Aron Ralston Wins Big for Charity in “Minute to Win It”

The real life hero of "127 Hours" raises $125,000 on game show

We all know what Aron Ralston can do in 127 hours, but he can also do a whole lot in 60 seconds.

The mountain climber who famously amputated part of his own arm to survive won $125,000 for charity on the NBC game show, "Minute to Win It."

The adventurer said his strategy for success on stage was similar to when he was trapped by a boulder in Utah in 2003.

"Part of this is being calm, staying calm," Ralston said on the show. "When I felt my heart starting to get a little adrenalized-- it is to acknowledge it, not to fight it off, which makes it worse…we're just going to stay on the breath, stay on the breath."

Ralston single-handedly (literally) scored his final winnings with only four seconds on the clock in "Broomski  Ball," in which he rolled tennis balls over a broomstick and into three garbage cans. The show requires contestants to complete a task -- usually put together with household items -- in under a minute.

James Franco, who portrays Ralston in Oscar-nominated film "127 Hours," offered the adventurer words of encouragement in a video after the outdoors-man failed to complete a task earlier in the game.

"Keep your wits about you because you because you're going to kill it," the actor said from a red carpet.

The struggling competitor only had glowing things to say in return.


"It was an honor to get to spend time with him," Ralston said of the Oscars host after the video. "And he took such a personal interest to get things right…. the way he portrayed me, I felt very honored by that. Although they show me being a much better mountain biker than I am."

Ralston  winnings is going to Wilderness Workshop, a conservation watchdog group of the White River National Forest in the Rocky mountains.
 

Selected Reading: Entertainment Tonight, "Minute to Win It" on Hulu, Wilderness Workshop

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