“We Even Sacrificed Packing Our Make-up So We Had Room for Power Bars!” - An Interview with The Amazing Race 10’s Kellie & Jamie

RealityNewsOnline: Hi, Kellie & Jamie. I really enjoyed watching you on the race. How did you prepare yourselves for the race?

Kellie & Jamie: We did so many physical and mental things to prepare for this race. We rock climbed, ran stadium stairs with our packs on, learned how to drive a stick shift, and worked out extra hard to build endurance! We also studied as many foreign languages as we could.

RNO: Other than Tom & Terry, who we saw you with a lot, did you bond with any other team?

Kellie & Jamie: We bonded a lot with all of the teams that were on the second bus to the train station. That bus included Tom & Terry, David & Mary, Erwin & Godwin, and Lyn & Karlyn. The long bus ride really gave us an opportunity to get to know everyone! We also had a bond with Vipul & Arti before they got eliminated.

RNO: Where did you wish you could have traveled to?

Kellie: I wanted to go to New Zealand, Greece, or Africa.

Jamie: I really wanted to go to Egypt and Switzerland.

RNO: Did you worry that your lack of travel experience would hurt you on the race?

Kellie & Jamie: We were definitely concerned with our lack of international travel experience, but we’ve traveled extensively in the U.S. The most challenging part of being overseas was the language barrier we encountered.

RNO: What did you think your strengths and weaknesses were, both as a team and as individuals?

Kellie & Jamie: Our competitive drive and positive attitudes were big strengths for us throughout the race. We also encouraged each other and kept each other calm and motivated in stressful situations. Our biggest weakness was our lack of foreign language skills.

Kellie: I think it’s obvious that my weakness was in shooting a bow and arrow.

RNO: Who did you think was going to be the team to beat?

Kellie & Jamie: Before we even had talked to any of the teams, we were most intimidated by the Cho brothers. They seemed very smart and looked physically fit.

RNO: Have you had to suffer a lot of teasing because of your Buddha remark in the first episode?

Kellie & Jamie: (laughing) We certainly have. What people don’t know is that we nicknamed them the Buddha Brothers before we knew they were Muslim, so that was the root of the question. That wasn’t our brightest moment.

RNO: We’ve seen a lot of teams with two young, pretty women on them before. How did you try to set yourselves apart from them when you auditioned?

Kellie & Jamie: We have never seen another girl team on the race as enthusiastic as us! Unlike some other girls teams in the past, we were completely concentrated on the race and not sidetracked by the cute boy team. We even sacrificed packing our make-up so we had room for power bars!

RNO: What were your favorite moments on the race?

Kellie & Jamie: Every moment of the race was truly amazing. We really enjoyed seeing China and Mongolia, and the best part was that we got to experience it together. Beating the Cho bros up the Great Wall was pretty fun, too!

RNO: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

Kellie & Jamie: We wished that we would have stuck with other teams rather than running our own race. As long as you are with another team, you know you aren’t alone and potentially last.

RNO: Do you know how far you were behind the other teams or how long you took at the Roadblock?

Kellie & Jamie: We knew that we were a good deal behind the other teams. The whole day we felt like we were playing catch-up. Once we would get caught up, something else bad would happen to us. It was frustrating because a lot of the mishaps were out of our control. When we arrived at the Roadblock, we saw Lyn and Karlyn running out of the front of the Hotel Mongolia. Before Kellie started the Roadblock, we already knew we were the last team. Even after knowing that, we were still out there for hours wanting to complete the task. 117 arrows later, we realized our time was up.

RNO: Is there anything else you want to say to people?

Kellie & Jamie: We want people to know that we really enjoyed the race and getting to see the countries we saw. It was a great experience and brought our friendship to a whole new level. We are forever grateful for the experience!

RNO: Thank you! I hope you had as much fun on the race as you looked like you were having.

Jenn Brasler is an Assistant Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, Virginia. By day she works for a court reporting firm, and by night she’s a spy for a covert branch of the CIA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. At least Kellie & Jamie got to learn something in the short time they were in the race.

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