NBC's 'The Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge' debuting Monday night

The obstacle course racing industry’s success can be thanked in large part to social media, a place where your friends and coworkers are all too eager to share their muddy pics.

But the sport that counted more than four million participants last year is about to go a little more mainstream thanks to broadcast TV as The Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge debuts on NBC Monday night at 10 pm ET. Former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones and former MLS player Kyle Martino will host the eight-episode first season.

“The No. 1 thing I’ve been focused on the last eight years was to get on TV," Spartan Race co-founder and CEO Joe De Sena tells Paste BN Sports. “It’s a critical component toward us being taking seriously as a sport. Our ultimate goal is to get into the Olympics.”

This is the third year that Spartan Race has had a place on the NBC Sports Network. The NBC show, however, will have not only a much wider reach, but also a different format from the mostly highlight-driven show on NBCSN.

It follows the popular American Ninja Warrior and, unlike that top-rated competition show, the focus will be on teamwork. (If the name didn’t give that way away already.) There will be 35 teams, each comprised of five members: four on each team will be regular folks selected by producers and the fifth member will be an elite Spartan racer. There's a $250,000 prize at stake.

“NBC is all in on this,” De Sena said. “They’re betting on us in a big way.”

The team element in the obstacle course industry is one played up by another industry leader, Tough Mudder. But De Sena said upward of 70 percent of those who compete in Spartan Races at least show up to the course as part of a team.

“Once the gun goes off, people tend to get competitive,” De Sena said.

Spartan launched in 2010 and has lured more than three million people to its races that vary in length from three to 12 mile. People pay good money to scale walls, crawl under barb wire and throw spears. Spartan is expected to attract a million participants through its 170 events in at least 25 countries this years.

Hearst Ventures, a venture capital firm that was an early investor in XM, Pandora and Buzzfeed, acquired a minority stake in Spartan Race last week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Spartan Race is the gold standard in obstacle racing which has emerged as one of the fastest growing sports in the world,” said Scott English, managing director, Hearst Ventures, said in a statement. “The company is at the forefront of growing international demand for engaging, participatory experiences and increasing focus on healthier living.”