The Rock Insists 'The Hero' Will Be Epic Upon Epic

Brains, brawn, and a functioning moral compass: You'd better have all three if you want to be the hero and take home the grand prize that goes with the lofty title. TNT's new reality competition "The Hero" pits nine diverse individuals against each other, and the show's host, the super brawny Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, insists that it's going to be a "real epic" adventure filled with "epic moments."

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"The Yo Show" crew headed down to Panama to visit "The Hero" set, and it's definitely … epic. From scaling one of the tallest skyscrapers in Panama to swimming two miles to making intelligent team decisions, these competitors have their work cut out for them in this bigger-is-better battle. "These Hero challenges — whether they're the team challenges or whether they're the individual challenges — are designed to break you," says The Rock. Sounds, er, fun. "I'm not gonna fail. I'm not gonna fail. I'm not gonna fail," says weeping contestant Patty, 46, as she climbs what we can only assume was a billion steps to where The Rock is waiting, before collapsing into his giant arms for a hug.

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Epic fact: Scenes from "The Hero" were shot in Manuel Noriega's bunker. "The last time anybody was where we were at was when the Americans captured Manuel Noriega," says The Rock.

So what's the big prize they're all fighting so hard for? Money, and lots of it. "There's escalating money that's happening each week. We started with $250,000 in a prize pot that America will award to one person," says executive producer Rick Ringbakk. "And then, for the first few weeks, there's $50,000 available each week, and then it goes up to $60, $70, $80, $90, $100,000 available on an episode."

"The Hero" premieres Thursday, 6/6 at 8 PM on TNT.