Life became a whole lot sweeter for UW-Madison food science doctorate candidates Amy DeJong and Maya Warren when they crossed the finish line to win the 25th season of CBS’s reality television show "The Amazing Race."
Episodes aired Friday evenings from Sept. 26 to Dec. 19, but DeJong and Warren said the excitement and action started long before.
“I was always a huge fan of ‘The Amazing Race’ and thought someday I would try out with my future husband,” Warren said. “Amy and I shared the same office in lab when I found out there was an open call in Chicago October of 2013. Suddenly we asked ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be crazy if we did this together?’”
“It was meant to be,” DeJong said.
Leaving the October audition, DeJong and Warren said they felt confident due to their advantage over “typical” dating couples and parent-child combos who often try out.
“We brought something so unique to the table. We are young, female scientists getting our Ph.D.s who research really unique things. Amy researches in the candy world and I research in the ice cream world,” Warren said.
Reflecting their studies, Warren and DeJong signed much of their application paperwork as “the Sweet Scientists.” The nickname grew to be an immensely popular Twitter hashtag while the season aired.
“We wanted to be memorable. We wanted [‘The Amazing Race’] to look at us as these fun, goofy scientists. Using ‘the Sweet Scientists’ was part of our strategy to get cast,” DeJong said.
The pair’s tactics proved effective when they received a phone call from CBS notifying them they would be competing in the race last spring.
While preparation for 5K runs and marathons is mostly physical, Warren described the training regimen for “The Amazing Race” as “entirely different.” The duo readied themselves for the show by completing the “Insanity” workout program, ballroom dancing, playing brain-training games like “Lumosity,” running and hiking with loaded backpacks, binge-watching past seasons of the show and driving cars with manual transmission.
Four continents, eight countries and 20 cities later, DeJong and Warren won the 12th and final leg of the race and earned the $1 million grand prize.
While Warren and DeJong both plan to use part of their winnings to continue traveling at a later date, neither regard the monetary prize to be their greatest takeaway from “The Amazing Race.”
“As privileged as we are in so many different ways, we learned how happiness can be found without materialistic things,” Warren said. “Amy and I encourage people to go out there, think outside the box, go abroad, make yourself a little uncomfortable and reach beyond the sky.”
Correction: A previous typo mixed up the number of countries and continents they covered on the race. We regret this error.
