Cannonball Run 2001's Dana Takes Us Behind the Scenes

Dana Walker moved to Los Angeles to pursue a songwriting career. It was in L.A. where she got the opportunity to compete in USA Network’s embarrassingly bad Cannonball Run 2001. She joined an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend to form the Third Wheel team. They competed against six other teams in a “Race Across America.” I reviewed the episodes here (click above), but I had quite a few questions about the show. Dana has agreed to try to answer some of those questions, exclusively at RealityNewsOnline!

Mike: Do you like reality shows?

Dana: Not as a rule, although I do watch them on occasion.

Mike: Which ones do you watch?

Dana: I watched Big Brother 2 because Jeff [Varner – the Survivor 2 contestant who was also on Cannonball Run 2001] did the local news coverage for it… admittedly, I did kind of get addicted to it, but I didn’t see every episode. And a good friend of mine got me watching Temptation Island 2. Now that’s staged drama at its finest.

Mike: Some friend. What did you think about who won Big Brother 2? Who were you rooting for, who did you hate?

Dana: Honestly, I thought that Monica deserved to win, but Will played the game the best. The thing that I liked about Will was that he was totally honest from the beginning – he came in as a total manipulator and was completely honest about that. He never hid the fact that he was there to play the game and win it, no matter what he had to do. I was rooting for Sheryl (who was eliminated right away, unfortunately) and Monica. I didn’t hate anyone from the show… having been a reality show contestant, I am well aware of the way editing can make someone look like a horrific person… but I didn’t warm up to Kent or Shannon at all.

Mike: How did you get involved with Cannonball Run 2001? Did you try out for the show or did they seek you?

Dana: Okay, it’s complicated. I used to go to a club in L.A. occasionally on Thursday nights. I was actually there celebrating my last day at my job – I quit to pursue music and writing full-time. Anyway, I met a manager of talent through a mutual friend that night – we chatted, he said he may be able to help me get some music connections. We exchanged cards, and the next day (Friday) he called to ask me if I wanted to audition for the show Cannonball Run, that it might help me get some exposure. So I did… turns out that the guy was Matt’s [The ‘boyfriend’ from Third Wheel] manager and he found out that I go to that club. Matt and his girlfriend Jane had gotten called to audition for the show as the couple, and Matt’s manager found out about me through Matt, then basically hunted me down. It was all very weird.

Mike: Let’s play the Name Game. Tell me what you thought of the other contestants. First, Jeff Varner of the Castaways team?

Dana: He’s smart, funny as hell and a real competitor. He has a real appeal about him that I’m sure came across throughout the show. He and I got along really well – we’re on a similar level intellectually. We kept in touch for a while, and we actually watched the second episode together, but he travels between New York and L.A. a lot, so we eventually lost touch.

Mike: Sue Hawk?

Dana: I have an enormous amount of respect for Sue because she tells it like it is and doesn’t take any shit from anyone. We also got along well, but we haven’t kept in touch.

Mike: Kaya?

Dana: I didn’t really interact very much with him, but he was a very nice guy off camera and played up the “tough-guy” thing on camera. He – how can I be diplomatic about this – he seems to want to be the typical “Hollywood type,” but to me he seemed to be too nice of a guy for that. And I don’t keep in touch with him.

Mike: Is it safe to say that you agreed with Jeff and Sue’s assessment of him? (as a “pussy”?)

Dana: No - I wasn’t in the car with them.

Mike: Dee, the quiet one?

Dana: A wonderful, incredibly talented guy. I still see him from time to time.

Mike: David, the loud one?

Dana: He and I got along fine until the rappelling… we had quite a little flirty thing going on up until that point, actually. I thought he was showing an enormous amount of disrespect to Jane for yelling at her when she was afraid (it didn’t come across well in the show, but she was hanging there for like 45 minutes because she was terrified) and to me for not stopping when I asked him nicely to do so. He couldn’t have pissed me off more than by doing that. He apologized to me for a while after that, then every time I saw him thereafter (at the wrap party, at the premiere party) he apologized again. Hello, overkill. I forgave him, but pretty much avoided him from then on. No, we don’t keep in touch.

Mike: Carl, “Pop”?

Dana: He rocks. He’s the coolest man… a family man, a tough guy, and a total gentleman all in one. His dedication to his family and his job as a firefighter is unparalleled. We emailed back & forth a few times, but we lost touch, too. (Damn, I lose touch with a lot of people, don’t I?)

Mike: The Frat Boys team?

Dana: They played up the dumb guy thing for the camera. They’re both actually very cool, but way too young for me. Haven’t talked to Mike since the show… I haven’t talked to Ponce since the premiere. I adore Princess, but I haven’t seen her since the premiere party, either.

Mike: The Playboy Bunnies?

Dana: No comment. I adored Mark, though. It sucked that he didn’t get a real chance to compete.

Mike: Finally, the Rednecks?

Dana: Steve’s a giant teddy bear; Tom’s a real charmer. Jackie and I met and instantly clicked. She and I have played phone tag for the past three months or so… one of these days we’ll actually see each other again! Their team actually deserved to win, or at least be in the top three (rather than the Frat Boys).

Mike: It looked like one of them really screwed up his knee after that gas-siphoning challenge. Do you know if he was OK?

Dana: They sent Steve to the hospital and had his knee checked; he was fine the next morning.

Mike: Did you have any idea who you would be teamed up with?

Dana: No.

Mike: So you were told that two teammates would be picking you up at the racetrack, and that was pretty much all you knew?

Dana: Pretty much.

Mike: They never really told us anything about your relationship with Matt. Care to clarify it?

Dana: He and I dated for two months soon after my marriage ended. I stopped seeing him because he was getting too close too fast and I freaked out. Not only that, he’s not really my type… but he was really sweet to me which is what I needed at the time. However, I met this other guy, and he & I ended up… well… you saw the show.

Mike: Thus ‘the relationship ended badly,’ as they said on the show.

Dana: Yes. Anyway, I called Matt to tell him that I couldn’t see him anymore, but I didn’t want to hurt him by giving him the full explanation. I just told him that it was too much for me right out of another relationship, and that I needed to back off.

Mike: It looked like you wanted him back?

Dana: Good Lord, no. I was the victim of convenient editing. Matt’s a nice guy – really sweet – but he’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the box. Let me tell you something about myself – I have a dating requirement that goes something like this (ahem) – “I will only date men who don’t require a dictionary to hold a conversation with me.” Matt required a dictionary and a thesaurus, so… it wasn’t working out for me anyway.

Mike: Did you and Jane get along as well as you looked like?

Dana: Jane and I became very good friends through the show, and we actually still keep in touch on a regular basis. She’s now one of my closest friends. I know that sounds strange, but keep in mind that I’m also very good friends with my ex-husband.

Mike: So you and Jane ganged up to abuse and torture Matt the whole time?

Dana: Oh, stop it. Matt’s insecurity was scrawled across his forehead in scarlet letters the whole time. He was often the one being “abused,” I suppose, because he had two women “ganging up” on him, but that was because he acted like a child half the time. (Sorry, Matt, but you did.) No one could have predicted that Jane and I would get along – I’m sure the producers’ intentions were to have her and I fighting over Matt and him being the big hero (thus the deceptive appearance of my “wanting him back” that seemed to be thrown in for good measure, right?) But let me just say this for the situation – Jane and I were playing a game and trying not to get emotional about things, and he was constantly upset about losing her attention, completely leading with his emotions. It got old after a while.

Mike: Jane looked to have a serious thing for Jeff.

Dana: The beauty of editing made it look like Jane was interested in Jeff. She wasn’t, of course – she’s just a big flirt.

Mike: I HAVE to ask - did anything happen between Dee and Jane in Las Vegas?

Dana: As far as I know, nothing happened between Jane and Dee in Las Vegas.

Mike: Do you know if Matt and Jane are still together?

Dana: Matt and Jane broke up shortly after we returned to Los Angeles.

Mike: I mentioned many times in my reviews that the show looked like it was staged. Can you comment on that?

Dana: I can’t say too much about this stuff because I can get sued, so bear with me here. We had rules ahead of time, but for the sake of time, they edited out certain points. As far as I know personally, nothing was staged.

Mike: Were you told to stop at the same rest stops?

Dana: No. It was a strategy for some teams to know what the opponent is doing; and in some parts of the country, there’s nothing for 250 miles, so you’d better stop when you can.

Mike: How did the hosts get from the roof of a hotel in Vegas to the beach before anyone else?

Dana: Either they were flown in, they drove a hundred miles an hour, or Lee is Superman and Krista is Wonder Woman. (Wouldn’t that be cool?) [Editor’s Note: Actually, Lee (Reherman) is not Superman, but was “Hawk” on American Gladiators.]

Mike: Why did the teams start even every other day? I don’t understand why you would hurry to finish first, since only the two last place teams got eliminated.

Dana: The race was held over nine days. What they did was this – we’d start out even, then travel for a full day. Whoever came in first that day got to leave first the next day, then the second place team had to wait however many minutes they were behind the next team, and so on down the line. Then at the end of the second day, cash prizes were awarded to the first, second, third, and fourth place teams, and fifth & sixth would compete in the road kill challenge. And so on.

Mike: Would have been nice of them to tell us. Why did you guys get lost so often, did Matt refuse to stop and ask directions?

Dana: You know, again with the editing. Jane and Matt got lost before they picked me up; we did, unfortunately, get lost in Amarillo because the palm pilot had no reception and the laptop had a mapping program from 1947 (excuses, excuses), and we missed the on-ramp in Las Vegas because – well, we’re idiots, what can I say. Anyway, every team had to take a certain number of scheduled stops for the production crew, and some of the other teams didn’t take them all, so the time was added on later. They brilliantly used this a few times in the editing room to make it look as though we got lost yet again (the shining example would be in Sedona – we stopped for gas while Hip Hop skipped their scheduled stop and arrived 20 seconds ahead of us).

Mike: Why would you guys trade a GTO for the hearse in Las Vegas?

Dana: Our car broke down six times – once in Virginia before I got in, once in Georgia, twice in Alabama, once in Texas, and once in New Mexico. We finally had to drive it with smoke from the exhaust system pouring into the car with us in order to stay in the race. Actually, when we got out in Albuquerque we were all so high from the fumes that I couldn’t stop laughing for about an hour. That’s why we drove the hearse to L.A. – we finally had an opportunity to not ride in a vehicle that was the equivalent of sucking on the exhaust pipe, so we jumped at it.

Mike: You would think that they would actually get decent cars for a Race Across America, wouldn’t you?

Dana: You’d like to think so, but what’s the fun in that, right? They had to give us old cars because it presented more of a challenge that way.

Mike: Why didn’t you just run over the frat boy when he blocked your car after the rappelling?

Dana: The rules at the rappelling event were that every team member had to walk up then walk down. They ran both directions, which explains how they caught up to us, and were arguing with Matt about it on the top of the mountain (from what I understand – of course I wasn’t up there to witness it). My team tried to follow the rules at every turn, but Mike and Matt were pissed off at each other, so Mike tried to keep us from leaving, and Matt tackled him to get him out of the way. Did I want to run over Mike? Oh yeah. Why didn’t I? Well, it’s a felony, first of all, but I actually didn’t because we would’ve been disqualified.

Mike: What didn’t they show us?

Dana: A lot.

Mike: No further comments there?

Dana: Nope. But nice try.

Mike: When will you be posing for Playboy?

Dana: In someone else’s lifetime.

Mike: It was worth a try! What are you doing now?

Dana: Trying like hell to get my writing and songwriting career going – I’m working on a book and recording some of my original songs to shop for a publishing deal. I’m also working on a lawsuit against the producer who ripped me off when I arrived in Los Angeles.

Mike: I’d definitely look forward to reading the book. Are there any future Cannonball projects going on?

Dana: None that I know of.

Mike: I heard there was going to be a Cannonball music CD?

Dana: I was working with a few other cast members on that idea, but it unfortunately fell through.

Mike: Finally, Would you do it all again, why, and what would you do differently?

Dana: I would do it again because it was a lot of fun, and the only thing I would do differently would be to swear less. (My foul language really embarrassed my mom.)

Mike: Thank you very much for your time, Dana.

Mike DeGeorge is an accountant based in St. Louis who very much regrets saying that the Third Wheel team didn’t have the brainpower to light a flashlight. He knows now that, at least with Dana, that is very untrue. You can reach Mike at mikmaria@swbell.net.

And now for the big announcement: RealityNewsOnline is pleased to welcome our newest writer: Dana Walker! She’ll be commenting on reality shows, entertainment news, and the weird world of Hollywood. Be on the lookout for her first column, next week, which will address reality TV and phone sex. What more could you ask for? Welcome aboard, Dana!

If you’ve forgotten about this memorable series, make sure you check out our Cannonball Run 2001 page. For other interviews with reality show participants, take a look at our Interview Page.