Their ‘Amazing’ adventure: $1M ‘Race’ winners share their secrets - Entertainment, TV, Television - Navy Times

Their ‘Amazing’ adventure: $1M ‘Race’ winners share their secrets

After sprinting across five continents, nine countries and 22 cities in 25 days, an Army helicopter pilot and his wife claimed the $1 million prize on CBS’ “The Amazing Race” season finale.

Maj. Dave Brown and his wife, Rachel, were accomplished travelers even before filming began late last year. He’s a Black Hawk pilot and Iraq War veteran now teaching ROTC at the University of Wisconsin, and she regularly jets off to meetings as a project manager for a software company.

Pitted against 10 other two-person teams, the Browns put all that travel know-how to work in the globe-trotting competition, which includes a series of mental and physical challenges through a dozen major legs of the epic trek. In fact, the pair garnered eight of 12 individual wins — adding two new cars and several trips to their winnings and setting a record in the show’s 20th season.

While most of us will never enjoy such fortune, the treasures of travel can come in other ways.

Dave and Rachel’s tips to make the most of your next journey:

Pack smart: “The Amazing Race” contestants get no packing lists. They buy their own gear and bring whatever they think they’ll need to make it around the globe while still staying light enough to move fast. The Browns stuffed about 35 pounds of gear apiece into a pair of rugged Osprey rucksacks rated to fit as carry-on luggage. They used big Ziploc bags to keep things as organized and compact as possible.

Take care of your feet: “If you’re traveling for more than four or five days in any kind of unrelenting environment, you definitely want to have more than one pair of shoes,” Dave says. The Browns had pairs of lightweight Merrell minimalist shoes for backups and for when their running shoes got wet.

Stay healthy: The Browns had easily accessible hand sanitizers attached to the backs of their rucks. “That way she could use mine and I could use hers right off the bag without having to open anything up.”

Carry spare bags: Despite your best efforts, sometimes sickness is unavoidable. Heavy smog in Paraguay left Rachel so nauseated she was throwing up between Dave’s legs while racing to the next obstacle. The scene wasn’t filmed because the cameraman assigned to the Browns was just as sick, says Dave, who saved the day: “Always have a large Ziploc bag on your person at all times.”

Travel frugally: Contestants were allowed to spend a limited amount of money during each leg of their journey, so the Browns were not shy about scrounging whenever they could. “We were very conscious of the leg money and not depleting our funds on something as frivolous as food,” Dave says. For example, if the passenger next to him on a flight looked like she was going to leave a bun uneaten, he’d ask for it. “Anything that was complimentary or perceived to be complimentary, it was going in the pack.”

Repair yourself: The pair always had Band-Aids and moleskin at the ready, but it was regular black pepper (among scrounged condiments) that helped staunch a nasty cut Dave got during a challenge in India. With the cut too big for a Band-Aid, he used some 100-mph tape to keep it covered.

Beat jet lag: “The only way I know of is to sleep as much as possible on the aircraft itself,” Dave says. Be sure to leave a note where a flight attendant can see it that you want to be awakened for any meals.

Don’t kill your traveling companion: Traveling can bring out the worst in even the best relationships, and the Browns got a reputation for bickering early in the show. But Dave says what many saw as sniping was often their own brand of competiveness. Still, “spouses or anyone emotionally involved with one another need to learn safety words” that can help defuse the stress bombs, he says. “We had a safety phrase — ‘I need some time’ — but depending on how heated the dispute was getting, that might or might not have worked.”

Learn from your mistakes: Taking a page from Dave’s Army training, at the end of each leg, the couple made sure to do “an informal after-action review: What did we do right? What did we do wrong? What do we need to improve on? Have we identified any strengths or weaknesses that we didn’t previously know about? We looked at it very logically and intently.”

Make new friends: “Comedy is universal,” Dave says. During one challenge, contestants had to persuade Japanese passers-by to pose for pictures behind sumo wrestler cutouts. “I just tried to be as funny and personable as possible.”

Talk to someone when you don’t know the language: “Speaking louder does not work,” Dave says with a laugh. Instead, speak slowly using simple, single-syllable words if they seem to know a little English, or better yet — as he did during the Tanzania leg — use a notebook so you can draw whatever you’re trying to communicate.

Get a good cabbie: Look for a local. “The best cab driver we had in any leg of the race was the last one in Hawaii. I went down four cabs, him being the fifth, before I found a 350-pound Samoan who I could assure you lived there his entire life.” Also, try to find someone you can identify with. Dave noticed that particular cab driver also had military stickers on his vehicle and a veteran’s hat on. “It was kismet at that point.”

Keep your head when everything is going wrong: “Take deep breaths and try to focus on life’s real priorities,” he says. When the pair had to go back to do a missed obstacle on the last leg of the race, they figured it was game over, but still made a point to cheer each other on. “The big picture is our marriage and our relationship, which will continue to succeed with or without a million dollars.”