In a season that is increasingly becoming known for its villains, there is no question that ‘Baseball Wives’ Nicky Getz & Kim DeJesus were nemos swimming with sharks on The Amazing Race 23. The ‘Bunnies’ as they deemed themselves were the nicest team on the show and became the underdog team when they managed to survive two legs in last place which both ended up being non-elimination legs. After being forced to complete an extra speedbump task for finishing in last place on the previous episode, Nicky and Kim were U-Turned by their former allies, Tim & Marie and this sequence of events led them to become the sixth team eliminated this season. Nicky and Kim were my favorite team on the show this season and they clearly proved that while nice guys finish last, sometimes nice girls do too. I caught up with the Bunnies to find out what went wrong.
Murtz Jaffer: Were you guys the nicest team on the Race this season?
Nicky Getz: Probably yes. Our strategy was to run the Race fair and enjoy our time travelling to all these different countries. So yeah, we probably were the nicest. We tried to up our competitiveness near the end, but I just think we were better as bunnies than ninjas.
MJ: Kim, The Amazing Race is considered to be one of the nicer reality shows, but this season has been quite different, especially with Tim and Marie being there along with the Afghanimals. What was it like racing against teams who would quite literally do anything to win including killing bunnies?
Kim DeJesus: (Laughs). It’s funny you say that because I had been approached to a couple of reality shows before and I always turned them down. I was always like ‘reality shows are so mean!’ When it came to The Amazing Race, I thought, ‘oh everyone is so nice on it!’ There’s not a lot of drama. No one fights with the other teams, there’s usually just in-fighting amongst each team. I was kind of surprised by some of the drama this season. I felt like it was a little unexpected, but it probably made it a little interesting for the viewers because I don’t think there’s a lot of Marie’s out there.
(Nicky laughs).
KD: It was fun despite the drama!
MJ: Nicky, you guys had a connection to Tim and Marie from the start. Would you be able to describe that connection and how did the relationship deteriorate so quickly? They went from almost giving you the Express Pass to U-Turning you out of the race.
NG: I think at the beginning, Kim and I were both a little scared of Marie. We tried to stay on her good side. Marie is definitely not at all like us. She’s hysterical and she’s entertaining and she does have redeeming qualities but after we were in the airport and we made that decision to get ahead on the standby list (which she didn’t feel was fair at all), she kind of held a grudge against us. At that point, we were like that’s part of racing and if you want to be competitive and you want to win, you have to do those things. If Marie and Tim aren’t going to like us because of that, then so be it. We kind of started the relationship with seeing them as being funny and not like us, but entertaining nonetheless and then at the end we were like, well, if they are not going to like us then we are not going to go out of our way to try.
MJ: Were you surprised that they U-Turned you when they really had no reason to?
KD: I wouldn’t say I was necessarily surprised because Marie made it clear that she never really forgave us for the airport thing. I just don’t think she never really got over that so no, I wasn’t really that surprised.
MJ: When you guys book a flight now, is the first thing you ask the travel agent is what the delicious snacks are like on board? Is that how you decide what airline you are going to use?
(Nicky and Kim laugh).
NG: I do have to say that on the flight to Brittany’s wedding (Brittany Fletcher from The Amazing Race 21, I did have a meltdown because they had no snacks on the plane…
MJ: I have never seen anyone make such a big deal on The Amazing Race about what kind of snacks the airline has.
KD: I do have to say, as I am the one who said that, that I might have been trying to prolong it to try and annoy Marie a little (laughs).
MJ: I have seen other interviews you have done where you talked about the connection between Tim and Ally while it seems like the Ice Girls are only connected to the Afghanimals. Do you think it was Tim’s connection to Ally that prompted them to U-Turn you or was it just because they could have as easily U-Turned the Ice Girls.
NG: I am not actually sure. I am not sure if Tim and Marie knew what places the teams were in and knew that we were the last team that day and that’s why they chose to U-Turn us. I haven’t asked them that. I think it was a mixture of both. I think that they knew that we were the last team leaving so that’s why they chose to U-Turn us and I think that Tim and Ally kind of had a bit of a crush on each other so that also might have had something to do with it.
MJ: Where did the bunny nickname come from?
KD: Well Nicky’s mom, when she was a little girl used to call her bunny! I don’t know. It’s just a cute word and Nicky always calls me bunny and I started calling her bunny and then we just started calling everybody bunny! It’s one of those things. I don’t think I have ever called Nicky, Nicky. I always call her bunny. That was even before the show. Then I think that the other teams heard us referring to each other as bunny and then they just started calling us Team Bunny.
MJ: It’s funny because you know that you are not the first bunnies on the Race because Jaime Edmondson, the Playboy bunny was on the show before you guys.
KD: (Laughs). Well, we’re not naked on the show!
NG: (Laughs). We are bunnies that have clothes on!
MJ: Speaking of bunnies, I have heard that cats have 9 lives, but it’s clear that bunnies might as well as you survived two other legs where you finished in last. How did you manage to keep going and get through those previous last place finishes?
NG: Kim and I would have these little pow-wows after we checked into every pit stop. We discussed what kind of improvements we could make along with all of our pro’s and all of our con’s. We both have these personalities where we like to talk more about the positive things we had done. I think that helped us. We just tried to maintain a positive attitude. From the very start, our goal was to not get eliminated first. Then we realized that we had made it several legs. I think we just kept pushing each other.
MJ: Do you feel like you guys are the antithesis of what reality casting is all about? I am used to the Marie’s and the Afghanimals. These loud people that will do anything to win. It’s becoming rarer and rarer to have nice and soft-spoken contestants like a Nicky and Kim on reality shows these days.
KD: Aw, thanks. I feel like we were just ourselves and when we went into casting. Nicky and I are really goofy too and they didn’t show a lot of silly moments. I feel like that is what really helped us get on. When they saw the way that we banter with each other. We just love each other so much. There is just no way that we would ever fight with each other. It is interesting because as you said, on a lot of reality shows they go for the negative and they go for the drama. For some reason, people like to watch that. I want to see people hugging!
NG: I am not too sure if we were a good casting team or a bad casting team. We didn’t really get into too many fights or cause too much drama…
MJ: Well I mean you need the good to have the evil mean more I think. What did your husbands think of your performance on the show?
KD: I know for me, my husband Dave and he thought the show was hilarious. He would be cracking up every episode. He just thinks it is hilarious to see me running around like a lunatic!
NG: Some of the episodes they were really cracking up about. The one with the salt and the swimsuits they thought was just hilarious!
MJ: What’s next for you?
KD: Well, I am in LA right now. I am here for work. I am just trying to spend time with my son who is three.
NG: I am just enjoying the off-season. It’s a great opportunity when you can spend time with your family.
MJ: Who are you guys rooting for now that you are out?
NG: I think I am rooting either for the Ice Girls or Jason and Amy.
MJ: I KNEW you were going to Jason and Amy. That was such a loaded question! They are the only other nice team!
NG: (Laughs). How about you Kim?
KD: I think the Ice Girls because they are the only other girl/girl team and we want to see another all girl team win. We made the joke the other day that Jason needs to buy Amy a ring so maybe the money could help him out.
MJ: Well, it was great talking to you. You guys were my favourite team so I don’t know what I am going to do on Sunday nights now. I am not too invested in the other teams except for maybe the Afghanimals.
KD: That’s so sweet!
NG: Thank you so much! It was so nice to finally talk to you!
MJ: Cheers.
The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CTV & CBS
