“We Would Have Paid to Do This Race” - An Interview with The Amazing Race 8’s Gaghan Family by Jenn Brasler -- 11/03/2005 Ever thought about taking two kids on the race of a lifetime? Bill and Tammy Gaghan did it. Find out about the pros and cons of an extreme family vacation in our interview with the Gaghan family. RealityNewsOnline: Hi, Bill, Tammy, Billy, and Carissa! First of all, you must know that your family was one of the favorites of the audience this season. We’re all sad that you were eliminated. What is everyone’s favorite experience? Bill: Getting a home run right off the bat. It kept our team out of last place. Tammy: The Amish buggy weighed over 500 pounds and Bill and I were strong enough to push/pull it without any problems. It is the hardest thing I have done. Billy: Centrifuge, because pulling 3.2 Gs was a lot of fun. Carissa: Mud bog. I liked ripping through the mud. RNO: Bill and Tammy, how did Billy and Carissa contribute the most? Bill and Tammy: They had great eyes, which helped us find things. They ran their little hearts out. They also kept us laughing. They were encouraging. They made our team more accessible to the other teams (we were more approachable). They did great together and never complained. RNO: Were you worried that they would hold you back? Bill and Tammy: Sure, we were worried, but they surprised us with how strong and resilient they were. Our kids were more accommodating to the stress of the race and never once did they complain. RNO: Billy and Carissa, what did you get most out of the experience? What did you learn? Billy: To know that you should never give up and to keep on trying no matter what. My family can cooperate more than I thought. Carissa: I learned that I was stronger than I thought I was. I made a lot of friends on the race. RNO: Other than bungee jumping, what did you two wish you could have done on the race that you didn’t get to do or couldn’t do? Billy: Sky diving. Carissa: Rappelling down a mountain. RNO: Did you all feel that you had an advantage or disadvantage because of your team’s make-up? Tammy: Overall, I think our team had many advantages. We are a family unit, so we had built-in decision-making. We are a physical team (Bill and I are as strong as any four-person adult team). The kids were great runners - faster than most adults. A disadvantage would be there were no “kid-friendly challenges” (detours/roadblocks). It would have been nice to have more than one map-reader. RNO: Where did you all want to travel? Bill: Vietnam. Tammy: Cambodia. I love the culture. Carissa: Africa. I loved the challenges from season 1. Billy: Russia. RNO: What team did you connect with the most, if any? Are you still in touch with any of the other families? The Gaghans: We are probably the closest to the Paolos and the Aiellos. We stay in touch by e-mail with all of the families. We went to the Aiellos’ and watched episode 2 with their families. The Paolos came to our hotel and we all went out to dinner and then watched the show in our room last night. We liked all of the families and got along with everybody. RNO: Did you know that you were in last place at the end of the last leg? The Gaghans: Yes, because when we pulled our van up to park, the other five vans were already there. RNO: What would you most like people to know about your family? The Gaghans: That we had a wonderful experience. We would have paid to do this race. We had so much fun and made a lot of new friends. RNO: Thanks for this interview! I hope you all have happy memories of the race and share the experiences for the rest of your lives. The Gaghans: Thank you. We’ve read your articles on RNO over the past weeks; thanks so much for being so nice to our family. We have been amazed at how nice everybody has been.