Reality TV Bash
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Concept
IndyCar
IndyCar is a major type of race car series in the U.S. It’s the kind of racing where drivers compete on tracks like ovals and road courses. The hosts are talking about how IndyCar tried to get more fans by showing up on popular TV shows.
Concept
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality TV competition where teams do challenges while traveling. Here, it’s mentioned because some IndyCar fans say they first learned about the sport through that show.
Concept
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is a popular TV show where celebrities compete in dance. The hosts are comparing how being on that show versus The Amazing Race affected how people viewed IndyCar representation.
Concept
Family Feud
Family Feud is a TV game show where families compete by answering questions. In this segment, it’s brought up as another example of IndyCar trying to reach new viewers.
Concept
American Ninja Warrior
American Ninja Warrior is a TV show where people compete in obstacle courses. The hosts mention it to show how IndyCar tried to reach fans outside of racing.
Concept
runner up finish
A “runner up finish” means you came in second place. They’re saying CBS didn’t want to bring someone in who had just been on another similar show.
Concept
sloppy seconds
“Sloppy seconds” is slang for “second time around” after someone else already had the spotlight. They’re using it as a joke about CBS not wanting James because he’d just been on another show.
Concept
Red-eye flight
A red-eye is a flight you take at night so you arrive early in the morning. They’re using it to explain how quickly they had to be ready for auditions.
Concept
Audition/casting process
They’re talking about how reality shows pick contestants—usually with auditions and interviews. They went through several steps and then got told they did well.
Concept
quarantine / sequestered
They’re talking about being kept isolated from everyone outside the show. It’s basically to stop spoilers from getting out before the episode is released.
Concept
first ever race
They’re talking about someone doing their first race without much practice. In racing, practice time matters a lot because you learn how to handle the car and drive consistently.
Concept
six days to practice
“Six days to practice” highlights the limited preparation window before competition. In racing, short practice periods can mean the driver hasn’t fully built muscle memory for throttle/brake modulation and cornering technique.
Concept
driving a different car every week
If you drive a different car each week, you can’t rely on muscle memory. You have to learn how that specific car brakes, turns, and grips the road.
Concept
stock car
A stock car is a race car style that’s closer to regular cars than open-wheel race cars. It usually feels different to drive—especially around corners.
Concept
boot camp
They’re talking about a super intense training challenge. It’s like a tough practice program where you have to prove yourself step by step.
Term
HVAC
HVAC is the system in your house that handles heating, cooling, and airflow. It’s the stuff that keeps the air comfortable and moving through the ducts.
Term
air ducts
Air ducts are the tubes in your home that carry warm or cool air to the rooms. If they’re not working right, the house won’t heat or cool evenly.
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This is Off Track.
Let's talk about, let's talk about how James lost a dancing competition to a girl,
which I guess a young girl, which a gymnast makes some sense.
Yeah, what's your excuse for losing a travel competition?
I had Connor.
It's a good one.
It's a pretty solid excuse.
Yeah.
So, well, okay.
So let's get into it.
Let's dive into the ins and outs, the challenges of each.
I've been approached by a lot of fans over the past eight years who have told me that
they are a fan of IndyCar because they found out about it for the first time on The Amazing Race,
which kind of, there was a period of time in IndyCar, in the IndyCar marketing department
where there was a woman named Susan Bradshaw whose job was to use her connections in New York
and Los Angeles to bring drivers outside of the motorsport world onto different TV shows.
Dancing with the stars is one of them.
Family Feud was one of them.
American Ninja Warrior, Amazing Race, et cetera, et cetera, to introduce our sport to a different fan base.
And I would say for that period of time that she worked at IndyCar, it was wildly successful.
So, what I want to talk about today is why finishing fourth on The Amazing Race was such a greater accomplishment.
So much less impressive.
And better representation of IndyCar drivers than finishing second on Dancing with the Stars.
Wow.
So, hang on.
One quick thing.
Are we discounting Family Feud in this equation?
Are we just comparing each?
In which I was part of the winning team that decimated the competition, did not let them score a single point.
That was before my time, so I don't really know anything about it.
All I remember from that was how hot it was in there and how hungover I was in there.
You were super hungover in that one.
I do recall that.
I don't remember it being super hot.
I do remember you being very hungover.
It could have been a normal temperature and just that's how I felt at the time.
That's fair.
Okay.
So, let's break down, Alex.
We'll get to the finishing positions later.
But when you first learned that you were going to be on the show, what was your kind of first feeling about it and what were your initial concerns?
My first feeling was just complete excitement to go on this world travel journey with my friend James Hinchcliffe.
Well, yes.
That's a good point.
Right.
Yeah.
So, thanks, kids.
Yeah.
Why don't you explain what you mean by that?
Yeah.
So, originally, the Lady Susan pitched James and I to CBS to be the IndyCar team IndyCar on season 30 of Amazing Race.
And we did all of the initial, like to get on a TV show, there's a lot of steps that are required, right?
Additioning and filming.
Exactly.
And meeting the producers and storytellers and you got to be a good fit for that season and the show and all these sort of things.
So, anyways, James and I went through kind of the initial process of that, of filling out all the paperwork and submitting videos and why we would be good candidates for the show.
And it pretty quickly got shot down because James was just coming off of his runner up finish on an ABC show and CBS was not super thrilled about having like sloppy seconds.
Yeah.
We were like, we tried to argue it the other way.
We're like, hey, this show is very popular and there were a lot of people that now know who I am that didn't know who I was that will now watch your show on your network because of this.
And they're like, yeah, cool.
No.
The other the other problem was you are Canadian and they were like, they were willing to overlook.
They actually were like, I think I was going to be the first Canadian on the US version of the show.
That wasn't the big hurdle.
We had overcome that because that would we knew early on.
Sure.
And then yes, once it got to a certain level of the producers, they were like, hang on a minute.
Wasn't he?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I knew the story.
So then I was, I was, I was mildly less excited, but still excited to travel around the world on the amazing race with my good friends, Spencer,
And so this time we got much further into the process.
Not an ABC sloppy second.
So he was straight and American blonde American blue-eyed.
So we flew on a red eye from Pocono to Los Angeles and landed at whatever crack of dawn on a Monday morning.
And we're auditioning at 9am Monday morning at the airport LX Sheraton hotel for like four days.
And it was pretty rigorous auditions plus like psyche vows and kind of one-on-ones with the, the, the owner, I guess, of the show, the producers, the directors, the storytellers, all this sort of thing.
And we, we leave there thinking like mission accomplished, you know, we had some pretty good feedback and that sort of thing.
And about a week later, I get a phone call from one of the casting directors and he was like, hey, we need, do you have anyone else that you would go on the show with?
And I was like, uh, no.
So Connor was the fourth pick after nobody.
So then I kind of told Susan, I was like, hey, like this is, this is, it's kind of not going to happen.
And she was like, well, why don't you do it with Connor?
And I was like, oh, that makes sense because I'm living with Connor and yeah, like he's a character and all this sort of thing.
And so like three weeks later, I had to fly back to LA and do the same thing all over again because I had a different partner.
And this time we were selected and signed up for season 30 and away we went.
So that was how that all came to life.
Why, why didn't they like Spencer?
Wasn't that Spencer?
It was a work call that he had to answer and was had to remove himself from understood.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
So, so you and Connor, you get accepted and it's all happening.
So now what's your excitement level?
And then also what is your, what is like the thing you're most like?
You're like, okay, this is happening.
I'm super stoked.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
But I'm also a little worried about X.
Just the unknown of like what you're getting into, right?
Like that.
I hadn't watched the amazing race before.
I remember you, me and Connor like binge or no, this is you and I, you and I were going to do it.
You and I binge like a couple of seasons together to like kind of get a lay at the land.
But like you just, you don't know what it, what reality is versus reality TV.
So I think it was just the, the, you're, I know what it is.
You were, you were isolated, whether you were on the show still competing or not.
So let's say you get eliminated in, in contest number one, right?
You then go to like a, what'd they call it?
It was like, it was like hotel.
It was like hotel.
No, but there's a term for it.
Not a, like, but like you, you basically go into a quarantine of sorts.
And you're this, this year, not seclusion.
Yeah, I keep talking sequestered.
You're sequestered.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So you're sequestered for the four weeks.
And so, and, and you can't talk to your family.
You can't do anything because the whole point of that is they don't want it getting out that.
Oh, this, this group was eliminated before they even got to the next place sort of thing.
So that was,
Do you get sequestered in like a five star resort somewhere tropical?
Usually this year it was at like a, it was like at a villa in like north of Milan.
And apparently it was not good.
So fortunately I never got sequestered because we, even though we finished fourth, we made it to the end.
To the final.
Not so humble, Greg.
Uh, listen, listen, that's pretty good.
That's pretty good.
Better than second.
Second good.
It's not second.
It's better than second.
Yeah, I just, I do, I cannot figure out how this in any way.
It's the scale of difficulty, you know, like you just had to go show up and dance to your top off with the spray.
Is that all I had to do?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I had to, I had to, I had to solve puzzles and crime and race around the world.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, I was like,
Your flights were booked for you.
Don't act like that part was hard.
I was like the Hardy Brothers without the brother.
Hardy boys.
Hardy boys.
Yeah.
Um, okay.
So then, so, so that's, that's, you know, how it felt going in.
Um, you knew roughly what you were getting into, but there was a lot of unknowns.
This, this whole episode is designed to be around why one is more challenging than the other.
So I'm just going to, I'm going to make my, I'm going to make my case.
So what was hard?
Yeah.
I'm going to make my case and then we need to hear about your experience and your story.
What was hard about ours was the, the complete, uh, lack of, and this is kind of goes along with the initial fear, but the complete lack of communication and connection to the outside world was way more than I expected.
For example, the only person you were allowed to talk to through these four weeks was your partner.
You could talk to other, um, competitors on the show, but only while you were on camera.
They did not want, uh, alliances or huge brewing off camera.
So everyone was separated.
You were put in your hotel room.
So let's say for example, uh, we, we did a challenge in Prague and then the next challenge was in Zimbabwe.
So it takes a long time for production to move all of the equipment and everything from, uh, from one continent to the next.
Obviously travelers, we can get from Prague to Zimbabwe pretty quickly and efficiently, but then as you're waiting for production to set up, you are.
Walked in a hotel room.
You were given a paper menu at your door each day for you to circle the three meals that you want.
Television remotes are taken away.
You don't have your cell phone.
Oh yeah.
You couldn't watch TV and you didn't have your phone.
You didn't have your phone.
You didn't have the rest of it, but why wouldn't you be able to watch TV?
Because I think they wanted the tension between you and your partner and just the experience to like start to build up.
And so that when you finally got on camera and you were taken out of jail and you could go race, you were like, you had pent up.
Like just encounter at least have separate rooms.
Nope.
Oh no.
So what did you do to pass the time?
Bro, we had, I brought a lacrosse ball for like, like to roll out like shoulder pain or whatever.
That was our Wilson.
Like we drew a face on it and we played a bunch of games with that blue lacrosse ball.
Like that thing was our only entertainment.
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So would you say the hardest part was actually being sequestered in hotels with Connor for
extended periods of time or like the actual challenges?
I make fun of Connor.
Connor was great for 97% of this experience.
I meant just with anybody.
But no, I just, I want to clarify that Connor was actually incredible.
That was, that was 100% the hardest part.
Like some of the challenges were hard to like, I mean, it was hard to navigate in a country you've never been to with no maps.
And you had to ask locals and you had to like try and figure out this riddle, right?
That was a challenge.
But, but from the actual like demand mentally, it was all of the times you were essentially in jail.
Like that was tough.
Okay, tough.
All right.
So you rest your case.
I'm going to open up firing on all cylinders.
The hardest part for you was doing nothing.
The hardest part for me was working my off for 12 hours a day every day for three straight months.
I already have you beat.
No, you don't.
You're partnered with my good friend, Sharna.
No, you don't.
Your personal friend, Sharna.
Yeah.
Okay.
The amount of work was nonstop.
You had days at a time where you were just sitting doing nothing, right?
You understandably didn't know like what you were getting yourself into.
And that part is a challenge.
I knew exactly what I was getting into.
And that was even more terrifying because it was spray tans and guy liner and spandex and all these things that were terrifying to do.
The, the, the act that I was the, the, the task that I had dance, never something I'd done before yours traveling problem solving well versed in.
You were well versed in those.
You had a much greater base than I did live.
Mine was on live television where you didn't get to hear from the outside world.
I got regular real time feedback, both positive and negative.
And it, that's a, that's tough.
That's also tough being being completely secluded from the rest of the world.
I get that that is a challenge.
But yeah, I think, I think that the, the amount of time I was three months, you were, you were four weeks, right?
So that's definitely a thing.
And at the end of the day, I did in fact do better.
So, okay.
Couple of things.
Yeah, yeah, hit me.
You definitely win on the three months versus four weeks because that is, that is a much bigger time commitment.
Just really tough to live in a luxury apartment in Beverly Hills.
Luxury is that what we're calling it?
Is that what we're calling it?
Luxury apartment Beverly Hills with unlimited Uber credits and ability to eat meals and do whatever you wanted.
Okay, but I had no time to eat meals.
I ate Starbucks protein boxes most days.
James, I will say, I was excited for him to be my neighbor and I did not get to see him that much.
You stop Becky like exponentially more than James.
And I quote said, spray tan guy liner and spandex was terrifying.
Okay.
Yeah.
Do you know what the seven step snake is?
No.
When you get great, you take seven steps before you die.
Yeah, it is.
We had to, we had to sleep on, on, on the floor of the jungle in Africa where they said, watch out for the seven step snake.
I had to eat scorpions.
Yes.
You didn't have to do that.
I forgot to do that.
Tim, Tim doesn't, this doesn't bother Tim, but it would bother you and it bothered me a lot.
I had to sleep on bar floors that were like sticky and gross and disgusting.
And not on the floor.
I usually talk about the amount of work that you had to put in.
And, and I don't, I don't dispute that at all because I know the amount of work that you had to put in.
But ultimately your, your performances that were judged were a recital of a routine that you memorized for 70 seconds.
And it took you weeks, days, took you days to get to the ability to just regurgitate the 70 seconds of movement.
That you had to do with your 10 out of 10 young Australian dancer.
Erroneous, erroneous, erroneous element here.
Who is your teacher?
You make it sound like it's that, if that was the case, why aren't you better at golf?
Because I don't have a dedicated teacher at my beck and call 24 seven who is also demanding that I get good at it in order for them to also be successful.
So imagine going into your first ever race having never driven a car before you got six days to practice and that's all you got to do.
And then you had to just go drive around the same track again.
If I had six days to practice having never driven a car before and every week you're driving a different car one week.
It's an Indy car one week.
It's a product James.
It's a stock car.
You've danced.
I, if we're talking like the Macarena at a bar.
Yes.
I mean, who amongst you hasn't awkwardly grinded in the high school.
Here's the thing.
What you were talking about, dude, 100% the bravery required to do what you guys did outstanding.
I'm not sure I could have done some of those things, right?
But like eating a scorpion doesn't take a lot of skill.
It takes bravery and commitment and you got to just go into it.
I had to have a skill set.
It takes more skill than sitting there for a spray tan.
No, but then I had to go out in front of 12 million people.
So the bravery element is just as big, right?
Yeah.
And, and I had to build a new skill set.
I'd require a new skill.
Listen, I have been asked.
Actually, I was asked before James was if I wanted to go and dance with the stars and
I said, no, subsequently asked after James went on dancing with the stars.
And I said, absolutely not.
That is, I have no capability, ability, and I would be so scared to do that that there's
no chance in hell I could ever do it.
So all of this was a ploy to make an episode.
James finishing second on dancing with the stars was much more impressive.
I would like to say though that I do truly believe that had James been my partner and
this again is not a dig at Connor because the episode that we lost, I could not figure
out either.
It's not like I figured out the puzzle and he didn't do something and that's why we got
eliminated.
I was stumped, but I still think that James had been my partner as originally planned.
We could have finished first in amazing race and second on dancing with the stars.
We could have messed some stuff up.
We could have messed some stuff up.
Yeah.
And first and then family few one family few.
Yeah.
IndyCar drivers have a pretty good track record on reality TV shows.
It's still worked here.
Let's call her up.
Let's see what Suze is up to.
Yeah.
What would you want to do?
If you had the opportunity to do one other reality show tomorrow, what was the one you'd
sign up for?
Secret lives of Mormon wives probably.
Is that a reality?
Is that like a competition show?
It is.
Honestly, I don't, what are like, I know there's like survival.
I don't, I don't even know what reality shows are.
Yeah.
Like there's like survivor, but then there's also like the, there's this new breed of like,
um, it's like I'm doing like the survival ones.
Yeah.
Like it's, it's, yeah.
There's like, I forget what it's called now, but you have to basically go through a boot
camp.
It's like more intense than that.
That would be cool.
Kind of cool.
Like I don't want to do the ones where it's like, Oh, you're dropped off on like what Matt
Jaskill did.
You're dropped off on an island for seven weeks.
Good luck.
Like no, I'm not doing that.
How about are you smarter than a fifth grader?
Probably no, no, I think a boot camp of sorts, um, would be cool.
I don't, I don't, I don't think I'd want to do American Ninja Warrior because everyone
that did that looked like an absolute fool.
I said no to that one because I was like, yeah, there's no chance.
There's no chance.
I'm getting past the first thing.
There's like, why would I do that to myself?
Like Joseph obviously did the best, but still not good.
Um, I always wanted to do survivor because like the survival part actually did sound
fun to me, but like the social game of having to be such like a conniving back stabbing piece
of, I just, that it doesn't, it's not in my DNA.
Right.
I couldn't, I didn't like, I don't like that part of it.
Fun to watch, but I don't know if I could do it.
Big brother kind of the same thing, right?
Like wouldn't want to do that.
I don't like, I don't like those shows.
I don't like those.
I never got into it.
Oh, so I have, have you watched, um, I haven't watched it yet, but everybody's talking about
traitor.
Have you heard of this one?
It's like from the UK and maybe they've done a US version too, but everyone, all my European
friends are like addicted to the show.
And it's basically like the game mafia, but in a, in a game show style TV thing.
Well, I was going to say we should have the audience decide who had it the hardest, but
it sounds like you guys have already done that.
So I'll say, uh, let us know what reality shows you'd like to see James or Alex or any
other indie car driver.
I want to see like what we think other people in the grid should do.
So that way as well.
So that way we can try to make some pitches, you know, I think the number one response and
I agree.
And I'll start, start us off is Pado should be on bachelor Pado should be on ads.
Good.
That is good.
I do like that.
All right.
I think Pado on the bachelor.
I think Malukas on dancing with the stars cause he actually has some dance background
and he has the self-confidence and he would be great.
Yep.
Yeah.
And, um, yeah.
So give us, give us some others.
We got, we got two to get you guys going.
What else do you think?
Let us know.
In the meantime, Alex, you did a tremendous job on amazing race.
It was a heck of an effort.
And yeah, if she wasn't a gymnast, you would have won.
I think, I think, yeah, without that, we had a good shot.
Yeah.
We had a good shot.
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About this episode
Alex Rossi and James Hinchcliffe compare the real grind of IndyCar drivers on reality TV, focusing on why finishing fourth on The Amazing Race felt tougher than James’ higher placement on Dancing with the Stars. They dig into the casting journey, the shock of being sequestered with limited contact, and the mental strain of “jail” conditions between worldwide legs. Rossi argues the skill gap and live-performance pressure are different kinds of hard, while Hinchcliffe pushes back with the endurance and isolation angle. They also pitch which IndyCar drivers should try other reality shows.
Original notes
While they're primary job is obviously travel-podcasting, Hinch and Rossi both had stints on reality TV. Hinch was runner up on Dancing with the Stars with his dancing partner Sharna Burgess, while Rossi came in 4th place on the Amazing Race with his partner Conor Daly. In this special Tuesday episode, they make the case for each of their shows being the hardest. Who else from the grid would you like to see on a reality show, and which shows? Let us know online!
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