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Shelbyville man wins reality show for insurance professionals | Top Stories | wandtv.com

Derek Hayden responded in the fall of 2020 to a casting call before the first season of The Protege began. According to a press release, The Protege is a YouTube based reality show highlighting the daily lives of U.S. insurance professionals.

Hayden, a risk advisor for Dansig & Shelbyville Insurance, learned in November of 2020 he would be one of 11 people competing in season 1. He was the only contestant from Illinois.

A judge eliminated one contestant each week until the top five was determined, which Hayden qualified for. Each person in the top five was tasked with selling insurance and risk management services using tools they learned over the past seven challenges. The top three with the most sales at the end of a three-month period moved on to the final round.

Hayden earned 61.9 percent of the over 5,000 votes to win the competition. The release said he earned a lifetime scholarship to a world-renowned sales training program called Killing Commercial Insurance for winning.