Interview ‘The Amazing Race Canada’ contestants Michele and Aditi

Michael and Amari , the first eliminated team from “The Amazing Race Canada,” shared their reflections on their journey during an interview with “The Extra Mile”

TEM (The Extra Mile): How did you guys get on the Amazing Race?  Whose idea was it? Was it something that you’ve always wanted to do?

Michele: We’ve been watching Amazing Race from time.  Huge fans.  My dad, he recently passed away. (1:16) He’s the number one Amazing Race Canada fan. I did it for my dad as well.  Aditi is a huge fan. Her cousin Ishana from Trinidad represents. She would watch all the way from Trinidad as well. That’s how much of an impact the Amazing Race Canada has made on our lives. One of Aditi’s birthdays, I was like, we’ve been so busy with our lives and everything that we’ve been through personally with our family lives.  We can’t even explain all the hurdles and obstacles and trauma  that we’ve been through and that we’ve faced in our lives. People don’t know because they just see a little tidbit on social media of what they want to see.  It was hard for us to apply. One day when we felt like we had our lives organized a little bit better, on Aditi’s birthday, I was like, I think it’s time.  We’re going to apply for the Amazing Race Canada finally.

Aditi:  No better time than the present. I think what really encouraged us is Michelle and I also did Family Food Canada. We got a lot of positive feedback.  Even though we didn’t win the show as well,  people liked our energy and positivity. We said no time like the present with Amazing Race. We are just going to keep putting it off.  We put all of our effort in.  We’re huge fans.  We studied past episodes. After meeting with the producers and the team, we just got such a good vibe.  We just gave it our best and here we are.  

TEM: Was there anything that surprised you most about each other during the race?

Aditi: Of course.  I feel like every team learns so much about the other.  Even though Michelle and I have been together since we were in diapers.There is just so much pressure and stress when a camera person is in front of you.  You’re going from challenge to challenge.  I think the biggest surprise for me was not us really engaging in the challenges,  which is always difficult, but it was the navigation and the driving that was really difficult. I would say that’s half the battle. Learning how to navigate streets without GPS, phones, any electronic devices. That was kind of unexpected.  I think we were both a little bit stressed and overwhelmed. Every time we asked for directions, people didn’t give us the directions correctly. I feel like for us, we didn’t expect those navigation hurdles. In the end, like you said, we always stayed positive. We tried to just be forward thinking.  We know that we’re going to make it to the end.  We’re never going to quit. That really got us through the challenges despite all of those obstacles.  

Michele : Exactly. I love this girl. She is my ride or die.  Love is patient. Love is kind. Love endures all and conquers every single battle. That’s what we have for each other. We have unconditional love and a bond that’s unbreakable. No matter what, we see the joy and the light in every situation. No matter how frustrated you are, the tears that you saw, the sweat that you saw, the hair that’s all out of place, no matter what, we never give up on each other.We always have each other’s backs.

TEM: Is there a challenge that you would not want to do again?

 Aditi: I would probably say, yeah, for me, it was probably the line dancing. Even though Michele and I love dancing, we’re breaking it down in every fam jam that we’re at.  I thought that was difficult for me just because I didn’t get anyone instructing me on how to do the dance.  I’d have to watch the routine and then perform in front of a crowd full of strangers.  There was a lot of stress, pressure, even with the cowboy hat and everything like that.  I think that was really difficult for me because I really just had to keep doing the dance over and over.  I know time was crunching at the end.  I would do it over again, but I wish that there was an instructor teaching me.  That would have probably made it a lot better.

Michele: Yeah, and I think also the pottery.  I’m an athletic girl and I’m also artistic. It was just like, I’m literally on the fence between the fencing and the pottery.  That pottery made my head after, especially with the choice that we made. I felt like maybe we should have went with the fencing because just having to give directions is more difficult blindfolded than expected. As Aditi said, we love dancing.  One thing I learned about myself during this race is just get your voice louder. Make yourself heard and just speak up and just say, yo, can’t handle it.  Let me take the reins and I got the dancing.  We did the best of it to our limits and I believed in everything that we did.  One thing is we never quit and we’re going to continue going.

TEM: It’s like you said earlier, you guys studied and prepped for it, but I feel like there’s really no way you can prep for what’s coming at you.

Aditi: You could study for a long time, but when you’re in it, it is completely different.  There’s so much pressure, you’re stressed, your hands are really sweaty.  It’s a different experience watching it from the comfort of your living room on your couch than doing it in person.  Even if you’re good at sports or dancing or eating challenges, it’s really a different ball game when you’re doing it on a television show.  It changes the reins of everything.  I have a lot of respect for the past racers or anyone competing on reality television. You have to be really strong-willed and have thick skin to do anything.

Michele:  Exactly. It’s not just physical, it’s also mental as well. We do have both of those strengths. Also, whatever God’s will is, it happens.  Just like our lives, our personal lives, us coming from immigrant families, we’re carefree, fun-loving girls.  But out of nowhere, life can hit you with a dagger. We experience loss of family members, grief, and all these hurdles.  Just like the race, you don’t know what to expect. But we can continue to keep pushing forward, keep smiling, and be joyful.  The joy of the Lord is our strength. We will conquer every single battle and continue to thrive.

TEM: How do you guys go the extra mile, whether that be in your personal life or whatever that may sound to you?

Aditi:  I think that Michele and I are both pretty committed to the community.  We have social work backgrounds. We went to school for our Bachelor and Master’s degree.  We both work for the same board. I think the both of us really like to get involved, whether it’s church or a community event,  or mentoring youth, or volunteering at shelters. We’ve done it all. It really gives us joy. We like giving back to the community. And especially as South Asian women, we like to see that representation.We want to inspire and encourage other people.  There’s still a lot of discrimination and racism, especially that South Asian and any kind of minority population faces.  So I think just showing that South Asian women can do it all.  They can be professionals. They can be educated.  They can have fun. I think we really like getting involved in our community, whether it’s a Sri Lankan event, it’s a Trinidadian event, it’s something within the church, or we have to take youth on camp trips and things like that.  Any volunteer opportunities we get, we like to do it.  We like to give back. And if anyone has any other opportunities coming our way, we’d be so happy and honoured to engage  and just give back to the community that gave so much to us as newcomers and immigrants to this country many years beforehand.

Michele: Yeah, exactly.  And, you know, going that extra mile, you know, you got to be healthy physically, mentally. We like saying prayers, you know, keep that faith going.  We like communicating with each other.  We also have a minor in psychology and sociology as well. So we love the study of people.  We love, we’re social butterflies. We love getting to know different cultures. We’re, you know, we love embracing the diversity that Canada has to offer. I love learning about different ethnic groups and spreading awareness. (10:03) And, you know, I came from a war-torn country that faced genocide and just loving to educate people.  And it’s just more than just face value.  This is just the beginning of our stories.  There’s so much more. So definitely we continue to go further and further on this piece of life.