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First Off 'The Amazing Race' -- and That's Okay Steve and Debra Carmody's kids were sitting around the dinner table several months back when the discussion turned to reality TV.
They thought that it might be OK to appear on "Survivor," but were less enthusiastic about "Fear Factor." However, "The Amazing Race," they all agreed, would be great. What they didn't know at the time was that Debra and Steve had just been accepted to compete on the fourth edition of the globe-trotting CBS series. They hadn't told anyone yet, because prior to the network's announcement of the players, those already in the know are bound by confidentiality forms to keep it to themselves. "I swear, we almost fell through the floor," Debra says.
Soon after that, of course, they did spring the news on the kids, who were initially concerned for them but grew more and more excited as the show's air date approached. "They know the show, and they were more concerned because they know us," says Steve, the news director for a group of public radio stations in Louisville, Ky. Both he and Debra freely admit they're not the most athletic types, and it was that fact that ultimately led to their being the first team eliminated from the show. The Carmodys were the last to arrive at a hotel in the Italian ski resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, site of the 1956 Winter Olympics. They arrived in town at the same time as three other teams but weren't able to finish the rope-bridge-walking, zip-line-riding, snow-hiking task ahead of any of their fellow competitors. "When we got to the mountain, we knew Reichen and Chip were ahead of us," Steve says. "And when we got on the [chairlift], we knew [David and Jeff] were behind us by about five chairs. So we've got about a five-step lead, and they're going to make that up real fast." At that point, they were still ahead of the eventual 11th-place team, models Tian and Jaree. "We were kind of hoping they had gone for the fast-forward" -- an element of the game that allows teams to skip a task and go straight to the destination -- "and it had already been taken," Debra says. "But obviously that didn't happen."
>The outcome came as a disappointment to the Carmodys' kids, but it was also something of a relief for their younger daughter, who's 22.
"Our youngest said 'I know this sounds bad, but I'm glad you got eliminated because I couldn't take much of this every week,' " Steve says. Since they knew they were going to finish last, Debra and Steve took their time and appreciated the scenery of the Italian Alps. "It was a beautiful sunny day," Steve recalls. "I've got my lovely lady by my side, and that's the whole point of us being in this race -- to be in a place like that, where we never thought we'd be, to have done things we never thought we'd have the opportunity to do." There were no regrets, then, when they faced host Phil Keoghan to get confirmation of their elimination. "I was almost hysterically giggly," Debra says. "It was so wonderful. We finished, we didn't quit, it was fun. I think Phil was in shock that we were acting happy." Related Shows
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