“We Were Three or Four Inches Away From a Million Bucks” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 15's Third Place Team, Brian & Ericka

RealityNewsOnline: Hi, Brian & Ericka! Thanks for talking to RealityNewsOnline today and congratulations on finishing The Amazing Race!

Brian: Good to be here.

RNO: What made you decide to apply for The Amazing Race?

Brian: I’ve always wanted to do it. I’m a huge fan. I’ve been since Season 1. I’ve seen every single episode. Ericka just became a fan within the past two or three seasons. At the end of last season, we looked at each other and said, “You want to do this? You want to give it a try?” So, we found the application and we had a tight deadline. We got all of stuff together and applied just like everyone else.

We sent it off and hoped and prayed. We were supposed to hear back from them within a month – and we didn’t hear back from them. So we said, “Well, this wasn’t meant to be.” Two weeks after that they ended up calling us. We were so excited for the opportunity. It’s been a full year journey.

RNO: Has going on the race changed your relationship in any way?

Brian: It hasn’t really changed our relationship, but I think it has opened our eyes a little bit more. We’re technically still newlyweds. February will be three years for us. We’ve experienced more in our three years – especially just on the race – then most couples experience in their whole lives.

Some couples may not even get to places that we went to… Not geographically, but emotionally, in their marriage as Ericka and I did. And I’m glad that we got to go to those places so early in our relationship. You know, we had some struggles and the whole world saw it. I think we’re going to be stronger from those struggles and we’re going to move on and continue to be in love.

RNO: Ericka, you mentioned on the race that your parents weren’t entirely approving of Brian and your relationship. Do they feel any differently after watching you run the race together?

Ericka: They do, they definitely do. They have expressed much more interest in us – especially last night. My mom called and she said that she is very proud of how we ran the race and we were still winners to her. She accepted him just the way he is. That was really nice for her to say. It’s just a work in progress. It’s just a matter of taking it one step at a time, allowing her to prove that she was able to grow through this process, just like we were.

RNO: You did fantastically at the beginning of this leg, but then you got hung up on the circus challenge. Why do you think that challenge was so hard for you?

Brian: Well, they made it look like we were there all day, which was how the editor’s chose to do it, but we had our struggles there. If you think about it, when Meghan & Cheyne left they went to the Venetian. We got to the Monte Carlo before they did.

As soon as Meghan was done, we didn’t finish too far afterwards. It was a tricky challenge to have for the final leg because of the height difference. Meghan was able to grab it quick. Sam was able to grab it quick. Ericka is just a little bit shorter. We were grabbing the flowers, but just couldn’t grab the bouquet. We were three or four inches away from a million bucks.

RNO: We saw you getting to the mat at the Finish Line, but did you finish the poker chip challenge? We didn’t get to see that.

Brian: Yeah. I don’t know why they didn’t show it. We had some frustration in the poker room, but we ended up getting our clue and we went and saw Wayne Newton and made it all the way to the mat. They just didn’t feel like they needed to show all that. But I wish they did because we finished the race and I don’t want it to look like we quit the final leg. We finished.

RNO: Ericka, what was it like going face first down the wall of the Mandalay Bay hotel?

Ericka: It was the most thrilling experience of my life. I mean, that’s something I would never do again, but only because I don’t have to! Also, it was just something that many people would not get a chance to do. I mean, there are only three people that I know who can even say that they’ve done it.

It was really just the most exciting thing to have that kind of experience and to truly carry the weight of my team at that point was just really exciting. To watch it back last night was even more exciting.

RNO: Now, I wasn’t sure, but did you get a penalty at the Pit Stop in the previous leg? Phil said you were the “third team to arrive” and then they cut away.

Brian: Yeah, we had a penalty in that Prague leg. [When Phil said that] we didn’t catch it right away. We started going crazy. We thought we were in the final three. So I picked up Ericka, swung her around, and then he said, “But you got a 30 minute penalty.”

We had to sit there for 30 minutes, not knowing where the Globetrotters were. It was crazy. What happened was in the telephone Roadblock it said in the clue that you weren’t allowed to write anything down until you got in the office. So, when I got in there, I didn’t realize there was another office besides the one we were in. So I wrote down the letters too early and it cost us 30 minutes.