Dylan Efron is still warming up to the spotlight. Despite his confident debut on "Dancing With the Stars," the producer and television personality is more comfortable swimming with sharks in the Bahamas than performing onstage. "I've always avoided the spotlight and stuff like that," Efron tells Popsugar. "After 'Traitors' was my first time holding a mic on stage, so it is just a fear of the unknown."

At the same time, his adventurous spirit is one of his greatest assets. Efron grew up hiking in San Luis Obispo, CA — sometimes taking the world class views for granted. But his love of the outdoors has only expanded since. "I go through waves where rock climbing is all I want to do, and I'll make a trip based on rock climbing to Utah or to climb somewhere I've never done," he says. "On my bucket list right now is to see more ocean life. I really want to swim with killer whales." (He's already swam with tiger sharks and hammerheads.)

Going back to his roots, Efron recently partnered with Marriott Bonvoy to create the Drop Pin Challenge. Here, fellow adventurers can find physical pins across 20 outdoor destinations in North America, each worth 10,000 points. Efron dropped the first pin himself somewhere near Postcard Cabin in Big Bear, CA. "We had a fun day — we hiked a bit, we did some rock climbing, paddleboarding," he says in reference to the journey. "My tip for someone to find that first pin would be that it's close to the paddleboarding destination." (For more clues, head to MarriottBonvoyOutdoors.)

"I genuinely just love learning new things."

Efron's current adventure on "DWTS" might feel a little less familiar, but he isn't shying away from the challenge. "I genuinely just love learning new things, so it's never been that I've never wanted to learn how to dance, it's just that I never had that opportunity," he says. "When you pour your heart out into learning a dance, and then you go out there and do it, it is fun to let go."

There's plenty of fun and excitement behind the scenes . . . but also four-hour rehearsals with a world-class dance partner. The training is tough even for Efron, who's previously completed multiple Ironmans. "I'm on a foam roller as we speak." he admits. Thankfully, triathlons have taught him how to perform with a sore body. "You have to come to terms with [the fact that] you're not going to feel your best during a race when you hop off the bike and you have to start running," he says. "I have to do my best with my current state of my body, which is always sore."

Moving forward, Efron has high hopes for the week ahead, saying he's looking forward to a change of pace. "The first two dances I did were Latin dances, which is obviously a lot of hip shaking and putting on a performance that's — again — out of my comfort zone," he says. "A frame, where we're dancing together face to face, that stuff is actually more organic to me."

Efron has goals for himself, and he's hit them all so far (from overcoming his fear of performing, to delivering on unexpected choreography). But at the end of the day, he's just grateful to be a part of the journey. "As soon as the song starts, rather than the fear takeover, it's like, 'Oh, this is awesome,'" he says. "I don't know what's going on in my brain, but I know I'm happy."

Chandler Plante (she/her) is a social producer and staff writer for the Health & Fitness team at Popsugar. She has over five years of industry experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine, a social media manager for Millie magazine, and a contributor for Bustle Digital Group. She has a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and is based in Los Angeles.