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TAR 20: Nary Ebeid and Jamie Graetz *Federal Agents*

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slayton:
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/1003025990-the-amazing-race-undercover-elimination-with-nary-and-jamie.html

The Amazing Race: Undercover Elimination with Nary and Jamie
by Reg Seeton

This week on The Amazing Race, federal agent friends Nary Ebeid and Jamie Graetz saw their time on the CBS reality series come to an end in Africa.

Although Nary and Jamie caught a break last week on The Amazing Race when they were saved by a non-elimination leg, the two federal agents couldn’t make up time this week despite catching up to Vanessa and Ralph in the final few minutes.

One of the strongest teams of the season, Nary and Jamie ran The Amazing Race under the cover of school teachers without letting anyone know what they really did for a living. However, as fans saw two weeks ago, their Amazing Race cover was almost blown by border patrol agents Art and J.J. who guessed that Nary and Jamie were law enforcement and not teachers as they claimed. Despite attempts by Art and J.J. to get Nary and Jamie to come clean, the girls wouldn’t give up their alias strategy.

Following their elimination from The Amazing Race, The Deadbolt caught up with Nary and Jamie to learn more about the final leg, what went wrong, their teacher strategy, and a funny encounter with a buffalo that Amazing Race fans didn’t see on TV.

THE DEADBOLT: So, how did it feel to go out on such a beautiful leg?

JAMIE GRAETZ: Well, I just feel like if there was a time to go, we picked it right because we got to spend a little more time there [in Africa]. What a beautiful, unbelievable place to be. It was really quite an experience.

THE DEADBOLT: What happened between the art display and the finish line?

NARY EBEID: The main thing was that we had to play catch up for the whole episode. It was very difficult to be two hours behind. Team number one was about to hit the Pit Stop and we’re just taking off. So that was difficult. We were just playing catch up all day and the Double U-Turns did help us.

But when we came across Ralph and Vanessa where our Speed Bump was, we were excited. At the same time, we were like, “Oh, no! We have to do our Speed Bump and now they’re going to get ahead of us.” So we knew they were our last hope. Completing that Speed Bump is what really did us in. We had to do it and there was no getting around it.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you have a strategy for the Double U-turn if you got the chance to use it?

JAMIE: I don’t even remember if we talked about it. Our intentions were never to U-Turn anybody unless we really had to. We discussed that with Mark and Bopper and Brendon and Rachel. We would have helped tham out as well if the U-Turn would have helped them. But we knew the U-Turn was coming and we knew that we were already two hours behind the pack, so it was pretty likely that we wouldn’t be the ones U-Turning anybody.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you both feel the teacher strategy helped you in the long run?

NARY: It was a strategy we came up with well before going on the show. But one of the main reasons we came up with it was for U-Turning. The U-Turn came at a point where it didn’t really matter anymore. I’m not sure if the strategy worked in any way, but that’s why we came up with it, was for U-Turning. I don’t know if I would say that we got anything out of it or didn’t get anything out of it, but it was fun. It was fun to play undercover for the last time.

THE DEADBOLT: What did you think after Art and J.J. confronted you about it?

JAMIE: Art and J.J. were involved in the whole scuffle that was going in the airport, which is pretty embarassing. I was quite surprised that these guys in their mid-40s that were well-supervised individuals at their department would lower themselves and jump into a stupid high-school bickering session. And then to go further than that, that they would then bring it our way.

Nary and I had made a conscious decision, because we knew they were going to try to come over. They were starting to ruffle their feathers and starting to say, “Hey, Nary and Jamie, come over here.” So we knew it didn’t matter what we said. But there was no way we were going to tell them what we really did. We just figured that we’ll let them guess since they weren’t our friends.

Had they approached us in a more decent manner that was more sincere, we probably would have told them, because it wasn’t that big of a deal at that point. I didn’t care for them. And at that point I probably could have told them that it was any other profession, I just wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of knowing.

THE DEADBOLT: You both seemed to fly under the radar as far as all of the drama with the other teams. How did you stay away from it?

NARY: Jamie and I have never been into all of the drama. Once we see that, we’re actually embarrassed for them and we just steer in the other direction. To me, it’s embarrassing. Everyone’s older and it’s just an unprofessional thing to do. To me, it just gets you nowhere.

So Jamie and I, even though we can get underneath each other’s skin, we just always knew that we’re here to do our thing, we’re here to race, and yelling at each other isn’t going to get you anywhere when arguing with another team. We didn’t care for Vanessa, and we didn’t care for Art and J.J., but we weren’t going to argue with them. We didn’t care to. It wasn’t going to gain anything for us.

THE DEADBOLT: Was there anything from the race you wish we saw that wasn’t aired on TV?

JAMIE: We had this incredible experience after we made that wonderful tent and we had to sleep in it. Right when we were all trying to use the restroom before we got in our tent, this buffalo came out of nowhere. So they yelled at us to get in our tent, which you could see on TV was not with the other tents. It was all by its lonesome. A huge buffalo, which are very dangerous in Africa, decided to graze around our tent all night long. I was on high alert the whole night while Nary snored away.

It was just a great memory because when in your life will you experience that again? It was inches from the window when I unzipped it to see what the noise was. There was this huge buffalo! Mark and Bopper at one point wanted to try and save us but Mark talked Bopper down.

slayton:
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-nary-ebeid-and-jamie-graetz-talk-the-amazing-race-13376.php

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/16/2012

Nary Ebeid and Jamie Graetz were eliminated from The Amazing Race's twentieth season during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition.

The "Federal Agents and Friends" team became the sixth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's eighth Pit Stop at Lake Manyara, which Ernest Hemingway had described as the loveliest lake in Africa, in last place due to having to complete an additional Speed Bump task and leaving the seventh Pit Stop hours behind the other teams -- putting them in last place and leaving them little opportunity to ever catch up and surpass their fellow Racers.

On Monday, Nary and Jamie talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including why they didn't get along with Art Velez and J.J. Carrell, who they would've U-Turned had they gotten the chance to, which Racers they became friends with and whom they had no intention to befriend, and what their mindset was heading to the Pit Stop after they had just survived the prior non-elimination leg.

Reality TV World: How far behind Vanessa Macias and Ralph Kelley do you think you guys finally arrived at the Pit Stop? The show made it look you guys were pretty far behind considering you had to complete that Speed Bump painting task when Vanessa and Ralph got to move forward in the Race and head towards the Roadblock task.

Nary Ebeid: We don't know for sure to this day. We are guessing -- we heard it was close, but we're assuming it was between 15-20 minutes. So close enough! I mean, it's pretty surprising. Of course we were already two hours behind and then they had to do the extra Detour for the U-Turn and then they had a flat tire, which we didn't know anything about.

Jamie Graetz: But then again, when we caught up to where our Speed Bump was, it was kind of heart-wrenching to know we still have to complete a Speed Bump. We were ecstatic that we caught up and once we had that Speed Bump, we knew it was going to put us behind again.

Reality TV World: So it sounds like you think the Speed Bump task was ultimately responsible for your elimination, right? Do you think the fact you guys had started out the leg about two hours or more behind all the other teams made much of a difference?

Nary Ebeid: No, I mean it did, because we were just playing catch-up all day. I mean, it's like, the Speed Bump was where we ended up catching up, but I mean, if you want to say that's what it ultimately was, I don't know if that's what it ultimately was because we were already two hours behind. So it was just playing catch-up all day.

Reality TV World: How long do you think it took you to complete that Speed Bump task and was it challenging or pretty easy?

Jamie Graetz: I think it -- I mean, that Speed Bump task wasn't very difficult. I would say maybe 15-20 minutes. I mean, it really was -- you just looked at that paper. So what I did was, Nary picked out the items I needed and I pretty much arranged the wall.

So, she actually picked them out, I hung them and we kind of had a great system going. It was done rather quickly. The only minor thing was maybe that it was windy, but I think we did it as fast as one could finish it. So, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Reality TV World: When you two arrived at the Double U-Turn board, were you surprised that no teams decided to U-Turn you guys? Why did you think that was at the time and were you surprised to see that Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas and Vanessa and Ralph were U-Turned instead or no?

Nary Ebeid: We weren't surprised that Rachel and Brendon were U-Turned. We had a feeling somebody was going to U-Turn them. And then of course knowing that whoever's behind Rachel and Brendon -- we were friends with Rachel and Brendon, so the only other teams for them to U-Turn -- because they were of course kind of fighting constantly with Ralph and Vanessa, they figured, "Hell, we're going to U-Turn them."

But I mean, U-Turning us, we never really felt that was much of an option only because we were so far behind. I mean, we were three hours and change behind team number one. So they knew. I mean they were pretty much already at the Pit Stop before we even like started.

It's like, they didn't even show us until the middle of the episode. "Okay, Nary and Jamie are finally taking off now." So we never really discussed it, but I don't think it was ever that much -- I mean, of course it was always an option -- but it never really crossed our minds that we were going to be U-Turned.

Reality TV World: It sounds like you think Brendon and Rachel's decision to U-Turn Vanessa and Ralph was simply due to personal issues rather than believing Vanessa and Ralph were a real threat in the Race, right?

Jamie Graetz: I think it was two-fold. I think they were probably pretty happy to -- and willing, more than willing -- to U-Turn them. But also, I would like to think -- I mean, they were our friends and we were working together. If there was a chance, [we thought] that that would help us to try to catch up, and so, it was darn close. That's for sure. But it just wasn't quite enough.

Reality TV World: Had you have gotten to that Double U-Turn before the other teams, who do you think you would have U-Turned in the Race hypothetically speaking? Who do you think it would have been strategically smart to slow down?

Nary Ebeid: Me personally, if I'm in first place and I know that I have a huge gap between me and the last team, I probably wouldn't have U-Turned anybody. Jamie, on the other hand, thinks a little differently only if it was a little closer, I think.

Jamie Graetz: Yeah, if there was a big gap, I don't think I would have U-Turned anyone anyways. I mean, I wouldn't have minded a bit U-Turning Art and J.J. just for sh-t's sake. But I don't know. At the time, I don't honestly think I would have. I think my animosity towards them has just kind of boiled since since I've watched the show.

I've seen how they've treated people and what not, and I don't care for them. But then, yeah. I probably wouldn't have U-Turned anybody. But I just thought it was pretty interesting that he had quite a fit over the fact [Rachel Brown and Dave Brown] didn't U-Turn us. We had no idea that that had happened.

Reality TV World: What were your reactions when you watched the show last night and found out Rachel and Dave chose not to honor their agreement with Art and J.J. to U-Turn Rachel and Brendon? Do you think that was a smart move on their part or a bad move, and why?

Nary Ebeid: To me, I think they were smart actually.

Jamie Graetz: Yeah.

Nary Ebeid: They know we're three hours behind just like Rachel said at the very end. She was like, "The teachers are way behind," you know? So what was the point? There's no point in U-Turning anybody.

We're three hours and change behind them, so why have this animosity that close to the end with these other teams -- pissing other teams off and U-Turning? So I actually thought they were smart. I mean, just because you made that pact, who cares. You race the way you race. Don't worry about how the other teams are.

Jamie Graetz: But his thing was that he wanted them to U-Turn Brendon and Rachel, and then they would've U-Turned us.

Nary Ebeid: Us, yeah.

Jamie Graetz: Which is just, like, awful.

Nary Ebeid: Yeah, which he's an idiot. But yeah. I totally agree with their decision. I think that's good they're not getting bullied by someone else, you know? They're playing their own game and "Amen" to that, you know?

Reality TV World: Not much was shown of you girls completing the honey harvesting Roadblock task. Just to clarify, did you complete that task or were you so far behind the producers just let you head to the Pit Stop? If you did complete the Roadblock, who did it and how long did it take you?

Nary Ebeid: I actually am the one who did that challenge and they did show a very brief part of me doing the challenge.

Jamie Graetz: You did it really fast.

Nary Ebeid: Yeah, I did it, I guess, pretty fast. But nope. We never thought once like -- we thought they could have potentially gotten lost -- maybe they screwed up in that challenge. We didn't know what was coming next once we got there. We were the only ones there, so we didn't know if they had completed it or not, so we never gave up. We were still gung-ho running.

I had to put a long-sleeved shirt on because I had to put the suit on, and Jamie was like, "Are you not hot? Are you going to run in that shirt?" I'm like, "I don't care. We need to go." I didn't care. I was just like, "We just need to go. We don't know how far back we are." So no, we never gave up at all in anything we did. We completed every task at hand.

Reality TV World: Although you remained optimistic, I'm sure it crossed your minds that you were likely to arrive at the Pit Stop in last place. So what did you think your chances were the leg would be a back-to-back non-elimination leg? Did you think there was a good shot it could happen or did you see that as a real longshot?

Jamie Graetz: We knew that that was not going to happen twice. I mean, that's for sure. Once she completed the bee task, we were 99.9% percent sure that we were going to get eliminated because we knew Ralph and Vanessa had been ahead of us unless that slimmed into an act of God happening and they were stuck behind us. We knew we would be eliminated, but we ran.

And that was a far run from the bees to the Pit Stop and it showed most of the teams walking, but we ran the whole way. Somebody made a comment to us after. They said they really appreciated us fighting to the very end and running the whole way to the Pit Stop. Yeah, that just kind of shows the character that we are. We weren't going to give up even though we pretty much knew our fate.

And it had been confirmed when [Phil Keoghan] told us we had been eliminated, but you know, we'd still do the same thing over again. You just kind of -- when you have a task, we're going to complete it and we're going to fight until the very end.

Reality TV World: What made you girls decide to do the "Air Supply" Detour task and about how long did it take you? Was it pretty easy to complete or more difficult than it looked during last night's episode?

Nary Ebeid: When we first got to the task, I actually thought the water task would be faster, but Jamie was like, "I think we should do the 'Air Supply' task." And I was like, "Okay if you think so then we're just going to go to the "Air Supply." So on our way there, we end up bumping into Brendon and Rachel, and they told us, "Hey, do the 'Air Supply.' It's faster."

Because they had to complete both challenges because of the U-Turn, so that of course helped in our head like, "Okay fine. This one's going to be a lot faster," because as you saw, they had to wait in this long line and carry these heavy jugs of water. And actually, I would say it took us about 20 minutes or so to complete. It actually was pretty quick.

Jamie Graetz: Mhmm.

Reality TV World: You guys decided to tell all your fellow Racers you were kindergarten teachers rather than federal agents. Could you elaborate a little more on why you did that? Did you think telling the other teams what your real professions were would have really made them that much more intimidated by you girls? And looking back, are you glad you came up with the story or do you kind of wish you had been honest for any reason?

Jamie Graetz: I think that I would have done the same thing over again if we started the game again tomorrow. You just don't know going in who your competitors are and you don't know where they come from.

And coincidentally, we had other law enforcement people that were contestants as well. But see, you can kind of look at that as two guys, as in Art and J.J., in the federal system could have potentially seen us as the threat because they don't want to get beaten by two women that are federal agents.

So, they could have wanted to eliminate -- if we had a U-Turn earlier -- try to get us out, or the flip side to that is, we could've all maybe worked together, as in being the law-enforcement pack trying to get rid of other people. So, you just don't know how people are going to react. You don't know what their strategy is and if nothing else, it was funny.

It was fun and you know, the way it was portrayed on TV showed it as if we were maybe stunned or shocked by Art and J.J., and that really wasn't the case. They kind of came at us a little foul and they had just been in this altercation and fighting in the airport with all these other people, which was completely embarrassing, and then they tried to bring it towards us.

And we weren't going to go there. That's not how we treat people and frankly, had he approached us on the side as like a friend or under cordial conditions, we would have probably told them. But at that place and at that time, I could have told them I was a janitor. I wouldn't have cared. I wouldn't have told him what we really were just to give him that satisfaction.

Reality TV World: Were you girls surprised at all that Art and J.J. were suspicious of you and came onto your stories when they did or did you figure that was going to happen based on the conversations you were having with them during the Race?

Jamie Graetz: Really, I was really just full of Art. I had had enough. I heard enough. He's rambling on to everybody -- to ears that don't understand really what he's talking about. And so, it's like when you have somebody that does understand -- which the whole discussion was about UC, which is undercover work -- and he was kind of tooting his own horn.

I, at 4:30 in the morning with no sleep and was freezing, thought he was just kind of full of it. And so, I did make a couple comments and knew that it was probably risky because most people -- civilians -- don't know the lingo, and I didn't care (laughs) at that point. And so, they think they're pretty much these really good detectives for finding out, and it wasn't rocket science at that point.

Reality TV World: During last week's episode, Art and J.J. told Rachel and Brendon they thought you were police officers because kindergarten teachers would be more "bouncy" and "social." What was your reaction to that? Would you girls say they had a point in that you were a little more quiet and reserved during the Race, or would you say they got the wrong impressions of you while on the show?

Nary Ebeid: Jamie and I were running the Race pretty much we felt like, "We're here to run the Race. We're not here to Oh..." I mean, we made friends, but we're just focusing on the task at hand. That's how we were. So maybe because we weren't friends with them and we didn't sit and chat with them, that's kind of how they portrayed it, I guess.

It's just like, "I'm sorry, because we're not kissing your ass and we're not friendly toward you and all curious about your profession" -- that's probably why.

Jamie Graetz: ... Which is so funny because you and I, of all people -- compared to other women that we work around, although there aren't very many -- we totally goof around. We laugh. That's totally what people think of us at work. We're like bubbly, friendly, joking around -- and I was like, "You just don't know us," you know? (Laughs)

And the other thing is, we always did better on our own. We never wanted to follow people and that was always a big thing too. A lot of times, they would all come together to kind of strategize like, "What should we do? Should we go this way? Should we do that?" And meanwhile, Nary and I would just run by and go in a different direction, because we just operate much better on our own.
 
And so, they saw us as being cold and withdrawn because we weren't trying to follow people. That's just not what we did, you know? It wasn't successful for us to follow people around.

Nary Ebeid: Yeah, but even from the very beginning when... everyone was introducing each other, I don't recalling [Art and J.J.] being very friendly either towards us.

It's not like they even tried to be friendly with us, so we kind of got a vibe from them -- a different vibe than we got from Brendon and Rachel, who were asking questions and [being] more friendly. [Art and J.J.] barely talked to us, so it's like, "Well, then we have nothing to talk about." And that's why they said that -- because we didn't talk to them or kiss their ass.

Reality TV World: There has clearly been a lot of tension between Rachel and Brendon and Vanessa and Ralph this season. How much of that were you two aware of while you were racing with them? Did you think one team was more at fault for starting arguments than the other or would you say they both were equally responsible for causing drama?

Jamie Graetz: I mean, once it got rolling, I think they were equally as responsible. We kept telling Rachel, "Just who cares what Vanessa says. Who cares if she says you're like 100 pounds overweight. Like, who cares." But she lets stuff get to her.

She reacts maybe not how we would, but okay. But you know what? I kind of felt like Vanessa, definitely with her mouth, could definitely let things brew -- just the way she pops off.

I just never got a good feeling about Vanessa. She spoke poorly -- or basically, for lack of better terms, she talked sh-t about everybody. I just didn't think she was a very nice person and I think -- you can see it on TV -- how she reacts to Ralph, whom I thought was probably a pretty decent guy.

But we didn't want to hang out with them because we couldn't stand her. Vanessa's just not a nice individual and so, you know, Rachel yeah, would throw it back at her. But Vanessa, I think, started a lot of it to be honest.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race? Was it your first time applying for the show and would you ever consider doing an all-stars edition if you were given the opportunity?

Nary Ebeid: We just applied and we got in, so we got very lucky, I have to say. The process went pretty smoothly, we were happy about it and if we were asked to go on again -- I mean, The Amazing Race is the experience of a lifetime. And to be able to have such a chance at it, absolutely.

AmazingRace:
 :hrt: these girls so much!

starrynight:
Thanks for the interviews, and that confirms my last post as to the reason they didn't tell Art and JJ.  Also interesting to hear more about Art.  I still think JJ is probably the more annoying but Art isn't far behind I guess.  :D  Not surprising to hear Jamie say she is getting even more angry with them watching the programs. 

And I like to hear about the friendships as well, that Jamie thinks Rachel/Brendon had them partly in mind with the u-turn and that they helped them in deciding which detour to choose as well as pointing them in the right direction at one point (which was shown in the program).  Also Bopper and Mark obviously helped them out a bit more than just at the harp task.  Definitely my favourite teams of this season.  Any of these three for allstars, more than one as I'm greedy.  :D

Theo:
They are definitely a funny team :lol: I wonder why they didn't show how funny this team is at the beginning of the race :duno:

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