Yahoo Lifestyle 'The Amazing Race 37's Bernie Gutierrez and Carrigain Scadden Say They Were 'Not Surprised' By Their Teammate Drama (Exclusive)
Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back! Every week, Parade's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team most recently eliminated from the race.
The Amazing Race is about trying to outpace the other teams. But sometimes an equal, if not bigger, enemy lies within. Bernie Gutierrez and Carrigain Scadden experienced that the hard way during their time on Season 37. The friends had become close through their mutual love of dragonboat racing. But, surprisingly, while they excelled in being in sync on the water, that did not extend to the land. From the jump, the two failed to get on the same page as a team, leading to a tense argument at the airport leading into the second leg. And while their lack of cohesion often put them behind, they were almost always able to persevere and push through to survive.
That is, however, until they touched down in Indonesia. Despite being on a flight hours behind the other teams by themselves, Bernie and Carrigain were able to catch up to the group. But they quickly fell behind again due to Jonathan and Ana Towns giving them an extra burden with their "Driver's Seat" power. The two were quite literally weighed down, and carried that into the rest of the leg. The nail in their coffin was when they got lost on the way to the Detour, emblematic of the bickering and disagreements that dictated the friends' journey through four legs of the race.
Now, out of the race, Bernie and Carrigan talk about their various conflicts, their reaction to the use of the "Driver's Seat," and what they learned about each other through their disagreements.
Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 37
Talk to me about your fandom and what made you decide to go from viewers to racers.
Bernie Gutierrez: Great question. So, I actually applied, maybe four years ago, with a different partner. It was one of my football teammates, not really knowing much about the show necessarily. So I wasn't aware that they like more like relationships, something that's more of a duo, people that like actually know each other to the core. So once I realized that, I was like, "The perfect partner is going to be Carrigain. She's the only one that can handle your girl." [Laughs.] Everything that got to do with me is her. She's the most patient with me and understands me the most. The weird thing is, a year before everything happened, we went to Puerto Rico to do our recording and film our audition tape. But if you know us, we probably took–
Carrigain Scadden: Oh my god, we probably have three hours of footage.
Bernie: And I don't know how to edit stuff. So I'm over here trying to edit on my phone. I'm like, "Girl, this is taking way too long. We're gonna have to meet up again."
Carrigain: And, like, it's your idea. I don't know how to edit. I don't even know what they're looking for.
Bernie: She didn't even care. She's like, "I did the video. You handle the rest." I'm like, "Got it. We're gonna have to record this again. Because this is way too long, and I don't know how to crop it." So, we never even submitted it. I was just like, "Whatever."
Carrigain: But after a while, she got a call, and they asked her to comment on the show. And they're like, "Hey, we want to put you with a partner." And that's when she said me. So we started our process, and I felt like, after a couple of interviews, and then we were at the starting line with Phil. And I was like, "Wait, hold on, what's happening?" [Laughs.]
Bernie: "We're here!"
So, a lot of what proved to be your undoing on the race came down to what seemed to be a communication breakdown. Did that surprise you at all? Or was it a matter of when, not if, you would get into a disagreement?
Bernie: No, exactly like that. Everyone that knows this would probably have been disappointed if there was not some sort of catfight. We're just very passionate individuals. We speak our minds. We have different opinions; we stick with our thoughts and opinions. So we're well used to going back and forth and going at it with each other. So it wasn't new for me. Personally, it was a little too soon. I said, "Oh no, we just started. We're already here. We're in trouble. This is not good." [Laughs.]
Carrigain: It wasn't good for the start. I was like, "Look, if this is how we're starting off, we gotta be better than this." But I think too, we have so many people back home here supporting us. And I think that we just felt like we couldn't let them down. We had to be right. We had to be the best. And I felt like there was so much more pressure that we put on ourselves that we felt we were in, and I think it just made it seem a lot more that we're like, "No, this is important. We have to do this right. We have to get it right." It was just so powerful.
Bernie: I forgot a little bit to have fun. How can I have fun? I'm competing. I am lost, I'm confused. I may be hungry, a little tired, I don't know.
From the conversation at the airport, the primary issue seemed to be that Carrigain felt her voice wasn't being heard, and that Bernie would insist on making the decisions, only to settle on Carrigain's suggestion anyway. Was that accurate to how things shook out?
Carrigain: I feel like it was partly that and partly figuring out how to trust our instincts. You know, like we had some strategies that I feel like didn't work out for us in the end. Not that they were bad strategies, but it's just like we we should have revised them. We're thinking early on, "Okay, Bernie already did two Roadblocks. It's time for Carrigain to do one. And I hop in this Roadblock that's definitely not suited for me, that's probably best suited for my partner. Which is not a bad strategy when you're thinking about dividing up the workload. But then I think when you're in game mode, it should have just been a little bit more evaluation of, like, "Shoot, yes, that's a good strategy. But it's not the good strategy for today. Because now we're putting somebody in Roadblock that is not their strength."
Bernie: It was smart in practice. But at the airport, I think the biggest problem was, like you said, I'm stubborn. A lot of it is my way or the highway, and something that she kind of knows. But again, when we're in that stressful situation, it's harder to just let Bernie be Bernie. It's like, "Nah, girl. I need you to come over here. I'm telling you, this is what it is." And I personally was having a hard time not taking control. That's what I do on my day-to-day, and I was struggling to let it go and let her take control, even though I knew she was supposed to be taking control. It's something that I work on [in] my day-to-day.
So I think that's what kind of started it, and me not empowering my partner, reminding her that I do need her. Even though I keep telling her "no" and "my ideas are better," I do really need her to be here. You are just as important as I am. And I think my words weren't coming across. And I think that put an emotional toll on her. And then just juggling that she doesn't want to let me down. She feels now that she's maybe not good enough. And that's not the case, because she is good enough. I'm just very competitive. And my words weren't coming out right. And that's something that I would probably change or work on, but it made us not hit that wall.
Well, you had an opportunity to direct your feelings not to each other, but to another team, when Jonathan and Ana gave you 25 pounds in the "Driver's Seat." Give me your reaction to that.
Bernie: Honestly, I was really upset. My claws were out. I know they kept saying that it was an accident. But that's for the birds, okay? I don't believe it. My gut tells me they had some gameplay, whatever it was. I don't know if we were threats, kick us down while we're down. Whatever it was. I just wanted them to own that decision. Don't say it was a mistake. Don't say you didn't mean to. And then the worst part is you give yourself 15, and then you do the freaking Express Pass. You don't even do the work! Give yourself the 25 pounds, and give the two little bitty girls 15.
Carrigain: In that moment, there was a big flash of just seeing red. I was just so angry. But I think, too, it was so hot; it was so sweaty. I already felt so nervous from being so behind, and I couldn't let my partner down. I feel like there was just so much going on in that moment. And so, yeah, I was really angry. But then I was like, "You know what? There's no point in being angry, being frustrated about it.
Bernie: The job is sweaty, gotta get it done. [Laughs.]
Carrigain: But then I look over, and I see Jeff with his 25 pounds. And I'm thinking, "Jeff's biceps and 25 pounds of rice, I'm already behind." So, in my mind, it just looks so much bigger to me. And I was like, "[Sighs.] Alright, here we go. We've got to get it done."
It seemed like you had a chance to maybe catch up with some of the other teams at the Detour. But you got lost getting there. What exactly happened? Was it as simple as not seeing a signpost?
Carrigain: I think that was the flip, right? Our instincts is, she does the physical, and I'm navigator. And so I'm beat down, I'm red, I'm hot, I can't see straight. I just want to find Jonathan and Ana and just make it all fall down. But we get there, and we don't see the sign. We asked someone, and she takes us the opposite way. So, in a frenzy, we run.
Bernie: The first mistake, like she said, we did was I got in charge of the directions, but I'm not supposed to be. I read the map wrong, alright? It was down, but not up down. If we turn around, it's right there, down.
Carrigain: So we go exactly the opposite way, straight to the top. So we ran the entire thing. And then we're like, "It's not up here." And then, on our way back down, we're going in and out trying to find it. And then finally, we get to the middle, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh." We see a map. There's a map right there. But I think we were all just so frenzied that I'm like, "Hey, it's down here." And she's like, "Ah, I don't think so." And I'm like, "It's on the map!" [Laughs.]
Bernie: When you watch the episode, Carrigain gets off and immediately wants to book it. Normally, that's what I do. I'm like, "Bye, let's get out of here!" So she started getting used to that. So she's like, "Okay, let me get a head start because this girl's about to start running." And again, now I'm the directions person. So I'm like, "Wait, we don't even know where we're going yet!" And that's what kind of cost us to miss the sign. We ask for directions. We get all lost. She's already tired from doing rice and the heat, and then I'm having her run up and down doing suicides, constantly telling me, "Bernie, I don't see any more signs."
Carrigain: "There's no signs. There's not The Amazing Race marker." The red and yellow, when you're watching it, as a fan, or in the show, you're looking for these red and yellow markers. And there's no markers. So now I feel like we're in no man's land.
Bernie: And then we also see Han and Holden and Nick and Mike. I'm like, "Okay, we see them. Do we just do this Detour? Let's just do this business. We're just lost in general."
Carrigain: But they were already shopping, so they weren't at the start of the Detour. So we're just randomly with them at apples.
Bernie: Everyone's tired. We're not in our appropriate roles. The hats are not correctly on. We're slightly frustrated with each other. We know we're at the bottom of the pack. So it did take us a little longer to get to the Penjor. I do think if we would have gotten so lost, it would have been fine. We were so pretty behind, but we would have had more time. Even though we had a little bit of, "Even though they're pretty much done, we got this," it would have given us more hope, seeing that they weren't fully done. Maybe they're just halfway done, and giving us more of a boost.
This is actually what we do best together, is working together. When we're working together, we actually work well. I know I'm competitive, and I'm controlling. But I'm also aware of her strengths when it comes to an actual competition, like a task, and I'm going to lean on her. Whether it was like the sumo wrestler, she was directing me the whole time what to do. In origami, even though I've done it before, she could still see the little things when my brain starts to go, "Error, error." So, being able to come together with our strengths is what we do best. And I think that's when we also caught up the most is when we did things together. We maybe struggled getting there a little bit. But once we got there, y'all better hurry! [Laughs.]
[Laughs.] Finally, Bernie, you've expressed that this race taught you some things you needed to learn about yourself. But what did you and Carrigain learn about the other person racing around the world together?
Carrigain: I think she's trying really hard to find balance between her intuition and that fire, what most people would call ego. And it's not an easy dance. I think egos pride and that fire is here to protect us and keep us strong and help us to move forward. But it's very easy to burn your partner in the process, or be like, "I need this to be as perfect as it could be." Versus what I feel like, maybe, like she said, finding some enjoyment, slow down a little bit in the race. Because I feel like those moments where you see other teams that are really strong at it just take a moment and be like, "Actually, this is a better choice," it pays off for them in the long run. As [opposed] to being like, "I need to win this right now. I need to be the top of the pack right now. I need to be in first place right now." It's like, okay, right now we just need to be alive. And then tomorrow we can be in first place. We just have to get there.
Bernie: I think what I learned most about Carrigain is learning how I can better support her in situations where I'm not being my best self. Or the parts of me that aren't the best come out, that other people are not fond of, just understanding your partner's needs. I was able to understand better what she needs from me when we're in that haywire. Because I think about it all the time. As competitive as I am, I know emotionally, I wasn't the best teammate. And that's big in this game as well. It's not just being able to complete tasks. Emotionally, I need to be there for my partner and reminding her that she is this shit. We're not competing with each other. We're competing with the world.
Carrigain: Like you said, we need to direct all that energy, all that focus on somebody else that we should be taking down,
Bernie: I think this brought us closer together. Even though at points, we're like, "I'm gonna take us farther apart from each other." But we have to live through hard times to learn more about each other and learn what we need from each other. So, shoot, I'm just ready to get my comeback or my second chances or my all-stars! Because, look, I have a whole book written of how I'm going to be better.
