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« Is It Just Me?
A Chat with David and Mary from The Amazing Race
David and Mary by Robert Voets/CBS
I love David and Mary from The Amazing Race. They just seem like genuinely good people — generous, curious, caring and all that. I like to think that if we ran into each other on the street, we could be friends. Theoretically. I know that in reality I’d swear too much for them or they’d discover that I’m just too shallow or jaded for their kindhearted goodness. Plus their kids might get on my nerves. See, there I go with the shallow already. But, wait, let me explain. I like kids. But, honestly, half the time I think OPKs — other people’s kids — are only fun when they’re doing the cute things I expect them to do and not when they’re being the independent little sentient creatures they actually are. But anyway, long story short: I talked to Mary and David again after they were eliminated from TAR: All-Stars. The truth they spoke about Charla and Mirna made me love them even more. (Really, what's with Team Li'l Bit?!) Here are some highlights from our conversation. For the rest, you'll have to see future issues of TV Guide magazine.
Who did you give your trailer home to?
Mary: We’re giving it to my sister-in-law. My brother left her years ago, when her baby was 9 months old. And me and David Jr. have helped her raise her kids, you know. To us, it would be amazing to see them grow up in a house.
David: She’s a single parent with three kids, who works five, six days a week. To not have to pay rent would really help her out.
That’s true. So have you been able to move into your new home yet?
Mary: No. But it’s all our fault. When Rosie gave it to us, we left for All-stars five days later. And we didn’t get back until five days before Christmas and we’ve had a lot of things on our plate. But hopefully this week, or within the next couple of weeks, we’ll have a piece of land bought so they can start building the house.
Did you try to make an alliance this season?
Mary: No. When we went on All-stars we made the decision that we’re not going to make an alliance. We wanted America to see us race. I didn’t want America to say so-and-so gave us this race. I wanted to prove to them that we can do it on our own.
What was the relationship between you and Charla and Mirna? Why did you get so upset when they passed you if you didn’t have an alliance?
Mary: I didn’t get upset when they passed me; that’s what was shown on TV. I was already upset before that.
David: We had gotten to the airport together and we was trying to get tickets, so, yeah, we were kind of maybe helping each other. But we didn’t have an alliance.
Mary: And this is the leg that we were given $487 for the next leg of the race and we get in the plane and they’re sitting right in front of us and I’m listening to them beg a man, literally beg him for money, saying they have no money and they’re starving to death. And the guy got in his pocket and gave them money. And I’m thinking, you’ve got almost $500 in your pocket! I just got to thinking that that’s not the kind of people I want to be hanging out with. I think they’re rude to everybody they meet, and that’s not the kind of people I want to get to know.
Did you two not ask for money when you were in transit?
Mary: No! Not at all. We had $487 in our pocket. And me and him split a meal on the airplane.
David: A lot of the other racers bought a meal and split it. But they were begging for money and begging for meals. And the way they were doing it wasn’t right.
Mary: It wasn’t American-like.
David, how did you not cut your hand on the scales when you were collecting the fish in that last episode?
David: Well, the people watching over the fish would tell us, "Do not touch their fins or tails or nothing like that."
Mary: Probably because they would cut ya.
David: Or they would fall off or I think you would tear them off and you would hurt the fish or kill the fish. But they would swim around and they were really hard to grab ahold of. Some of the small ones really wouldn’t jump as bad. It was like the medium ones would give you a lot of problems. But the really big ones, I believe they were too big to flop out of the bucket. And you didn’t know if you were getting a big one or a little one and, I mean, some of them might have weighed 15 pounds and some of them might have have weighed 3 pounds. They were all different sizes.
About how long did it take you to do that task?
Mary: I don’t know the time period. I do know that it was lightning fast. It was amazing how fast he went. But it took him forever to touch the fish at first. He was afraid to touch the fish.
David: It probably took me five or 10 minutes just to touch it. But then I ran the whole task.
Mary: As soon as he got that fish, he did not stop. He did not waste time. He carried a lot of them, and he ended up excelling at that task. It was amazing.
Cool beans. You both seemed to be a little excited about the white-water rafting. How was that for you?
David: I was a little nervous. Neither one of us wanted to climb. We did enough climbing in Season 10. So as soon as we read the clue, we knew we had to white-water raft. And I was nervous. I was excited. It was something, you know, I could say I’ve done.
Mary: Well, I wasn’t. No. Uh-huh. I’m never goin’ to put my life on the line. It ain’t worth it.
But were you ever really in danger? I mean, it is a show.
Mary: yeah. No, seriously. In my mind I was in real danger. If I would have fell in... I don’t care if somebody is in that water to save my life. No, I would have died. I really woulda.
What did it look like from your point of view?
David: It was beautiful water. Blue.
Mary: Beautiful. But it was ice-cold. You know TV can’t show you how cold that water is. It was ice-cold. But it was just like raging, raging water.
David: And all of a sudden you’d see a rock and you’d have to hurry up to try to get away from that rock. I could see somebody being afraid of it.
Mary, the last time I talked to you you said one of your New Year’s resolutions was to slim down. How much have you lost?
Mary: None. I’m sorry. I went on All-stars. And, I don’t know, I haven’t had time to get back home and relax and go back to normal.
David: Our lives are not normal yet.
When did you return home from All-stars?
Mary: Right before Christmas.
David: We got home the 21st.
Mary: And then we’ve had a lot of things going on with our new house that Rosie gave us. We got a lot of things. We had a cruise with Rosie last week and I haven’t took time for anything.
Where did you go on the cruise?
Mary: We went to...
David: San Juan.
Mary: Puerto Rico.
David: St. Thomas, St. John.
Mary: Oh, it was amazing.
What cool stuff did you do with the kids?
David: They got to meet the Cho brothers. And letting our kids meet them, to be able to reunite with them and talk without being on a race, and go to these beautiful places... that was awesome.
Mary: And it was really cool that we had one day that was a mock Amazing Race. It was really cool to see the kids really try their best to win. Plus our kids got to meet a lot of different people and lots of different kids. And, wow, they see life as a different perspective now.
So have you heard from Steven Segal yet?
Mary: No. [Laughs]
David: We’re still waiting for that phone call.
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Mar 16, 2007 7:09 PM
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I don't know who those people are - I don't even watch the show. I just wanted to say how great it felt to hear that Rob & Amber got kicked off. I am so tired of those two, I find myself hoping for some kind of accident.
Also, I love your blog - why come you make me wait so long for new ones? I also love your column in the magazine each week.
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Mar 17, 2007 1:58 AM
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Thanks for the interview. It really brought back to me why I love David and Mary. I would love to see them on something.. anything.. again, soon.
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Mar 17, 2007 9:11 AM
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Great interview! David and Mary & Romber were my two favorite teams and the show isn't the same without them. David and Mary ran the race with dignity and pride and certainly represented their home state and country well.
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Mar 19, 2007 10:18 PM
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Charla & Mirna are in a race to win a million dollars..and they gonna do whatever they can.. david & mary could learn a thing or two about being competitive from them.. Charla & mirna for the win!
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Mar 25, 2007 5:12 PM
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Hi, keeping with your "Lost" theme, Hurley is bigger, but that is a real person, so I will not make a big deal, but Vincent, the dog, dogs can't live on fruits and fish, the dog looks great.
Don't let me get started on last night's episode. How did they get handcuffed together, and put in the forest, why were Jack and Syaid left to stay in the buildings
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Apr 5, 2007 1:41 PM
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I love David and Mary! As much as I can't stand Rosie, I am glad she is helping them. Without David & Mary and Rob & Amber, there isn't really anyone left that I will root for. My fallback couple was Uchena & Joyce and now they are gone, too. Cannot stand Charla & Mirna. Whoever said that David & Mary could learn a thing or two about racing from Charla & Mirna is nuts!! I would rather watch dignified, nice people than lying, back-stabbing wenches like Charla & Mirna. Especially Mirna. Charla should have chose a different partner then maybe she wouldn't be disliked by association.
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Apr 11, 2007 2:25 PM
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