Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With The Amazing Race All-Stars Winners Dave & Connor O’Leary

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Dave and Connor O’Leary won The Amazing Race All-Stars $1 million grand prize last month, and became the first parent/child winner in the show’s 24-season history to do so. The team crossed the finished in Las Vegas, NV after traveling to 22 cities, nine countries and traveling more than 23,000 miles. With the win, Dave also became the oldest Amazing Race winner in history.

I caught up with the pair to discuss the win.

Dave O’Leary: Hey Murtz, how are you?

Murtz Jaffer: I am good, how are you guys?

Connor O’Leary: Doing well.

MJ: Ready to get started?  Dave, the first time you and Connor raced, you were absolutely dominating the competition before an injury forced you out.  Did you ever think that you would not only get another chance to race, but that you would also come back to win?

DO’L: Murtz, I guess in the back of my mind, I really hoped that we would have the opportunity to come back.  I felt like we wanted the chance to come back to see how far we could really go.  Candidly, I didn’t think we would win the The Amazing Race, but I thought we would have the chance to go a little further than we did the first time.

MJ: Connor, one of the biggest incidents from this year’s show is your feud with Brenchel after Rachel and Brendon decided to U-Turn you. At the time, Caroline and Jenn said that they couldn’t believe that they would use it on you but I definitely think you guys were the strongest team.  In hindsight, what was your issue with them U-Turning you?

CO’L: Looking back in hindsight, we definitely probably overreacted but I guess it didn’t really make complete sense to us from a logical standpoint.  The Cowboys still had an express pass and so we thought if the Branchels wanted to stay in this, they were going to U-Turn the Cowboys (since they still had an express pass) and were probably the strongest team left.  So looking back, yes we overreacted and we shouldn’t have made it as big of a deal as we did.

MJ: And Connor did it bother you that they basically U-Turned you to finish in first place? Is that what the issue was?

CO’L: No that wasn’t really the issue.  If you are racing The Amazing Race to win a leg that’s great, but if you trying to look at it like ‘okay I want a million dollars’ then it would have made sense to U-Turn the Cowboys because it’s great to win a leg but it’s better to win a million dollars.

MJ: Dave, how do you feel about the U-Turn in general?  Do you think it has a place on the Race or should it be eliminated entirely and it truly be a race to the finish?

DO’L: I don’t object to the U-Turn at all.  I don’t think it is a bad thing.  It doesn’t level the playing field, but it does give teams who get there first an advantage if they choose to exercise it.  I think from our standpoint, Connor and I agree.  We wouldn’t have exercised the U-Turn if we didn’t need to.  That was our strategy going in.  We said we don’t want to make enemies on the Race.  We don’t want to give someone else an impetus to want to U-Turn us in the future.  And so we… our strategy was we wouldn’t have U-turned anyone unless we needed to and so I feel like the idea of having the U-Turn on the Race… I think it make the race interesting and in hindsight, we blew up the U-Turn out of proportion.

MJ: Connor, Rachel and Brendon U-Turning you resulted in the formation of the ‘Accidental Alliance’ with you guys, the country singers and the Afghanimals, with the intent to U-Turn Brenchel at the next opportunity.  When Leo and Jamal decided to U-Turn the Cowboys, what was your reaction?

CO’L: My initial reaction was I was a little disappointed but at the same time I had to kind of look at it as Jamal had hurt his knee and then their concern was that the Cowboys could potentially come back and beat them to the finish, so I think in their situation, they almost had to U-Turn the Cowboys.

MJ: Dave, in hindsight, was that the turning point of the show?  The Afghanimals decided to take out the Cowboys (one of the stronger teams on the show) and did that make the competition in the finale a little easier for you?  In a way, did the Afghanimals do you a favour by getting rid of the Cowboys?

DO’L: You know I think in hindsight Murtz, I think they may have done us a favour.  I mean the Cowboys were certainly the team that I considered to be the strongest team for most of the way.  The Afghanimals were a strong team and so to have the Afghanimals U-Turn (and ultimately eliminate) the Cowboys din’t hurt us at all. Especially after we got to the final three.  So they probably did do us a favour.

MJ: Connor was the competition tougher this season or the first time you raced?

CO’L: To be honest, it was probably this time.  I mean there were teams that were coming back for their third time. So we felt like underdogs.  Everybody had raced more legs than us (with the exception of Jessica and John) and so we felt like we were in over our heads going into the All Star season.

MJ: Dave, you and Connor made the challenges seem easy this season.  Which one was the hardest for you?

DO’L: Yes they were hard for me [laughs].  The hardest may have been Running With The Bulls in Seville.  It was painful Murtz!  Getting hit by those rugby players really knocked the wind out of you.  I mean you are rolling around on the ground, getting beat up and that was a hard challenge.

MJ: Connor, you and your dad have faced and survived so many challenges, where does winning The Amazing Race fit into everything else that you have both accomplished?

CO’L: It is definitely right up there at the top.  To do something so amazing and to do it with my best friend and my dad, it was amazing experience and something that we will never forget.  It will definitely rival everything else that I have ever done or will do.

MJ: Dave why do you think it has taken 24 seasons for a parent and a child team to win?

DO’L: You know honestly Murtz I don’t know.  There have been some really capable parent/child teams in the past and I think specifically Mallory because she was on this season.  Mallory and Gary, they probably should have won that last season that they were on if it wasn’t for that lousy cab driver.  And so I don’t know.  I feel like we really got lucky.  We were really fortunate to have made a few right choices and if it hadn’t been for a few other people making the wrong choices or making some mistakes at critical times, any one of the other teams could have gotten on the mat ahead of us.

MJ: Connor when you found out that the final leg was going to be in Vegas, what your first reaction?  When people mention you and your dad, I think of a lot of things but Sin City isn’t one of them.

[Dave and Connor laugh].

CO’L: Yes that is probably pretty accurate.  You know the first thing that ran through my mind was that Brendon and Rachel were from Las Vegas and had lived there prior.  That was definitely frustrating to us, simply because we thought that might give them a leg up. That was definitely what was going through my mind.

MJ: Dave it would have kind of been like if the twins would have still been in it when you guys were in Sri Lanka…

DO’L: Absolutely.  I remember when we got our passports at the beginning of the race and we open it up and it said ‘Sri Lanka,’ those girls were screaming with joy.  They knew they would have a leg up there and that was the Rachel’s reaction when she saw the final leg was going to be in Vegas.  She basically said that she lived in Vegas. She said ‘it’s my home and I know everything about it.’

MJ: And Connor what is your relationship like with the other teams have you settled things and Brenchel?

CO’L: To be completely honest, we actually haven’t talked to Brendon and Rachel.  On our end, there are no hard feelings.  At the end of the day, it was a Race.  It was a game.  So we don’t have any hard feelings for them but we haven’t talked to them.

DO’L: We have been in touch with some of the teams and we like I said at the beginning or earlier, we were so lucky to race with so many great people.  I mean there were really great group of people in the All Star season.

MJ: And Dave what is next for you and Connor?

DO’L: We are going to Disneyland! [Laughs].  I think Connor has got one more semester of school left and he is focused on finishing school we are certainly going to do some travelling as a result of the trips we won.  We actually had some travel already planned before we even had scheduled the Race.  We are actually leaving the day after tomorrow to go sailing with my brothers and Connor’s cousins for a week in the British Virgin Islands.

MJ: Well we definitely missed you guys in the Vegas for the finale.  Thank you so much. I hope to see you soon.

CO’L: Thanks Murtz, it was a pleasure talking to you.

DO’L: Thanks Murtz.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.