Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' eliminees Brodie Smith and Kurt Gibson talk (Part 2)

The Amazing Race eliminated "Best Friends" Brodie Smith and Kurt Gibson during the latest broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 28th season. 
 
Brodie and Kurt became the seventh team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's tenth Pit Stop at the Bajra Sandhi monument in Bali, Indonesia in last place.


Brodie and Kurt got U-Turned, meaning they had to complete both sides of the Detour task, and therefore seemed to have little chance of making up lost time.

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

Reality TV World: Why do you think you worked so well together as a team?

Brodie Smith: I think we both have this competitiveness that made us work so well together on the Race. There was never a moment where one person was super, like, "We gotta go, we gotta go," and other person was just, like, chill. We both want to compete; We both want to win. And so, we thrive off of each other's competitiveness, and I think that's why we work really well together.


Reality TV World: You two were optimistic about getting to the Double U-Turn board before at least one other team. What was going through your minds heading there? What did you expect to happen? What were you planning on doing if you got there and a spot was open?

Kurt Gibson: Well, we weren't sure if Tyler and Korey were going to U-Turn us, but to be honest, when we started in fifth place and we were only 15 minutes behind Tyler and Korey, as soon as we read that clue and it said, "Caution, U-Turn ahead," I don't think you heard it, but I think I said, "Oh crap!"

Something like, "Oh no," or along those lines, just knowing that we're in last and if we don't get there in the first two, we're going to be screwed. And what we didn't think was going to happen was that if we got there outside of the Top 2, that you know, the other team would block us right on that Double U-Turn.

We hadn't suspected that, but Burnie and Ashley are really smart and they play the game, so it's just what they did. You know, I think we were just trying to get there in the Top 2. To be honest, I thought we were going to get U-Turned, and we did, but I was hoping we could U-Turn somebody else too.

Brodie Smith: We definitely knew that if we got there first or second, we'd still be in the Race because we'd have the ability to U-Turn someone else. If we got there third, we still felt pretty confident. I thought Dana and Matt would've done what Burnie and Ashley did; I didn't think Burnie and Ashley were going to do that. But they ended up doing it! So yeah, that's just how it worked out, I guess.


Reality TV World: Looking back, what do you think about the critical decision you made to use your Express Pass when Brodie was working on that puzzle? Was that the right time to use it? Brodie, do you wish you had stuck it out a little longer in order to try and save it? Because I know the kite Roadblock task afterwards was tough.

Brodie Smith: Yeah, so I think a lot of people watching the show could easily say, "Well, they used it too early." But we held onto it for a couple legs. We didn't use it right away.

Kurt Gibson: We got it in Armenia and didn't use it in one leg.

Brodie Smith: For how late in the Race [the pass] was given, we didn't really have that many legs to play around with. So, I knew that we were either going to use it in that leg or the next leg, and I know going in, we didn't want to use it.

But we were in the front, and at the time being, I thought it was a way of us staying in front, not letting any of the other teams know that we have used the Express Pass, so they would still kind of be worried in that nature.


And honestly, I really felt -- I was just telling Kurt about it -- I really felt we were going to be flying somewhere and there were going to be multiple flights and so staying in front was going to be a huge thing for us in the next leg.

And unfortunately, we were all on the same flight out, so being in first or being like Sheri and Cole -- who finished several hours behind us -- it didn't matter. But yeah, if we go on the Race again, definitely if we get to a Roadblock and we're struggling, we'd definitely wait for other teams.

Another problem about being out front is that no one else is really there, and so, I know when I did it, it looked like every other team kind of knew it was possible and knew what to do because [they could help each other]. Talking with Dana, she was saying if she was by herself there, she didn't think she would've been able to do it.

Kurt Gibson: We were there for, like, 30-40 minutes and it seemed like an eternity obviously that Brodie was trying to figure it out. So, it just starts going through your mind like, "Jeeze, he might not ever get it! He might not get it!" Hindsight is 20/20 obviously, but even at the time, I remember when we used it up, I was like, "God, I think we probably could've used it better."

But, you know what? When you can just feel the other teams breathing down your neck, you kind of get in your mind like, "If we can stay far ahead, there will be two flights or we can keep our lead on the next leg," which obviously ended up being an equalizer and a non-elimination. So the worst possible thing happened to us.


Brodie Smith: Yeah.

Kurt Gibson: So, it looks like a bad decision. It certainly wasn't a great decision, that's for sure.

Brodie Smith: Yeah. It definitely wasn't great, but it's something we'll learn from if we ever go on the show again.

Reality TV World: At the time you guys left the Race, were you rooting for a particular team to win? Maybe a team you thought was most deserving, or one who didn't screw you over? (Laughs)

Kurt Gibson: No.


Brodie Smith: We didn't really...

Kurt Gibson: I mean, we were friends with everybody. Everybody was friends with each other and cordial. I think we were obviously a little bitter just because we lost and we hate losing, right? But other than that, no. I think we just said, you know, "Whoever is going to earn it is going to earn it, and whoever races the best at the end will get it."

Brodie Smith: And all of those teams -- like Tyler and Korey, who we were fighting neck and neck with -- Dana and Matt were usually towards the front and Burnie and Ashley obviously. And Sheri and Cole just came on late. So, all of those teams are deserving. We were just bitter, I guess, at the fact that we lost and we weren't going to be able to fight for the championship.

Reality TV World: Brodie, you said in your final words you planned to take Blair Fowler out once you returned to Los Angeles. Whatever happened with that?

Brodie Smith: Yeah, well, probably nothing. I don't know what you want to write, but we're friends. And we were friends on the Race.

Reality TV World: What was it like racing against a girl you had a crush on? Was that ever a distraction? Did you ever feel compelled to help her and her dad Scott Fowler when maybe, in a normal situation, you wouldn't have?


Brodie Smith: We legitimately saw them for like five minutes. We saw them a little bit at the Candy [Detour], we saw them very briefly in Georgia, right as we were leaving, they just showed up for the dancing. But other than that, we didn't see them on the Race, so it was never a distraction or an issue, really. A lot of times in the Race, you're just by yourself, like you're not really around other people.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race? Were you fans of the show and therefore applied or were you contacted because of your social media presence?

Brodie Smith: You guessed it! I was contacted because I am huge on social media.

Kurt Gibson: (Laughs)

Brodie Smith: No, I'm just kidding.

Kurt Gibson: I think actually, because it was a social media season, they reached out to Brodie obviously because he's got a very big following. And then through Brodie, he reached out to me, and then we kind of went through the whole interview/casting process.


And then we made it on. I know there's a lot of social media people involved, but we were able to be unique -- unique enough to get ourselves a spot on the Race. And I am certainly very blessed and thankful for the opportunity. It was an experience of a lifetime and one that I will never, ever forget.

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






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski