Две сестры из Мюррея стали участницами нового сезона реалити-шоу «Невероятная гонка»

MURRAY — Two Murray sisters will soon have their meddle tested on national television when CBS’s long-running reality competition series “The Amazing Race” premieres next month. Nearly two years ago, Katie and Charlotte Schultz put together an audition video, sent it to the show’s casting team and hoped for the best. They are now one of 13 teams competing in the new season for a $1 million prize. “The Amazing Race” will kick off its 39th season on CBS with a two-night season premiere beginning at 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday, Sept. 30. Both parts of the premiere will be 90 minutes, with part two airing at the same time Thursday, Oct. 1, according to a news release from CBS and Paramount. For anyone who misses the live broadcast, all episodes will be available to subscribers the next day on Paramount+. According to a CBS news release, host Phil Keoghan will kick off the Race from Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, and racers will travel to five continents, nine countries, 13 cities and cover more than 25,000 miles. Before the season concludes, contestants “will jump 200 feet off the catwalk of BC Stadium in Vancouver, walk with camels in Morocco and fly a paramotor through the skies of Laos,” the release said. For Katie Schultz, 26, the opportunity was years in the making. She had been watching “The Amazing Race” since about 2015 and had wanted to compete since before she was old enough to apply. While being an avid viewer of any other TV show for more than a decade would most likely qualify someone as a veteran fan, “The Amazing Race” has such a long legacy that Katie was still an infant when the show made its debut on Sept. 5, 2001. Since that first season, the show has been nominated for 108 Primetime Emmy Awards and has won a total of 15. Ten of those wins were for Outstanding Reality Competition Program, a prize it won seven consecutive times after the category was created in 2003. Katie wanted to compete on the show so badly that she initially asked one of her brothers to join her, but she said he declined. That left Katie waiting until Charlotte turned 18. Charlotte, now 20, said she moved in with Katie in Murray after turning 18 and began watching the show with her. The sisters are from Puryear, Tennessee, but have now lived in Murray for a while, both working as estheticians, with Katie at SKN Lounge and Charlotte at Bailey & Co. The sisters had only watched about three seasons together before applying to be on the show, but Charlotte said she quickly made up for lost time once they decided to pursue the opportunity. Although she said they might have skipped some of the earlier seasons, she estimated that they streamed around 30 seasons together before they actually began competing. Charlotte said they also listened to podcasts about the show and researched the competition extensively once they learned who was on the other teams. The audition video was relatively straightforward, with the sisters talking about their lives, their relationship and why they believed they would make a competitive team. Growing up in a family of 12 children gave them plenty of experience navigating different personalities, they said. Katie is the second-oldest of the siblings, while Charlotte is the fifth child. “We’re from a really big family,” Charlotte said. “We have a lot of good relationship skills and people skills and experience working with and getting along with different personalities.” The sisters also emphasized how close they have always been. That closeness would prove important because the competition can test not only physical endurance and problem-solving skills, but also the relationships between teammates. “The entire race, we didn’t fight and we didn’t get into any arguments with each other because we’re just so tight and on the same page, so that was really huge for us,” Charlotte said. After they submitted their video, they heard back surprisingly quickly, with a casting producer reaching out about a month later. Not knowing how many months many prospective contestants wait, though, Katie assumed the producers weren’t interested. “We didn’t hear anything back for over a month, so we were kind of at the point of thinking, ‘Oh, I guess they didn’t want us,’” Katie said. “Then I was actually overseas, and we got a text at the same time. Then Charlotte was trying to call me on the phone, and the service was so spotty, so we were like, ‘This bad internet connection is going to ruin our chance to get on ‘The Amazing Race’!” Once they were able to get back in touch with the show’s casting department, that set a roughly six-month audition process in motion. “The casting process was about a six-month ordeal, and there were lots of interviews, lots of background checks and mental assessments and physical assessments and vaccines and all that stuff that you have to go through,” Katie said. “They made sure they covered every single base,” Charlotte said. “We got our blood drawn, they made sure we had all of our vaccines, and they looked through all of our health records. It was crazy.” For the final round of the audition process, they were among 26 teams flown to Los Angeles, where Katie said half would ultimately be eliminated from consideration. Katie said she and Charlotte were nervous about their prospects because they didn’t feel great about their in-person interview, but they still got the call from the casting producer after they got back home. The sisters believe their combination of athleticism and close relationship might have helped them stand out, particularly because the producers seemed to be looking for strong female teams. Both are runners, with Katie running marathons and Charlotte running ultramarathons. In fact, Charlotte is currently training for a 100-mile race. Both also regularly lift weights and work out, they said. Once they were selected, though, they realized physical conditioning would be only one part of preparing for a competition that takes teams around the world. Charlotte had never left the country before the race, and neither sister had much experience with public transportation. They knew from their many viewing sessions that they could encounter unfamiliar languages, transportation systems and cultural customs, so they tried to prepare for as many possibilities as they could. They bought a vehicle with a stick shift and practiced driving a manual transmission all the way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They also used the opportunity to test their navigation skills. “We drove all the way to Gatlinburg with no GPS,” Charlotte said. “We just used paper maps, and we made it there, surprisingly!” They also took eight weeks of Spanish classes and practiced a variety of skills that might come in handy during the race. They played unfamiliar sports, practiced cooking, learned to sew and prepared for the physical demands of carrying everything they needed in backpacks. That involved training with weighted vests, sometimes carrying about 30 pounds while running. “Everything you have for the month is on your back during the Race,” Katie said. “You’re carrying all your supplies, your clothes, laundry, soap – anything you might need.” Charlotte said arriving in Vancouver and seeing the production come to life was one of the coolest experiences of the competition. Even though their names would not be announced publicly for another year, running through an airport with a camera crew following them made the sisters feel like celebrities, particularly as people stopped to ask for photographs. The experience also gave the sisters an appreciation for the many people behind the scenes that keep the long-running series going. They said many of the show’s producers and crew members have worked on “The Amazing Race” since its first season. “A lot of the producers are in their 70s, but you would not believe it the way they’re hopping around the world,” Katie said. “They’ve got so much energy, and I was jealous of them while traveling.” The sisters cannot reveal where the race took them beyond what has already been made public, nor can they discuss how long they remained in the competition or specific events that took place. They began the shoot last September, though, so they have spent the last 12 months keeping the experience largely to themselves. Even their family members had to sign nondisclosure agreements, they said. That allowed the sisters to tell their parents, Molly and Jeremy Schultz, and siblings what happened after returning home, but they still could not publicly discuss their involvement with the show until the cast was announced. For such a large group of siblings, keeping such a big secret was no small task, but they can at least finally reveal their participation, even if they still won’t be able to talk about how they did for some time. Katie said competing on “The Amazing Race” was not only exciting, but a major bonding experience for Charlotte and her. Even though the sisters’ inclusion in the show was a huge long shot, it does demonstrate that it’s always worth trying for something you know you want, she said. “It was just really an amazing experience,” Katie said. “I think it's definitely brought us closer together, and we learned a lot about ourselves and each other. I would highly recommend it to anybody that's interested. Just apply. You never know!”