One Year of Reality and How It Nearly Killed Me: My Life Behind the Scenes (7 page)

My mom was excited. She was finally getting rid of the furniture she’d possessed since she was married and was chomping at the bit to have some newer, nicer things in her home. She had never really liked the furniture, but it was good, solid furniture, and she hadn’t wanted to give it away. I think she might have guessed that I would need it sometime down the road—after all, she knew what my old apartment had looked like! She organized a moving company to pick up the furniture in Indiana and deliver it to my new apartment in Santa Monica. Then she would fly out for a visit and help decorate the place and arrange the furniture. She had a good sense of design, so I was looking forward to having her help. Plus, it would be nice to see her.

However I wasn’t going to be in town when she arrived.

I had to fly out to New York to start putting things together for the first day of shooting for the very first episode
Amazing Race
. There was a lot to finish. Getting the crew their passports, organizing their flights for them, making sure the hotel was set up, meeting with the New York crew, and helping out with casting when needed. It was quite a busy experience. So when my mom flew in to Los Angeles and started setting up the furniture, I was
in New York helping
Amazing Race
get off to a good start. I can’t remember how long I was there; I want to say a couple of weeks. But I do know that my hotel room was the production office. We would have meetings with the New York crew there, and I really got to know a few of the crew, especially the production manager, Alison, whom I admired a great deal. She knew her stuff. She rattled off what was needed each day to her crew, and they did what she asked without giving her any guff. She was a real asset, someone I hoped to emulate. She was on top of everything, and she could bark out orders that were followed quickly and efficiently. I couldn’t have asked for a better crew.

Everything was abuzz. Network executives had flown into New York, and Philip and Terry were in town too. Philip had his hands full with all the equipment and crew. He set up a ballroom that was filled with gear and organized it for the crew’s arrival. I had some last minute problems with visas, and some of the crew had complications with their travel. As the issues mounted, all of us tackled them one by one because we all knew that the show had to go on!

And it did.

That first morning of shooting was exhilarating. We started in Central Park, and I just ran around and did whatever odd jobs needed to be done. My biggest responsibility was to get to JFK and hang out at Al Italia with a flag, indicating to the contestants that they could purchase tickets at that airline to start the race. It was such an adrenaline rush— what we had spent so long preparing for was finally happening—but I was also terrified that something might go horribly wrong. We knew how the show would start in New York City—with the contestants lined up and ready to race—we knew where the contestants needed to go, and we had a good idea of how they would get to the airport. Everything in between was the great unknown. Everything looked good on paper—the route, the tasks the contestants needed to complete, and how the race would end. Easy, right? It was just a race around the world…

On your mark, get set, go!

The show was off and running, and while the contestants were running around like mad people, the crew assigned to follow them were running just as hard. I don’t think the audience realizes that when you see a person on camera there are at least two other people following them around—a camera
man and a sound man—and they carry about thirty-five pounds of equipment and a small backpack of clothing. So as the contestants were running up the steps from the fountain in Central Park, the crew members were off and running as well. I hopped into a van, and we drove as fast as we could to the airport. We still weren’t as fast as the contestants. When we arrived at the airport, contestants were already in line at various airlines trying to get tickets. I was dropped off in just enough time to have my flag sticking out from a column near Al Italia so that they’d see where to go. After all the contestants had bought their tickets, I said goodbye to the camera and sound guys and returned to my hotel room.

It was awesome.

It was kind of a downer to be back in the hotel. Everyone was on a plane to Kenya except for the few of us who needed to wrap up details in New York before returning to Los Angeles. I was already working on the next part of my job, which was anticipating the flight schedules the contestants could take based on where they were supposed to go next. And I was looking forward to seeing how my mom had set everything up in my new home, and just plain looking forward to seeing my mom. As I flew back to Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but think that it was
going to be great to get settled in my new life and take some time to sort out what I was doing and how all these changes would affect me. I figured I would have some time to adjust.

I never expected what would happen next.

CHAPTER 4

MY DREAM
COMES TRUE?

I
was really tired. I hadn’t been this tired in a long time. The adrenaline rush had completely dissipated, and I was on the plane back to Los Angeles. I was half-awake, a little nauseous, and a little excited-a complex mixture of feelings wrapped up in one exhausted body. I was looking forward to enjoying some down time now that the race was underway, and I figured I’d have a lot of free time to spend with my mom.

When I arrived back in Los Angeles, my car was waiting for me outside of the arrivals terminal. The top was down, and my friend Kelly was driving. My
mom was in the passenger’s side. All I could do was cry a little bit (not too much!) and made Kelly get out of the driver’s seat so I could drive all of us home.

If I’ve coveted anything in this life, it’s that car. It was my dream car. And I was beyond thrilled to see my mom. She looked great and I was excited to see what she had done with my apartment.

Kelly helped me unload my stuff and took me on a tour of my new place. The two of them had done a better job decorating it than I could ever have done. It looked great. The family furniture that I had loved as a kid looked perfect in my apartment. And the kitchen was all bright with my table and a few knick knacks scattered around. Kelly left, and my mom and I enjoyed some quality time together. We went out to dinner and drove around the city, and then we both got a good night’s sleep.

In the morning we went to breakfast at our favorite diner. I was making a list of the places I wanted to take my mom, the relatives we wanted to see, and any movies we needed to catch while she was in town. She hadn’t been to Los Angeles in over two years, as she lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the last time we had seen each other was when we went on vacation in Hawaii. I figured it was going to be
a great two weeks, and I was happy my mom could spend the time with me.

Our lovely plans were suddenly interrupted.

I received a phone call from Terry in the production office. They needed me on the race. The crew was sick, and things were not going as planned; they needed more help handling the logistics of running around the world. Bert wanted him to go, but his wife was about to have a baby. Philip didn’t want to leave his family either. Since I was single and childless, I was the next logical choice. I can’t imagine that it sat well with Bert, but I was excited. I was finally going overseas; I could finally use my passport! I wasn’t quite sure what my function would be, exactly, but I figured I would see what needed doing when I arrived.

I booked my flight and had six hours left before I got on the plane. I called Kelly again and enlisted her help. I needed her to take care of paying my bills while I was gone. My mom and I stopped by the production office to get some information and the computer programs I would need, and then we spent the next four hours on a whirlwind shopping spree. I had to buy a laptop computer for use on the road and some clothes because I
didn’t have anything appropriate for the countries we were visiting. I needed shoes that I could use for running around and hiking, and then I had to pack, get some money, and go. Now this was on a Sunday, and since I only had so many hours to pack and get on a plane, I grabbed my credit cards and as much cash as I could so that I wouldn’t be caught short on the road. I knew they’d give me a cash advance while I was traveling. Terry was appreciative that I had been willing to leave so last minute.

My mom was very patient as we raced around town preparing for my trip, and Kelly came over to help me pack later on that day. I wanted to take as little as possible, and I decided to take a carry on so that I wouldn’t have to check through any luggage. The goal was to be as fast as possible so I wouldn’t slow anyone down. I would be gone for about a month, and I figured I wouldn’t have time to do laundry, so I bought a lot of underwear and socks that I could throw away instead of washing. I planned on going to every country, so I had to have warm clothes as well as summery ones. My wardrobe was layered to prepare for the changes in weather. But I only had a few outfits because I couldn’t take a lot in my suitcase. I also had the computer with me, so I was pretty weighed down for the plane ride.

My poor mom.

After everything she’d done for me, we weren’t going to have any quality time together. My mom had about two weeks left at my house. The reality finally hit me, and I felt really bad. I officially hired Kelly to be a step-in daughter to take care of my mom while she was around, and ultimately my mom could stay with our family members for a while before flying back home. I still wanted her to see her family because they didn’t go out to see her very often, and it was rare that I would see them unless I took the drive to Orange County. So I was hoping that they would embrace my mom with open arms and that she wouldn’t have to spend a lot of lonely days sitting in my home. My mom was very encouraging and never said anything about her situation, which was just like her.

So Kelly and my mom dropped me off at the airport just a couple of days after picking me up there. I had never been to the international terminal before, and it was packed. The lines were huge, and it was more crowded than any domestic terminal I’d ever experienced. I stood in line with my ticket information and my passport. That was when it occurred to me.

I had never traveled overseas before in my entire life.

I’m linguistically challenged, and France—where I was joining the race—was the last place I would’ve thought to visit. I had always heard that the French weren’t very nice to Americans and weren’t too tolerant of Americans not speaking their language, so I was not looking forward to that experience.

I started to get that cold feeling through my body that you get when some sort of impending doom is about to strike—when someone menacing is following you or you think you’re going to be fired. I had the chills and was nauseous again. I stood in line, and I felt like I looked like some sort of guilty person, that they would figure out that I was some nefarious spy and have me thrown off the flight. For three years, I traveled people all over the world, contacted governments for approval to film, and told crew members how to go through immigration and what to say and do, so I have no idea why these thoughts went through my mind. But crazy scenarios kept traveling through my head like they were on a ticker tape. I think I was paranoid that the years of advice I’d given crew members was about to be proven wrong, and karma was going to come for me like a boomerang. Plus, when rushed, I tend to forget things. So I kept looking at my passport to make sure I hadn’t dropped it, and I don’t know how many times I checked to see that I had my purse,
was carrying the right luggage, and hadn’t lost my computer. My senses were heightened, and I’m sure I didn’t seem excited to be flying overseas for the first time. I must have looked more like a deer in headlights.

I felt nervous as I approached the counter because I had no idea what I needed to give the agent. I mean, I did know what they needed from me, but I’m sure that I had to be missing some important piece of paperwork.
Oh my god! Would I need a visa?
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
NOW THIS COMES TO MIND???
I had no visas at all for the race, and since I had never traveled overseas before, there was nothing in my passport. I tried to calm myself down. I was going to France first, so I didn’t need a visa. Yet. I’d have to pick up any other visas that were needed on the fly. It took about a minute, but the lady at the front gave me my tickets and told me which gate to go to.

Where the heck were the gates? I had never been in the international terminal before, and it was quite a large area. It would be easy to get lost. I just followed some people who weren’t going outside.

As I walked past more people, it occurred to me that the international terminal was definitely the
melting pot of Los Angeles. I started to relax a bit because I had plenty of time to catch my flight, which gave me time to figure out where I needed to be. I was lost at first, but then I found my way to the right gate. First I had to go through customs. This made me nervous too. Again, I had this irrational, guilty fear that they were going to keep me off the plane for some sort of nefarious evil plan I might’ve concocted. I tried to dismiss my nerves by telling myself to “shut up and focus.” I got through customs okay, but I did have a little scare. They wanted me to start the computer to make sure that it was really a computer. Well, I hadn’t charged it up; I had just purchased it, so I wasn’t sure it was even going to work. It did. Thank you, Macintosh! Finally, I was through customs and at the gate.

They made our boarding announcement in three different languages, and that was when my weird paranoid scenarios morphed into excitement. This was so cool. How many people got to go overseas for work without having to pay to travel? I was stoked. Remember, this was before 9/11, so things were a little looser and operated differently. I can’t imagine doing what I did after 9/11, as the regulations are much stiffer now. If nothing else, I probably looked suspicious. I had done a lot of running around, I’d dropped my bag a couple of times,
and I looked a mess. When I got onto the plane and found my seat, I didn’t quite fit. It was what my friends call a “cattle” flight. People were squeezed into tiny seats without much leg room. This was a tough one for me because it was a fourteen hour flight, and I’m 6’2” with more leg than body. So I spent the better part of the flight with my knees bulging into the passenger in front of me. I had a lot of time to think on that plane. And then I realized something very important.