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Meet the 6 Survivor Contestants Battling It Out on The Amazing Race Season 31

This season on The Amazing Race , contestants from three reality shows-Survivor, Big Brother, and past Amazing Race seasons-compete against each other in a race around the world for a "Reality Showdown."

6 Survivor Players Are on The Amazing Race

Since I have a special connection to Survivor (I was the runner up on Survivor 33: Millennials vs. GenX), I decided to check in on the three Survivor teams competing. I was curious to see how The Amazing Race compared to living on a Fijian island for 39 days .

  • Bret Labelle and Chris Hammons (both Survivor 33: Millennials vs. GenX), a comedic cop-lawyer duo
  • Rupert Boneham (Survivor 7: Pearl Islands, Survivor 8: All Stars, Survivor 20: Heroes Vs. Villains, Survivor 27: Blood Vs. Water) and Laura Boneham (Survivor 27: Blood Vs. Water), the tie dye wearing husband and wife pair
  • Corinne Kaplan (Survivor 17: Gabon, Survivor 26: Fans Vs. Favorites II) and Eliza Orlins (Survivor 9: Vanuatu and Survivor 16: Micronesia), the self proclaimed 'Team Villain' of the season

In a series of interviews, they told me about the differences both in preparation and in the experience of competing on the two reality shows.

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MH: How did you train for this versus Survivor ? Both fitness-wise and mentally.

Bret: I drank coffee and ate donuts getting ready for this I just worked out, tried to run as much as I could.

Chris: I was in pretty good shape going into this. I've been doing a lot of Orangetheory fitness and some yoga, so I was endurance wise probably the best shape I've been in, in a long time.

Rupert: Getting ready for Survivor, I started quitting things: quit drinking coffee, quit smoking cigarettes, quit going to the buffet. Getting ready for Amazing Race, it was more about am I going to be able to keep up with Laura.

Laura: Survivor was focused on, trying to build a fire, can I do this? Amazing Race was focused on what am I going to need. It was overwhelming, you can't study the whole world!

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Rupert: We got the flags of the world and started learning all the flags, learning what some of the countries highlights were.

Corinne: I found this to be a completely different type of training. Eliza and I were smart enough to split up tasks. I would be the navigator and she would be the primary driver. We both had to say that we could drive stick shift, we both had to take hours and hours of stick shift lessons. I took line dancing lessons at my local country bar, to get used to being told a dance and then learning it. I did a climbing class at a local climbing gym, which totally came into effect the first episode.

Eliza: Survivor depend more on a social game. I trained physically both for Survivor and for Amazing Race. We did a lot of texting back and forth about what gear we needed, what the lightest thing was, what the newest best backpack was. It was a lot of preparation in a different way than preparing for Survivor.

MH: Survivor, despite alliances, is a solo game. How did working in a pair change your perspective? Or strategy going in?

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Chris: We definitely had strategies. Bret was supposed to sing and dance, if there was anything. I was supposed to run if there was running but you don't know what you're going to face. It's like Survivor, we don't know what's coming. We finally just said, whatever comes, we're going to deal with it when it gets there.

Bret: We both expected to have alliances with other teams but it's just not the same. You don't want to get U-Turned and all of that stuff, so you want to be friendly with everyone but it's not the same as Survivor where you need these relationships to get further in the game.

Rupert: On Survivor, we already had it in mind that they would use our relationship against us (Survivor 27: Blood Vs. Water) and we were ready to have to make those decisions. In Amazing Race we knew that we were going to be together and be stronger together. I had my support system with me.

Laura: We've been married 21 years, we've been with each other at our worst. We know how to lift each other up and bring each other together. We're opposites in some ways that help each other, we both see the challenge in a different way.

Corinne: All we would do is run through things: if it's animals, it's going to be you. If it's anything driving wise, it's you. If it's heights, it's me. Every time we opened a clue, there was no point in which we were like, you do it, no you do it.

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Eliza: Survivor is so autonomous. You're trying to work with people but ultimately, if they win, you lose. Being in a pair in that sense is awesome, knowing that I could count on Corinne no matter what. We both wanted to be there so badly, we're both incredibly competitive, we're both going to do our absolute best. The hard part about being in a pair is, if you fail on Survivor, you let yourself down, but there's another person who relies on you when you're in a twosome.

Corinne: Eliza and I had a pact, you can yell at other teams, but at no point during the race should she yell at me.

MH: What was the biggest difference between Survivor and The Amazing Race that surprised you?

Chris: On Survivor you get to sit around all day, and think things through. But when this thing starts, it is go. There's not a lot of thinking, you got to use your instincts, use your gut, and get it done. The pace of it is certainly a different dance than Survivor.

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Bret: It's hard to stay calm when you're running around. Thank God I'm the epitome of calmness and I always keep a level head. (Laughter) You're constantly going, going, going. And if you don't reel it in, your mind will get away from you.

Rupert: In Survivor, you bring a lot of stress on yourself just from the lack of food, the strategy, the lack of water, the lack of sleep. When we got out on Amazing Race, and the first time we were dropped in the middle of Tokyo, where it is just overwhelming and you see everyone go running. Oh my gosh, the stress level starts at one hundred.

Laura: You're just going nonstop. It was just so foreign, so many people, no one speaks English, it was pouring down rain [in Tokyo], you couldn't read signs. There was nothing to hang on to.

Eliza: On Survivor, once the game starts it's on, and that's it for 39 days or however long you last. The Amazing Race, it's like start stop, start stop. Now you're on a flight for 12 hours, now you're sitting in the airport for ten hours. Survivor is like sustained misery, for a longer period of time. And Amazing Race is more like peak misery, okay relax, peak misery and then a valley. It was really surprising to have these moments where we're in the middle of a leg but we're all just chilling 'cause you're not voting these people off. The cameras are not on you 24/7, not like Survivor, the cameras are not on you in flight.

Corinne: I think a big difference too is how much the world and strangers play a role in your game. We had to look and decide, who do you want to ask for directions, we can't ask everyone, everyone you ask has to sign a waiver. At some points there would be people realizing we were on Amazing Race and they'd start cheering. In Survivor, you're all alone.

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MH: What elements of Survivor strategy did you bring to The Amazing Race ? Or skills from Survivor ?

Chris: Adaptability. On Survivor, every day changed, a conversation changes everything. And the Race, if you can't adapt on the fly, it's everything.

Bret: Survivor, when you think you're going home, you run around and you never give up and you try to get the names switched. The Race is the same way, you're racing around these towns and you never give up. Everyone starts at the same spot and then you lose these teams and so when you get to the different locations you don't know if you're first, last place. You say to yourself, just keep going cause we may be number one.

Chris: The paranoia is the same as when you're in an alliance and you think you're on the bottom.

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Rupert: Survivor you go days with no food, no sleep, no comfort. That side of Amazing Race where you might have to go and miss a meal or two, lay down and sleep on the street (waiting for something to open), put yourself in a position where you're not so comfortable: we were most definitely ready for that. We just weren't ready for the high stress level that it really brings.

Laura: Trying to partner up with people too, cause we were all sort of lost together. Alliances, helping each other out.

Corinne: Having that warrior attitude that you get from being on Survivor Unless you've done Survivor, I don't know how you really know what your body can handle. So every other team would be in the airport purchasing like Popeyes Chicken. We would just sit there, quietly, with all of our money, in our little fanny pack thinking, well if it comes down to who's got enough money at some point, it's never going to be that we had the chicken sandwich.

MH: On Survivor you didn't eat. What did you eat during the Race to keep up your stamina?

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Chris: There is a little bit of Survivor on Amazing Race in the fact that it's not like you can just go to every store and buy whatever you want. You don't have your money, you have what they give you for that leg of the race. So you have to really think that through and conserve and use that wisely.

Bret: You might go 20-something hours without anything.

Laura: We actually hoarded snacks from the very beginning.

Rupert: Everywhere that we stopped that had samples. In that giant backpack you see on my back, I probably have 3 or 4 pounds of Cheez-Its, nuts, snacks, dried fruit, and supplies to keep going.

Corinne: Pretty much just whatever was on the plane. If the plane gave out packets of peanuts, I would shove as many of them as I could, I would ask for extras, put them on my bag. But at no point did we spend a penny on food.

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MH: I know this is not how Amazing Race works, but if you could vote one team off, who would it be? And if you could align with one team, who would it be?

Bret/Chris: Vote off the Reilly sisters (Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater). Align with the Survivor teams and Kory (Kuhl) and Tyler (Oakley).

Rupert/Laura: Vote off Corinne (Kaplan) and Eliza (Orlins). Align with The Afghanimals (Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran).

Corrine/Eliza: Vote off The Afghanimals (Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran). Align with Britney (Haynes) and Janelle (Pierzina).

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