B. J. Averell (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Brian Jeffrey "B.J." Averell (born November 26, 1979 in Camden, New Jersey) is a Harvard graduate and reality show contestant who won The Amazing Race 9 with teammate Tyler MacNiven.

Education

A native of Collingswood, New Jersey, Averell graduated from Collingswood High School in 1998, and attended Harvard University. In 2000, he ran for Undergraduate Council president. Considered a wild-card, Averell was twice cited with campaign violations before being forced to shut down his campaign.

At Harvard, Averell was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the improv group On Thin Ice. He also wrote daily comic strip "The Neil World" for The Harvard Crimson. With fellow Harvard student B.J. Novak, he co-produced and hosted "The B.J. Show," which one year featured Bob Saget reprising his television roles in a few skits and ending the show with his own standup routine. He would eventually graduate with a degree in religion, and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment.

Logan Airport Incident

On November 24, 1999, Averell showed up late for a 6:15 p.m. flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Philadelphia aboard a Delta Express commuter flight, and was denied access to the small jet because his assigned seat had been given away. Averell slipped past the attendant at the gate, blended in with other passengers crossing the tarmac and proceeded to find refuge in a rest room and settled onto a toilet seat. "Once I got on, I figured maybe through some stroke of fate no one would have to use the bathroom," Averell said. He was given away by another passenger and arrested before the flight departed. He was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. He later told a news photographer he was surprised at how easy it was to stow away.

Averell pled not guilty, and two months later state prosecutors and Delta Air Lines agreed to drop all charges against him. According to Averell"s lawyer, the decision came because the student "was not belligerent to anyone".

The Amazing Race

In 2006, Averell appeared as a contestant on the ninth edition of the American television series The Amazing Race. He and his teammate, Tyler MacNiven, whom Averell met during a "Semester at Sea" four years earlier, beat out ten other teams to win the show's $1 million prize. BJ and Tyler, as they were identified on the program, were nicknamed "the hippies" by the other teams.

BJ and Tyler came in last in two legs of the race, but luckily both legs were non-elimination pit stops. Host Phil Keoghan said, "They enjoyed every single moment they were on this race, whether they were in first or in last. They kept their spirit all the way to the end." "If it"s this successful to be hippies, we might as well stay hippies," Tyler said at the finish line in Denver, Colorado. B.J. added, "I think that on this Race being cerebral doesn't help as much as being in the moment. It's just great to stay positive and really enjoy each other's company. Our friendship is what got us through it."

For the All-Star season of the show though, BJ and his best friend were not selected to join the competition. His best friend posted on Former Racers Blog the following statement:

"What would be ironic is if someone were putting together an all-star version of the race and contacted teams like Lynn & Alex and Brian & Greg, but did not contact us, the most popular and amazing team of all time, about it,"

To which BJ replied:

"Trust me, if they were doing that, they would contact us. We were the most well-liked team ever to compete on the Race, as shown by CBS's own website. I'm sure they wouldn't just pick a gimmicky team like Rob & Amber or a 'competitive' team like Colin & Christie, and turn their backs on friendly winning teams like us and Chip & Kim, leaving us to find out about it from some gossip site like tvgasm.com. We were the most winningest winners ever to win. I imagine they'd do something like they did with Big Brother, and let the fans vote on which teams they'd like to see compete. That would be the smart thing to do; better than casting fighting couples again."

Acting

• In 2005, BJ played the part of an escaped criminal in the movie "Saving Shiloh".
• Also in 2005, BJ appeared in the 4th episode of CSI's 6th season. He played a member of a cult that committed suicide in the episode titled "Shooting Stars."
• In 2010, BJ appeared as a beer vendor in the 9th episode of Weeds's 6th season, entitled "To Moscow, and Quickly."
• Introduced himself as Bingo on Control TV while crashing on Tristan Couvares's loft as a "couch surfer" for Control TV.

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