers couldn’t reveal much about what actually went down on the show (apart from this excruciating GIF of Tyler above), but they said the experience overall was thrilling and inspiring, especially after meeting their fellow competitors.

“It was inspiring to hear their stories and the similarities we all share even though we were all from different backgrounds and upbringings,” Tyler said. “It was awesome being around like-minded people who are trying to better themselves.”

Both brothers said the highlight of the experience was meeting The Rock, a hero of both of theirs since they watched him in the WWE while growing up in London.

Luckily, the phrase “don’t meet your heroes” doesn’t apply to The Rock.

“He’s a really genuine dude,” Kyle said. “Every night before filming he’d come to the tent where all the competitors stayed and shake all our hands and thank us for being there, which meant a lot to us. He could have just filmed his segments for the show and bounced to film his next movie, but he was heavily involved in the show and on set every day.”

“It was really awesome to meet someone as influential as him and see he’s a real down to Earth person who really cares about the people around him,” Tyler said.

Both Lucas brothers agree that the best part about being on the show was the quality time they spent with each other. They are both members of the Air Force and are stationed across the world from each other. Kyle is a satellite operator in Colorado and Tyler is a computer systems analyst in Germany.

“We didn’t see each other for over a year and half (before the show) because we live thousands of miles apart,” Tyler said. “We pretty much owe it to The Titan Games for bringing us together again.”

“Before we found out we were going to be on the show, we had no idea when we were going to see each other next,” Kyle said. “Just the fact that we got to do this show together and cheer each other on was really special.”

Just saw the new commerical for @nbctitangames at work.

A girl on my crew, "thats your brother? He's huge!"

You're not that big, @twlucas13 #TitanGames

— Kyle Lucas (@KLucas26) December 17, 2018

You can watch the Lucas Brothers compete to become Titans and win the grand prize of $100,000 Thursdays at 8 p.m. beginning January 3 on NBC.