by Reg Seeton
After jumping to the front of the pack on The Amazing Race 16, Rhode Island detectives Louis Stravato and Michael Naylor became one of the teams to beat on this season of The Amazing Race. Although Louis and Michael became Amazing Race front-runners and held strong for most of the race, The Amazing Race competition got tough for Louis and Michael in China where the two detectives found themselves on the wrong side of time. When brothers Dan and Jordan hit The Amazing Race mat ahead of them to secure a spot in the final Amazing Race three, Louis and Michael were eliminated from competition and walked away from The Amazing Race with their heads held high.
Despite a strong showing on The Amazing Race, Louis and Michael stirred up their fair share of Amazing Race controversy when they clashed with Joe and Heidi early in the race before encountering conflict with Carol and Brandy. In the end, Louis and Michael came up short in a race against time with Dan and Jordan in a search for their names in a souvenir that took longer than the other teams.
The morning after Louis and Michael were eliminated from The Amazing Race, we caught up with the two Rhode Island detectives to learn more about what went wrong on The Amazing Race, their relationship with Carol and Brandy, and what, if anything, Louis and Michael could have done differently.
THE DEADBOLT: When I talked to Carol and Brandy, they were surprised at how you felt about them. Was that all strategy for the U-turn or to fuel the feud with Brent and Caite?
MICHAEL NAYLOR: Well, when you say how we felt about them, we weren't that friendly. That was the shocker of me. We knew them, but we were a lot friendlier with Jet and Cord, Daniel and Jordan, Brent and Caite, Monique and Shawn, and Steve and Allie. Those people we hung out with and had some social moments. We didn't have that many moments with them [Carol and Brandy]. We were on one long boat ride in the Seychelles and we shared a few moments.
But you know, we're in a race for a million dollars. I truely felt they were going to be a threat in a city. Not anywhere along the race, but in a city. If they make it to the final three, they'd be a threat. They were very well traveled. Carol knew which malls had carpeting and which ones didn't. You know what I mean? She did something with malls, building malls or renting out malls, so she's been everywhere. How do you not see yourself as a threat? How do you take it personal that you get U-turned? I mean, if you U-turn Jet and Cord - At one point, Jet says to me, "If we get to a U-turn, I'm going to U-turn you." I'd take that as a compliment.
LOUIS STRAVATO: My whole thing with Carol and Brandy is the way they treated Brent and Caite was ridiculous and it turned me off. It was like, "How old are you anyway?" They were in their forties, like we are, and these kids are twenty years old. Come on, grow up. You're letting twenty year old kids rule your mind and rule the way you think. That was their demise, they way they treated [them], the way they were thinking, and the way they were acting. They ruined themselves. They were their own demise.
THE DEADBOLT: Kind of like Joe and Heidi?
MICHAEL: Exactly.
LOUIS: Exactly.
THE DEADBOLT: Looking back now, how do you think it would've been different if you guys would've ditched Dan and Jordan on the last leg?
LOUIS: I don't know if that would've made any difference. I mean, obviously ...
MICHAEL: [laughs] You're picking a scab of Louis'. I think, Reg, on this, that we did the right thing by staying with them. I like our competition with us. I want to fight it out with them and go from there. Louis, at one point, said he wanted to ditch them. I'm saying I like our competition, be positive, we made up two hours. They had a two hour head start on us. So you look back and you say, "You know, we made up the difference, let's be happy. Let's do good out there.
LOUIS: I didn't mind that we saw them. I was happy that we saw the because we were behind by two hours. So I was happy that we saw them. But at that point, I didn't want to be aligned with another team again like we were in South America, becasue we made bad decisions. I had drilled Danny. I drilled him and I said, "Danny, did you go into that museum?" - "Yes" - "Did you use the Chinese translation service, the Shanghi translation service that was available to us?" You had to find somebody with a phone to do it, but he goes, "Yes." I mean, loud and clear. Mike heard me. He had to hear me, and he answers me, "Yes."
Well, not even an hour later, when we find a taxi and someone with a phone, Mike calls the translation service again and there it is. It's as clear as day, "Oh, the bridge, the Garden Bridge? That's down ..." And it wasn't even near where we were. I was so angry about that. So I was kind of hoping we had lost them in the cab ride . Yeah, I was, I'm not going to deny that. But ...
THE DEADBOLT: It is what it is.
LOUIS: It is what it is.
MICHAEL: If fate had made us lose them in the cab, I wouldn't cry over it. It is what it is. But they stayed with us and in the end we made great television. It was a close race at the end. It is what it is and it was pretty close.
THE DEADBOLT: Why do you think Brent and Catie made it so far?
LOUIS: Brent and Catie made it that far because they are wiser than what they appear to be. They're atheletic as well, but they're wiser than what they're appearing to be. And Southern? I mean, I don't know if that Southern drawl is not appealing to other people and it comes off like you're not that smart. They were very bright and they were very aware of their surroundings and what was going on.
MICHAEL: Yeah, don't underestimate those kids. They were good kids and they seem pretty smart. They were very atheletic and they were traveled. I mean, they've been to Germany and they've been around. So they weren't some local yocals that never traveled. They were smarter than you thought, that's for sure.
THE DEADBOLT: Was there anything you wished got aired that we didn't see?
MICHAEL: [laughs] Oh yeah, Louis likes to whine that he carried two foot ...
LOUIS: I carried two of the biggest incense holders up the steps on my first trip up the steps before dying of cardio induced asthma. I friggin' did two of the biggest ones, but they didn't show that.
THE DEADBOLT: So how is Rhode Island helping your cardio?
LOUIS: I've been training a lot more differently these days than I used to, so my cardio is a lot better.
Mike and Louie are two-faced. They wanted Joe/Heidi and Carol/Brandy out because they didn't like them. Mike and Louie said they wanted Carol and Brandy gone because they were "negative" until Jordan questions the motives of U-Turning Carol and Brandy then it they said it was because C&B were a threat. Everything with Mike and Louie is personal. They are very prejudicial individuals. Mike and Louie were nice to the other teams face-to-face and then talked trash about them behind their backs like how they said Dan and Jordan were immature and they didn't want to race with them in the finale because they weren't "good people."
