Amazing Race Tryouts

I'm not going to lie, I love the Amazing Race. Besides getting to go around the world you get to do crazy crap around the world that you'd likely never get to do if you were just visiting. Watching the show on Sunday nights I think about what activities I can do and which ones Matt would have to do. I could handle heights, but he might have to bungee jump.

Wouldn't you vote for us?

Over the past few years, I've made no secret of my strong desire to go on the Amazing Race. Asking friends if they would want to go and then quickly listing reasons why we'd be a good team and more importantly how we would make excellent TV (this past season's Bopper & Mark from the South - now, they were great TV). It's not about coming up with a cute team name - please, the producers can do that. It's about being engaging, having some conflict, and most importantly, thoroughly enjoying the activity. Check, check, and check.

So you get the picture: I want to go on Amazing Race.

Matt saw something about tryouts. Turns out they were holding tryouts in Portland (well not, Portland proper - Beaverton/Tigard - it's the burbs) and the local news station was going to record the tryouts. All you had to do was go down to Big Al's (a massive entertainment center with video games, sports bar, and two bowling alleys), get a number, and try out. My friend Leena agreed to go with me and tryout. We're both short and have a good dynamic that's perfect TV - she's competitive and I'm fun. Oh and we're learning to speak French - you know, in case we end up in Burgundy.

Thankfully the day for tryouts was also the same day as the Rock-n-Rolla 5K event so right there a bunch of people don't show up! Woo hoo! A couple of hours go by, we try to come up with a good shpiel, and still no number called. Every number around our number gets called. I'm convinced they lost our number, Leena assures me that's not the case. Still I check the board of numbers even when nothing close to our number is called.

Finally it happens, our number is called. The adrenaline is pumping. People waiting for their turn on camera are super friendly. We get to the front of the line. Turns out tryouts are not such a big production after all. There are five small offices set up with a camera, lights, and a camera man. You have a minute to say your dealio. We're good for about 30 seconds - wow, that was a long time - we kick it into adlib. See, Amazing Race producers, we're fast on our feet. A minute is up and we are on our way down the hall where upon exiting someone asks us if we want to take a picture with the Travelocity Gnome.

Our response, "Hell, yeah!"

FYI - We'd say the same thing if the producers of Amazing Race called and said they had a spot for us. I'm just sayin'.