BROTHERS IN ARMS
Jody and Cory Mitic are fierce competitors with a few tricks up their sleeves
Jody Mitic, who lost both his legs after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan, knows all about challenges and never giving up. When he heard about auditions for The Amazing Race Canada he jumped at the chance.
Mitic, 36, teams up with his brother Cory Mitic, a 32-year-old Edmonton-based labour relations officer for the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. The reality TV series debuts on Monday at 9 p.m. on the CTV Network. Nine teams are vying for the top prize, which includes $250,000 in cash.
“Once I challenge myself to something, even if I realize it’s going to be a miserable time, I try and see myself through to get it done,” says Mitic, a former corporal in the Canadian Army.
After his 2007 accident, he became an advocate for wounded soldiers and a motivational speaker.
“I knew that my brother and I would be an interesting team, a unique team,” says Cory. “I think because of my brother’s condition — he has two prosthetic feet — that we have an interesting dynamic together. We’re both funny guys, we’re fairly likable and I just thought we would stand a good chance (at winning).”
He says he’d never worked on a similar project before, other than participating several years ago in a 5K charity run that was organized after his brother’s injury in Afghanistan.
“That was a good bonding experience and we raised a heck of a lot of money for the St. John’s Rehab Centre in Toronto. It was the first test for my brother and he was bouncing back after being hurt.”
He says being on the TV show helped his brother realize his potential, despite his condition.
“I wasn’t worried about myself athletically being on the show, I’m a fairly athletic guy, always have been. I wasn’t worried about my brother, but how far the prosthetics could take him,” he says.
He says he wasn’t a die-hard fan of The Amazing Race TV show but he had watched and enjoyed it.
“I always thought it was great TV, seeing people who are close together, trying to do things, bicker and then try and finish a challenge. But I think I was in disbelief that we were actually on the show because of the selection process and of all the people who applied to the show,” he says.
“I felt that our skills and abilities complemented one another in a pretty awesome way and I question whether any of the other teams had the same skills and abilities,” says Cory, adding the TV experience was one of the best he’s ever had.
Jody is a fierce competitor and says he and his brother had a few tricks up their sleeve during the competitions.
“Sometimes you have to be smarter, sometimes you have to be faster and sometimes even try and be slower. I can’t give anything away but nothing was consistent, everything was a challenge for us,” Jody says.