On last night’s episode of The Amazing Race, Brad and Victoria were the victims of some seriously bad luck when their flight was cancelled due to foggy conditions.  They made a decision to travel without the other teams and it was a decision that ended up costing them a million dollars.  Had they not chosen the wrong flight, the married couple was convinced that they would have made it far in the race, possibly to the end.  Today, they spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview and opened up about how they ended up on the show, what they got out of the race, and the flight gone wrong.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made the two of you want to try out for The Amazing Race and whose idea was it?
A. Brad: We actually didn’t try out for The Amazing Race.  Victoria was a long time Survivor applicant and almost got on the show a several times so she had contact info for the casting director and, in the springtime, sent her a rather snarky email saying, “Hey, you know I’m right for the show.  You know I’m right for the show.  Quit dancing around and put me on the show now.”  She enclosed a recent photo which happened to have me in it.  As soon as they saw it, they said, “Why don’t you bring your  handsome husband out for The Amazing Race?”  The rest is history?

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Victoria, did you have any reservations about going on The Amazing Race and did you guys do any prep work before you left?
A. Victoria: I was really surprised that I had tried so hard to get on Survivor because once I realized that I’m gonna get to go around the world with my best friend and my partner, I don’t know what I was thinking wanting to get on this other show.  I had no reservations whatsoever.  In fact, Brad and I are a fit, athletic couple and this particular race was pretty much written for us.  Unfortunately, we made a stupid decision and got on the wrong plane but no regrets, no reservations.  We had some ideas on what we could do to make our race a little more successful in terms of trying to learn a couple different phrases in 10-15 different languages.  We tried to take a look at different maps and pack smart.  I think it all would’ve played out really well if we hadn’t gotten on that plane.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Tell me a little bit more about the decision to get on that plane.  Was that a long conversation between you two or a quick decision?
A. Brad: We discussed it because we had somewhat of a rule going into the race.  The one thing you never want to do is get on a plane alone because bad things can happen.  That being said, we needed to get away from other teams.  We wanted to take advantage of our cleverness and our ability to get information out of locals.  We neded to get away from people so they didn't follow us when we got the good information.  Even though the plane would've arrived 15-20 minutes earlier than the other teams, it wasn't so much the 15-20 minute advantage we were trying to get as much as getting away from the other teams so that we could make our own way there.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Well, there have been a lot of tough challenges this season.  Was there any one in particular that was difficult for you or freaked you out?

A. Brad: There was one challenge and it didn't give her any trouble at the time but running down the mountain has basically crippled her.  She'll be looking at surgery this summer because of that run down the mountain.
A. Victoria: As far as the challenges go, that was actually one of our primary strengths.  We knew that our experiences prior to the race had given us many tools that would allow us to perform well.  If we hadn't gotten on that plane... how many times have I said that?  If we hadn't gotten on that plane, we really would've nailed it.  There would've been very few things that would've held us back.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What were the two of you hoping to get out of running this race and did you accomplish that goal?  Besides the million dollars, of course.

A. Brad: The funny thing is that there were a lot of teams that seemed to be running the race for a million dollars.  We wanted to win for the sake of winning.  Just win for the sake of winning.  The million dollars was nice but win for the sake of winning.  That was kind of what we wanted to get out of: the thrill of setting out, doing it, and accomplishing it.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Victoria, your'e someone who tried to get on Survivor and ended up on The Amazing Race.  For people who want to get on reality shows, would you say that being persistent and continuing to try out, even after being rejected, pays off in the long run?

A. Victoria: Absolutely.  You kind of walk a fine line.  There's a point at which you say, "Okay, I've applied to this show 15 times and I've never gotten a call.  Are they rolling their eyes every time I send a video in?  Are they throwing darts at me?"  But I'm a walking, breathing, talking example of persistence pays off because I've been working on it for years.  It's not like I threw myself at any reality show out there.  I had a certain desire to get out and pursue really difficult challenges and Survivor was one of them and The Amazing Race was another.  You have to figure out what it really is that you're wanting and just keep trying for it and be sure that you can communicate why that's so important to you and why they should choose you.

The Amazing Race airs Sunday nights at 8pm ET on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

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