Posted on 12/07/2009 by Gina in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews
by Gina Scarpa
On last night’s season finale of The Amazing Race, Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney were the first to cross the finish line, and won the million dollar grand prize. The couple had undoubtedly run the best race, finishing first in 7 of the 12 legs. A clue that took them to the wrong casino in Las Vegas could have been their undoing but Meghan and Cheyne battled back, completed their last task (counting poker chips to equal $1 million), and headed for the finish line. Today, the winners of The Amazing Race spoke to RealityWanted in an exclusive interview about their victory and their experiences on the show.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How does it feel, now that you can finally reveal to your friends and family that you won The Amazing Race?
A. Meghan: It’s been very difficult. I think Cheyne enjoyed having this million dollar secret. This is the biggest thing that ever happened to us. We couldn’t tell anyone that we won the dang thing. It’s been a very hard time.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race and what made you want to do it?
A. Cheyne: We’ve been fans of the race since high school independently. My grandmother was a huge fan and Meghan’s mom was a huge fan. When we started dating, we were only 19, and I said, “When I turn 21, let’s apply,” and that‘s what we did. We applied for season 13 and they said we were inexperienced but that we should come back. We went through the whole casting process last season as well and we feel very close to that cast.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You two treated each other very well throughout the race. Did it take its toll on your relationship at any point?
A. Meghan: We went into the race not thinking that this was going to make or break us. A lot of people say that. We knew each other well and we knew that breaking up was not an option. We grew from this experience. We were very, very supportive. We knew the better we worked together, the better chance we had at the million.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Meghan certainly carried her own weight this season and was a very strong female competitor. Cheyne, you must be so proud of her.
A. Cheyne: Absolutely! I was so overwhelmed. I kept referring to that on the pit stops, on the mat… there’s a lot of videos that show that. She was tentative before the race with a lot of things but she never second guessed anything once we were on the race. She was always encouraging and helpful. I expected nothing less.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: This cast, more than any other I’ve seen, seems to have the best bond and relationship and were very good to each other. Was that something you had planned to do going in or something that developed as you got to know these people?
A. Meghan: I think a lot of people came into the race with the same strategy: be ourselves, be nice people, be competitive. I think every team had that attitude. That was our attitude going into it. Our strategy was really to play our own game and focus on ourselves. We wanted to be encouraging to other teams when it wouldn’t help them advance. If a team is arriving to a challenge and you’re leaving, you can tell them where the clue box is. You know they’re gonna find it in 2 seconds. You mind as well let them think that you’re a nice person. We were just nice to people and they were nice back to us.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I predicted that you would win because you really ran the best race. When you look at your overall performance, is there a leg that you thought was your best or strongest?
A. Cheyne: I think we worked together best in the last leg. We might not have made every right decision but we stayed calm and we were really positive and happy. We were just happy to be in the final three and do the whole race. I think we worked really well together in that last leg.
A. Meghan: Also, that leg in Estonia was almost easy for us. We were the first ones off of the ferry, first ones in the taxi, Cheyne was the first one done with the candelabra challenge, we were the first two get to the bog, we were the first to finish that volleyball challenge… we all started from the exact same ferry. That was a really good leg for us.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When you two went to the wrong casino, I started to get nervous for you. How did you catch back up and end up crossing that finish line first?
A. Meghan: We were probably 10 minutes behind Sam and Dan. When we arrived in the room, I could hear they had some frustration that we had arrived. You can see that they were panicking a little bit. I felt like they were nervous and I said, “Let’s just kill ‘em.” They were trying to psych us out and say they were almost done but I knew they weren’t. We could hear Ericka and Brian going back and forth. I kept saying, “Move your fingers as fast as you can!” Brian and Ericka and Sam and Dan haven’t played poker but Cheyne plays a lot so he’s used to stacking chips. It was his idea to count one stack and level all of them out. That’s what we did and everyone else counted each chip.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Now that the race is over, what is next for the two of you?
A. Cheyne: I think the possibilities are endless. We’ve had some opportunities, some people have offered us some things…. We really wanna do another adventure. We love to give back and we want to make an impact while doing cool things. We’re really going to have to sit down over the next week or so to figure out what our next step is going to be. After running this race, I feel like the possibilities are endless!
(Image courtesy of CBS)
SEE ALSO
The Amazing Race 15: Finale Recap
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