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

RNO: It did not seem that you were very far behind Monica & Sheree after finishing the roadblock. Did you know that they had beaten you to the pit stop, or did you think that you had out-run them?

Amanda: We actually saw them en route to the pit stop. They were standing in the middle of the street (more like an alley) that we needed to pass through. I should let you know now, that these women are in tight shape. If it got down to a footrace, they would not only have beat my ass, after winning they would run back to me and first run a few circles around me, then push me down, and then run off to being the bad asses they are. Back to the race, they did not have a map or anything so they were frantically screaming to everyone, 'Pallazo Ducale, Pallazo Ducale'. We had a map and we knew tentatively where we were headed and they were in our way. We ended up taking a side street to go around them, so they wouldn't see us and follow. In Venice, they don't exactly have normal city blocks so we had to zig zag a bit before we were able to get back to where we wanted to go. Once we arrived, we thought we had beaten them there because they seemed very lost. Well, yeah that's not what ended up happening though.

Chris: I think Monica got out of the roadblock a good bit before me. And I think they just had no idea where the Pit Stop was, because they didn't have a map so they were just running. Well, they must have been in that area (we saw them in) for a while for us to catch up with them. And like Amanda said, we tried to lose them since they didn't know where it was, and wound up going further out of the way than we'd have liked. We ended up getting to the Pit Stop about a minute after they did. You can see on the tape that after Phil says, 'You're still in the race,' that Monica and Sheree are looking at someone off camera. Well, that someone was trying to get them off the mat because we were going to be arriving very soon. Not soon enough unfortunately. The check-in of the teams was VERY close. And the roadblock itself was very quick. Altogether, from the time they busted out that box (with the clues in it) to the time that Amanda and I checked in was under 20 minutes. It was the fastest roadblock to pitstop they had ever had."

RNO: What was your position when Reichen and Chip were blockading the doors to the train station knowing that they were there after many other teams? Did you say anything to them?

Amanda: All of us first five teams were outside at the doors when Willis and Reichen arrived, got out of their taxis, and devised the plan to hold the doors like a bunch of pre-schoolers. After their arrival, Jeff and Dave held on to the other set of doors. Geezer said something to them and Dave (of Steve and Dave) said something to them to the fact that they had just arrived and we had been there all night. Those four boys did not care to make friends or "play fair" like they have suggested in interviews. They were just punks.

Chris: It was all pretty damn ridiculous. It's a train, kids. There's going to be plenty o’ room. Amanda and I were at the other doors talking to Jon the Clown when all of a sudden Dave and Jeff came over and without saying anything just grabbed onto the door handles. I stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Amanda like, 'What the hell are they doing?' We just rolled our eyes and walked away and saw that Chip and Reichen were doing the same at the other doors. So we watched them and Geez go at it. If I was still in my 'prick' game mode I would have started something about it, but since I was involved in the 'love fest,' I just thought 'whatever' and let it go. Which as it turned out, it didn't even matter because the bus came to take us to Alpi. It was all pretty friggin' stupid. They also held the clue box hostage at the bridge where the detour took place and I've heard there was some cutting in line with them at the roadblock, but I wasn't around to see that. It just bugs me that they're going to play like dicks but try to come off as nice guys. And their @$$hole-ness supposedly stems what someone else allegedly did to them. If you're gonna be a jackass just come out with it and don't blame it on someone else when you do. Let's be honest, kids.

RNO: Did the two of you go into the race thinking that you would do better because you were younger than a majority of the other teams, or did you just go in with the hopes that other teams would make more mistakes?

Amanda: We hoped that others would make mistakes and that we would remain strong. We hoped that luck would be on our sides. We have watched the previous races and we knew the premise and just what we needed to do in order to try to win.

Chris: I don't think being young has anything to do with being able to win the race. I think in order to win you just have to limit your mistakes, ride out streaks of bad luck, and hope that other people trip themselves up. Well, that worked for us a while. But the one time that we ran into trouble, it was at a time when the elimination would take place soon after. And we just weren't given the time to atone for our bad luck. Many other teams in the first two legs had plenty of screw-ups but were still fortunate enough to be able to right themselves before an elimination. So I think that luck and timing play a huge role in this race. Not age.

RNO: Chris, do you feel that you may have pushed Amanda too much? I know you say it is in your nature to coach her, but did it ever seem like you were too overbearing, even after the experience?

Chris: I don't think it's in my nature to 'coach' Amanda. I did say things to Amanda to try and get her to speed up. But I hardly see it as coaching. One of the things Amanda wanted to prove on this show was that she could be tough and not quit. And, that comes from her not pushing HERSELF enough. So unless I wanted to try and win this race and do it having to wait for her any time we went somewhere, I had to get vocal about her lack of effort. And ya know, it WAS a race for a million dollars. It's not like I was yelling at her while on a sightseeing tour of Italy. So no, I don't feel like I pushed her too much or was overbearing. It seemed that way because that's all the editors cared to show from me. I completely understand what production was trying to do. Create a story. Viewers just need to realize that what they see isn't all that goes on. Do you honestly think that the 15 seconds they showed of me (trying to get her to get up that mountain) extrapolates out to being 24 hours a day of me constantly 'coaching' her? That's just crazy. The editors have a show to make. They need drama and that's what they chose to play up between Amanda and I. They even used voiceovers from leg one (of me yelling at her to hurry up) and put them in leg 2. I know, everyone says it's the editing. I'm not denying that I said and did the things I did, you just have to understand that there was more there than what you saw. So you just shouldn't think that you know the situation when you honestly have no idea.