During the CTV upfronts I got a chance to meet up with BJ and Tyler, also known as The Hippies. If you aren’t an Amazing Race The Hippies won the 9th installment of the series, which aired between February and May 2006.
The Hippies quickly became viewer favourites, due to a good mix of charisma, silliness and even a bit of deception and trickery thrown in for good measure.
Their win even spawned a few conspiracy theories that said the producers set up the race for them to win. The complaints included a leg in Japan, Tyler speaks Japanese and has traveled extensively in the country, how the two times BJ and Tyler finished last in a leg it happened to be the two non-elimination legs, and heck some even think the final task of figuring out flags of the nations they visited was chosen so The Hippies could beat out The Jocks. Regardless The Hippies were ranked the “Who’s Favourite” team on CBS’s website for every week the show ran and by the end they garnered 66% of the votes, more than five times more votes than the second ranked team.
To tell the story of meeting BJ and Tyler I’ll give a bit of an explanation of how the interviews were run that day. There were media from all over Toronto and Canada interview groups of people from several different TV shows, many journalists, myself included, were interviewing multiple people. The interviews took place in hotel rooms all on the same floor. The subjects were normally in one room and the journalists were ushered from room to room by CTV employees.
BJ and Tyler were my third interview of the day but up until that point I had already heard a great deal about them. The Hippies had made a name for themselves already. It seemed that the people all the CTV employees were talking about in the halls was BJ and Tyler. The conversations were pretty much as follows:
CTV employee #1: Have you had a chance to meet BJ and Tyler?
CTV employee #2: No. But, I’ve heard they are hilarious.
#1: Yeah they are so awesome. I love them. They just go around hugging everyone.
#2: Ok, where are they? I have to meet them.
I think I heard several different variations of that conversation before I myself got to meet BJ and Tyler. The Hippies had spread their infectious love pretty quickly among the people that day.
Finally as it was my turn to interview them I am ushered into the hotel room. A journalist from a free daily in Toronto was just finishing up. She just happened to be pregnant and as I walk in BJ and Tyler are talking to her belly and debating whether the kid should be named BJ or Tyler. After several minutes of this and hugging all around I get my crack at the Hippies.
First impression, man they are a lot taller than I imagined. Both appear to be well over six-feet tall. They are just as skinny, scraggly-haired and hippie-attired as one would expect. And they are wearing their trademark orange pants.
I break the ice suggesting that perhaps the child be named B.J. Tyler and reference the obscure Philadelphia 76ers player B.J. Tyler. Sadly my sports geekiness is exposed very quickly as neither of them has heard of the former first round flop.
On to the questions, starting off with the obvious, as both guys declare that Oman was their favourite place to visit, mostly because of the Bedouins they met there. Kindred spirits I suppose. More surprisingly they said they would most like to go on a trip with their close rivals The Frat Boys, Eric and Jeremy, of all their fellow contestants.
Somehow we get into a long discussion about Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom and their recent trip to the CN Tower in Toronto.
It becomes pretty clear these guys loved everything about their time on The Amazing Race as they go back and forth over the roadblocks the other one got to do that they really wanted to do. It seems very likely The Hippies will turn their lives into one very long Amazing Race of their own.
Both admit it was difficult not to tell their loved ones of their success. The Hippies said all of the teams got together in New York to watch the finale. Tyler remembers his girlfriend crying and BJ recalls his mother jumping on top of the table at the restaurant when people started to realized The Hippies were triumphant.
One of the more interesting things I found out that was omitted from the show was that The Frat boys admitted to everyone else they had cancelled the cabs in the ten episode of the season. The show made it seem like all of the teams thought MoJo had.
Sadly the interview flew by so quickly it felt like only five seconds had passed, one could spend all day talking to BJ and Tyler and not get bored.
Just before the end of the interview I asked BJ and Tyler, “So, what’s next?” Well it seems they both want to get into “the Biz.” No they did not use those words, but Tyler has made a documentary film and BJ is into improv and comedy. Both guys would like to see if they could move onto something else related to entertainment, perhaps a travel show, a kids show, a kids travel show?
As I walked away I wondered how much of BJ and Tyle’s persona is an act, how much is real? So many wannabe stars sign up for reality shows to boost their career potential, what made BJ and Tyler any different? I thought perhaps the Hippies had embraced capitalism after all?
Not sure how to answer these questions but either BJ and Tyler are legitimately as nice, fun and silly as they seem or they are REALLY good actors. Perhaps, it’s a bit of both.
The latest season of The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CTV and CBS
