Exclusive: Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nate "Big Easy" Lofton talk 'The Amazing Race: All-Stars' (Part 2)

The Amazing Race: All-Stars eliminated Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nate "Big Easy" Lofton during Sunday night's eighth episode of the CBS reality competition's 24th overall season and third all-stars edition. 

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"The Globetrotters" became the sixth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's eighth Pit Stop at Piazza Del Duomo in Rome, Italy, in last place. They started out the leg in last place and never really had a chance to catch up. 

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Flight Time and Big Easy talked about their The Amazing Race experience. Below is the concluding portion of their interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: Did you guys make any alliances this season or were you particularly close with any of the Racers? I know some viewers, for instance, were surprised to see Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran help you out, Flight Time, during last week's episode with that Roman Numerals task.

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: Right, well we didn't really have any alliances, and a lot of people -- from what I hear or whatever -- they didn't really like Leo and Jamal in their season. And I actually enjoyed them. I thought they were one of the best, most entertaining, fun team.


But it was nice of them to help us and they helped the other team as well, but eventually, the other team got eliminated, [Jessica Hoel] and [John Erck]. But I'd probably say [Luke Adams] and [Margie O'Donnell] were the closest thing we would've had to an alliance of anything at all.

Reality TV World: Flight Time, do you think you guys would've been eliminated last week instead of Jessica and John without Leo and Jamal's help? It seemed like that Roman Numeral clue's instructions really confused you.

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: Well, the thing about the instructions on the clue is that you got people -- I mean, people are saying, "Read the clue, read the clue!" We had people standing around those steps with iPhones looking at the clue. Even with the phones, we still couldn't figure it out. So, I mean, that just lets you know how difficult it was.

But I don't know! Who knows. Maybe John wouldn't have figured it out. Maybe I would've figured it out first or somebody would've been helping me. That's eventually what happened with "The Afghanimals." They had somebody help them. Somebody actually figured it out for them. They didn't figure it out on their own.

Reality TV World: Obviously this was your third time on the Race. Did you talk about any strategies you'd like to implement or maybe things you could improve upon since your first two races?


Nate "Big Easy" Lofton: If you look at the Race, there's no strategy in the Race, you know? You just got to keep [running]. You just got to -- that day, everything's got to line up. So it's just like he was saying, "The Afghanimals" helped Flight Time on the steps, but then [David O'Leary] and [Connor O'Leary] helped everybody with the donkeys, you know? You just got to be lucky in the back at the right time.

You got to hope your taxi doesn't run out of gas, you got to hope the engine doesn't start smoking, you got to hope the directions you get from the locals are real directions, and you know, you got to be lucky and you got to be good.

But I don't think we would've changed anything. We'd do it again four a fourth, fifth, sixth time. We're going to do it the same way. We're going to be who we are, be respectful, have fun, and not take it too seriously.

Reality TV World: Big Easy, earlier in the season, you weren't able to rappel down the waterfall for a Roadblock task because you were too big. Did you run into any similar issues this season that viewers didn't see? Was that a recurring problem for you or no?

Nate "Big Easy" Lofton: Nah, I think that was probably the only time where my weight was an issue, and it was because you've got to think about it -- there were three guys, locals, pulling the rope.


And if I would've went down, I would've pulled all three of them into the waterfall, so I wasn't going to object to not being able to do it because I definitely wouldn't want anyone to get hurt. But, you know, my height, it hurt us at that point, but I think Flight Time went and killed it. He did a great job and we moved to the next phase.

Reality TV World: How would you say this season of all-stars compared or contrasted with your first two times on the Race? Was it easier or more difficult?

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: I would say probably the first season we did was the easiest as far as the tasks that we had to do. I'd say the second season that we did, Season 18, was the hardest thing I ever did in my life.

It made me say that I would never, ever do the show again, because in Season 18, the first six legs, we had like three continuation legs. And if you've been watching this season, every leg, we stopped. Once you get to the Pit Stop, it's a complete leg, so you actually get to rest. So I'd say this one was probably the second hardest.

Reality TV World: So did that surprise you then, especially considering it's an all-stars season? I know some of the teams I've talked to already were surprised the show didn't really step up the level of difficulty since all the teams were returnees.


Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: I was surprised but pleasantly surprised. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: It probably gave you more of an opportunity to really enjoy the experience and take it all in.

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: Yes. It's definitely nice when you get to the Pit Stop and you actually are going to have a chance to lay down and rest and get a decent meal in your body as opposed to Season 18 when you're continuation leg, continuation leg, you know?

Reality TV World: Who would you say was your toughest competition this season?

Nate "Big Easy" Lofton: I personally don't think we had anybody as our competition. I mean, we're not racing against anybody per se, we're racing against ourselves and whatever we do day in and day out. So I think everybody was tough competition, especially since it was their second or third time around. Everyone deserves to be there, but I wouldn't say anybody was tougher than any other team.


Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: Me and Big Easy, we always felt like our toughest competition was ourselves, you know, like the decisions that we make or mistakes that we make or mistakes that we don't make.

Because at the end of the day, that really is what determines your outcome. I mean, it could be a taxi here or, you know, a taxi there or a late flight there. But eventually, it's yourself that gets you eliminated and the decisions that you make. So we always felt like we were our own toughest competition.

Reality TV World: Did you guys get a sense of real comradery this season? Because usually there are teams who don't like one another or some more drama along the way, but this time, not so much other than Brendon Reilly and Brendon Villegas' controversial decision to U-Turn Dave and Connor.

Nate "Big Easy" Lofton: Well personally, we never have any issues with anybody, so we never see the fights or disagreements until we watch the show. But, you know, that's how we race. We race to have fun. We get along with everybody naturally, so for us, it was a breath of fresh air not to hear anything or see anything.

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: I would definitely say that everyone pretty much got along, and I think, you know, even with Brendon and Rachel and Dave and Connor, I'll tell anybody, Rachel is, I mean, she's just competitive. So when she gets on television, she just turns [it up] to another level.

But actually, sitting down and talking to her one-on-one, I think she's one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. But I mean, when the cameras come on and the competition steps up, people react differently, and I think that, for her, she just gets to another level and sometimes it just doesn't come out the right way.


Reality TV World: How did your return to The Amazing Race come about this time? Had you guys been campaigning to get back on the show or did producers contact you about the opportunity and it actually came as a surprise to you?

Herbert "Flight Time" Lang: We definitely weren't campaigning to do it again. Every night at our show, people would always ask us, "So would you guys do The Amazing Race again? Would you do it again?" And I would continue to say no, but once I got the phone call, I was actually on tour by myself. I was on tour in Argentina, and my initial reaction was like, "Yeah, definitely! Let's do it again!"

Nate "Big Easy" Lofton: Yeah, it was kind of the same way [for me]. We definitely had no idea... They called and then me and Flight talked about it, like, "Hey, why not?!" Especially because that's what the people want.

When we go to Australia, New Zealand, South America -- wherever we at around the world -- people who get a chance to watch the show will say, "Hey, we enjoyed watching you guys. We wish you could come back and do it [again]."

And I think that was a big part of it. If we were traveling and people would just say, "Hey, we hate you guys, you suck," we probably wouldn't have done it again. But, you know, people wanted to see us. They want to see our style of racing. It was cool.

We definitely enjoyed doing it, and also, we enjoyed the behind-the-scenes people of the Race. We had fun with the camera guys and the sound guys and the producers. We get along well with them, so I think that made it easier for us to do it again.


Above is the concluding portion of Flight Time and Big Easy's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski