ON A RAIL—Calabasas resident Alex Midler, 13, is appearing in his second season of FUEL TV’s “Camp Woodward.” Photo courtesy of FUEL TV The Calabasas skateboarding prodigy returned to Camp Woodward, and he brought his older brother as backup.

Alex Midler, a 13-year-old skating sensation who attends A.C. Stelle Middle School in Calabasas, is currently starring in the fifth season of FUEL TV’s “Camp Woodward.”

The show, scheduled to broadcast for eight weeks, premiered Monday afternoon.

Located in central Pennsylvania, Camp Woodward is a skateboarding and BMX megapark chock-full of launch pads, half pipes, street tracks, dirt trails and frothing grommets.

After being featured in the series’ fourth season last year, Alex, an amateur champion with sponsorships from Val Surf, Skatelab, Etnies, Volcom, Spitfire, Real Skateboards, Thunder Skateboard Trucks and Bones Swiss Bearings, was invited back to Camp Woodward during the show’s two-and-a-half-week filming session in August.

Alex’s brother, skateboarder Todd Midler, 17, also joined the program’s dozen-person cast for season five.

“The first season I filmed was just kind of for fun,” said Alex, a seventh-grader. “We weren’t really competing for anything.

“This year is a lot different. They changed the format and surprised us.”

For the fifth season, participants were split into two competing factions— Team Black and Team Yellow—with a mixture of skateboarders and BMXers on each squad.

The teams partake in a slew of challenges, with the ultimate payoff being a paid trip to Woodward Beijing for the winning side.

“We’re raising the stakes by bringing back some of the previous season’s biggest characters— remembered for their untamed behavior—and putting them in situations that will test their mettle,” said Dave Paine, senior producer for FUEL TV, in a statement.

“As a result, we expect more fun, more drama, more excitement and a great television show.”

With such a coveted grand prize on the line, competition between the two teams became intense pretty quick, Alex said.

“I kind of freak out a couple of times,” Alex admitted. “It was just too stressful for me and I couldn’t handle it.

“But I got myself together the last week and I was fine.”

Alex and Todd were put on the same team, and having an older sibling on location was a relief at times for Alex, who is the youngest cast member.

“If I was freaking out or mad about something, me and my older brother would just go skate somewhere else,” Alex said.

“My brother films stuff, and it takes a lot of stress off me being with him.”

Todd used to attend the Arts, Media and Entertainment Academy at Calabasas High.

These days, however, he’s enrolled at The Forman School in Litchfield, Conn.

With dreams of becoming a filmmaker, Todd often records Alex’s high-flying skate park antics, edits the footage and posts videos on YouTube. Some of the clips have drawn hundreds of thousands of online views.

For Todd, the season five experience at Camp Woodward was a roller coaster of emotions.

Having visited the camp in 2010 while his brother was filming, Todd anticipated more of the same this time around—friendly competitions, big airs and the occasional camp-style prank.

He says the show’s producers never mentioned any format change prior to traveling to Pennsylvania.

What ended up transpiring at camp, Todd said, was totally unexpected.

“It didn’t feel like the same thing at all,” Todd said. “It felt like I was on a completely different show. It didn’t feel like Camp Woodward.

“It felt like some sort of game show that I didn’t sign up for. I had no clue what was happening. It was crazy.”

Between bouts of made-for- TV drama, there was much fun to be had.

One of Todd’s favorite moments was a wake/skate challenge in which competitors had to ride a strapless wakeboard while being towed through the water.

“You had to ollie this one thing, do a pop shove it, and I forgot the other challenge,” he said. “But it was really, really fun just riding around on that board. I didn’t even learn any tricks, but it was still such a fun part of camp.”

For information on “Camp Woodward” broadcast times or to view past episodes online, visit www.fuel.tv/campwoodward.

Fans can also follow Alex on his Twitter account at @alexmidler.

And don’t forget to check out Alex’s YouTube videos. The kid might blow your mind.