Name (Age): Mel White (70) Hometown: Lynchburg, Va. Connection to your Teammate: Father Current Occupation: Writer and activist Previous Season/Result: Season 14/6th place
Biggest mistake you made in your previous season: Not insisting that we take the fast forward, use our remaining funds to support an orphanage in Thailand, and jump to the front of the line (instead of being eliminated).
Most memorable moment from your first Race: Soaring out over the Bavarian Alps.
Favorite place you visited on your first season: Siberia – I expected gulags and icebergs. Instead, I discovered great cities, friendly people and one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world, Novosibirsk.
Why do you want to run the Race again? To spend quality, even though stressful, time with my son and to enjoy the Race wholeheartedly.
How have you changed since the last time you competed? Now that I'm 70 years old I've joined a very elite number of OLD RACERS. Now, I feel like I am representing everyone that is older than 70, and I don't want to fail them.
What are you passionate about? Helping young gay men see why “it does get better.” The recent increase in suicide among gay men breaks my heart.
People would be surprised to learn: My partner, Gary, and I were married in California on June 18, 2009 after spending almost 30 years together.
One location that you hope to go on this adventure: Galapagos Islands or Bhutan, the “happiest” country in Asia.
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: At 70, I will probably be the oldest person on the Race. My son, at age 40, will also be one of the older Racers. Together, we are 110 years old!
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race again (other than winning one million dollars): I want to stay in the Race at least as long as last time so that I won't disappoint my son.
Pet peeve about your teammate: He wants us to pack so lightly that we will probably freeze in cold weather and dehydrate when it's hot.
What would you do if you won the million dollars? I will use the money to help the 58 orphans at the Ne Future for Children home and school in Phnom Pen, Cambodia.
Any strategic changes you will make heading into this Race: Never stop racing; read the clues more carefully; quit worrying and enjoy THE AMAZING RACE.
Name (Age): Mike White (40) Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif. Connection to your Teammate: Son Current Occupation: Writer Previous Season/Result: Season 14/6th place
Most memorable moment from your first Race: Watching my dad paraglide over the Alps.
Favorite place you visited on your first season: India because it was so beautiful, colorful and strange.
Why do you want to run the Race again? Because I want to have the adventure and the experience with my father.
How have you changed since the last time you competed? I turned 40.
What are you passionate about? Animals.
People would be surprised to learn: I don't eat dairy or meat.
One location that you hope to go on this adventure: African safari because I've never been and I think it would be cool to see the exotic animals in their natural habitat.
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: My dad is 70 and I think physical challenges will be tricky.
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race again (other than winning one million dollars): Getting another chance to grow closer to my pops.
Pet peeve about your teammate: His frequent use of puns.
What would you do if you won the million dollars? I'd give my parents the retirement years they deserve.
Any strategic changes you will make heading into this Race: We need to leave less up to luck and stay with the pack.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Jobby on January 21, 2011, 10:00:29 AM
No comments for this team?? I'm a fan!! :tup:
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: RealityFreakWill on January 21, 2011, 10:10:51 AM
new video in 1st post.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Zvarri on January 21, 2011, 10:43:51 AM
I remember them for their great sense of humour. I hope they will be just as entertaining as last time.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Mug Costanza on January 21, 2011, 05:17:59 PM
Even in Phuket when they were way in last place trying to find the clue in the drawer at the drugstore, they were still having a fun time. Glad to see them back! :tup:
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: georgiapeach on February 19, 2011, 04:38:09 PM
Keoghan explains the show's picks below.
Mel and Mike — Season 14, 6th place Last we saw them: A cabbie erroneously drove them to a beach in Thailand in search of a gorilla statue, when it was in fact at the zoo. Why they deserve a second chance: Because age is just a number. "Mel's 70. He's one of the oldest team members ever, but he's a fit 70," Keoghan says. "Age is never a measure of people's ability. There are plenty of young people who are not fit." And unlike a lot of parent-child relationships seen on the Race, this one is void of any drama. "It's a wonderful relationship. Mike almost fathers his father. You'll see a lot of that for sure."
When CBS came calling for an all-star edition of "The Amazing Race," Mel and Mike White just couldn’t say no.
"How can you turn down a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the second time?" Mel said during a phone interview with his son earlier this week.
The popular father/son duo first ran the race for the show’s 14th season, which aired in 2009, and finished in sixth place. (They have a bad taxi driver, who got them lost in Thailand, to thank for that.)
Now Mel, a Lynchburg resident and activist who founded the gay rights group SoulForce, and Mike, a Hollywood actor, director and screenwriter, are back for "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business," which premieres at 8 p.m. tonight.
This season finds them competing against other well-liked teams, including cowboy brothers Jet and Cord, Harlem Globetrotters Flight Time and Big Easy and Goth couple Kent and Vyxsin.
Also returning are mother/son Margie and Luke, sisters LaKisha and Jennifer, former NFL cheerleaders Jaime and Cara and engaged couple Amanda and Kris —all from Mel and Mike’s season — as well as best friends Zev and Justin from season 15 and father/daughter teams Ron and Christina from season 12 and Gary and Mallory from season 17.
"It was so different to be with teams we knew and liked, in comparison to just meeting them for the first time on the first day of the race," Mel said, adding that he and Mike have stayed friendly with the people from their season.
"Plus, you see the other teams and you get a feeling for their personalities. Like, the cowboys. I felt like I knew them before we met them."
Mel said he trained every other day to get ready for the race, while Mike, who is in the middle of post-production on a new HBO series, said he was "lucky to just get out to do it."
The season was filmed in November and December, and Mike said everything came rushing back once they were in front of the cameras.
"The first time you do it, there’s this huge learning curve that comes with just learning how the production works, how the race runs," he said. "And that stuff, it kind of comes back to you in one hallucinogenic explosion.
"But you’re racing against 10 teams who have also done it, and a lot of them have done it a lot more recently than you. They’re all kind of pros at it, so you have more competition in a sense."
And because they were all seasoned racers, producers made sure to put them through their paces, Mel said.
"They had some great detours and roadblocks. It was very difficult. But we stayed in there."
At 70, Mel was once again the season’s oldest contestant, and there were only three players who were older than Mike, who is 40.
"That’s 110 years old (combined), compared to all these 20-years-olds that we were running against," Mel said. "I felt like Father Time on steroids."
The pair wasn’t at liberty to go into too much detail about this season, but we do know that the first episode will start in Palm Springs, Calif., and end in Australia.
And you can expect more of the father/son bonding that originally endeared the Whites to viewers.
"I had more fun being with Michael this time because we were much closer from the first race," Mel said. "I really enjoyed my son. Believe it or not, I’d do it again if I had another chance. Put the word out."
Mike, however, isn’t so sure.
"I think," he said, "let’s stop while we’re ahead."
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: krabbe on February 21, 2011, 11:58:37 AM
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They're so sweet to each other, other racers & the locals. Next episode's preview looks sad though.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Jobby on February 27, 2011, 03:36:07 PM
Praying (for this episode) for Mel's leg to be okay and for him to continue on with the race during this episode... :<3
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Jobby on March 01, 2011, 01:58:17 AM
When Mel picked up what Margie dropped and returned it to her, i was seriously.... impressed. :tup:
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Coutzy on March 01, 2011, 05:59:48 AM
When Mel picked up what Margie dropped and returned it to her, i was seriously.... impressed. :tup:
I think this highlights more than anything why they lack the ability to win.
Put simply, they aren't here to play. If you're not playing to win, you will not win.
I think they're there to just enjoy the experience again. I think they knew they couldn't win anyway.. so if they're asked and given the opportunity to do so, why not?
While it is important to win TAR, i think just the experience of it beats anything else.. even the million dollars prize.. i'm serious.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Coutzy on March 01, 2011, 08:41:11 AM
When Mel picked up what Margie dropped and returned it to her, i was seriously.... impressed. :tup:
I think this highlights more than anything why they lack the ability to win.
Put simply, they aren't here to play. If you're not playing to win, you will not win.
I think they're there to just enjoy the experience again. I think they knew they couldn't win anyway.. so if they're asked and given the opportunity to do so, why not?
While it is important to win TAR, i think just the experience of it beats anything else.. even the million dollars prize.. i'm serious.
The defeats the purpose of the whole "Unfinished Business" moniker, though.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Prophet on March 01, 2011, 08:44:51 AM
True, I never thought M&M had that much UB anyway. To me they are wasting a spot that another team probably wanted like Ken and Tina or Mike and Louie.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Jobby on March 01, 2011, 08:54:30 AM
When Mel picked up what Margie dropped and returned it to her, i was seriously.... impressed. :tup:
I think this highlights more than anything why they lack the ability to win.
Put simply, they aren't here to play. If you're not playing to win, you will not win.
I think they're there to just enjoy the experience again. I think they knew they couldn't win anyway.. so if they're asked and given the opportunity to do so, why not?
While it is important to win TAR, i think just the experience of it beats anything else.. even the million dollars prize.. i'm serious.
The defeats the purpose of the whole "Unfinished Business" moniker, though.
It depends on how you look at it. Unfinished Business is the theme that TAR producers wants. Enjoying the race is what Mel and Mike wants. Since TAR producers did choose Mel and Mike, they obviously wanted them to "complete" their UB with their own unique styles and ways. :tup:
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: north09 on March 01, 2011, 09:43:31 AM
True, I never thought M&M had that much UB anyway. To me they are wasting a spot that another team probably wanted like Ken and Tina or Mike and Louie.
They don't have any unfinished business either. Mike & Louie made it to the final 4 and were eliminated in a close race. Ken & Tina made the final 2 and lost the same way. I like Mel & Mike though. Sure they can't win, but Mel has some great one liners.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Dånooky on March 01, 2011, 10:57:46 PM
True, I never thought M&M had that much UB anyway. To me they are wasting a spot that another team probably wanted like Ken and Tina or Mike and Louie.
They don't have any unfinished business either. Mike & Louie made it to the final 4 and were eliminated in a close race. Ken & Tina made the final 2 and lost the same way. I like Mel & Mike though. Sure they can't win, but Mel has some great one liners.
IMO, they are probably subbing for Brook & Claire
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: connayyy on March 04, 2011, 05:03:08 PM
Ehh I don't mind them being here. Sure they might not have "Unfinished Business" in the strictest sense, but I feel that this season is more about bringing back fan favorites than true "Unfinished Business" anyway. Ex: The Cowboys, in my opinion, have no Unfinished Business as they simply played a good game and then lost. They didn't lose in a particularly memorable way because they didn't make mistakes, another team just made a good move. But they're probably the biggest fan favorites.
Also I agree that Mel & Mike are bringing a different type of "Unfinished Business" to the show. It's good to watch competitive people, but it's also good to have some people who are in it for the experience as a balance. Personally I would be in it for the experience as well. Of course the money is the goal in mind, but there are plenty of ways to earn a million dollars but only one way to do the Amazing Race.
By the way, I felt like Amanda & Kris were the ones subbing for Brook & Claire. I did like them, but they kind of seemed like the outlier of the group -- no huge fan base, not extremely memorable, etc.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 07, 2011, 05:23:23 PM
Amazing Race's Mel: I Wouldn't Have Quit Had Mike Not Been There by Joyce Eng
Amazing Race: Unfinished Business got down, dirty and cold in Japan this week — so cold that Season 14 alums Mel and Mike White opted for medical attention during the frog-searching mud pit Detour, which ultimately booked them a trip home. "It was such a tough race. They wanted to make it tough because we had all experienced it already," Mel tells TVGuide.com. "It was too tough for me." Still, the 70-year-old writer says he and Mike — who is working on the upcoming HBO series Enlightened — have no regrets about throwing in the towel.
Any regrets giving up on the Detour? Mel White: No. I wish it wasn't, but the Race was too tough. The first day, we ran about 5 miles and that's when I tipped over in the ferry, but they showed that at the beginning of the second episode! [Laughs] Then, I was in that frozen mud for an hour and my son just insisted that I get out. It was raining and it felt like sleet. We were both treated by doctors and were found to have serious hypothermia. I said [to the doctor], "Well, it was colder than I thought." But even bad memories are good memories when they're with your son.
You were adamant about not quitting. Would you have quit if Mike weren't there? Mel: No, I wouldn't have. I was very disappointed because I knew I would've found the frog had I stayed another day or two! Michael, it was more important for him for me to get out of the mud than for him to win the Race. Michael is so into The Amazing Race that he left his own series and said, "I'm taking time off to do this." And the HBO people said, "All right, Mike!" And we're the second team out, so it's disappointing, but Michael never complained about it at all. ... Today at breakfast, he said, "Dad, tell [the reporters] I'm sorry I can't be there [for interviews] because I'm finishing up this whole series, but don't tell them that I was disappointed or in any way disappointed in you or what we experienced together." So I have to believe him.
How long did it take for him to convince you to get out? Mel: I'm not really sure. They gave us eye detectors and things in our ears, but the mud had caked on my ears, so I couldn't hear a thing. Finally, he told the producer to pull me out, and the producer came up and said, "Your son insists that you get out now." I went, "Why?! I don't want to get out! I want to find the damn frog!" "No, c'mon, get out." But it felt good to get out.
Did you head to the Pit Stop after Jaime and Cara found their frog? Mel: Well, the thing was we weren't actually last. When we got to the Pit Stop, Jaime and Cara were just arriving, so it was ironic that we could've found the frog, gotten some medical attention and still could've beaten them — if we had found the frog. I will never eat frog legs again! Frogs are off my list!
Why did you choose the mud task over the purity one? Mel: We couldn't do the purity one because it had to be done in the daylight, so we didn't have an option. It was getting dark already.
You guys made the bad call to take the earlier, connecting flight, which wound up being late. Do you think you may still be in it had you taken the later, direct one? Mel: It may have made a difference. Maybe we would've done the other Detour. There were only so many frogs left by the time we got there. Then we learned that the frogs that were left had been stomped down into the mud, so it was very difficult to find them. We made a wrong decision to take the earlier flight. But we couldn't have known there would [be engine trouble]. ... Margie and I both felt this was the wrong flight, but Mike was saying that 15 minutes would've made a difference, so we took it. Wish we hadn't. But, you know, it's about the luck of the draw.
Why did you travel with three other teams once you got to Japan instead of just by yourself or with one team? Mel: Mike and I always felt that helping another team was better than tricking them. At that point, getting to Tokyo and finding Kamakura was very difficult. We thought, "Let's just stick together and not drop into one area we can't get out of." But halfway through, we thought being in a pack was slowing us down, so we did make a bad decision to do that. And as you saw, we took off with Margie and Luke.
What are you up to now? Mel: I'm retired now, so I'm having fun watching Michael do his new series. I always wondered if Mike would be as wonderfully successful as he was because a parent always worries. I'm kind of basking in Michael's successes and watching him handle it with such aplomb, dignity and class. I just love being around my son. Being retired, it gives me a chance to be on location and see him doing his work and it really feels good to see that his dreams came true. Lots of people's dreams do come true in this business!
A lot of people call themselves fans, but I consider Mike to be a real deal hardcore fan after this quote from the above interview:
Quote
Michael is so into The Amazing Race that he left his own series and said, "I'm taking time off to do this." And the HBO people said, "All right, Mike!" And we're the second team out, so it's disappointing, but Michael never complained about it at all. ... Today at breakfast, he said, "Dad, tell [the reporters] I'm sorry I can't be there [for interviews] because I'm finishing up this whole series, but don't tell them that I was disappointed or in any way disappointed in you or what we experienced together."
That's why I believe that Mel & Mike absolutely deserved to return for TAR18.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 07, 2011, 05:51:25 PM
Exclusive: Mel White discusses 'The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' By Reality TV World staff
Mel White and Mike White became the second returning team eliminated from The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business during Sunday night's broadcast of the third episode of the CBS reality competition's all-stars edition.
On Monday, Mel talked to Reality TV World about his The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business experience -- including what happened at the "Frog of Luck" Detour task that led to the elimination of his "Father and Son" team, whether he and his son ever finished the task, and what he thought about "Father and Daughter" Ron Hsu and Christina Hsu's complaint that resulted in "Harlem Globetrotters" Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton receiving a time penalty.
Reality TV World: So last night's episode didn't actually show you guys going back into the mud pit and finishing the "Frog of Luck" Detour task after you saw Jaime Edmondson and Cara Rosenthal complete it. Did you guys actually finish it before you went to the Pit Stop?
Mel White: There's a story behind it. I was in there almost an hour and had no idea what it was doing to my body. It was so cold and I started shaking uncontrollably, but I would not get out. Michael got out and said, 'You gotta get him out of there! This is too much!'
So, after that 55 or 56 minutes, Michael finally got them to get me out and what they found was that we both had hypothermia and had to be treated for it. So, we couldn't go back into the pond no matter how much we wanted to. Therefore, we had lost by simply being medically discharged in a way, so we couldn't go back into the pond to get the frog. That was my intention.
Reality TV World: So, when you say "them," you mean the show's producers?
Mel White: Yeah, the producers. They -- well you're sick -- you have hypothermia. Why would you get back into the freezing water?
Reality TV World: I understand that. I'm just saying, when you said Michael was talking to people, I just wanted to clarify that you mean the production folks.
Mel White: What I meant to say is that that's what I would say to the producers. I wanted to get back in but they wouldn't let me and it made me really unhappy. When they finally treated us for the hypothermia and they wrapped us in these electric blankets and all this stuff, I realized it was stupid for me to try to get back in. So I felt sad about losing but frankly, I was a little relieved.
Reality TV World: So when you were heading to the Pit Stop, you already knew that you had been "medically disqualified?" Because I thought normally you would technically just get a time penalty or something like that [for not completing the task].
Mel White: No, they said I couldn't go back in, and the interesting thing about was when we got out -- when we got treated, and then we got clothed, and then they took us by SUV to the Pit Stop -- it was pretty late. It was raining, and we were just about to get out of the SUV to go up to see [Phil Keoghan] when Cara and Jaime arrived.
So, if we'd found that frog within 30 minutes or 40 minutes, because they had such a hard time finding the Pit Stop, we could have beat them! So, there's a little bit of sadness there, like, 'We could have done it! We could have been in there!'
Reality TV World: Wow, so even after you guys saw them leave the Detour spot...
Mel White: They came way after still.
Reality TV World: So they seemed to have gotten lost on the way there or something?
Mel White: Yeah, they did. They did. In these Japanese towns, you ask people and so many don't speak English and then you can't see any signs or understand them. Then at night, and they've just gone through two wrecks, you know? -- two incidents in their car -- So, they were really confused about getting back to the Pit Stop.
Reality TV World: When Jaime and Cara got to the Pit Stop, it seemed like they had no idea you guys hadn't already gotten there. Is that what the confusion was then? Had they not seen you guys still at the Detour because you out of sight in the van? Do you have any idea why they thought you guys were still ahead of them?
Mel White: It's one of the mysteries of the Race that they -- how they keep us from knowing what the other teams are doing -- it's just amazing. If we're just a little behind or a little ahead, we never know, and they just didn't know. And so much time passed while they were lost, they thought for sure we had passed them. But they had no idea we hadn't found the frog or that we were being treated medically. No idea for that.
Reality TV World: Once you got to the "Frog of Luck" Detour task [and struggled], did you guys ever consider switching to the "Prayer of Purity" task and if not, why not?
Mel White: Not sure, you know, it was a bad decision on our part. When you get that muddy and you're that carried -- you're that deep into something -- to imagine getting out and getting cleaned up and finding that other place, it just didn't seem -- we thought for sure we'd find the damn frog -- and we never did. So, we could have made that decision, but we didn't.
Reality TV World: What made you guys decide to do "Frog of Luck" instead of "Prayer of Purity" to begin with? Even though it involved standing under a waterfall for a minute, it looked like you actually probably would have stayed warmer if you'd done the other task.
Mel White: Well first of all, we didn't have any idea that this "Buddhist cleansing experience" just included a few routines and a falling waterfall for a minute. You don't have any idea what you're choosing between, and to find the frog in the pond seemed on the surface, not so hard.
So, if we had known exactly what was going on, that was the easy one -- the one with the "Buddhist cleansing experience" -- that's the one we should have taken. But we didn't!
Reality TV World: So it sounds like you're pretty confident that if you had done the Buddhist one instead, you guys would have finished ahead of Jaime and Cara?
Mel White: Without a doubt -- in front of a lot of the teams.
Reality TV World: Can you talk a little about how bad the conditions were in the mud pit? You mentioned you had hypothermia. Was it just really really cold mud or rain too or what was the situation?
Mel White: It's evening now and the temperature's dropping rapidly and it's raining and they put us in a tent, took all of our clothes off, and put us into these diaper-like things. Then we had to run about a half-a-mile following these yellow signs to this great big mud pit.
Then you have about 25 young people yelling at you and throwing mud at you and laughing at you. If I tried to turn my back, which I did a couple times, they would just pounce on you and then when you're in the mud, you're down so that -- you're covered with mud -- they threw it at you, but you're almost submerged in mud.
And when you were reaching down into the mud to find these things, you go down into the mud up to your elbows. So, you're stuck in this icy mud and you're moving into it deeper and deeper and it's getting worse and worse.
I tell you, I came back thinking, 'Waterboarding wouldn't be so bad.' I thought it was the most miserable time of my life, physically. So, I don't know how to say more better than that, but you're naked and you're frozen. You're being ridiculed and the mud even had stones in it!
When they were gathering mud -- picking it up to throw at you -- they would pick up pebbles. So, I was bleeding from the forehead, from the shoulders. They were hitting me with these things. God! I just -- Michael said something to me afterwards -- he said, 'Dad, they said that's a Japanese tradition. We have a tradition for lynching.'
Reality TV World: It look like you really caught two bad breaks on that leg and the other one would obviously be the flight to Japan. It looked like you definitely wouldn't have been the team to finish in last place if you hadn't gotten that delay on the way to Japan. Do you feel that way as well?
Mel White: Yeah. bad luck. Luck figures in so much and so often in these races that Michael wanted to choose that saved 15 minutes and risk the delay, and I didn't want to. But we kind of have a pact, Michael and I, that once one person wants something, we do it. And if it's long, we don't blame, you know?
That's not -- our rules are that we don't blame each other for anything -- and so, we picked the wrong flight. He did it and we just didn't know. He could have been right. We could have been ahead of everybody. Just like we won the first flight from the U.S. and then it turns around and lands 90 minutes after the later flight.
Reality TV World: So you're saying that was something where Michael had been pushing pretty big for the 15 minutes one and you kind of deferred to him in that case?
Mel White: The way we race is the way we do it in life. When one has a strong opinion and the other doesn't have that strong of an opinion, he says, 'Okay, let's do it.' So, if I had as strong of an opinion as he had, we could have argued for awhile about the reasonableness of it.
If you noticed, both [Luke Adams] and Mike, the youngers, wanted to do that and both [Margie Adams] and I didn't. So, it was funny that that one time, the old age wisdom would have won.
Reality TV World: Not that you have pointed that out to him, I'm sure. (laughs)
Mel White: Yeah, only a couple times.
Reality TV World: You said during the Detour task in the mud that you would "rather die in that pit with your son rather than home in bed." Those are some powerful words, so could you elaborate on what you meant by that -- was that just an off-the-cuff remark?
Mel White: Well, if I actually said that, and I think people have been telling me that I did, that "I'd rather die here in the mud with Mike than back home in bed," let's count it up to hysteria or hypothermia.
What I was really trying to say was that I'd rather be miserable with Mike doing something like this, than I would if we were just back at home taking care of ourselves. Putting yourself on the edge like that and doing it with your son, it's worth any real pain or inconvenience. It's worth too much.
Reality TV World: During the second leg of the Race, you also seemed to have some physical struggles and I'm not sure if it was yourself or Mike that said this time around seemed to be more difficult than the last time you guys had been on the Race. Why was that? Do you think it was just the fact it's been a couple more years or do you think that this edition was physically more demanding?
Mel White: Well after the first leg, we flew all night and then ran all day at least four and a half or five miles with our packs and then we were told after running down this huge beach that we had to keep going. It was at the end of that run and then running to the ferry when I fell over and what people didn't realize, was that all of that had gone before it.
And during that next leg, when we were altogether talking, everyone agreed that so far physically, this has been tremendously different and I think the Race, at least for our legs, they knew that we were all Racers and that we done it before. So, they wanted to disqualify us in different ways, and one was to try the physical thing. The physical challenge, I just wasn't up for.
Reality TV World: Had you had any concerns before the Race started and had the two of you guys discussed them or considered declining the offer to do the Race again because it might be a situation where you felt it was too dangerous?
Mel White: That would have been intelligent. We never go that low.
No, we were so excited about doing it together again and having the fun of it, that we didn't realize they would make a different kind of race for us. The other race wasn't physically challenging like that at all.
Reality TV World: So, looking back at it now, do you have any regrets about doing it again or are you still happy with your experience?
Mel White: Yeah, I was just thinking the other day about that. The whole idea of having a terrible experience and then surviving it and then looking back on it with laughter, like the whole family did last night, that made it worthwhile.
I certainly would not change anything. I would do it again. I would hope that I would be smarter and that I would be less unlucky, but no, when you survive a bad experience and can look back on it, it becomes a good experience. So, right now, we count up that whole thing as a good experience.
Reality TV World: Last night's episode also showed Jaime getting a little upset that the driver of the car she hit made her stick around until the police showed up instead of just taking some money from her. What are your own thoughts about that -- do you think it was reasonable for her to expect that and what would you have expected if you guys had been in that same situation?
Mel White: Well I hadn't seen her have the wreck. We only heard about it because we weren't together much after that. But I watched her last night, and you know, she had been so volatile about other things that I thought she was playing it pretty cool because she couldn't understand anything that was going on and he was calling the police.
You have no help out there. You don't know if it's the insurance from the Race people or you insurance or what's going on. So, I thought she was pretty cool given the fact that she had become irate in the last season we were together on when someone just didn't speak English!
Reality TV World: Yeah. (laughs)
Mel White: I was actually proud of her by comparison to what she was in the first season.
Reality TV World: The other thing that last night's episode showed was the producers deciding that Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton should get that time penalty over Christina Hsu's fanny pack. It didn't seem clear that their action was intentional, but what's your own opinion about that? Do you think that was the right decision?
Mel White: Well, we both really learned to love [Ron Hsu] and Christina. They did some silly things on the Race, but they're very lovable people and amusing and fun to be with, and when I saw them at the end, you know, throwing things at the bus that was going in the wrong direction and complaining about the fanny pack, I thought, 'Come on guys! You don't want to picture yourself to millions of people looking like this.'
And when she did it on the Pit Stop, I thought, 'Again, that's blaming people.' Big Easy -- they were doing what they could do also -- So I thought that complaining about it after they had survived the leg -- survive and be happy -- they could have smiled and said, 'They could have picked it up accidentally. We're sorry they did that.' But, no, I felt like the whole thing was overblown by Christina and Ron.
Reality TV World: Almost half of this season's cast are fourteenth-season teams that you had prior experience with. Did that surprise you when you got there and were you surprised that anyone wasn't there that you were expecting to be there?
Mel White: We were astounded actually, because they were our friends and it was like a family reunion. So, it was a very nice thing to learn.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Prophet on March 07, 2011, 05:54:58 PM
Thanks for these interviews, slayton! :tup:
Interesting info in there. They were not allowed to choose the purify detour and arrived at the PS before the redheads if you don't want to read the whole thing. :lol:
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Competitor on March 07, 2011, 10:57:20 PM
No ill will towards Mel and Mike, but casting them was not one of CBS' better decisions. First, they really didn't have any "unfinished business" and secondly, Mel was not physically cut out to run the race a second time. It was sad watching them and I don't know that I have ever been more relieved to see a team eliminated because they were so physically overmatched. Mike crying over the physical toll the race was taking on his dad in both legs was sad.
I appreciate their relationship, kindness to other teams, and encouraging attitude, but they did not need to do the race a second time.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: Jobby on March 08, 2011, 09:19:23 AM
I would say Mel and Mike aren't that bad as compared to the other teams physically. It's really just editing.. had they found the frog the moment they dip into the mud, they could have gotten 7th place still. True that it's almost impossible to see them win, but they definitely would have gone further... like how we didn't believe they can win a leg or two in TAR 14... remember? :)
Quote
Did you head to the Pit Stop after Jaime and Cara found their frog? Mel: Well, the thing was we weren't actually last. When we got to the Pit Stop, Jaime and Cara were just arriving, so it was ironic that we could've found the frog, gotten some medical attention and still could've beaten them — if we had found the frog. I will never eat frog legs again! Frogs are off my list!
Why did you choose the mud task over the purity one? Mel: We couldn't do the purity one because it had to be done in the daylight, so we didn't have an option. It was getting dark already.
No wonder...
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 09, 2011, 04:54:23 PM
Mel & Mike ('The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business') By Lara Martin, News Editor
Father and son Mel & Mike originally finished in sixth place on the 14th season of The Amazing Race, before deciding to return for Unfinished Business. Unfortunately, their journey came to an end this week when they became the second team to exit the show after falling behind attempting a grueling detour that involved finding a frog in a large pool of mud in Japan while being pelted with mud by onlookers. We caught up with 70-year-old Mel to chat about the race and whether he has any regrets...
The theme is 'Unfinished Business'. Is there anything you hoped to achieve this time around - besides hopefully winning - that you didn't before? "The physical side was so much more strenuous than the first time. We saw each other under physical duress that we hadn't seen in the other race, which was interesting. My son really panicked when he saw how exhausted I was after the first day when we ran four or five miles. It's interesting when you 'achieve anything' because I think I saw my son's concern and love for me in ways I hadn't seen before. He wanted to be in the race but he was much more intent on not having me hurt than racing. For an old dad, that felt pretty good."
What was going through your mind at the end of the first leg when you found out it wasn't actually a pitstop and you were still racing? "When we heard the race was still on... That's when we had run at least four miles, and then we had to run a mile and a half back to catch the ferry on time. When I fell over at the beginning of the second episode, it was from racing so hard on the first episode. We'd run along this endless beach to get to that pitstop to be told we had to turn around and run all the way back. It was a bad moment for me, but also for a lot of [the other teams]."
Did you have concerns going into the race at your age and knowing the physical challenges that could present themselves? "It's funny. Being with Mike and having that opportunity again to be together took away most of the fears I had, but I think most people - even Mike - don't realize that when you're 70 years old, you're not 40. You have limitations that you are only beginning to learn about yourself, so how can someone else know them? 70 is a milestone in a way, and I probably should have listened to my body rather than my heart, but the fact is, it's a good memory now even if it's a bad experience then, so I'm happy for that."
How long were you out in the mud searching for the frog? "It was five minutes short of an hour, they told me. I was totally unaware of time; buried in mud and being hit by mud balls the entire time. It was in my ears and eyes, and I was totally oblivious to the world. All I could hear was a voice inside my head saying, 'Just keep looking. I know you're cold but just keep looking'. It was the most miserable time of my life, physically. Mike insisted that I come out and I protested because we hadn't found the frog, but I was so glad [to come out]!"
When you were resting in the vehicle, where you hoping to have another go at looking or was it over for you? "Michael knew we couldn't. I was just determined not to disappoint him so I said, 'Let me just go back in once'. The medical people took our temperatures and we both had hypothermia so they couldn't let us go back. That was the moment we realized we hadn't lost because we were going to quit, we'd lost because our bodies couldn't hang in there."
How did it feel watching the cheerleaders finding the frog and going to the pitstop? "Something must have happened along the way for them to have a long trip back to the pitstop because after we got our medical treatment and got cleaned up and drove back to the pitstop, we got there just as the cheerleaders were arriving... We could have beaten them [if we had found the frog] - or at least that's what I told myself! But we knew we'd lost when we couldn't find the frog so it wasn't any big traumatic thing to see them make it."
You both seemed pretty upbeat at the pitstop. How were you feeling at that stage? "I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, but I can't tell you how relieved I was! I felt like saying to Mike, 'Try to look sad! They need that!'. I was so worn down by then and Michael was so nervous for me by then that it felt the right thing to go out early like that. We both didn't want to do that but at the same time, man, it had been four days of absolute misery."
What was the highlight of the race this time around? "During the race, I think the highlight would be that we liked those people so much, it was like a family reunion. There were five teams from our season and we'd seen the other teams that were so popular and knew them, so the getting together [when we could] was really a pleasure because they are all interesting and worthwhile people to know."
Is there anyone that you are backing to win? "The trouble with that is that we didn't know the other teams well enough to know their motives and what they were working for, and what that $1 million means to them. We went out too early to create a winner's circle in our mind."
You've seen so many amazing destinations in your travels. Is there anywhere you still want to visit? "First, I'd like to go back to all the places we went to and hardly saw because we traveled through them so fast. I'd like to go back to Siberia; it was just amazing. There are some Asian countries I haven't been to, and exotic oil countries that I haven't seen like Bahrain and Brunei... If Michael was with me, I'd go anywhere as long as we didn't have to spend much time in mud!"
So looking back over the whole experience, have you any regrets about deciding to race again? "If you had asked me that during the first few days I would have said, 'I absolutely wouldn't sign up again!'. But now distance has turned a bad experience into a happy memory, I have no regrets doing it. I do regret a little bit that I looked so old and feeble in front of millions of people! I didn't see myself as so old and feeble... It's like looking in a mirror that sees everything. Even my hair - I knew I had no hair but when you look down on it from the top... I looked so old. That's the regret - that I turned old without knowing it!"
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 09, 2011, 04:56:55 PM
The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business - Exclusive Interview with Mel White by Gina Scarpa
This week, on The Amazing Race, teams headed from Australia to Japan, where they participated in rituals in freezing cold temperatures. The weather and physical aspect of the race became too much for Mel and Mike, who had to bow out of their Detour. When they arrived at the pit stop, Phil informed them that they had been eliminated from the race. Today, we spoke to Mel in an exclusive interview about his experiences running the race for a second time with his son, Mike.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any reservations about returning to the race for a second time? A. Mel: It's funny. The body starts changing in ways that you're suddenly surprised by. I should've had more reservations than I did but I tried to act like a 40 year old. Right away, it was killing me to walk. I pushed the body. I should've gone to the old folks home and gone to sleep!
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What teams were you most happy to see? A. Mel: You'll probably think I'm playing the Pollyanna game. There were 5 teams from our season and the others were well known. We liked every one of them. It was like a family reunion.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The race immediately seemed to take a toll on you, Mel. What was the toughest part for you? A. Mel: The first day, we ran between 4-5 miles after having flown 28 hours and turning back and going to Honolulu and back to Sydney and scuba diving and running down that huge long beach and finding out that it wasn't the end...
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Speaking of, what was your reaction when you found out that the first leg was still going? A. Mel: "You've gotta be kidding!" That was moderate for what some other people were saying. Even the young, strong ones were very exhausted. I don't know if you could tell but it was a sad surprise. I was upset.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It seems like, the more The Amazing Race goes on, the tougher the legs and challenges get. Did you notice a difference between your first season, 14, and Unfinished Business? A. Mel: It was 100% different. On season 14, everything was calmer. You had a chance to see your partner doing things and relate to them emotionally. The Detours and Road Blocks were more leisurely and fun. This one, I think they knew we were all experienced so they put on the physical to challenge us.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It seemed brutally cold in Japan. How bad was it? A. Mel: I never measured it because we were running so fast. It was so cold! The mud itself! I was probably just short of an hour in... it was cold, it was dark, it was raining - it was horrible. Mike had gotten out and was telling me to get out of there. Finally, someone came and told me to come out now. We both had hypothermia. Our body temperatures had lowered so much.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you arrive at the pit stop, knowing you were out of the race? A. Mel: We were out of the race at the mud because Mike said that we weren't going on. He said, "I can't have my dad in there any longer." The medical people told us we couldn't go back and we knew we were out then. The interesting thing is that we arrived just before Jaime and Cara arrived. They had a really hard time finding the pit stop apparently. We knew we could've beaten them if we had found that frog.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Let's say you had found the frog. Would you have continued on in the face? A. Mel: If we had gotten there in time, I would've mustered up enough strength to go on until we go to the end of it. Once I realized how bad my health was, and with the hypothermia, I was kind of relieved. I just didn't want to be seen as a quitter. That's the worst thing.
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Was running the race for a second time a good experience? A. Mel: The experience has become a happy memory. Even bad experiences that become happy memories are worth it. We were all together. I watched with my family last night and we were laughing and it was so much fun to relive it. While I was in it, though, I wouldn't have done it again.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 09, 2011, 04:59:53 PM
Mel from 'The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' on Staying Active and Racing Again at 70 Carla Patton Writer, BuddyTV
It's always sad to see a team eliminated on The Amazing Race, but it was particularly sad to see Mel and Mike go. They were very sweet to each other while running the race, and eventually had to give up because it was too cold wading through the mud in Japan. Here's what Mel, the 70-year old father of the father-son duo, had to say about his Amazing Race experience.
It seems like a lot of the teams are helping each other out and working together this season, why is that?
I don't know. You have more empathy with others team when you all understand how difficult the race is. The first time you are really competitive and the second time you are still competitive but you understand the pressure that you are under. I don't know what it would have been like at the end but in the beginning people are much more willing to help each other out because you understand the positions the other teams are in.
Did you have a different strategy going into The Amazing Race a second time?
The second time we learned that we needed to never stop racing. We should never take time out to celebrate, relax or lie down. We had to keep racing. Also the second, we knew going in that if we got a bad taxi driver we would get out. We didn't want to let a taxi driver control our fate.
Mel, you've raced around the world twice now while the rest of us sat on our couches; any advice for staying active?
At 70 I see people getting into various kinds of physicalities like diabetes and dementia and being active can help with that. The race was a chance for me to stay active and build my quality of life. Being active sustains life and improves the quality. That's all I know.
Any teams you're rooting for?
I'm rooting for all of them to survive because this year was so much harder than before. I'm hoping for the best for each of them.
Do you still feel like you have "unfinished business"?
Oh yeah! I have unfinished business. I haven't won yet and I will have unfinished business until I do. Maybe someday I will get a third chance at it.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 09, 2011, 05:01:22 PM
The Amazing Race: Muddy Memories with Mel White -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Reg Seeton
After racing around the world in Season 14 of The Amazing Race, Mel White and his son Mike returned to the popular CBS reality series to compete in The Amazing race: Unfinished Business. Although Mel and Mike White were strong competitors in Season 14, their second turn at The Amazing Race gave the father and son team a few unwelcome and unexpected surprises when seventy year old Mel learned that his body couldn't withstand the demands of another Amazing Race.
Although Mel shook of a slight leg injury in Sydney, Australia, Mike watched his father brave frigid temperatures in Japan when the two struggled during a muddy roadblock that forced both Mel and Mike to leave the race early for the confines of an Amazing Race medical van. As it turned out, based on what Mel revealed to TheDeadbolt, the popular father and son team on The Amazing Race could make good on their unfinished business due to hypothermia.
The day after Mel White and his son Mike were eliminated from The Amazing Race, TheDeadbolt went one-on-one with Mel to learn more about their muddy roadblock, what happened during the task, how they felt running The Amazing Race for a second time, and what Mel learned about himself after a valiant attempt to take care of unfinished business.
THE DEADBOLT: This time around, did the entire race feel like a roadblock to you guys?
MEL WHITE: [laughs] Well said! Yeah, it was much more difficult physically and the stamina was tough. The first day we ran, after flying for about twenty eight hours, we ran four to five miles with our packs on besides all of the other games. So the second leg starts with me falling over and Michael crying without realizing that was at the end of five grueling miles in about six grueling hours. At the end of that, when I fell over, Mike said to me, “Do you want to stop dad?” I said, “No. We don’t want to stop.” I was just dehydrated and exhausted. But by then we knew something was up. This is going to be another kind of race.
THE DEADBOLT: How close were you to leaving the race in Sydney when you got hurt?
WHITE: I wasn’t close at all. I was gasping for hours when we were running. We were literally running for hours. Mike was watching me deteriorate physically. So when I fell over, he thought I had a heart attack or stroke or something. He was ready to give up. But I assured him that I would be the one to decide when I was ready to get out and I was just exhausted.
He literally pulled me out of that mud pit and then agreed to let me go back in. Then we measured our temperatures and the medic said we both had hypothermia. So we couldn’t go back in and we didn’t quit. We didn’t lose, but we went out. [laughs]
THE DEADBOLT: When it was all said and done, how long were you guys in the mud?
WHITE: I was in just short of an hour and Michael was in for about forty five minutes. Then he came out and watched for awhile and he was just shaking. Then he was saying “We’ve got to get my father out of there.” He yelled and yelled, “Dad, you’ve got to get out.” But I had mud in my eyes, nose and ears and he insisted on them getting me out. It was his good intuition because my temperature had fallen really low. He was wise because I didn’t want to quit. At seventy, I didn’t want to be the old guy to quit. I hated it, but he pulled me out.
THE DEADBOLT: Do you think you guys you could’ve completed the other roadblock with the waterfall given how cold that was?
WHITE: Yeah. A minute under that kind of freezing water against sixty minutes up to your knees in the muddy water? Yeah, no worries. We chose the wrong option. Then we were so muddy and it took so long to find the frog and by then we had hypothermia. So to choose the other one was impossible.
THE DEADBOLT: How was the mud compared to the cold you felt in Russia the last time?
WHITE: So much colder. I think when you’re in icy water, literally, and they’re throwing icy water at you and we’re digging in the mud - my arm was up to the elbow buried in mud and I was just kind of sloshing around in this stuff for that long. It was the most miserable experience of my life physically. I can’t tell you how miserable I was. I don’t know how cold it was. But I’m going to tell you the hypothermia was real and we couldn’t stop shaking for about an hour.
THE DEADBOLT: So what did you learn about yourself this time, as compared to the last time?
WHITE: Well, the last time we learned two things. One, you never quit racing. The brother and sister team was a good example of that. We’d sit on a plane and they would be bargaining with passengers to get in the front seats and they never stopped racing. The other thing was to take control of your life. If a cab driver is not going where you want, get out. But this time we didn’t last long enough to try out our formula.
On this race, I learned - and I hate to say this - but a seventy year old body, you don’t know exactly whether you’re strong enough to get through. I got hurt right at the beginning so that I was in pain with every step. I’ve never had trouble running or walking. So again, I learned that I’m old and that wasn’t pleasant. Old has certain types of problems and one of them physical. So I learned something I didn’t want to learn.
THE DEADBOLT: Well, there is an upside. At least you didn’t get hit by a watermelon.
WHITE: [laughs] I remember that! I remember seeing that after it happened. I've always wanted to asker her, how did that feel getting a watermelon in the face?
THE DEADBOLT: It certainly left a memorable impression, that's for sure.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 11, 2011, 05:57:07 PM
“We Had Hypothermia” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 18's Mel by Teeuwynn Woodruff
Reality News Online: Hello, Mel. Thanks for talking to Reality News Online today!
Mel: My pleasure, Teeuwynn.
RNO: What’s been going on with you and your son since the last time you were on the race?
Mel: Michael’s running a show for HBO, a series called Enlightened. He apologizes for not being on the call today because he had to keep the whole cast together and keep finishing – they had a deadline.
Then I’m standing in awe watching what he’s doing. As the tired old fart, I get to live vicariously through Michael doing what he’s dreamed of doing since he was nine years old. And I’m writing still, and I spoke five times this weekend in Orange County. I’m still traveling around.
One thing I do now is avoid mud pits – at any cost.
RNO: That seems a good take away from the race. Going into this race, did you approach it any differently than you did your first race?
Mel: Yeah, I think we learned two lessons. One was never stop racing. The brother and sister team [Tammy & Victor] that won on Season 14… We’d get on a plane and be so tired and relieved we’d fall asleep. Then we’d wake up and they would have bargained with passengers at the front of the plane and traded seats with them – and they would be off the plane first. They never stopped racing.
The other thing is we had to take better control of our lives. If the taxi driver went the wrong direction, we had to get him to stop and just get out. But we weren’t in the race long enough to try out those newly learned lessons!
RNO: Well they sound like good race tips. And I’m sorry you didn’t last longer because you’re one of my favorite teams. You have a great father-son dynamic. Mel, you didn’t want to risk a change of planes for the possible 15-minute advantage – and due to the delay with the second plane it turned out you were right. Did you two talk about that on the leg at all?
Mel: One thing we don’t do is we don’t look back. In fact, since they were little children, we had a no blame rule in our house. Never blame somebody for something bad that has gone wrong. Just go with it.
I think we could have won the first season if we had taken that Fast Forward. And to go to an orphanage, I mean Gary (my partner) and I have an orphanage in Cambodia. It would have been perfect! But, after that [not taking the Fast Forward], we never looked back. Only one day, a month later, Michael said, “Dad, we should have taken the Fast Forward.”
I think since we’re in this race for the fun of it, if we even found ourselves on the verge of some kind of a disagreement or something, we would remind each other, “This is for fun.” It makes a big difference just to be doing it for the fun of it.
RNO: The flight you were on landed about 45 minutes after the other flight, yet it seemed you all caught up quite a bit to the teams on the first flight – with Zev & Justin even winning the leg. What was going on with getting to the tasks in Japan?
Mel: The problem in Japan is Narita is so far from Tokyo and Yokohama is so far from Tokyo in the other direction. We had no maps. We had no ways of knowing anything except by asking, and everybody we asked only spoke Japanese.
One bad turn and it would take you way out of your way before you even stopped because you were on a freeway. So one of the reasons was just plain trying to navigate across that town for a Roadblock and then a Detour… That’s how we got slowed down.
Then Michael and I, we passed the train station in that little city in Japan [where the Detour options were] and we just didn’t see it. We drove all across that town, over and over again, trying to see it. That was a mistake – not to get out and ask… First of all, if you ask somebody the crew has to get a signed permission from them, [so it takes longer than you’d think]. So we got way behind, and by the time we got there, it was dark and cold and miserable.
RNO: What made you choose the Frog of Luck Detour option? The word “luck” in a challenge always makes me nervous.
Mel: Let’s just say stupidity. You know, you’re out there in your diaper and you think, “I’ll find it, I’ll find it, I’ll find it,” and to get out of there and go on to something else… It was almost prohibitive. It would have taken so much time just to get to somewhere else. So we stuck it out like idiots.
RNO: So, the word “luck” didn’t scare you off that Detour choice? The word “luck” in a challenge always makes me nervous.
Mel: Luck is a major factor in the race.
RNO: Why did the four teams who ended up on the later flight want to band together in Japan? That didn’t seem like a great idea for teams running behind.
Mel: Yeah, that was another mistake. We had been on the same flight and we had conversations and were trying to ally with each other. When coming out of that parking garage into the streets, we thought, “Well, maybe somebody will be smart enough to know how to get us there.” So, we made a mistake because there was just too much stopping and starting before we realized we had to head out on our own.
I don’t know how it happened. We were all on a flight together so we thought, “Let’s just go together.” It didn’t work. We teamed with Luke & Margie, and then the Goths and [Jaime & Cara] joined the procession. It’s just one of those things that happened.
RNO: We know it was right around freezing when you got to the Frog of Luck challenge. How long were you searching for the frog before Mike pulled the plug?
Mel: I was, by clock, about four or five minutes less than an hour. My body temperature was dropping so much, and I was shaking so much, people could see that. He got out at about 45 minutes and started arguing with people saying, “You’ve got to get my father out of there!” He was yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear because there was mud in my ears… And mud in my eyes, and mud in my face, and oh my gosh!
Finally [Mike] convinced one of the producers to go get me and get me out. The guy waded in and I – literally, I was down on my hands and knees, covered with mud, freezing cold… It was the worst moment of my life, physically. So when the guy said, “You’ve got to come out,” I said, “No. I’m going to find the frog.” But I was so relieved when Michael insisted.
Then the medical people found out we had hypothermia. They had to treat us for that.
RNO: Did the producers have a limit on how long you could spend in the mud pit searching for the frog?
Mel: No, they didn’t do that because it was daytime and they pictured it as a nice little tradition. Everybody could just jump in the mud and play around a little and find a frog. They didn’t think that the oldest fart in the history of the game would get out there for an hour [at night]. They never contemplated that possibility.
RNO: It was very impressive to see you continuing on in that situation. Going back to the very first leg in Australia, what did you think when Phil told you at the very first Pit Stop that you were still racing?
Mel: Well, I’m into non-violence… normally. But I was thinking, “Phil, no matter how much I like you, I hate you at this moment!” We literally had been up for 28 hours. We had to run across Sydney, then we had to run across that island, scuba dive, go out in this boat, then we had to run down this mile and a half beach to find Phil.
When we found him and he said go back down the mile and a half beach and back into Sydney… We had no water. We’d been running… That’s why the second episode starts with me falling over and Michael’s concern. People didn’t understand why he was so concerned. He was watching me go down, physically, for the last three hours, until I was gasping. So when I fell over he thought maybe I’d had a heart attack or something. That’s why he was so concerned.
RNO: Was it really a dehydration cramp?
Mel: It was dehydration cramping and just plain exhaustion.
RNO: It’s impressive you can do all of that in your 70s.
Mel: Impressive to you, but you could use other words. (Mel laughs)
RNO: What was it like running around in giant kangaroo costumes and moon shoes?
Mel: Well, again, on Season 14, most of the Roadblocks and Detours were fun. You could see each other, you could root for each other. Even the Detours and Roadblocks on this one were hard. Putting on that kangaroo suit almost exhausted me. We had already put on two wet suits that leg, then it was hot… We could go on.
Then you had to spring – you couldn’t walk. I see the cowboys and the Globetrotters, they go B O I N G… B O I N G… And I’m just, boingboingboingboingboing! Si I did three boings for every one boing they did. It was a nightmare! It was a friggin’ nightmare.
RNO: It seems like they’re setting the bar higher this season. Just to get your first clue you had to solve the QANTAS puzzle.
Mel: Yeah. I was really sorry to see Kris & Amanda go out because they both would have been able to withstand the physical stuff. And Kris is so pretty, it was sad to lose him.
RNO: I’m always happy to see you guys on TV because you seem to have such a great father-son bond. What sort of feedback do you get from others about your appearances on the race?
Mel: Much of Season 14 we were rather heroic in other people’s minds. We were a gay father and a gay son. So many gay kids have had parents who have rejected them and [even] turned them out. So, on that level, people who aren’t gay weren’t understanding what a thrill it was for these kids to see that happening.
On the other level, just plain old straight people thought it was really fun too. So we really got a lot of praise. I spoke five times in Orange County this past weekend and a lot of them were gay crowds. We had standing ovations because we represented something to them. But the general public, I don’t think they understand what we were representing.
RNO: Is there anything else you'd like to tell our readers about your experiences this time around on the race?
Mel: I think what was most important for us is that we decided from the beginning was that nothing could goad us into harsh words between each other. It seems to me that works in real life as well. Don’t blame, you know? When things go wrong, just help each other get through it. There’s nothing that will help from blaming each other.
So I think doing what we do in real life there really paid off because we were equipped to say, “If we make a mistake, that’s normal. Let’s just move on.” When you see some of these couples and they are together and they just are arguing all the time… Or poor Ron & Christina, oh, my God. They’re not having fun at all. If life isn’t fun, check out.
RNO: That seems like very good advice. Thank you so much for talking to RealityNewsOnline and congratulations to you and your son for all the success you are having.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 15, 2011, 05:09:00 PM
Mel White Says The Amazing Race Is Harder the Second Time
By Carrie Bell
Why play again? Michael's such a fan of this program. He has watched from day one and was so thrilled to play. We were bummed to get evicted because of a bad taxi. He called and said, "Dad we have a second chance at once in a lifetime. Only 22 get to play each season. Why would you miss that?" So I agreed to go.
Obviously you have a strong bond already. As you didn't win, what do you get out of racing? We sat down before The Race and established the rule that we were doing this for fun. To fight, argue or complain would stop the fun and ruin our only purpose for being here. We would have loved to win the million, but it was more important to have a good time together.
Did your strategy change after the first time? Yes, we learned several things. If you get in a bad taxi, don't stay with it. Second, you never stop racing. The couple who won season 14 would be up at the front on the plane bargaining with people to take their seats and doing research when the rest of us were just happy to sit down. Third, when you get a chance to rest, die in the spot. Don't chatter away the night at the pit stop like we did our first time. Mike also made us pack lighter. His suitcase was filled with food bars because he's vegan and he almost starved last time.
Was it tougher? The second time was not a charm. It proved to be harder. I think, with all of these great competitive teams coming back, the producers added a lot of stamina games. Against bull riders and Globetrotters, we just weren't up for the physical side. Even Michael was older than all but three racers. Together we were 110. We felt sad, but understand why they upped the ante. The first day it took 28 hours to get to Sydney and then I ran at least four or five miles with a pack. When Phil said we were still racing, I thought, "This will not do."
Everyone looked like they wanted to punch Phil in the face. We were all absolutely exhausted. I have to brag. Big Easy said when we were slouched over a drinking fountain, "I hope when I'm 50 I can do what you're doing at 70."
How cold was the frog pond? It had gotten very cold and the mud below the water was even colder. Then it started raining. And we were in those unflattering diapers. I was in there just two minutes short of an hour. After 45 minutes, Michael started begging me to get out. He thought I was just being stubborn but in it, you don't realize how it's affecting you. A producer came to get me. We were really in bad shape. The medical team treated us for hypothermia.
Your line about preferring death by pond over at home in bed was powerful. I meant it. I really didn't want to give up or go out so soon. I was afraid people would think I was a big quitter. I wanted to find that frog so badly. I hate frogs now.
You joked you'd be there in a walker next time. Would you do The Race again? They should have a senior citizens' Race. It would be amusing with all our dementia. No one would remember where we went or where we were going. Maybe not even who our partner was. With so many old people in this country, I think people would get a kick out of it. But I won by being there at 70 and representing.
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: krabbe on March 19, 2011, 02:07:59 PM
Aaw, Mel always sounds very loving and proud of Mike in all his interviews & confessionals. So so so sad to see them go. If only they took that direct flight :'(
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on March 24, 2011, 08:16:38 PM
Mel glad that his son Mike insisted they quit 'The Amazing Race' by: Sheri Block
Mel White says he would never have quit “The Amazing Race” if his son Mike hadn’t insisted. But as soon as the decision was made, the 70-year-old competitor realized it was the best thing they could have done.
The father and son team were the most recent pair to leave the race after deciding the conditions of the Detour in Japan -- looking for a plastic frog in a pit of mud in frigid temperatures -- were just too challenging to continue.
“There were all these people yelling at us and throwing mud, and the mud they picked up inadvertently had little rocks in it, and so I was bleeding from the forehead and both shoulders, not seriously bleeding, but it was adding to the pain, the misery,” Mel tells CTV.ca over the phone.
“Our body temperatures had fallen so much that we were officially diagnosed with hypothermia, that’s what disallowed us from going back into the mud to find a damn frog.”
Mel says he and Mike, who wasn’t available for the interview, were searching in the mud for almost an hour before his son (with the help of the producers) convinced him they had to get out.
By the time they got to the van to warm up, both Mel and Mike were shaking -- and couldn’t stop.
“We shook for about an hour after that,” says Mel. “They ‘de-muddified’ us and put us in electric blankets.”
Mel and Mike were well enough to make it to the finish line -- and even were ahead of last place team Jaime and Cara -- but since they hadn’t completed the task of finding a frog, they were the second team of Season 18 to be eliminated.
The pair didn’t get as far as they did the first time -- they placed sixth on Season 14 -- but Mel says this race was a lot more physically demanding and was definitely taking a toll on his body. He adds though that it was something that bothered his son more than it bothered him.
On the very first leg of the race, Mel says they travelled 28 hours non-stop from California to Australia and then ran about four and a half miles, did a scuba diving challenge and arrived at what they thought was the Pit Stop only to find out they were still racing and had to run a mile and a half back to the ferry.
“Michael was so scared … he’d been watching me run for at least four or five hours and he kept saying ‘You don’t have to do this. It’s OK, Dad’ because I was gasping but I said, ‘No I’ve got to do this’ and that’s when I tipped over … that’s when he cried because he thought I’d had a heart attack.”
All of this led to Mike’s decision that they had to quit the race, says Mel.
“We ran five miles the first day, then jumped on these kangaroo things (in Australia) and then got into that mud so physically Michael was seeing me wear down and I think he was just at the end of his rope.”
Mel says seeing how concerned Mike was about him really opened his eyes as to how much his son cares about him.
“That’s been kind of a lesson I’ve learned as to how much that kid cares. He loves this ‘Race’ … but when he said, ‘I’m outta here, this race isn’t as important to me as you are,’ I got another idea of how much that kid loves me.”
There will be no more “Amazing Race” in Mel’s future, but he says there are plenty of other ways he can spend quality time with his son.
One of these ways is watching his son -- a successful Hollywood filmmaker, who wrote and acted in movies like “School of Rock” and “Orange County” -- while he works.
“Mike is so up to his neck, he has a new HBO series coming out, he’s really busy so what I like doing as a retired person is hanging around him and watching him direct,” says Mel.
“I’ll (also) stay over at his house and we go out to vegan dinners. There’s lots to do.”
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on May 14, 2011, 05:51:09 PM
'The Amazing Race' exit interview: Mel (http://tvguide.ca/realitytv/exit+interviews/articles/110311_tar_mel_gd.htm)
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on July 29, 2011, 05:28:26 PM
From Andy Dehnart, Amazing Race stars will cameo on HBO’s Englightened (http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/the_amazing_race_18/2011_Jul_29_enlightened-cameos-mike-white).
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on October 04, 2011, 07:13:31 PM
Last Call with Carson Daly Friday, October 7: Mike White, Seven Grand Whiskey Society, Biffy Cly / Biffy Clyro
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on October 10, 2011, 06:19:43 PM
Excerpt from Stuff Mike White Likes (http://www10.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/magazine/stuff-mike-white-likes.html)
Quote
“Enlightened” was originally scheduled to make its debut in January, but when White was invited to the “Amazing Race” all-stars reunion, HBO agreed to postpone the show, and he and his dad went back on the road. This time around, the challenges were more grueling. Following a near-naked slog through a Japanese mud pit from which Mel emerged with hypothermia, Mike decided to call it quits. They were sent to an “elimination station” on an island off the coast of Thailand for three weeks, with no phones and no computers and nothing to do but sit by the pool. “Considering how much work I’d walked away from and how many people it had impacted — I was like, what have I done? But it’s fun to have an adventure.”
Excerpt from Mike White talks about freaks, sincerity and HBO's 'Enlightened' (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/10/interview-mike-white-creator-of-hbos-enlightened-and-amazing-race-star.html)
Quote
How many indie film auteurs get the green light to create a series on HBO, then postpone finishing it to compete in “The Amazing Race”? The correct answer is, just one: Mike White.
White has crafted a career out of off-kilter moves. As a screenwriter, he alternates between charming but uncomfortable films about awkward, lonely people (“Chuck and Buck,” “Year of the Dog”) and more mainstream, poppy hits (“School of Rock,” “Nacho Libre”). He got his start as a writer-producer on “Dawson’s Creek” before going on to “Freaks and Geeks,” and now has co-created the HBO series “Enlightened” with Laura Dern, who also stars in it.
But he says one of the best things he’s ever done is to compete in “The Amazing Race,” which he did in 2009 with his 70-year-old dad, minister and gay activist Mel White. When the show invited them back for an all-stars season earlier this year, just as White was starting post-production on “Enlightened,” he couldn’t say no. Just days into the race, however, his father collapsed and they were eliminated.
“As they were taking us away to the ambulance, I was thinking, 'How am I going to tell the people at HBO?'” he says between bites of brown rice and veggies at a vegan restaurant in West Hollywood. “They had to furlough our whole post-production team!” But being stranded in reality-TV loser limbo for two weeks with no phone or computer was kind of nice, he insists, “because I had to let go, accept.”
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: slayton on October 11, 2011, 09:07:57 PM
5 Things to Know About ‘Enlightened’ (http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/blogs/2011/tv-news/5-things-to-know-about-enlightened/)
Quote
5. “The Amazing Race” Connection. “Race” fans will notice that a few former contestants like Victor Jih pop up on “Enlightened” – Mike White and his father Mel White competed on Season 14 of “AR” and again in 2011 on “AR: Unfinished Business,” and he’s stayed in touch with some of his former competitors.
“Yeah. There’s a couple ‘Amazing Race’ cameos in there, but, you know, that’s just because I run out of ideas…,” White quips.
“Enlightened” airs Mondays at 9:30 p.m. on HBO
Title: Re: TAR18: Mel White & Mike White (father/son)
Post by: georgiapeach on October 14, 2011, 07:02:24 AM
Great NYTimes article on Mike, TAR, and Enlightened.