Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' brothers Cameron Benson and Darius Benson talk (Part 2)

The Amazing Race eliminated "Brothers" Cameron Benson and Darius Benson during the most recent broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 28th season.


The two men became the second team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's third Pit Stop at Baluarte de Santiago in Cartagena, Colombia, in last place.

Cameron and Darius managed to make up some time during the leg, but then it all went down hill with the Roadblock task.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Darius and Cameron talked about their time on The Amazing Race. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: Did you have a strategy for deciding which one of you should do which Roadblock task? Did you have a plan for that going into the Race based on the strengths and weaknesses you both think you have?


Cameron Benson: We're pretty much the same person in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Darius Benson: (Laughs)

Cameron Benson: So we were pretty much going on, like, "Okay, you can do the first one, I'll get to do the second, and then Darius does the third, and I'll do that fourth." Because, pretty much, unless it's a food challenge, I'm going to be just as good at it as Darius, so that's what we were thinking going in.

Darius Benson: Yeah, there's really nothing that, you know, I can do that Cam can't do. There's maybe a list of three things that we can think of.

Reality TV World: You said in your final words you ran across some bad luck and made some bad decisions. Was it just the stress and pressure of the Race that got to you? Did you find yourselves having tunnel vision at times?


Darius Benson: The way it works with us is that we learn things really, really quickly. So going into the Race, we know we've never raced before so we're definitely not going to really know everything.

But, you know, that's going to be the same for anything. We were just confident in our ability to adapt quickly, and I think we did! I think we did. I mean, we made a couple mistakes in the first two legs, but the third leg was really, really good for us -- up to the end, when there was that confusion with the mochiles.

Cameron Benson: I think what got us was that, maybe like, we weren't asking for help from other teams. Because teams that worked together always got out of challenges pretty fast -- or out of a situation pretty fast. I wouldn't say that necessarily our intelligence wasn't being applied.

One thing they didn't show in the second episode was that all five of the 10 huts had been built when we showed up, and we had picked that challenge not knowing that they had all been built.

I think it was [Zach King and Rachel King] and [Cole LaBrant] and his mom [Sheri LaBrant] were working on two of the shacks, and three of them had been completed, but they didn't look complete to us because they didn't have the chairs and tables.


So basically, we had to figure out from the clue that all five had been done and that ate up some time, just because once you pick one of the Detours, you can't switch unless you know that all five have been completed. It was a very hard thing to figure out, and I guess they didn't show it because it was kind of just too subtle for the audience at home to understand what we had figured out.

But I feel like what really got us was the airplane-Mexico fiasco which put us in eleventh place going into Cartagena. Without that 30-minute penalty, I mean, I feel like we wouldn't have been last, because it came down to seconds!

Reality TV World: Which team did you view as the potential biggest threat and which teams could you have envisioned yourselves aligning with down the road?

Darius Benson: Probably [Kurt Gibson and Brodie Smith] because I would say they are the most similar to us when it comes to athleticism. They're both really good competitors.

Cameron Benson: Yeah, Brodie and Kurt were pretty strong. We didn't get to...


Darius Benson: Actually, [Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl] too.

Cameron Benson: Yeah, Tyler and Korey were cool. We got to meet them. Brodie and Kurt, I didn't really talk to them at all during the Race because I didn't see them during the Race, but we did team up with [Burnie Burns] for a while because we were in the back going into the puzzle challenge, but we didn't actually work with him. We just sort of became friends with him. So going down the line into the Race, I could totally see us working with Tyler and Korey and Burnie and [Ashley Jenkins].

Reality TV World: Were you two fans of The Amazing Race before going on it, and did you actually apply to compete on the show or did producers contact you because of your Vine presence?

Darius Benson: Well, I guess my management contacted me about the opportunity and said that CBS was looking for social media stars to be contestants. So that's how we found out about it, and once I found out about it, I was like, "Cam will love this, because this is just, like, a huge challenge for us to do together." So we sent in a video and we ended up going to casting and it all worked out! As far as being fans of the show, I think Cam, you were more of a fan of the show, right?

Cameron Benson: I had seen some of the show before we got contacted, but after, that was when I watched every season.


Darius Benson: Yeah, we studied it! (Laughs)

Reality TV World: What was your motivation for going on the Race? A lot of viewers are wondering whether the teams this season are on the show just for self-promotion. Would you admit that was a part of it for you guys? Obviously television exposure couldn't hurt your careers.

Darius Benson: I was going on the Race for every single benefit the Race could give me. That's self-promotion, that's having an experience with my brother, that's traveling the world, that's accomplishing something, and possibly winning a million dollars. So, I was thinking about everything.

Cameron Benson: For me, over the summer, I was trying to travel and I was actually talking to somebody about how I never get to travel anywhere when the Race actually contacted me, so it was definitely a travel experience -- because I didn't even have a passport before the Race, so I hadn't really been out of the country. Of course I watched every episode because I was like, "Man, if we're going to win it, I need to know everything I need to know."

So pretty much, yeah, you are going into it for the million. Every team is going in for the million, but I mean, really, it's about travel, having an experience with other cool people -- people you wouldn't get to meet or hang out with -- and also, I guess there is the self-promotion aspect of it, but I mean, really, in all honesty, the million dollars and the travel is pretty much why everyone was doing it this season.

Reality TV World: Would you be up for doing The Amazing Race again? If so, how might you better prepare next time?


Cameron Benson: I would definitely be the one who's trying to do it again. I don't know about Darius, but yeah, it was really fun. I didn't really get to do much. Because when I'm watching the show, I'm like, "Man, I could do that Roadblock. I could do that Detour."

And in the end, it came down to me just doing one Roadblock and three Detours. So I feel like I haven't really gotten to do the Race as much as I would've wanted, and well, if at all. So, yeah, I'd definitely do it again.

Darius Benson: And for me, part of me feels like I would kind of want to do it again just because we didn't get to have the, you know, full experience. I feel like we went out kind of early. But also, there's so much that can go wrong. There's so many random things that can hold you back despite your efforts to stay on top of your game.

And there's all kinds of paperwork. It's a really hectic, stressful experience, so that's the part of me that's like, "I've done it; I don't know if I want to do it again. I've done it once and that's maybe enough."

As far as preparing for another Race experience, I would definitely become an expert in international travel and airports. (Laughs) Even though I think that was probably a small part of the Race, I think we were catching up with some of the contestants after the fact, and they said that Mexico City was really the only place that we had to buy tickets ourselves.

But you know, even so, that's where we lost the most when it comes to the Race, so that would've helped us out if we had a little bit more experience with that. Because I never traveled internationally.


To read the first half of Darius and Cameron's exclusive The Amazing Race interview with Reality TV World, click here.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski