The saga began about a month ago when Jonathan and Victoria contacted us about the possibility of an interview. They apparently wanted to demonstrate to the blogosphere that they are, in fact, just a happy, loving couple (with occasional bouts of globetrotting hysterics). How could we turn down such an opportunity? After all, we are the site that not only liberally bashed this couple (via a nifty video mocking their Dr. Phil escapades) but even went so far as to stalk Victoria at the baggage claim of LAX. Surely, it was time to take on the monster no holds barred.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. J-Unit and I met up with Jonathan and Victoria at the quaint Il Solé restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. Team JV was already seated when we entered, and after a few handshakes and introductions, J-Unit promptly went off to the bathroom, leaving me with the awkward endeavor of smiling, making small-talk and pretending in general that I hadn't spent the past six months savagely tearing apart these two. Luckily, J-Unit returned to the table after a few minutes, but by then the awkwardness had pretty much gone away. The truth was that Jonathan and Victoria could roll with the punches (or at least, so they would have us believe) and over the next two and a half hours, proved to be extremely forthcoming about the entire Amazing Race experience, as well as life as reality star alumni.

The two shared all sorts of interesting information about the nuts and bolts of The Amazing Race such as how long those Pitstops really are. Turns out teams really do only get twelve hours of rest time (minus four hours for interviews), but occasionally, some legs do have a thirty-six hour Pitstop. Jonathan and Victoria were also pretty convinced that the producers must buy up blocks of airline tickets to make it more difficult for teams to get seats (oh, and the two also reside firmly in the conspiracy camp when it comes to Uchenna and Joyce's infamous airplane fortunes). Of course, I always ask about stupid little details, and I was quite happy to learn that teams could in fact listen to the radio in cars, but only when the camera man was sleeping. Finally, my curiosity has been SATED!

Of course, Jonathan and Victoria gave us the lowdown on some of the bigger incidents as well. Regarding their first meltdown in Iceland, Victoria explained that after six hours of missing turns due to the extremely long road names on the extremely small road signs, the two became frustrated, aggravated, and of course insanely contentious. As for the famous "shove" in Berlin, Victoria noted that they had accidentally stumbled upon the Pitstop during their travels, but before they could check in, they needed to find some obscure clue that didn't even make it to air. Unfortunately for them, this task proved to be massively difficult, and the longer it took them to find the clue (a guy holding a monkey, I think they said), the more frustrated they became (surprise, surprise). Eventually they found the clue, but since Freddy and Kendra were still poking around for it, Victoria wanted to go off and read the directions in another location. The cameraman, however, insisted they read the clue there, ultimately alerting Frendra to the location of the monkey dude. And yes, this caused Team JV to get frustrated... again. Sensing an anger management problem here?

Posted by B-side on June 12, 2005 7:07 PM