One of the sad bits about doing the interviews this blog was that we normally only got to interview the eliminated teams and the winners of the race. But this year, CTV kindly offered a chance to interview all three teams heading into the finale. We agreed but on one condition: no spoilers. Sure, we like to be treated like media and are really pleased the CTV has helped us in this way, but we didn't want to know the outcome of the race and be embargoed. We hate spoilers here at Gord and Wayne HQ. So we did the interview. Unfortunately, Wayne forgot to turn on the recorder and we missed the first few minutes of the interviews. Pretty much what was said that all the final 3 teams felt that taking someone else's cab, especially if the cab was willing to do so, was a fair thing. Part of the game said Gino and Jesse. Nick and Matt noted that since the first cab to the area (after the first Cabotage) didn't have a name, so they didn't steal Ope and Simi's cab. They made a point of walking in front of Simi and Ope so once the cab showed up, they would be the first to put their bags in it, which marks the official possession of said cab. They also noted that they weren't upset and Gino and Jesse, taking another team's cab is fair game but rather at the cab driver, who had agreed to wait for them but let someone else take him. Brent and Sean agreed that taking another team's cab, if the cabbie was willing to go along with it, was fine. They also noted that by Leg 11, Simi and Ope had yet to realize that you should ask your cab to wait for you. All teams and I'm sure all Gord and Wayne readers agree that some fans got too intense in their criticism of Gino and Jesse. So onto the regularly scheduled programming (where Wayne finally realized to turn the damn recorder on) Please note, this interview has been edited and there will be mistakes because Wayne had to transcribe it pretty quickly.
G & W - Brent and Sean, you guys weren't the most physical team but you still won two legs and are in the Final 3, what was your secret?
Brent - I think one of the things that helped us was we got along really well, we hardly ever fought on the race.
Sean - We got along better on the race than we do outside the race.
Brent - And we made good decisions when it came down to choosing which detours to do. We always chose the Detour that was best for us, you don't get a lot of information on what each detour was so I think it was making the right decision at the time and never really quitting at anything, thinking it out and persevering in every element.
G & W - You think some of the teams may have taken you guys for granted.
Sean - Um yeah. Sometimes people see you being humorous they may not take you as seriously. So I don't know if that's what teams thought, but there was a little bit that people thought Brent and I were just here to have fun and we weren't strategic and as fierce as the other teams but on the race we showed that.
G & W - How awesome was it to beat Gino and Jesse in curling?
Brent - It was great because we left the Detour in first place we weren't hoping Gino and Jesse to show up and go against them. But once we did, we knew that if they beat us they were probably going to win the leg. But to beat them was really satisfying and a great moment for us.
G & W - Nick and Matt, same question.
Matt - We've been waiting for a time to meet face to face and square off them for awhile. It as good, a great moment in the race, finally everyone was waiting for some kind of showdown and it happened to be curling (all laugh).
Sean - That's why Brent and I beat them...
Matt - The only other person who had curled before was Nick and I didn't even know that at the time. But it was a lot of fun, competition is always fun.
G & W - Gino and Jesse, did it suck to loss to these two teams?
Gino - Yeah it definitely sucked. Had we beaten Brent and Sean, that leg would have been different for us. So it was sad that we lost to them but they were good competitors and good sports about it. But we really wanted to face Nick and Matt but we didn't bring our A game. The thing about curling is one lucky rock and totally out of the match. But luck wasn't on our side that time.
G & W - Gino and Jesse, you guys were quite physical and teams probably as physical but you also played a very smart, strategic game, was that the plan going in?
Gino - Yeah. People are first to judge characters and obviously we're physical and more athletic but that was a small portion that we brought to the race. We're very strategical, we thought about every move we made. And you know we were in it to win and we were very determined. And it showed with each and every leg. The difference between us and a lot of other teams, I would actually include all the other teams here, we were trying on every single leg to finish first. There were a lot of other teams that just raced to get through the leg. And that's the difference between us and a lot of the other teams on the race.
G & W - You guys also nailed the math task in Saskatoon when Nick (Wayne actually said Matt in the interview, sorry man and Wayne thinks he's been using the wrong names all season. Idiot) who is also a school teacher had trouble with it.
Gino - Yeah but you know what you have to think, there are a lot of other factors going on. There's the stress, it was super hot outside, there was a lot of commotion going on trying to stay on focus. And at the time we didn't have the right formula but we just stayed with it and worked it out.
Nick - It's funny you would say that but it's completely different. I teach Grade 6 and there is a great deal that I know, I have to teach in a lot of different ways, I'm not dropped off an airplane in a competition for a quarter of a million dollars in the hot sun to figure out a math challenge with flights and times and different things I know nothing about. I'm not embarrassed at all that I found it confusing and complicated; it had nothing to being a teacher or a mathematician or anything. You're under a lot of pressure and sometimes you say and do things and you feel really dumb afterwards; I don't apologize for it because I would probably do it again the same thing.
Gino - One thing that I noticed is that some teams try to get the easy way out to get the immediate answer. But there were a lot of tasks where you have to accept that it's not going to take five minutes, it's going to take some time and you have to plan for that. I was watching Brian and Cynthia and they were just plugging a different number into one formula, hoping by chance they were going to get the answer. And that wasn't one of the those tasks that you were going to fluke get it, you actually had to figure it out and work with your numbers.
G & W - For each team what was your fav moment in the race up to now?
Matt - I'm going to say it was we finally broke out streak of "third, third, third Goddamn we will ever get first", and we finally got that win cause for us we felt it had be coming for quite some time, but it got to the point of "is it ever going to happen?" So when we finally got that first place win, it was my highlight for sure.
Jesse - Ours would have to be Delhi. We started off that leg terribly and we remained focussed and persevered to come in second. But we were at the back of the pack the whole first half of that leg so we came back.
Brent - Mine was the Saskatoon leg, which was my birthday leg and the first time we came in first. I liked using the Express Pass and that's what gave us the lead but we were able to maintain that. It was close obviously between us and Gino and Jesse but just to come in first, if it was only even that one time during that whole thing, it would have been a great moment.
G & W - Brent and Sean, did you guys come in being strategic because I heard from Dujean and Leilani that you had an alliance?
Sean - We didn't know anyone before the show, obviously, so it was hard to make decisions when you first meet someone. But we could have two ways: we could have gone competitive, 'we're going to beat you and we're not going to be your friends, etc. but we decided we wanted to know people, we wanted them to like us, we want to work with people if we need to, we want not to work with people if we don't. We thought Leilani and Dujean were a good team to work with because we thought strategically and physically we were a match with them. We didn't work with a team like Gino and Jesse for instance because they could outrun us. So it was a good decision to be made.
G & W - What was the the lowest point of the race for each of you?
Brent - I would mine was in Delhi when we got the non-elim. That cab ride to the mat we were sure we were last and it was really difficult.
Matt (Might have been Nick hard to tell with audio) - I think everybody saw it when we were trying to build a teepee and nothing was working and we did it over and over and over. And it was frustrating for us because everything else to that point we had made a plan and done really well. This was the first time we had to switch tasks and it was humbling for us. Very stressful, very frustrating, the closest we came to breaking.
Jesse - I'd have to say our Chile leg, the second episode. Our taxi driver was taking us around detours and not taking us to the exact spot. And another taxi driver ended leaving us and the rule is you have to square up with them and that put a hold on our race. We thought we were going home, yeah, that definitely one of the big negatives.
G & W - Again for all three, you're in Edmonton, on the mat, made it to the Final 3, how are you feeling?
Sean - For Brent and I, we didn't think we'd make it halfway through the show. To know we were in first place going into the finale was a fact we couldn't imagine. It was something we didn't even imagine in our wildest dreams.
Gino - When you first do the race, you don't want to be eliminated in the first episode, the second episode, you just want to get to the finale. And when you're in the finale, you start dreaming about the prize and everything that goes along with it so that's what you want, you definitely want to give it a go because it could be a reality.
Nick - We never took anything for granted, never thought that we deserved to be anywhere or anything like that, but at the end of it when we got a feel to how we were doing, how we were working together, I would say weren't surprised to be in the Final 3 but I definitely thought we deserved it and we needed to be there because of all the hard work to put in... I don't know, I wasn't surprised in anyway, I feel like the other two teams, we earned that spot to be there. It was just one of those scenarios, I think the three team that made it to the finale deserved to be in the finale. I don't think that of Season 1 or Season 2 because of certain things but in our season the three teams that are in it worked the hardest and they were deserving of being in it.
G & W - Everyone agree with that?
Brent - We don't know about the earlier seasons but we were obviously competitors and we all wanted to win and make it all the way. The teams all have a strong respect for each other now that the show is done and we're happy and everyone is feeling mostly content. You could watch After the Race and I might be very wrong (laughs) but the three teams sitting here in this room right now are happy with each other.
G & W - They may try to create tension because it's TV but we don't think there will be a lot of tension between teams on After the Race.
Sean - If there is any tension tonight, you might get it from some of the earlier teams, maybe from Kristen or Sabrina. Or we might create problems.
One of the Wrestlers (again hard to ID voices) - Yeah if we get bored we might create problems tonight.
G & W - Yeah, the Wrestlers may just start doing something cause they need something to do, right?
Wrestler - Yeah, we don't like sitting there talking nice all the time, we like to stir up a little bit.
Brent or Sean - You create some sort of scenario, we'll along for the ride.
G & W - That would be great, some sort of Andy Kaufmann or wrestling scenario where you look like you hate each other but in the end you don't. Can you do that for us?
Matt - For you, we can do that.
Now Wayne mentions that his daughter has a crush on Gino and Jesse, finds them good-looking and the Wrestlers wonder why she doesn't find them good-looking. Chaos ensues as teams share jokes and good natured insults. To chaotic to know who was saying what.
Final question - Some teams said they would not go back so if they did ask you back for an All-Star, would you?
Sean - We would be on a plane tomorrow.
Brent- Sean and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Jesse - So would Gino and I.
Gino - You guys should be stimulating things trying to get an All-Star Season.
Matt - Nick and I would for sure do it again. It was an incredible adventure of a lifetime, not everyone gets this experience and the fact we got it once was amazing. If we could get it a second time, absolutely amazing.
G & W - Brent and Sean, you guys weren't the most physical team but you still won two legs and are in the Final 3, what was your secret?
Brent - I think one of the things that helped us was we got along really well, we hardly ever fought on the race.
Sean - We got along better on the race than we do outside the race.
Brent - And we made good decisions when it came down to choosing which detours to do. We always chose the Detour that was best for us, you don't get a lot of information on what each detour was so I think it was making the right decision at the time and never really quitting at anything, thinking it out and persevering in every element.
G & W - You think some of the teams may have taken you guys for granted.
Sean - Um yeah. Sometimes people see you being humorous they may not take you as seriously. So I don't know if that's what teams thought, but there was a little bit that people thought Brent and I were just here to have fun and we weren't strategic and as fierce as the other teams but on the race we showed that.
G & W - How awesome was it to beat Gino and Jesse in curling?
Brent - It was great because we left the Detour in first place we weren't hoping Gino and Jesse to show up and go against them. But once we did, we knew that if they beat us they were probably going to win the leg. But to beat them was really satisfying and a great moment for us.
G & W - Nick and Matt, same question.
Matt - We've been waiting for a time to meet face to face and square off them for awhile. It as good, a great moment in the race, finally everyone was waiting for some kind of showdown and it happened to be curling (all laugh).
Sean - That's why Brent and I beat them...
Matt - The only other person who had curled before was Nick and I didn't even know that at the time. But it was a lot of fun, competition is always fun.
G & W - Gino and Jesse, did it suck to loss to these two teams?
Gino - Yeah it definitely sucked. Had we beaten Brent and Sean, that leg would have been different for us. So it was sad that we lost to them but they were good competitors and good sports about it. But we really wanted to face Nick and Matt but we didn't bring our A game. The thing about curling is one lucky rock and totally out of the match. But luck wasn't on our side that time.
G & W - Gino and Jesse, you guys were quite physical and teams probably as physical but you also played a very smart, strategic game, was that the plan going in?
Gino - Yeah. People are first to judge characters and obviously we're physical and more athletic but that was a small portion that we brought to the race. We're very strategical, we thought about every move we made. And you know we were in it to win and we were very determined. And it showed with each and every leg. The difference between us and a lot of other teams, I would actually include all the other teams here, we were trying on every single leg to finish first. There were a lot of other teams that just raced to get through the leg. And that's the difference between us and a lot of the other teams on the race.
G & W - You guys also nailed the math task in Saskatoon when Nick (Wayne actually said Matt in the interview, sorry man and Wayne thinks he's been using the wrong names all season. Idiot) who is also a school teacher had trouble with it.
Gino - Yeah but you know what you have to think, there are a lot of other factors going on. There's the stress, it was super hot outside, there was a lot of commotion going on trying to stay on focus. And at the time we didn't have the right formula but we just stayed with it and worked it out.
Nick - It's funny you would say that but it's completely different. I teach Grade 6 and there is a great deal that I know, I have to teach in a lot of different ways, I'm not dropped off an airplane in a competition for a quarter of a million dollars in the hot sun to figure out a math challenge with flights and times and different things I know nothing about. I'm not embarrassed at all that I found it confusing and complicated; it had nothing to being a teacher or a mathematician or anything. You're under a lot of pressure and sometimes you say and do things and you feel really dumb afterwards; I don't apologize for it because I would probably do it again the same thing.
Gino - One thing that I noticed is that some teams try to get the easy way out to get the immediate answer. But there were a lot of tasks where you have to accept that it's not going to take five minutes, it's going to take some time and you have to plan for that. I was watching Brian and Cynthia and they were just plugging a different number into one formula, hoping by chance they were going to get the answer. And that wasn't one of the those tasks that you were going to fluke get it, you actually had to figure it out and work with your numbers.
G & W - For each team what was your fav moment in the race up to now?
Matt - I'm going to say it was we finally broke out streak of "third, third, third Goddamn we will ever get first", and we finally got that win cause for us we felt it had be coming for quite some time, but it got to the point of "is it ever going to happen?" So when we finally got that first place win, it was my highlight for sure.
Jesse - Ours would have to be Delhi. We started off that leg terribly and we remained focussed and persevered to come in second. But we were at the back of the pack the whole first half of that leg so we came back.
Brent - Mine was the Saskatoon leg, which was my birthday leg and the first time we came in first. I liked using the Express Pass and that's what gave us the lead but we were able to maintain that. It was close obviously between us and Gino and Jesse but just to come in first, if it was only even that one time during that whole thing, it would have been a great moment.
G & W - Brent and Sean, did you guys come in being strategic because I heard from Dujean and Leilani that you had an alliance?
Sean - We didn't know anyone before the show, obviously, so it was hard to make decisions when you first meet someone. But we could have two ways: we could have gone competitive, 'we're going to beat you and we're not going to be your friends, etc. but we decided we wanted to know people, we wanted them to like us, we want to work with people if we need to, we want not to work with people if we don't. We thought Leilani and Dujean were a good team to work with because we thought strategically and physically we were a match with them. We didn't work with a team like Gino and Jesse for instance because they could outrun us. So it was a good decision to be made.
G & W - What was the the lowest point of the race for each of you?
Brent - I would mine was in Delhi when we got the non-elim. That cab ride to the mat we were sure we were last and it was really difficult.
Matt (Might have been Nick hard to tell with audio) - I think everybody saw it when we were trying to build a teepee and nothing was working and we did it over and over and over. And it was frustrating for us because everything else to that point we had made a plan and done really well. This was the first time we had to switch tasks and it was humbling for us. Very stressful, very frustrating, the closest we came to breaking.
Jesse - I'd have to say our Chile leg, the second episode. Our taxi driver was taking us around detours and not taking us to the exact spot. And another taxi driver ended leaving us and the rule is you have to square up with them and that put a hold on our race. We thought we were going home, yeah, that definitely one of the big negatives.
G & W - Again for all three, you're in Edmonton, on the mat, made it to the Final 3, how are you feeling?
Sean - For Brent and I, we didn't think we'd make it halfway through the show. To know we were in first place going into the finale was a fact we couldn't imagine. It was something we didn't even imagine in our wildest dreams.
Gino - When you first do the race, you don't want to be eliminated in the first episode, the second episode, you just want to get to the finale. And when you're in the finale, you start dreaming about the prize and everything that goes along with it so that's what you want, you definitely want to give it a go because it could be a reality.
Nick - We never took anything for granted, never thought that we deserved to be anywhere or anything like that, but at the end of it when we got a feel to how we were doing, how we were working together, I would say weren't surprised to be in the Final 3 but I definitely thought we deserved it and we needed to be there because of all the hard work to put in... I don't know, I wasn't surprised in anyway, I feel like the other two teams, we earned that spot to be there. It was just one of those scenarios, I think the three team that made it to the finale deserved to be in the finale. I don't think that of Season 1 or Season 2 because of certain things but in our season the three teams that are in it worked the hardest and they were deserving of being in it.
G & W - Everyone agree with that?
Brent - We don't know about the earlier seasons but we were obviously competitors and we all wanted to win and make it all the way. The teams all have a strong respect for each other now that the show is done and we're happy and everyone is feeling mostly content. You could watch After the Race and I might be very wrong (laughs) but the three teams sitting here in this room right now are happy with each other.
G & W - They may try to create tension because it's TV but we don't think there will be a lot of tension between teams on After the Race.
Sean - If there is any tension tonight, you might get it from some of the earlier teams, maybe from Kristen or Sabrina. Or we might create problems.
One of the Wrestlers (again hard to ID voices) - Yeah if we get bored we might create problems tonight.
G & W - Yeah, the Wrestlers may just start doing something cause they need something to do, right?
Wrestler - Yeah, we don't like sitting there talking nice all the time, we like to stir up a little bit.
Brent or Sean - You create some sort of scenario, we'll along for the ride.
G & W - That would be great, some sort of Andy Kaufmann or wrestling scenario where you look like you hate each other but in the end you don't. Can you do that for us?
Matt - For you, we can do that.
Now Wayne mentions that his daughter has a crush on Gino and Jesse, finds them good-looking and the Wrestlers wonder why she doesn't find them good-looking. Chaos ensues as teams share jokes and good natured insults. To chaotic to know who was saying what.
Final question - Some teams said they would not go back so if they did ask you back for an All-Star, would you?
Sean - We would be on a plane tomorrow.
Brent- Sean and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Jesse - So would Gino and I.
Gino - You guys should be stimulating things trying to get an All-Star Season.
Matt - Nick and I would for sure do it again. It was an incredible adventure of a lifetime, not everyone gets this experience and the fact we got it once was amazing. If we could get it a second time, absolutely amazing.