A 27-year-old Texas man with “the sexiest of palsies” is gearing up to be the next big television sensation. Chosen by Oprah in her search for the next TV star, Zach Anner has won the hearts of many across the nation and now has his own show called, “Rollin’ with Zach” in which Anner tries everything from surfing to rock climbing.
Anner has Cerebral Palsy, but that doesn’t stop him from living a life of adventure, fun and discovery. In fact, the point of his show is to inspire people “to get off the couch and go travel.” The show, which aired on December 12 on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, came about after Anner and many other finalists posted audition videos for Oprah and the nation to watch and give votes.
The show will run over the course of three weeks, with two half hour shows airing back to back every Monday. Shot over two months in the summer, the show follows Anner as he explores Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Portland. Each episode focused on a different city and new feats Anner discovered he could conquer.
Not only did Anner get to experience some of the many great American cities, he got to push himself to do things he never thought he would have the opportunity to do.
Anner told Disabilityscoop.com in an interview that some of things on the show he did he never even thought was in the realm of possibility.
“I’m not a mountain climber, I’m not even a stair climber. “
Not all of the challenges were physical. For instance, in New York, Anner had to perform a stand up comedy routine.
“It was terrifying,” Anner said.
The point of mixing both physical and non-physical challenges was to show that people with disabilities could do it all.
“We just wanted to present different challenges that would be difficult whether you had a disability or not,” Anner said.
Anner has high hopes for this show, even more so than just inspiring people to get out and travel.
Anner said, “The grand hope from this is that five years from now, if you see somebody on television that uses a wheelchair, it’s no big deal.”