‘The Amazing Race 34’: Rex and Tim Reveal Their Routine to Drop 50 Pounds
The Amazing Race Season 34 had 11 teams drive from Germany to Austria. But one team didn’t make the cut after the challenges. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Rex Ryan and Tim Mann on Zoom on Sept. 29 about their preparation and having to yodel in another language with dyslexia.
Rex Ryan on his weight loss before ‘The Amazing Race 34’
Q: I want to start off by talking about how you prep for the season. We heard a lot about you losing 50 pounds for the race. How did you lose it? How long did that take?
Rex: When they said we had a chance to be on the race. We said, ‘OK, we’re going to start jogging together.’ And, you know, Tim trains for marathons. He’s a powerlifting champion, so he’s fine. But he goes, ‘Alright, I’m going to run with you.’
So we start heading down the hill. You know, I got the headphones on, I got the shorts, the t-shirt, the sweat top. Man, I looked the part. We started going, I’m like this [pants]. It was so humbling. And I’m like, it’s, you know, I guess. Nicole, I was thinking that I’m always 20 years old, you know, and I’m almost 60. So it was like that was a reality check for me.
And I made it down a hill, ran at about a mile, and then there was another hill that we had to go up. And I’m like, ‘There’s no chance.’ And so literally that was when I said, ‘I got to do something.’ So I started dieting, basically taking carbs out and running every day. And even though I might only make it a mile, I kept, kept working it, kept working it, kept working it. And after three weeks, I was running three and a half miles a day. So it’s like the dam kind of broke, you know, and all of a sudden I could move better. And that’s kind of how I started in trying to get ready for the race.
Q: Was there any other prep? I talked to Aastha Lal and her partner before this, and they were like spinning plates. So I don’t know if there was any other wild skills you guys were taking on.
Tim: What I did as being in law enforcement is that we used a GPS a lot for work, required it. So what I would do is I would actually use maps. So I was trying to just get used to using a map wherever I wanted to go, as when I was working.
I guess I said earlier, the one thing I did not do is get used to using a map in German. That would have been way easier if I were to learn how to, how to do that. I downloaded some maps on my phone that was trying to match up the flags with different countries, different countries, and the capitals, trying to memorize countries in that place. Each continent and try to put the country in the continent where it belongs. I’m just trying to do stuff like that.
And like I said, if one thing that I wish we would have done and I blame my mom and dad for it, is they never made me take an instrument because I feel like it’s their fault that we could not figure out how to play the bells. Because I’d never took an instrument.
Rex on his dyslexia and yodeling
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Q: I did want to talk about actually the yodeling first because Rex, you had some trouble with that but, Claire [Rehfuss]. You passed Claire. Were you surprised that she was still stuck there when you were done?
Rex: It was funny because like she was the first one in and the second last to finish, which is crazy because she’s you know, she got–she’s smart. She’s, you know, all this, and she’s athletic.
And I was like, ‘There’s nobody going to struggle more than I am on this thing.’ But yes, so we just kind of hung in there. And it was it’s weird.
So I’m dyslexic and, basically what that is like when you’re a kid, you really struggle reading because words aren’t familiar to you. And after a while, like, I got no problem. You’d never know I had it because I just read through like anything, like you and me and everybody else.
But when you see words for the first time in words you’ve never seen. I can’t read it. And so there are teams, you had those words, and I’m sure their teams that could, could read those and could sound it out or whatever. And they had a huge advantage where I really struggled through it, and I just kind of kept having to go through it, go through it, go through it. Finally, finally, you know, hit, finally. But I was surprised to see Claire still standing there, and she was getting so frustrated, and I was like, ‘Hang in there, hang in there, you’re going to get it.’
Q: Were you doing more listening then, or were you still trying to look at the words as you were?
Rex: No, I tried to listen more because the words, the words couldn’t help me. So I definitely was listening. And then when we go, every time you’re in that line to wait your turn, I’m doing it as we go.
So it might have shown that I only had six attempts, but I really had probably 20 attempts. You know, so as I was going through the line. But I noticed I’d get a little bit better each time, and then I finally hit it.
How they teamed up with Marcus and Michael
Q: You guys we’re talking about maps before. In this episode, we saw you work together with Marcus and Michael [Craig]. How did you get to that familiarity with them that they weren’t being like, ‘Get out of here’ when you guys were mapping things out?
Rex: Well, when the first leg when we, we met up at the saw together, you know, you just kind of know when you have a connection with somebody. I mean, you could just you can read people and tell somebody, we got a connection with these guys. And then when we got to that trying to find a pit stop together that showed it briefly. We worked together trying to find the pit stop there.
And then we knew right away like we can, it’ll work together. It’ll be better if we do this as a group rather than just two of us. And then when we saw that, we all finished kind of in order. And we knew the next day, ‘Hey, you know, we’re just going to follow you guys if you know where you’re going.’
‘Alright, let’s do it.’ So it just kind of turned into ‘Hey, you help us. We’re going to help you.’ And unfortunately, we didn’t do our part to stick around long enough to help them, but it was fun to work with them guys. They’re both great guys.
Q: Do you think you’re going to stay in touch with anyone from show?
Tim: We’re on a group message with everyone right now. So we all communicate, if not daily. My mom just passed away on Monday. So if you did anything with that, if you’ve seen the casting video of Rex and I on social media, I talk about my mom having ALS.
So I just got text messages from everybody that was in the race telling me that they’re thinking of me and praying for us and asking us how I’m doing days later. So it’s, yeah still keeping in contact with everyone. It’s a awesome group of people and you almost met–you make–it’s not just group of people. You made friends out of it, you know. I mean, and it’s it’s it’s a small, small group that you always be part of, and it’s cool to be part of that.
This interview has been edited and condensed for this article.
Other Exit Interviews:
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Aastha and Nina on Their Slow Start and Double Dates With Claire and Derek
