A word from the winners ...
Brothers discuss their Amazing Race Canada victory
During Gino and Jesse Montani’s time on The Amazing Race Canada, the brothers had highs — finishing first on four legs — and lows — narrowly missing elimination twice — but managed to pull through when it counted: winning the last and final leg of the season.
The siblings from Hamilton take home $ 250,000, two Chevy Colorado trucks, a year’s worth of travel in business class anywhere Air Canada flies and gas for life from Petro- Canada for their victory over the other 11 teams that competed in Season 3 of the popular reality series.
The pair — Gino, 28, works for the City of Hamilton, while Jesse, 25, is a steelworker — were still floating on air over their win as they made the media rounds Thursday in Toronto.
Q You’ve had a few months to reflect on your time on the Race. What are you taking from the experience?
A Jesse — It’s taught me a lot about my brother, about our relationship and how important family is. I have taken a lot from
it. I am so happy that I was able to run this Race with my older brother. Gino — We are huge fans of the Race. Our dad was a huge fan. We always talked about it, what you would do if you were on the Race. You always think that you can do things, but to know that we actually can do them now is so rewarding. Q What are some of your favourite memories?
A Gino — What I thought was cool was seeing Brent and Sean. They didn’t know if they could overcome certain things ... and had low confidence. To see that confidence build over the show, it was amazing. To see people grow as individuals, I loved that. Jesse — Definitely seeing Gino up there on BC Place riding the plank. (“I nailed it,” Gino chimes in.) There was so much pressure on getting that first. Just the fact that he could do that and do it first, that was so rewarding. Q It’s interesting. I asked you about a highlight for you, and you talked about your brother.
A Jesse — Definitely. We are really close. Honestly, if I was in that position I know that Gino would be feeling the exact same way. Gino — You try to portray yourself a certain way prior to going on the show. One thing that Jesse and I wanted to portray is that we are just normal, average working guys. We come from nothing. Our family is so important to us. We couldn’t say it enough ... We wouldn’t be the men we are today without them. Jesse — We are the mama’s boys.
Q Speaking of mom, what are your plans for her?
A Jesse — Our plan is to definitely take her on a vacation of her choice. She chose Italy and we are going to surprise her. We are going to build her a brand new deck off the back of her house. Oh, and we are getting her new appliances.
Q And the cash?
A Gino — We are smart guys. We understand that $ 125,000 each is life changing but it’s not enough to be frivolous and just blow it. We are going to try to make some good financial decisions. Q Casting for Season 4 is open. What advice would you give teams?
A Gino — I say this all the time and I can’t stress this enough: don’t try to make any extravagant, fancy audition tape. I don’t think that’s what production wants. They want to see who you are. Q And what if they make it to the Race?
A Jesse — Make sure you communicate with your taxis. ( Laughs) Big influence in your Race. Make sure you create a relationship, and a trust relationship, to make sure no one else takes your taxi.
Q Which brings us to Cabotage!
A Gino — You know what, if anybody puts themselves in that position ... We asked the taxi driver if we could take his taxi and he agreed. If he had said no, there would have been people saying, ‘ Well, why didn’t they just take the taxi?’ I would have rather have taken that taxi and made it to the finale rather than not taking the taxi and being eliminated. That was our option. I don’t regret it at all. I think it was a smart, strategical move. Even Nick and Matt in the after show commented that they weren’t mad at us — they were mad at the taxi driver, who wasn’t true to his word.