excerpt:
Elise: Something that’s really incredible, over the last 29 seasons of The Amazing Race, we’ve traveled over 1 million miles in the air, and we’ve visited nearly 100 countries. I think, if you ask anybody who was a contestant on The Amazing Race or anybody that’s worked on the crew, people just can’t wait to get back on the show and do it all over again.
So, you’ve won 10 Emmys for Outstanding Reality-Competition Series out of 14 nominations. What does that feel like for you as producers?
Elise: We’ve been nominated in the category every year since its inception in 2003. The first that the category existed was one of the most amazing moments of our career. It meant so much to be noticed by and nominated by our peers. We never feel like we’re going to win again. Every time we’ve won, it’s always a shock. It’s pretty spectacular and special. The people that we work with, our crew, are some of the best producers, cameramen, and storytellers. The cast is always amazing. We’re just so fortunate to work with some of the best people in the business.
Bertram: We have this wave of enthusiasm for our colleagues who work on the show here in the States. They’re so enthusiastic to work on it because it’s so original and so much fun to do. We are humbled by the Emmys each and every time, but we also set a very high standard. It’s so nice to be recognized by our peers in the Academy.
How are you keeping The Amazing Race fresh after 29 seasons?
Bertram: We try to keep it fresh by being really original through the creative process. Elise and I work very well together. We have plenty of back and forth between us, but we work well together. She is incredibly creative as a person, and I know the world really well, what to do, and what to anticipate. That’s not something you can improvise.
Elise: Keeping it fresh is also a matter of casting too. Are there little tweaks that we can do in every season that still stay true to the show and what we do? Bertram always says that the world is a very big place, and there are so many places we haven’t been yet that we still want to go to. We introduce new countries, new cultures. The backdrop forever changes. Even if we return to a place that we might have been to before, it looks a little different every time you go back.
What about Season 29 excites you?
Elise: We tried something new with this cast because they didn’t know each other going into it. It really became a social experiment of relationships. Putting people together that didn’t know each other turned out really interesting. We got to cast really strong solo people and put a team of two together. Sometimes when we’re casting, you have a great team, but one person is much stronger or maybe has a bigger personality. But when you can cast single people and put them together, you can cast people that have incredible personalities across the board. When you put that together, you get pretty explosive casting.
Bertram: It also has drawbacks. I feel very strong about the original format. Casting gimmicks I’m generally not crazy about. I feel the original concept is very strong, but I may be fully in the minority on that one.
Elise: No, I agree with Bertram on that too, but it’s nice to switch things up. The other thing I love about Season 29 is all the continents that we hit. We go to Panama, Brazil, Tanzania, Norway, Italy, Greece, Vietnam, and South Korea.
Anything exciting planned for Season 30?
Elise: It’s going to be big. Bertram and I have a lot of ideas, and that is to be seen! [Laughs]
More here:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2017/06/01/interview-amazing-race-producers/
