Wild Finish Keeps Cops in ‘Impossible’ Competition

Last week, The Cops team found itself gaining ground on the leaders of ABC’s Expedition Impossible, reaching ever closer to the grand prize at the end of the season.

With eight teams left in the competition, the Waltham police officers, Lieutenant Robert Robillard of Concord, Sergeant James Vaglica of Billerica and Danielle Henderson of Marlborough, looked to gain further ground by crossing a river, among other challenges.

The Cops crossed the body of water and headed into town, where they had to locate a specific type of rug. Entering this portion of the challenge, the team was in fourth place.

“Our teamwork was right on for that whole challenge,” said Vaglica, “all working hard, all working together.”

An exhilarating moment of the show followed with teams jumping off of a cliff into the water below, including The Cops, who maintained their fourth place status. After needing to swim upstream for the next leg of the challenge, Robillard volunteered himself, believing he was the strongest swimmer of the group.

“As police officers, we deal with unknown every day,” said Robillard. “We’re problem solvers.”

After Robillard swam across to a cave, though, he guessed wrong when having to select a symbol as part of the game. His mistake allowed the middle of the pack teams to pass The Cops.

“Any time a team passes us, that could cost the game,” said Robillard as his team fell into seventh place before finally choosing the correct symbol.

Teams next traveled down river in kayaks before being asked to hike 300 feet up a mountain to the race finish. The Cops found themselves neck and neck at this point with California Girls and Fishermen.

As the teams headed to shore, a traffic jam ensued with Robillard helping members of the California Girls team out of their boats. The two teams traveled up the mountain together and finished together, leaving the Fishermen in the dust.

“I always had confidence in my team and knew we could get this far,” said Vaglica.