Determined Boxford teen stakes her claim on TV show

"When I want something, I go for it, and I don't stop at anything," said 14-year-old Taylor Sico-McNulty of Boxford. "A lot of things depend on a mind-over-matter outlook, and I tend to be a very determined person."

It's that attitude, more than any form of physical strength, that has helped her sail through the first six episodes of the current season of "Endurance: High Sierras," an elimination competition for teenagers that airs on the Discovery Kids Channel.

For her audition videotape, she climbed the rock wall at a Danvers sporting goods store, then dressed up in hunting gear and pretended to shoot a fake turkey off her friend's head. Eye-catching antics are second nature to this Masconomet High School freshman, who dreams of a career in film and has been acting in community theater and school productions since she was 6 years old. She is now busy with rehearsals for the part of Aunt Ev in a school production of "The Miracle Worker."

Sico-McNulty was among 20 teenagers who beat out 10,000 others from across the United States for a spot in the cast. Last July, the 10 boys and 10 girls, all between the ages of 12 and 15 and from places as far-flung as Texas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Maine, trekked into the hills of Sierra National Forest, near Fresno, Calif. There, they would live in treehouse huts and compete in matches of outdoor survival and athleticism for up to 18 days, depending on when each was eliminated. There would be no electricity or cellphones in the Sierras.

Unlike the prototype reality show "Survivor," in "Endurance" the teams compete in boy-girl pairs rather than in larger groups. To win "Endurance," teams must collect pyramid pieces representing 13 inner qualities: strength, heart, courage, perseverance, luck, trust, leadership, discipline, knowledge, commitment, teamwork, ingenuity, and friendship. The first team to collect all 13 pieces wins the game.

The first task was getting acquainted.

For reasons she didn't quite understand, Sico-McNulty found herself identified early on as a "drama queen."

"I was the underdog from the beginning," she said. "People felt like all the [interpersonal] drama revolved around me. None of the guys wanted to be my partner because they thought I would cause a lot of conflict."

But Sico-McNulty and her first partner, Isaac Moody, from California, surprised everyone. Despite seeming to quarrel more than the other duos, they won the first mission, a race that involved carrying a bowl of water between two poles.

Fellow cast member Connor Finnegan thought Taylor's first win was symbolic. "The first piece she and Isaac got was the one representing perseverance, and that's really fitting for Taylor," he said. "From the beginning, a lot of people were taking her on and saying things behind her back, but she didn't let it get to her. She kept fighting just as hard, if not harder, to win."

One startling development in the fourth episode left Sico-McNulty feeling "really betrayed. I knew from that time on that I couldn't trust anyone." Given the opportunity to mix up the teams, other cast members had schemed behind her back. But the situation turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Her new partner was a fellow Massachusetts native, the 16-year-old Finnegan, from Acton, whom she now refers to as her best friend.

"Connor and I talked about a lot of things. He taught me that I don't need to care about what people think and I don't need to worry about what people say. I just need to push through," she said.

Unaccustomed to camping, Sico-McNulty found the rugged conditions challenging. "I didn't like not having a mattress or a hot shower or toilets," she said. "But when I got home in August, I really missed seeing all the other kids in the cast every day."

In November, cast member Kelsey Schultz flew in from Texas for a visit, and Sico-McNulty had the surrealistic experience of watching a friend try to trick her in front of a national TV audience. "We were watching that week's episode together and it showed her saying to her partner, 'You have to go flirt with Taylor so she thinks you like her, and then she won't want to eliminate us.' "

As they viewed it together, Sico-McNulty turned to her friend and said, "Kelsey, why would you even come visit me after saying something like that?"

On-air friction not withstanding, the cast remains a tight-knit group. Numerous mini-reunions have taken place since filming ended. The Massachusetts contingency of Finnegan, Sico-McNulty, and Alex Carignan of Leominster meet often, especially when one of the out-of-state cast members flies in for a visit.

Last month, Darci Miller of Baldwin, N.Y., visited Sico-McNulty in Boxford. "If I went to school with Taylor, we probably wouldn't be in the same group of friends," Miller said. "But 'Endurance' is basically like camp: All we had was each other so we all got really close really fast."

"In my opinion, 'Endurance' was not only a television reality show," said Taylor's mother, Tricia, "it was the opportunity to experience tough lessons in life in a very short period of time. The kids shared something most of us will never understand."

Though filming ended during the summer, everyone involved is sworn to secrecy about the outcome. The prize for the winning pair is a trip to Hawaii. Whether a Sico-McNulty/Finnegan reunion will take place in the Aloha State remains to be seen, when the season concludes this spring.

For more on "Endurance: High Sierras," go to kids.discovery.com.