The Deadbolt Exclusive - Globetrotting with Flight Time and Big Easy of The Amazing Race

Globetrotting with Flight Time and Big Easy of The Amazing Race
by Reg Seeton

Season 15 of The Amazing Race has been memorable for a variety of unique reasons since the teams first spun the Wasabi Wheel in the premiere. Although The Amazing Race teams made it through the sizzling desert heat of Dubai, the latest run of The Amazing Race will also be remembered as the season that featured Harlem Globetrotters, Flight Time and Big Easy.

Throughout this season of The Amazing Race, Flight Time and Big Easy were always in the thick of competition and strong contenders to cross The Amazing Race finish line in first. But when The Amazing Race hit Eastern Europe, Flight Time and Big Easy went from frontrunners behind The Amazing Race brothers, Sam and Dan, in Estonia to last place in Prague where Big Easy found himself caught in a Kafka word trap.

The following day after Flight Time and Big Easy, were eliminated from The Amazing Race, we played an exclusive interview game of two-on-one with the two Harlem Globetrotters to find out what went wrong, what Flight and Big Easy would have done differently, how Big Easy felt about his Amazing Race trash talk in Dubai, and what it means to be a Harlem Globetrotter.

THE DEADBOLT: So I guess you guys know how the Washington Generals feel?

BIG EASY: [laughs] No, not at all. You know, we ran a great race with a positive attitude and we had fun doing it.

THE DEADBOLT: Since you guys waited so long on the penalty, do you think you should've kept at it?

BIG EASY: No, I don't think. At the time, we made a decision and we stick with all of our decisions. It was taking me three and a half hours to do it and I already had the word on my paper, but I didn't know I had the word on my paper. So it was tough for me to go back and write something that I already wrote down. I probably would've been even longer than four hours. So you never know, anything can happen. We stick with the decision we made.

THE DEADBOLT: What was going through your mind when Dan held back the word? Would you have given it to him?

BIG EASY: For a half second, I was like, that's just Dan and that's how they ran the race. That was their strategy and I have nothing against him for that. But then I think I would've given it to him, because if you watch the race, I was giving him the word before I even said the word. So if I would've been correct, he would've known what I had. That's just the race we chose to run and that's nothing against him.

THE DEADBOLT: So Flight Time, what was going through your mind when you were sitting out there waiting? It must have been tough.

FLIGHT TIME: Well, we were the third team to get there. Sam and Dan were there when we arrived and Meghan and Cheyne had already figured it out and left. But yeah, it was a little bit frustrating, and definitely to see Brian come out with the word. I just knew he [Big Easy] was having a hard time and I felt for him. But he did so many things previously in the race to help us get to that point. I mean, I couldn't have made it that far without him, and vice versa, so the frustration was minimal. We would've loved to have been running in the final three, but unfortunately it didn't happen for us.

THE DEADBOLT: When I talked to Mika and Canaan, they said you guys patched everything up. Do you regret trash talking up on the slide?

BIG EASY: No, I don't think it was trash talking. You know, we are professional athletes and we've got to win the game. It was competitive spirit, it wasn't mean. The only thing I told Mika was, "if you're scared, don't do it." I didn't tell her she's going to die. She was already up there for thirty minutes before we got there. So it was nothing mean toward her, it was just being professional athletes and being competitive. I don't have any regrets about what we did. We didn't want to go home, you know? It wasn't anything mean toward her, so I'm cool with it.

THE DEADBOLT: How many times during the race was height a disadvantage for you guys?

BIG EASY: When we did the fast forward challenge, the F-1 racing cars in Dubai. If you were over 6'3, you cannot compete in the challenge. So that gave the people who did the challenge two free legs. Basically, that you're going to get ahead of everybody else with two free legs.

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anything that we didn't see that you guys wished got aired over the season?

FLIGHT TIME: Actually, I'm not sure if I want the people to see it, but when we were in Cái Bè, Vietnam, me and Big Easy, after arriving at the dock of the bay, we didn't realize that we had to wait until the next day to actually go and fertilize the trees. So we took an excursion into the jungle about two and a half miles that they didn't show on television. It probably would've been hilarious, but they didn't show it. That's probably the only thing. Other than that I think they did a great job with the show. We were exactly how they showed us.

THE DEADBOLT: I've heard stories of someone breaking a stick shift. What's the deal with that?

FLIGHT TIME: Oh yeah, at the beginning of the race. I guess one of the teams had broken the gear shift trying to get out of the parking lot where the cars were. The whole time we thought that it was Lance that broke the gear shift. As the race went on, we later found out around talking that Brian was the person who actually broke the gear shift. He was trying so hard.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the reaction like from people around the world over the fact that you guys are Globetrotters?

FLIGHT TIME: It was great. The Globetrotters organization has been to one hundred and twenty countries around the world. So everywhere that we went there were people that didn't recognize us in particular, but they recognized the Globetrotters. Therefore, knowing what the Globetrotter represent, they were definitely willing to help us out with anything we needed.

THE DEADBOLT: For each of you, given the legacy left behind by such Globetrotter greats as Curly Neal, Geese Ausbie, and Meadowlark Lemon, how has being a Globetrotter changed your outlook on life?

BIG EASY: For myself, it changed me a lot. After I lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and coming from New Orleans, to be doing something that's so positive, it's great to be a role model around the world. So no matter what, when somebody sees what's on the front of my shirt, they smile and they remember. If they're in a bad place, it brings joy to them. That's why we represented ourselves so well on the show, because people hold us to a different standard than they hold everyone else.

FLIGHT TIME: For myself, I grew up in a very small town in Arkansas called Brinkley, and the population right now is probably a little bit over three thousand people, and it changed my life to show me that people from small places can do big things as well. A lot of people where I grew up never get to travel past Memphis or Little Rock, Arkansas. So for me to be able to travel around the world as a Globetrotter, as well as on The Amazing Race, I'm happy that I can still be an example and a role model for the people who support me and the people that I represent.

THE DEADBOLT: Are you guys involved in the new Globetrotters animated series at all?

FLIGHT TIME: Actually, I don't think there's one in play right now. But we have one in the works that they're supposed to be working on right now and I'm sure Big Easy and I will probably have some pretty strong roles in the animation cartoon.

-- Reg Seeton