Teams hope their 'Race' begins in a Tampa hotel
By LETITIA STEIN
Published July 19, 2005
TAMPA - A sleepless night in the chilly banquet hall at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino marked the first test for about 100 hopeful contestants for CBS' The Amazing Race .
Spring Hill teachers Linda Brown, 34, and Eileen Pandolfo, 35, were first in line at 8 a.m. Monday, when CBS affiliate WTSP Ch. 10 started passing out audition numbers. They had been at the hotel since Sunday afternoon.
Then two winners of a Magic WWRM-FM 94.9 radio contest cut to the front.
"Already cheating," snickered Don Salvato, 37, who breezed in, bright-eyed, about 8:30 a.m. He wore a red T-shirt with a photograph of his partner, 28-year-old Charles Severns.
"We're strong boyfriends, so we have the gay thing to go by," Severns said, explaining the Tampa couple's pitch. "I'm a cancer survivor. He's ex-military. We're good TV. We fight a lot."
The Amazing Race , which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m., is a globe-trotting reality show featuring teams of two people who know each other well. Married couples, siblings, best friends and off-and-on lovers confront each other and relationship stereotypes - while racing to win $1-million.
This spring, the seventh season's finale drew 15-million viewers nationally. The next season will begin airing this fall. Start dates remain uncertain for season nine, now receiving applications.
On reality TV, the camera sees all. And Tampa had a lot to show. A pair of nurses tried out to escape shifts on the psychiatric ward. Middle-aged Parrotheads from Spring Hill are searching for the perfect beer. Two Largo neighbors want to become the show's first deaf contestants.
By the end of the day, Tampa had fielded a total of 155 teams. Each had two minutes before a rolling camera to explain why they should advance to a semifinal round, tentatively set for September. Here's a behind-the-scenes peek at the casting call:
Gary and Kevin
Two men in Jimmy Buffett T-shirts, khaki shorts and white tennis shoes stand around an X marked in tape on the carpet. Both wear glasses.
"He's Gary," says Kevin Purcell, 46, to the camera. His bowling budding from Spring Hill points back.
"He's Kevin," responds Gary Gibbs, 44.
Kevin has salt-and-pepper hair. Gary's hair is starting to go.
"We're searching for the perfect beer," Kevin starts. "The perfect beach," Gary adds.
"Margaritaville is out there," continues Kevin, "And we're going to find it. The Amazing Race is the place to do it."
Gary and Kevin want to provide comic relief.
"If you take it serious, you don't have a chance," Kevin explains, cutting to the chase. His team does have a major weakness. "If they are looking for looks ..."
"We don't have any," says Gary, finishing Kevin's sentence.
John and Sena
The cameras may or may not show that 58-year-old Sena Arlandson is wearing a pink flip-flop on one foot and a dark green one on the other. This is her everyday style. She isn't trying to impress producers, like the contestant in a green wig.
Bright lights illuminate her soft blond curls.
And her partner's completely bald head.
"We're a brand new combination," Sena begins. "We're psychiatric nurses."
"I've never seen this show," confesses teammate John Sheridan, 48, who works with Sena at a hospital in Sarasota.
He's getting familiar with the concept. John and Sena arrived without required passports or personal photographs. They raced back to Sarasota to snap mug shots with a digital camera usually reserved for patients.
"We need the money, because nursing is hell these days and we want to get out," Sena says. "What else is good about us? Well, we're cute ..."
"And energetic," John observes in a monotone voice.
"We can restrain anyone," Sena adds, offering also to counsel the show's staff.
Brian and Matthew
Brian McGinnis, 33, and Matthew Barnhart, 32, are friends and neighbors in Largo. Matthew has bleached blond hair. Brian wears a cap with sunglasses perched over the bill. They play softball and football together.
How they talk gets organizers buzzing.
As with the other contestants, their two minutes begin with a shot of their names on a dry-erase board. But neither says a word. Seconds roll by slowly.
Matthew and Brian's hands are moving furiously. Their faces are animated at the conversation.
"Communication may be a problem," says Matthew, breaking the silence.
Although deaf since birth, he can read lips and speak. A hearing aid alerts him to basic sounds.
Brian, who also is deaf, responds in sign language.
"We have to prove them wrong," Matthew replies. "We can."
Brian and Matthew exchange high-fives.
And that's a wrap.