Don’t Forget the Editing: An Interview with Amanda & Chris from The Amazing Race 4

Dating couple Amanda & Chris were the second team eliminated this season on The Amazing Race. In this interview, they discuss what they could have done to stay in the race, how tight their alliance with some of the other teams really was, and where there relationship is headed. Oh, and Chris really lets go in his answers. I wish he had not been caught up in the love fest during the show and acted the way he did in this interview! Read on, friends!

RealityNewsOnline: From the beginning, you two did not seem to really be on the same page. Did team morale have anything to do with your early elimination?

Amanda: Well, our morale was certainly high. We shared the same enthusiasm and dedication to the race. When it gets down to it, Chris is a MUCH better competitor than I am. Sometimes, my over-sensitivity is something that stands in my way. I am easily susceptible to the ideas, emotions, or circumstances of others. It's a bitch. Since racing, I have learned there is a competitor in me that I need to work on bringing out. I think I need to learn how to be more competitive and less sensitive to succeed in life.

Chris: Yeah I'd have to agree with that. The fact that we weren't on the 'same page' didn't have an affect on team morale. And 'team morale' didn't have anything to do with our early elimination. Instead of me being the prick that I was supposed to be during the race, I did join Amanda in making friends and trying to play a 'nice' game. This did not make me lose sight of winning, it just made me believe we could do it without stepping on toes and pissing people off. If I would have played the game my way, I would have taken Josh up on his offer to cut into the line at the roadblock. but Amanda didn't think that was 'nice' and so I let it go. I didn't play the game aggressively enough and the way I set out to before it all started. I instead settled for Amanda's approach. So yes, in a way, having different philosophies entering the race set us back some and may have gotten us eliminated. I wish she would have adopted more of my attitude than the other way around. Passivity on the race doesn't get you very far."

RNO: Millie & Chuck stated that they were in an alliance with your team, as well as Josh & Steve, yet neither you nor the other team said the same. Was there really an alliance between the three teams, and if so, how loose was it?

Amanda: We had a tight alliance between Millie and Chuck, Josh and Geez, The Hotties (Steve and Dave), and the Clowns. The five of us teams wandered the streets of Milan and became friends. The alliance happened because we agreed that we all seemed to be happy people that had the same agenda: to see the world, to have a good time, and to do it all in good company. We agreed that whenever we could, we would give each other valuable information. We also would help get tickets (plane, train, bus, etc.) for one another if time or circumstances would allow for it. We agreed when it came to fast forwards, the team in last place (out of the five) or the team that needed it the most would try to complete it, and the rest of us would try competing to make it to the pit stops. That way, we would not waste time competing against each other for the FF, losing time against other teams.

Chris: Yeah we totally were in an alliance with them, Weezer and Geezer, the Hotties, and The Clowns. We even talked about it to great length in our post-leg interview. It's just that none of that footage made the episode. So that just goes to show that fans can't look at all of this so literally and nit-pick everything to death. The editors have a story to tell and they're not always going to tell the complete truth about everything. We accept that, and the viewers need to. The alliance was loose in that anyone could decide to leave it at any time and not feel like we were going to come after them. We just felt like the group (that we hung around all night in Milan with) was a very fun bunch of people and we all wanted to see each other do well in the race. Our alliance was about KEEPING us all in the race and not about going out of our way to get any certain team out. We just liked each other and wanted to go the distance together. Because come on, who wants to be stuck with a bunch of assy people while traveling the world? Wouldn't you want to enjoy yourself too? Ham Up.

RNO: Based on the first leg of the race, was there any team that you thought would be easy to pass? On the flip side, was there anyone you felt needed to go sooner before later?

Amanda: We thought that some teams may have a harder time physically and we knew that some teams had never watched the race before. We thought we had advantages over these types of teams. We found that luck and timing have a lot to do with it.

Chris: Yeah, of course there were people that we looked at and immediately knew it was going to be a rough time for them and they'd get out early. We knew what was happening with other teams most of the time and from that, we knew who we were smarter/better than. Unfortunately, even though we were better suited for the race than they were, they're still in it and we are not. Make of that what you will. And for sure, there are teams that jump out at you and make you think it will be tough going up against them, so yeah you'd like them to slip up and make an early exit. It may seem braggadocios for me to say this, but with the fact that we were in the lead group the entire time up until the roadblock, we were one of those strong teams that others were hoping to get out of the way. But yeah, we knew which teams we needed to have go down in order to make it easier for us later on. Too bad we ended up accommodating other people's plans for an easier run.