Zekee and Brian, two UCSB alumni, did not take the typical after-college route. Instead, these Gauchos decided to travel across the United States and apply for “The Amazing Race.” Zekee explains the process of applying for the show, their travels across the United States, and how UCSB has prepared them for what lies ahead.
HerCampus: Can you tell us a little bit about the Amazing Race?
Zekee: The Amazing Race, I believe, is entering its 20th season on CBS. The episodes are an hour-long each, and the game show documents teams of two as they race around the world to different pit stops and ultimately, to the final pit stop; the race both starts and ends in America, but all pit stops in between are in different countries. The individuals in each team always have some sort of relationship with one another — brother/sister, married or dating couple, coworkers, best friends, etc. During each leg of the race, the teams must perform various tasks or challenges, which range from physical, mental, or some seem to need luck; some of the ones from last season included test driving and racing cars in Belgium, reconstruct a coral nursery in Thailand, and make a pair of custom-fitted leather sandals in Panama. At each pit stop, the team in first receives a prize, and the last team is usually eliminated, though there are a few “non-elimination pit stops” thrown in along the way.
HC: What is the process to get on the show?
Z: As far as we know, there are two ways to audition for the show. The first is to create a three-minute video about your team, fill out an online application, and submit. The other, which was what we did, is to attend a casting call wherever they are holding them. Originally, we were planning on making a video, but we happened to be in Boston at the time of its casting call. We had to show up before noon at some furniture store in the Boston suburbs, where we waited in line for four hours to give a one-minute pitch on camera as to why we should be on the show. I believe that if you’re selected as a semi-finalist, they’ll contact you and fly you out to LA, where a round of interviews is done before a decision is made; if not, you won’t receive any sort of “Thanks but no thank” letter.
HC: What made you want to do the Amazing Race?
Z:We were in the middle of our journey across America when the idea came to me while we were hanging out in Denver. I had always wanted to be on the show, and for some reason I thought of it that day. I looked it up, and they had just started aired the first episode of the 19th season just days prior. Realizing this, I figured they would be casting for the upcoming season soon, which is when Brian and I committed ourselves to watching it week after week to help us understand the show better when we were going to make our video (but then Boston happened).
HC: How do you think going to UCSB has prepared you for the Amazing Race?
Z:Well, we all know UCSB’s “party school” reputation, right? I once was told that employers favor UCSB grads over some of the more “prestigious” universities because we have both intellect and social skills. Whether or not this is true, I’m not sure, but it definitely makes sense to me. A big part of the show is being able to interact with the locals, usually asking them for directions or sometimes needing them to accomplish a challenge (like parking bikes or performing a local dance for tips). UCSB has definitely helped me hone my networking skills; I’m not scared to strike up a conversation with a random stranger at a party, in line, or out in the streets. From studying abroad and traveling, I learned that it’s important to learn as much about a country before visiting it. I don’t want to offend someone by doing something that may seem acceptable here, but insulting or confusing over there. For instance, I went with UCSB Summer Sessions to Greece in 2006, and the professors taught us that shaking our head up and down or side to side doesn’t mean yes and no to the Greeks; rather, a slight head tilt up means no, while a yes is the result of slightly rolling your head down and to the side (it’s very hard to describe this in words).
HC: Tell us a little about your blog WhereInAmerica and how one can access it.
Z:WhereInAmerica came about as a result of a poor job market and a desire to travel. I was living and working in Sydney, Australia for the past year, and after my visa expired, I came home only to realize that the traditional nine-to-five office job was not something I wanted to follow the best year of my life thus far. So, I took a look at my life goals list and set my sights on traveling the country, coast-to-coast. I called a few other friends, all Gauchos, to join me, but Brian was the only one who committed. He told me he needed two weeks to finish his lessons to receive his pilots’ license, so I moved in with him and his family in San Diego until he was ready to leave. We’re calling ourselves the “modern-day hitchhiker.” Technology has evolved so much, and it’s easier to travel on a whim now more than ever. We utilized social networking sites to aid us in our adventures — Craigslist for rides and jobs, CouchSurfing for places to stay, and Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to document and publish photos and videos. We left San Diego armed only with our smartphones and a backpack filled with a week’s worth of clothing and something for every occasion (swim trunks, towel, jacket, slacks, dress shoes, etc). We’ve covered over 14,000 miles with each of us having spent less than $700 on gas (approximately $1 for every 20 miles traveled) and stayed in about 50 different cities without having to pay a cent for accommodations.
You can access the blog any of the following ways:
- Tumblr: http://whereinamerica.tumblr.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WhereInAmerica
- Twitter: @whereinamerica
HC: Have you done anything previously similar to the challenges presented on The Amazing Race?
Z: As far as I know, you won’t know what challenges will be presented to you until you get the clue in your hands. I mean, we have both traveled together and managed to get from Point A to Point B using very little money. If training competitive hunting dogs, flying a plane, eating twelve hot wings in under three minutes, winning a chugging competition or running a half marathon happen to show up, we’ve got those covered. =)
HC: If you make it onto the show, what will be your strategy to win?
Z:One of the mistakes we saw many teams make was not reading through the clues thoroughly. We try to tell ourselves that we would slow down and breathe, especially when it comes to the clues as to not misread or miss anything, but who knows how we’ll react once we’re in the thick of things. Another thought was to avoid any challenges involving animals; to us, it seemed like when teams had to deal with transporting a goat or motivating a rabbit to complete an obstacle course that the outcome relied on the animals’ cooperation or lack thereof.
HC: How did both of you meet?
Z:I was Brian’s RA when Santa Catalina was still named Francisco Torres. Oddly enough, we became friends after I wrote him up for drinking and breaking quiet hours. It was a week night and one of the resident’s birthdays, and I had already come by once to give them a warning for noise. When I came back around 1am, the first thing I heard upon stepping foot on my floor was the song “Shout!” being yelled at the top of their lungs. I waited for what seemed like a minute after knocking, hearing them all shush one another and tell someone to hide in the bathroom. The door opened with three of the men with the lights off in their boxers with a handle of Captain Morgan playing strip Jenga. They all apologized for it, and I’m actually best friends with all of them to this day and we still laugh about it. Brian and I also lived together on mountain-side DP during his junior year (my super senior year) and backpacked Europe for two weeks with another friend.
HC: If you get on the show, what countries are you most looking forward to visiting?
Z: They don’t tell the contestants which countries you’ll be stopping through, but I would really like to hit South Africa, Morocco and Iceland and Brian wouldn’t mind going through the United Arab Emirates (specifically Dubai), France and China.