The Amazing Race > The Racers
TAR 21: Gary Wojnar & Will Chiola "Best Friends/Substitute Teachers"
bc922:
--- Quote from: georgiapeach on October 22, 2012, 06:01:46 PM ---Thank you for these, bc922!!
--- End quote ---
No problem, peach!! And, here's another:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amazing-race-gary-will-elimination-381746
'Amazing Race': Gary and Will Explain Their Constant Bickering, Discuss 'Shocking' Elimination
4:43 PM PDT 10/22/2012 by Kimberly Nordyke
The best friends -- who describe themselves as an "old married couple" -- talk to THR about what went wrong in Sunday night's episode and whether they'd do it all again.
Gary Wojnar and Will Chiola's luck on The Amazing Race finally ran out in the fourth leg.
The team -- which, as Gary noted, had just come off the "greatest comeback ever" in the previous leg of the race after being U-turned -- were eliminated in Sunday night's episode.
After flying to Dhaka, Bangladesh, the best friends and substitute teachers from Michigan got delayed after their taxi driver took them way out of the way -- to a landfill. Gary, 52, and Will, 53, also were forced to backtrack when another taxi driver took them past the place where they were supposed to catch a riverboat to the pit stop where host Phil Keoghan was waiting for the teams.
During the challenge, Gary also struggled at the roadblock challenge requiring a team member to repair the side of a bus with putty and sandpaper. Also during the leg, the teams were forced to choose between pounding a metal stake into place or pounding clumps of cotton and sewing it into a mattress.
On Monday, the self-described "superfans" -- who were seen constantly bickering on the show -- talked with The Hollywood Reporter about their elimination, their friendship and whether they'd go back and do it all again.
The Hollywood Reporter: At what point did you know you were in last place?
Gary Wojnar: It was a race between us and Trey and Lexi at the end in the taxis. We did pass them up, but I didn't see them pass us. We did believe we were in front of them.
Will Chiola: We weren't sure. You never know if another team is ahead of you until you see the mat.
Gary: We were down, but we didn't give up. I watch the show all the time, and I know that anything can happen. We just had hope that some other team made some mistakes.
THR: You definitely had some close finishes before your elimination, but it seemed like your luck just ran out.
Will: The first three episodes, someone was always behind us.
Gary: The taxicab driver took a shortcut through the backroads of Bangladesh, and it was actually very beautiful, but it took us way out of the way. He was really confident because of his experience.
Will: He did the best he could.
Gary: And I didn't do [the repair] as quickly as I should have on the bus. But I thought we were going to pull it off again, even though we were last in the roadblock.
Will: You never know who is in front of or beyond you.
Gary: We said we would never, ever give up, and we never did.
Will: There were so many people [in Bangladesh] that we couldn't see sometimes, but we kept going until we reached the pit stop.
Gary: Dhaka is a mass of humanity. The poverty is so intense there, and the people didn't understand any other language, but they were smiling and laughing and giving us the thumbs-up. The people there were really friendly, and they tried to help us as much as possible. For instance, in the cab ride, the driver held up a cigarette to ask if he could smoke while he was driving. He thought enough of us to ask that; there are no-smoking laws in cabs there.
Will: They are not competing for $1 million; they're just trying to make a living, and we appreciated them helping us out. It's not their job to learn our language.
Gary: We wanted people to have a good opinion of how we treated them.
THR: How would you describe your experience on the show?
Gary: We had a hell of a lot of fun.
Will: It changed my life.
Gary: I would go back in a nanosecond.
THR: You seemed to bicker a lot on the show. Is that how your relationship normally is?
Gary: We've known each other for over 30 years, and that's how we talk to each other. Sometimes people are taken aback, but that's how we talk and how we understand each other.
Will: We're immune to each other's differences.
Gary: If you ever see an old married couple yelling at each other all the time, that's us. We love each other, really.
Will: We were together 24/7 on The Race, but we actually got along better on The Race than in real life.
THR: How did you two meet?
Gary: In college.
THR: Were there any arguments after your elimination?
Gary: We discussed it completely: "Well, we should have done this or that." We just remembered all the great things that happened, the highlights they don't show on TV. We would never travel to Dhaku in the first place; there's not much of a tourism industry there.
THR: Did you know that Rob and Kelley were the ones responsible for U-turning you before you saw it on TV?
Will: We were pretty sure it was Rob and Kelley, but we don't blame them. We did the same them to them [but the team was already ahead, so the U-turn was rendered moot]. You have to look out for yourself.
Gary: We would have done the same thing.
Will: We did the same thing. It's part of the game. It's what you gotta do.
Gary: This opportunity to be an Amazing Race champion, it's something that only 22 teams get to do a year. It's the Olympics of reality TV.
THR: How hard was it to be the fourth team eliminated?
Will: It's hard to grasp the fact that we're no longer on the show. It's still shocking to me.
Gary: I felt like I was punched in the stomach and all the air went out. I'm not complaining or whining. It was a race for myself and also a race for those who will never have the chance. It was a great experience.
THR: So you would do it again without hesitation?
Gary: Maybe you can start a campaign for us.
georgiapeach:
MSN:
'Amazing Race' Exit Interview: Gary and Will
Substitute-teaching superfans lose but leave with an epic story
By Diane Vadino Mon 1:37 PM
Superfans Will Chiola and Gary Wojnar (who, we're going to say, look a good 10 years younger than their ages of 53 and 52, respectively) finally exited "The Amazing Race" last night, after a series of near-misses. We talked to them about how they took the loss, the best possible preparation for the show, and how they managed to get on—after "seven or eight" rejections.
MSN TV: How are you guys feeling today:
Will: A little bit depressed. Just looking at the episode, you wish you could go back and do different things—and of course, you can't.
Gary: It was like "The Twilight Zone." It hurt just as much the second time. It was just kind of hard to accept—we wanted on for so long, for so many years, and we finally got the opportunity.
Will: We feel like we let our fans down.
So how many times did you actually apply to the show?
Gary: It was about seven or eight times—we started in season six. We just kept applying together, even though they say you can't. Will said, "Let's apply again—what can they do, say no?"
What made the difference this time?
Gary: This time, we had a very good idea. We went to worldraceproductions.com—we wanted to find the magic button that had all the inside info on getting on the show. I went to an [Internet] registration site to see who registered it, thinking maybe we'd send them an email. But it turned out that no one had bought it—it was for sale. So I bought it for $10 dollars. We printed the name on a big banner, and we showed it in our video—we said on camera, "We're tired of applying year after year . And that's right—we bought your domain name." And we told them we'd make it into an adult dating site. A week or two later, we got the call.
That's amazing.
Gary: One of the casting directors said, "We're not sure whether to be afraid of you." But we were just kidding—we wouldn't have made it in an adult dating site
Will: I think it did show that Gary and I can think outside the box.
Being super-fans, you obviously thought a lot about how to prepare for the show. What weren't you ready for?
Will: We didn't know how hard it was going to be to communicate with the locals. We didn't want to get mad at them for not taking us from point A to B but to point C. We gave them a little bit of extra money when we could.
Gary: Watching it on TV, or reading about it on the Internet—it does't prepare you. The poverty was so oppressive. But what I didn't think would be possible was that people in Indonesia and Bangladesh, they always had a smile on their face. There's a universal language of a smile or a thumb's up. They did so much to help us.
Will: We know that the cab drivers aren't competing for a million dollars.
Gary: For instance, in Dhaka, when we went to the first roadblock, the cab driver kept going "Shortcut! Shortcut!" It ended up not being a shortcut—we were out in the agricultural areas. The city is so congested and so large we were almost an hour behind the other teams at the Roadblock, and couldn't catch up.
What didn't you prepare for that you wish you had?
Gary: Will's run numerous marathons, and he put me thorough a workout six days a week. However, on a stationery bike for two hours in gym is nothing like being there, in 100-degree heat. My advice would be to get a backpack, put 50 pounds in it, and run and run and run.
At that final Pitstop, were you shocked when it wasn't a non-elimination leg?
Will: We actually thought he said "non elimination."
Gary: We were crushed—we were shocked. It was hard to explain the feeling we had. It's like someone punches you in the stomach.
But the race was still a good experience overall?
Gary: We cannot say how grateful we are. We did things we would never do in our regular life; we would never get to the meat and bones of Dhaka. I enjoyed every minute of it.
http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/reality-tv-blog.aspx?feat=0935d748-0e4d-4452-b75a-17418a20a44a&blog=2080
Alenaveda:
--- Quote from: georgiapeach on October 24, 2012, 08:34:10 AM ---MSN:
'Amazing Race' Exit Interview: Gary and Will
Substitute-teaching superfans lose but leave with an epic story
By Diane Vadino Mon 1:37 PM
Superfans Will Chiola and Gary Wojnar (who, we're going to say, look a good 10 years younger than their ages of 53 and 52, respectively) finally exited "The Amazing Race" last night, after a series of near-misses. We talked to them about how they took the loss, the best possible preparation for the show, and how they managed to get on—after "seven or eight" rejections.
MSN TV: How are you guys feeling today:
Will: A little bit depressed. Just looking at the episode, you wish you could go back and do different things—and of course, you can't.
Gary: It was like "The Twilight Zone." It hurt just as much the second time. It was just kind of hard to accept—we wanted on for so long, for so many years, and we finally got the opportunity.
Will: We feel like we let our fans down.
So how many times did you actually apply to the show?
Gary: It was about seven or eight times—we started in season six. We just kept applying together, even though they say you can't. Will said, "Let's apply again—what can they do, say no?"
What made the difference this time?
Gary: This time, we had a very good idea. We went to worldraceproductions.com—we wanted to find the magic button that had all the inside info on getting on the show. I went to an [Internet] registration site to see who registered it, thinking maybe we'd send them an email. But it turned out that no one had bought it—it was for sale. So I bought it for $10 dollars. We printed the name on a big banner, and we showed it in our video—we said on camera, "We're tired of applying year after year . And that's right—we bought your domain name." And we told them we'd make it into an adult dating site. A week or two later, we got the call.
That's amazing.
Gary: One of the casting directors said, "We're not sure whether to be afraid of you." But we were just kidding—we wouldn't have made it in an adult dating site
Will: I think it did show that Gary and I can think outside the box.
Being super-fans, you obviously thought a lot about how to prepare for the show. What weren't you ready for?
Will: We didn't know how hard it was going to be to communicate with the locals. We didn't want to get mad at them for not taking us from point A to B but to point C. We gave them a little bit of extra money when we could.
Gary: Watching it on TV, or reading about it on the Internet—it does't prepare you. The poverty was so oppressive. But what I didn't think would be possible was that people in Indonesia and Bangladesh, they always had a smile on their face. There's a universal language of a smile or a thumb's up. They did so much to help us.
Will: We know that the cab drivers aren't competing for a million dollars.
Gary: For instance, in Dhaka, when we went to the first roadblock, the cab driver kept going "Shortcut! Shortcut!" It ended up not being a shortcut—we were out in the agricultural areas. The city is so congested and so large we were almost an hour behind the other teams at the Roadblock, and couldn't catch up.
What didn't you prepare for that you wish you had?
Gary: Will's run numerous marathons, and he put me thorough a workout six days a week. However, on a stationery bike for two hours in gym is nothing like being there, in 100-degree heat. My advice would be to get a backpack, put 50 pounds in it, and run and run and run.
At that final Pitstop, were you shocked when it wasn't a non-elimination leg?
Will: We actually thought he said "non elimination."
Gary: We were crushed—we were shocked. It was hard to explain the feeling we had. It's like someone punches you in the stomach.
But the race was still a good experience overall?
Gary: We cannot say how grateful we are. We did things we would never do in our regular life; we would never get to the meat and bones of Dhaka. I enjoyed every minute of it.
http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/reality-tv-blog.aspx?feat=0935d748-0e4d-4452-b75a-17418a20a44a&blog=2080
--- End quote ---
Anybody has 15 bucks - these guys should gain some profits - to buy them the domain and then apply for TAR in the same conditions they did? :lol3:
georgiapeach:
Very clever move!
Jobby:
At least that captured the attention. Omg, funny!! :lol:
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