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The Amazing Race 16: Exclusive Interview with Michael Naylor and Louie Stravato

Posted on 05/03/2010 by David in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews

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Michael Naylor & Louie Stravato from The Amazing Race 16

 

by David McAlpine and Gina Scarpa

Last night, on The Amazing Race, teams battled the language barrier to complete their tasks in China.  The road block had them counting over 500 statues, while the detour had them searching for a needle in a haystack.  Louie and Michael, who were the last team to arrive at the last pit stop, had to also deal with a speed bump along the way.  They made it all the way to a footrace with Dan and Jordan to the pit stop but didn’t make it there in time and were eliminated from the race.  Today, Louie and Michael spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about their experiences on the race.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race and what motivated you to do it?
A. Louie: It was my idea. I'd been watching the show since the beginning and I couldn't think of a better partner than Michael. It always intrigued me.

Q. David, RealityWanted: You ran a really good race.  What do you attribute your success to?
A. Michael: We stay in the moment and we stay present. We decided we were going to deal what we're dealing with. It's so similar to our job--you don't need to overthink it. We weren't really good in the beginning because we were analyzing everything. But around leg three, we decided that we've got this.

Q. David, RealityWanted: What was the toughest leg of the race?
A. Louie: I think it was when I was carrying the incese up to the temple. I learned that I have asthma and yeah, my cardio did suck. Crawling through the trenches was tough too.
A. Michael: South America was a smack in the face. I couldn't get my groove, couldn't get comfortable--I just wasn't letting myself go. The first three legs were really hard, just figuring out how everything worked.


Q. David, RealityWanted: You were aligned with Brent and Caite for some of the time.  How did the two teams benefit one another?
A. Michael: They were really nice people. When you have 8 or 10 hours in an airport with nothing to do, you want to talk to nice people. They didn't really help us other than the U-Turn, but they were nice kids.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Brent and Caite wanted Carol and Brandy out for personal reasons.  Why did you want them out of the race?
A. Michael: I really, truly believed that when we were getting down to the end that they were going to be a threat. Carol had worked with malls or something and everywhere we went, every city, she knew something about where we were. We were looking to the future and trying to make sure everyone was on a level playing field.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Which team did you feel was the biggest threat? Why?
A. Michael: I didn't see a threat in the other three teams. I thought we were all evenly matched; everyone had their strengths and everyone had their weaknesses. At the beginning, I definitely thought Shawn and Monique and Steve and Allie were threats at the beginning, though. You know, Steve never slept on the plane and he was always getting information. He was a professional coach--I really thought Steve would get to the finals.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Were you relieved when you saw that the speed bump was not an incredibly difficult task?
A. Michael: So relieved! Our fingers were absolutely frozen but I can remember Jordan stomping his feet going 'That wasn't much of a speed bump!'.

Q. David, RealityWanted: How close were you to Dan and Jordan heading to that pit stop this week?
A. Michael: We were maybe 10 to 20 minutes behind them; really, really close. We were at the point where we were calling them our step children, we liked them. They were real good kids and we enjoyed being on the race with them.

Q. David, RealityWanted: How difficult was it for you to be eliminated so close to the final leg of the race?
A. Louie: It was so difficult, but we had no regrets, we ran a great race. I guess it looked like I was smiling on the mat, but I was smiling because we accomplished to much. We went around the world and I went around the world with my friend.
A. Michael: I was very disappointed and I knew it was going to kill me to come home and watch it with my son and my daughter, especially when they're thinking I might have won a million dollars.

Q. David, RealityWanted:
What’s the biggest thing you’ll be taking away from your experience on The Amazing Race?
A. Louie: Showing my children that anything can be accomplished as long as you can put your heart and soul into it. And other stuff, too, like other places in the world. People have negative thoughts about places like France, but the people there couldn't have been nicer to us.
A. Michael: It was so great to be around these people. The world's a great place and I definitely want to travel more. My kids know now that you can do anything--give it a shot, who cares? There wasn't one time during this that I said to myself, 'I hope my kids don't see me act like this," and that's what I was proud of.


Don’t miss the finale of The Amazing Race, Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)



Follow David at twitter.com/davidmcalpine and Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

For more Amazing Race links, visit SirLinksALot.net


  


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