"I'm really surprised Joyce didn't strangle me!" - An Interview with The Amazing Race 5's Bob

Bob & Joyce, also known as Cyber Love if you read my recaps, lasted until the fourth leg on the fifth season of The Amazing Race. Don't let their short stint fool you, though - Bob had the time of his life and would do it again in a second, as long as he has Joyce by his side. I had the chance to interview Bob, and in this interview he touches on topics such as the fiasco at the Buenos Aires bus station, why we haven't seen much of the Fast Forward and the Yield and exactly how far they were from catching up to the twins and moms. Read on to find out the rest!

RNO: When you saw the other teams at the starting line, did you think your age would be a problem when it came to keeping up with everyone else?

Bob: After seeing the teams we actually thought that we had enough physical strength and endurance to be "in the pack," but probably not enough to win the race. But when two of the most physically gifted teams got eliminated first, we started to think that we had a real chance. Maybe this Race was not about being the most fit. What was this Race about? Maybe luck?

RNO:Did you watch the show before you were on it and what did you do to prepare?

Bob: I was a fan of the show since the first Race. My preparation included more frequent visits to the gym, which included some swimming - which I hate to do. Joyce and I rollerbladed and hiked with our dogs a lot. Since Joyce has an important job and I'm retired, I took on the task of research (clothing, packing, backpacks that would get us through international carry-on regulations, language tips, geography, tips on local customs and what not to do in certain countries, etc…

RNO:What was your biggest concern about running the race? Did it end up being a problem for you?

Bob: We were concerned that as the oldest team, we would be eliminated first because of something physically demanding that we could not do. Having been a fan of the show I was aware that the oldest team often got eliminated early because they were not fit enough. We really wanted to show that people our age could compete with the younger teams physically. This turned out not to be a problem. We were proud that we picked the most physical choice of every task and completed every one.

RNO:Do you think the other teams took you two for granted and assumed you were pushovers? If so, did it play to your advantage?

Bob: We were hoping that they would underestimate us but we never got any indication that they did.

RNO:What was your take on the bus situation to Buenos Aires? Were people cutting in line or was there an order pre-established?

Bob: There was, or let me say that there appeared to be, an order established at the first bus counter. This was based on the order of arrival at the bus station except that Mirna and Charla although arriving second took a spot in front of Colin and Christy and were insisting on going first. No one expressed a problem with this order, but this became a moot point when the second bus counter opened and we all rushed down to it. Unless everyone agreed to abide by the original order, it was not going to happen. Not everyone agreed. After that, everything changed. So we will never know if even the original order would have been upheld at the first bus counter.

RNO:Do you think the Russian hockey players took it easy on you, or was that Detour harder than it looked?

Bob: I believe they kept the pucks low so that we would not take one in the head, but I think they were really trying to score. They fired the pucks hard and I was knocked over whenever I took one up higher than my waist. I actually took one in the "five hole" and feeling that whoosh down below was scary.

RNO:What I didn't get was that your local bus got to the airport before the express bus. How come it took you so long to find tickets to St. Petersburg?

Bob: We actually got tickets right away from Buenos Aires to Madrid on Argentine Airlines, and they gave us a free upgrade to first class. They did the research for other flights to St Petersburg and told us the best connection was through Paris (getting into St Pete at 9:35 pm) via Air France and they made us reservations on those flights. When we went to the Air France counter to get those tickets there was no one there. We went into their office behind the counters and picked up the office phones and Joyce called all the numbers that she saw on the desks until she found someone who agreed to come and sell us tickets. We almost bought them but we at the last moment we found out that they were Business Class tickets and there were no coach tickets on those flights and they would not give us a free upgrade. So we could not buy them. We had to find the next best flight and according to Argentine Airlines that was Lufthansa getting in at 10:10 pm. This all took time. But this information was not correct. There were better flights from Madrid and the Brothers and Kim and Chip got on those flights. We checked with other airlines in Madrid and they gave us the same bad info. No one told us about the flights that the Brothers and Chip and Kim took from Madrid.