In order to win the cash prize, Sam Newman had to swim in a water tank filled with 60 eels as part of the show’s Power of the Mind segment.
Thankfully for the Stars, Newman overcame his fear of the sea creatures and earned the club a much-deserved cash injection after a tough month in which a trailer carrying much of its belongings was stolen.
Fitzroy Stars chief executive Simon Minton-Connell said the money would go towards replacing the stolen items as well as upgrading facilities at the club’s spiritual home, Sir Douglas Nicholls Oval.
“It certainly came at a much needed time with all that’s gone on of late,” Minton-Connell said.
“We didn’t want to give a sob story about the trailer, but one of the lads at the club wrote into the show and said we were doing it tough without a home ground and that’s how we were nominated.”
Redevelopment on Sir Douglas Nicholls Oval has been delayed and is now expected to be completed in two months, meaning the club won’t have a permanent home ground until Round 1 of next season.
“It’s been a slow process and the constant rain certainly is not helping,” Minton-Connell said.
“They’ve had to build trenches around the outside and that has meant putting a line through 2012 in terms of playing on the ground.”
The Stars will play home games between Victoria Park and Bill Lawry Oval, but without a bar and only minimal canteen facilities, Minton-Connell said that raising revenue had become difficult this season, making The Footy Show’s contribution so important.
“We’re extremely appreciative of what they did for us last night,” he said.
Asked if he was confident in Newman going through with the dare, Minton-Connell revealed he had his doubts.
“He was terrified, absolutely terrified. If one of those eels had have moved and touched him he would have been straight out of the tank.”
To watch a replay of the event, please 
click here.
