The Amazing Race > The Racers

TAR 21: Jaymes Vaughan & James Davis "Chippendales Dancers/Best Friends"

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supah:
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/the-amazing-racechippendaler-from-maine_2012-10-20.html

'Amazing Race' contestant from Maine

BY RAY ROUTHIER

Maine Sunday Telegram

Being on the CBS globe-trotting reality show "The Amazing Race" was not the first time James Davis had been around the world. But it does mark one of the few international trips Davis has taken with his shirt on for substantial periods of time.

Davis, who grew up in the small central Maine town of Jefferson, performs with the world famous Chippendales male touring revue.

Even if you don't know the Chippendales name, you've no doubt seen pictures of their famous bare-chested male dancers wearing little more than dapper bow ties and collars.

Davis, 27, has been competing on "The Amazing Race" since the show's fall season began Sept. 30. He and his teammate on the show -- fellow Chippendale Jaymes Vaughan -- are still alive in the big-money competition going into Sunday's episode. The episode was filmed in Bangladesh, and a CBS promo says that some of the racers will be seen working as "rat collectors."

That definitely sounds like a job a person needs to shirt up for.

How well Davis will do in Bangladesh, or how long he'll last on the show, is hard to say. CBS publicists say contestants aren't allowed to talk about their time on "The Amazing Race" until they get eliminated.

For this season, the show's producers sent 11 competing teams, consisting of two people each, around the world for about a month. At each exotic locale, the teams face tasks and challenges -- and failing at any can mean elimination.

The prize is usually $1 million. But this year, for the first time, contestants can double their money. If the couple that won the first leg of the race also wins the final leg, they'll take home $2 million.

For this season's episodes, according to CBS publicists, the teams were asked to rappel down 10 stories in Los Angeles, fry an egg on their heads in Indonesia and catch rats in Bangladesh, among other things.

The teams are usually made up of two folks who have some interesting connection. Sometimes they're siblings trying to reconnect, sometimes they're engaged, sometimes they have the same job.

In the case of Davis and his teammate, both are Chippendales performers living in Las Vegas. They list themselves on the show's media website as "best friends."

Davis grew up in tiny Jefferson, which lies just to the north of the Midcoast town of Waldoboro and southeast of Augusta. He went to school in Jefferson and later moved to Las Vegas, where he finished high school.

In his profile on the Chippendales website, Davis wrote that in Las Vegas, he began pursuing a career as a fashion and fitness model. In 2007, he said, he was "scouted" for the Chippendales world tour.

"I admit I was a little nervous during the casting as I had never danced before," wrote Davis. But he added that he did get to show off his skills as a guitarist by playing "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5. He doesn't say whether that performance was shirtless or not.

Davis then went through a two-week dance "boot camp" and shortly found himself dancing for 1,500 "screaming women" in Riga, Latvia, he wrote. He also wrote in his bio of the time in Zurich, Switzerland, when a crowd of women found out which hotel the Chippendales were staying at and swarmed it.

While Davis still has relatives in Maine, he doesn't say much about his home state or town in his bio other than this: "I always joke that there is more livestock than people in the town I'm from." And, he noted, he never misses his Sunday phone calls with his grandmother.

The final episode of this season of "The Amazing Race," when one team wins at least $1 million, will probably air in December, though CBS has not announced a definite air date.

supah:
http://lasvegasmagazine.com/2012/10/19/jaymes-vaughan/

Jaymes Vaughan

Chippendales emcee goes racing

They’ve taken their bow ties and cuffs off onstage, now they’re taking them on the road around the world. Best friends Jaymes Vaughan and James Davis are the hunky duo currently featured in the 21st season of Amazing Race. Vaughan, host and singer in Chippendales at Rio, had the time of his life competing against 10 other teams. Kiko Miyasato caught up with him to learn more about the journey.

Q: Why did you sign up for Amazing Race?
A: I found out that my dad has cancer, and so it was one of those things that hit me hard and didn’t feel real. And James was like, “Dude, we should definitely do the show and give the winnings to your dad.” And at that point I was like, “Yes!” I thought, here’s an opportunity to compete against 10 other teams and at the end of it come back with a million dollars. And James was like, “I just want to get my mom a car.” Once we decided the money was for our families there was no hesitation.

Q: What were the biggest difficulties?
A: We’ve traveled with Chippendales before, and we knew what it was like to be in a country where you don’t speak the language or you don’t know your way around. But there’s a difference between finishing your show and finding somewhere to eat, and getting clear to the other side of the country to follow a clue. Another thing is James and I are both 6 foot 4 inches. I think we were scary to some people.

Q: Did you need to step outside of your comfort zone?
A: I think the Amazing Race is completely about stepping outside your comfort zone. It’s about putting you in situations you wouldn’t normally be in. … Things that you think are the simplest tasks are the hardest. … It tests you to see how you are in a stressful situation, how you would treat other people. It shows your true colors.

Q: Did you discover anything about James during the race and vice versa?
A: We knew James had a short temper; we knew I had a controlling personality. But we’ve known that about each other for so long that we were able to use it to our advantage. You angry? Run faster. You want to control a situation? Fine, have a solution. But ultimately there was nothing that surprised us about one another; we know each other that well.

Q: Back at Chippendales, what’s new?
A: Our 2013 calendar just got done shooting. Shooting a calendar used to be a task, sometimes torture, because you had to watch your weight, make sure you got the right picture, etc., but after doing Amazing Race it was so simple. Trying to balance on a raft while staring up at a camera, not falling off and attempting to somehow look remotely sexy, well, that wasn’t a challenge at all.

RealityFreakWill:
Team Chippendales Jaymes and James from Amazing Race Support Spirit Day



Jaymes and James "Team Chippendales" from the Rio (currently featured on The Amazing Race), showed their support for Spirit Day, in Las Vegas with custom-designed purple cuffs and collars (Photo credit: Arlene Richie).

Spirit Day is an annual day when millions of Americans wear purple to speak out against bullying and to show their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth.

http://www.vegasnews.com/83103/team-chippendales-jaymes-and-james-from-amazing-race-support-spirit-day.html

RealityFreakWill:
TEAM #6, BABY!

Faith511:
That article was good but i am confused. Is Jaymes gay? :duno:

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