G & W - What did you think about the teams going to Hong Kong?
Cory - I really anticipated it being a lot harder, but I don't know if the teams make it look easy, but it did seem like the transportation and getting around wasn't that critical of an issue. I think some of the challenges were interesting. The memorization challenges, like the ones with the Kung Fu, can be a pain if you're not paying attention or focused. It reminded me of the challenge in Season 1 where we had to draw the Chinese symbol in Vancouver. And the way Jody and I did it was that we counted everything which was helpful. I think gathering ingredients for a recipe was the worst idea in the world. I can't believe people who watched our season still did it. That was pretty surprising to me.
G & W - True, every team that did that came in at the end.
Cory - Exactly, the only teams that did it came in second last and last. It was definitely a poor choice to do that challenge.
G & W - One of our fans said that challenged seemed harder than the Kung Fu one and seemed almost unfair.
Cory - You don't really get how hard it is because of all the editing because you saw Alain and Audrey take forever, they were the first team there and the last team to leave.
G & W - That's true and he's got a black belt.
Cory - So again, it just depends on who you're with and how you can focus. And there were challenges like that on the first season, too. But it also depends on physical ability too. So when we had to drag the other person to the harpoon throw and then back, that's what we did. And that's why we won the leg because other people were building an igloo and that was pretty goddamn impossible. So I think that's part of the race, you rush yourself in making a decision. If I was to do it again, I would take a couple deep breaths, reread everything and then make a decision just so you know you're making the right decision.
G & W - So that's a good tip for doing the race, I know you wrote something on Facebook about packing lighter, but also take your time.
Cory - Yes, yes. Anything you rush is going to cost you more time in the end, for the most part. Sometimes you might get lucky and pick the right challenge so it's good to slow down.
G & W - Before we go into the snake bile, what did you think about the Twins and how they were acting with Mickey and Pete?
Cory - In the end, it's a race and you're going to do what you got to do or what you think you need to do to win the race. But you do have to consider once that leg is done, every team is going to find out that you're a snake. So whoever is left standing, one team is eliminated, but that still means there are 8 teams left now and everyone is going to know that they can't trust you. And everyone is going to probably put forward an effort to get rid of you. Because now you have other teams trying to deceive you and you can't deceive anyone because they already know you're a snake and not to trust you. So putting yourself in that position this early in the race, I don't know what benefit they got out of it. Obviously they got nothing because Mickey and Pete are still in the race. They might have got one position out of it, but going into the later legs, it does nothing for them. I think it was an uncalculated decision and we'll see how it catches up to them later in the race. My guess is that it's going to hurt them more than it benefitted them.
G & W - And what about the snake eating, the bile and the soup?
Cory - It looked pretty disgusting, but everyone just plowed right through it so it couldn't have been that bad. I've watched other shows like Fear Factor where they have to eat cockroaches, maggots and the like, so that has to be a lot worse. The only one that looked to have trouble with it was Sukhi.
G & W - That was because of Jinder, he wasn't eating, but he looked like he was going to throw up watching her.
Cory - (Laughs) Those two, I can't believe the two of them made it through that leg. I really didn't want to see Laura and Jackie get eliminated but that's the way the game goes. But I think the next episode is likely to be a non-elimination, so I think we got a lot of Sukhi and Jinder to watch, which is kind of entertaining, it's good to see, but I think they'll be the next team to be eliminated.
G & W - What did you think about the Olympians using the Express Pass.
Cory - Did they end up using it? I remember hearing them talk about it but I didn't remember them doing it. I was actually with Rob and Ryan in Vancouver watching it in a bar so maybe I just missed that part of it. But I think that's the most foolish thing they could have ever done. And if you get caught in a task that you can't complete or struggling with, now what do you do? You just have to suck it up and do it. I think that's so foolish. And, they still have to give one away. And if it's them and another team who are stuck at a challenge and the other team uses the Express Pass, that's it.
G & W - We were surprised because they could have done the Kung Fu task.
Cory - I think they're addicted to coming in first, that's the only think that rationalizes it for me, that they feel the need to be first every single leg and that's what's going to win the race for them. But obviously that's not the case based on other races. Again, that's another move made in this leg that's going to come back to haunt them.
G & W - So how are Ryan and Rob, we don't see much of them in the race so far, so what kind of guys are they like?
Cory - It was like Jody and me in the beginning in the race so that tells me a couple of things: they'll probably get quite far into the race because they are going to feature the team that gets eliminated in the episode, and most people who watch don't put that together. But if you watch it closely you'll notice that the team that gets eliminated in the leg gets featured more than others. And teams that move on further get shown a little bit less. I think Top 5 for Rob and Ryan. They are both really great guys, we went for dinner and then over to a bar and they had a big screen set up for a viewing. It was a great time.
G & W - So how did you hook up with them?
Cory - I had a meeting in Vancouver and so on FB we have an ongoing chat with the original cast and we've got another chat with Season 1 and 2 tasks. So whenever we're all travelling, we just send out the message and try to hook up wherever we are. It's kind of a cool club to be in and you can't really relate to someone unless they've done. It's a cool experience we get to share.
G & W - Obviously its private, not everyone can join, but that's really nice you guys still stay in touch
Cory - Yeah, only for Season 1 and 2 cast members but it's really cool, absolutely.