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Reliving The Amazing Race with Mike and Mel White
by Reg Seeton
 The
funny thing about The Amazing Race is that the
competition is so touch and go that even certain
recognizable faces and well-known names haven't
been able to win CBS' hit reality adventure. Albeit
certain faces and names have mainly come from
the world of reality TV, this season of The Amazing
Race saw screenwriter Mike White, scribe of such
films as School of Rock, Orange County and Nacho
Libre, jump into The Amazing Race with his dad,
Mel.
For Mike and Mel the race was an adventure of a lifetime, as the father and son duo kept pace with the Season 14 teams through Austria, Romania, Russia, India and Thailand. From Mel making the decision to paraglide over the Austrian Alps to Mike running through the streets of Novosibirsk in underwear and work-boots, Mike and Mel were strong competitors, always in contention for top spot until they hit the bustling streets of Phuket, Thailand. At the end of the leg, Mike and Mel fell unlucky in Amazing Race love when they picked the wrong cab and became the latest team to be eliminated from The Amazing Race.
The day after their elimination, we took a call from father and son team, Mike and Mel White, to find out why they didn't stop to get directions, how The Amazing Race was different than how they pictured it, and what it was like to paraglide over the Alps and run the frosty streets of Russia with barely any clothes on your back.
THE DEADBOLT: So why didn't you guys stop the cab and go over to the other teams?
MIKE WHITE: Right at the time we saw them our cab driver was talking to dispatch and going, ‘Oh, I know where it is. I know where the gorilla is.’ Then we looked out the window and we saw all of the teams, and it wasn’t like they knew where they were going. They were just running around the streets looking crazy. So it just felt like at the time that this guy seems to know and these people are obviously lost. But then when he took us up to where he thought the gorilla was and it was obviously wrong. By the time we got back into the center of town, they were all gone and we didn’t know where they went.
MEL WHITE: We asked people in the airport in Bangkok who live in Phuket where this was, and they all said it’s at Patong Beach. So we had that disinformation. Then we had a cab driver who couldn’t turn around, because we couldn’t tell him to, and we made a bad decision.
THE DEADBOLT: So how tough was Thailand compared to India?
 MIKE: Actually, it wasn’t. We thought that India was just as [tough]. I mean it was just one of those days where we didn’t know how lost we were. We knew we were behind. It was frustrating dealing with the cab driver because he kept taking us to wrong places along the route. Like he would call his dispatch and find out where the other cabs were going so he would take us to places we were supposed to go, eventually, but not in the order we were supposed to go in them.
So he dropped us off, at one point, at the end of the rickshaw race. So we were like, ‘What are we doing here?’ And it seemed right because there were all of these flags for the show. Then it was like, ‘No, wait! This is the finish line.’ So we had to go somewhere else. It was a confusing day but it wasn’t actually that hard. It was hot, we were sitting in a cab, and they didn’t make us do that much. I mean the filling of the barrels was kind of fun, but it wasn’t that bad.
THE DEADBOLT: How far behind were you guys at the end?
MIKE: We were like five or ten minutes.
MEL: Kisha and Jennifer got lost on the way back. So if we had just a few more minutes somewhere along the line, we would’ve stayed in there. If we had a driver who understood anything, we could’ve been in there.
THE DEADBOLT: How did your strategy change from the beginning of the race.
MIKE: Not much. I think for us we decided that we weren’t going to get too caught up in what all of the other teams were doing, because there was a lot of drama with Tara and Jamie, Luke and Margie, and Tammy and Victor. You see it on the show. Sometimes they would like people and they would be mad about stuff, and it just felt like it took your energy away from what you wanted to focus on. So we just kind of ran our own race, for better or for worse.
THE DEADBOLT: Which team was your closest ally?
MIKE: Probably Kris and Amanda were the team we spent the most time with because we were on all of the flights with them. Once they were eliminated, it was Tammy and Victor. But Margie and Luke, we thought we were working with them for some of it. It turns out we weren’t. Turns out they weren’t working with us.
 THE DEADBOLT: So, Mel, what was the view like when you were paragliding?
MEL: Yeah, I’ll never forget that. The Alps down below, so idyllic, with green and cows and pastures and everything. So I was so relieved, first of all, that we were flying. I mean that in itself was a tremendous thrill, and then to be flying in that particular place. I only regret that the guy said, ‘Do you want to go down fast or slow? It’s very turbulent today.’ I said, ‘We’re in a race, let’s do it fast.’ But I wish we could’ve just skimmed over those alpine peaks without anything pushing us down.
THE DEADBOLT: Did you think that you were out of the race at that point?
MEL: Well, I could see them still running down. I thought we were gone, it was over, goodbye. As I was sailing out over there, I could see them running still. So that was just a very exhilarating moment to think we passed that disaster.
THE DEADBOLT: Mike, you didn’t look too happy when you were running in your underwear in Russia. What was that like?
 MIKE: It was fine. It felt like one of those obligatory, humiliating moments that only happen on reality television. I was frustrated, too, because I didn’t want to run in those boots. But they wouldn’t let me change my shoes.
MEL: [laughs] Imagine what wearing a thong was like. I thought he looked really good, though, didn’t you?
THE DEADBOLT: Yeah, he looked great. Cold ...
MEL: He looked like an Olympic star with those two guys running behind him in full uniforms.
THE DEADBOLT: What was Siberia like as a challenge?
MIKE: That leg was actually kind of fun, the Novosibirsk. But the one that involved the U-turn, the one with the logs, that was probably the lowest point of the race for our team. It was so cold and so not a fun challenge. Also, just the amount of flying it took to get there. By the time we got there, we were just so out of it. It was tough, a tough leg.
MEL: We picked an airplane that landed at one end of Moscow, another plane that took off from another airport clear across Moscow, and we had to go through these four subway systems. We had an hour or we’d have missed that plane, which we did miss. So just running to those airports, by the time we got to Jaipur, man, we could hardly stand up.
THE DEADBOLT: At any point did you guys feel like you were in a Bing Crosby, Bob Hope road movie?
MEL: [laughs] Every day I did. We were having as much fun as those two, only I can’t sing. Mike is a vegan, remember, and there were whole days where he couldn’t eat anything. We often didn’t have water until we got to the pit stop. That’s why she [Margie] was saying, ‘Can I have some water?’ And Phil was ignoring her, so she fainted to show him.
THE DEADBOLT: So that must’ve been doubly hard on you, Mike, energy-wise?
 MIKE: It really wasn’t a factor until toward the end of our run. Like in the last couple of legs or so, I was just dragging a little bit. The good news is that my dad got more energized the deeper into the competition we went. I leaned on him.
THE DEADBOLT: How was the race different than what you pictured before starting off?
MIKE: You know, the truth is, it was even more fun than our expectations. Well, at least mine. I was just shocked by how amazing it is that they are able to accomplish such a complicated organizational feat. I mean I’m sure there was lots of drama behind the scenes that we never knew about, but it’s just such an incredible kind of virtuoso feat of producing.
THE DEADBOLT: So why did you guys choose to go into it in the first place?
MIKE: I just wanted an adventure and some fun. I’d seen the show for years and it just seemed like the funnest thing you could do. So we just went for it.
MEL: I don’t think anyone can understand unless they’ve done it before, what it means to stand on that starting line and have Phil say, ‘You’re beginning a trip around the world.’ So losing that first leg was a nightmare for everybody on the race. For me, I was so afraid that whole day that we would be last. Once you’re not last on the first leg, then it gets easier. But I can tell you, I was really afraid I was going to screw up that first day.
THE DEADBOLT: Now that you’re away from it, how has the race brought you closer together?
 MIKE: Now we just have such a well of experiences to revisit. What’s crazy is how much there is to talk about in the two-plus weeks we spent racing. You know, it just feels like we have a lifetime of comical memories to go over. So that’s cool, and I think it’s fun to make new memories and bond over them.
MEL: Michael will call me up in the middle of the day and just start laughing because he’s thinking about something only he and I remember. So we have private jokes, too, that are really fun.
THE DEADBOLT: So Mike, one last question: Did Cesar [of the Dog Whisperer] take care of your dogs while you were on the race?
MIKE: [laughs] I wish. My dogs are now perfectly trained thanks to Cesar. But I have a friend who comes and takes care of the dogs when I go out of town.
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