Academy grads team up for reality show Published June 16, 2006 By Staff Sgt. Phyllis Duff Air Force Print News SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- In a “quest for a promised hidden treasure,” a team of three former Air Force officers are competing against nine teams on NBC's new adventure series "Treasure Hunters." The team of U.S. Air Force Academy graduates includes husband and wife Matt and Brooke Rillos and their friend Matt Zitzlsperger. They heard of tryouts for the reality-based TV show and decided to go for it -- sending in a picture and a short biography of their team. Stationed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., at the time, the trio -- named “Team Air Force” -- earned an interview, Mrs. Rillos said. To “play it up a little,” the team went to the interview dressed in fatigues, Mr. Zitzlsperger said. How does one prepare for a reality show? “Join the Air Force,” Mrs. Rillos said. Although no longer affiliated with the Air Force, the former Airmen said they the pulled strength, experience and training needed to succeed in the show from their time in the Air Force.While at the academy they all participated in NCAA Division 1 athletics. Mrs. Rillos, originally from Thornton, Colo., played on the volleyball team. Mr. Zitzlsperger, originally from Wayzata, Minn., was a center and wing on the ice hockey team. And Mr. Rillos, from Golden, Colo., was a running back on the Falcons football team. Team Air Force is up against nine other treasure seekers -- young professionals, ex-CIA agents, self-proclaimed geniuses and beauty queens. The team says it is ready. Mr. Rillos said the hardest part of the competition will be intellectual challenges. “You know there’s going to be some kind of puzzles. But, you either know it or you don’t -- or you’re going to figure it out along the way,” he said. “Since this is the first show, you don’t know what you’re getting into,” Mr. Rillos said. For 10 episodes this summer, teams will gather clues from across the globe, which will lead them to the treasure -- and an undisclosed reward -- on the final episode. “I think growing up in the United States, we really take our history for granted,” Mrs. Rillos said. “We always look to other countries and think that they have such rich history. And I think going through this helped me realize we have a really rich history as well.” Internet blogs are abuzz already about Team Air Force. One Texas blogger wrote, “They are the Air Force and probably will enter this game with the same intensity (which with) their fellow comrades entered into Iraq.” "Treasure Hunters,” taped in September 2005, airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EDT.