American Cowboy: How did you land on “The Amazing Race?”
Jet: A casting director called me and planted the bug. She sent us an application. We mailed back our audition video and got selected. The rest was history.
Cord: I was leaving the Cheyenne Frontier Days last year when Jet called. He was basically like, ‘Do you want to go on a race around the world and do these challenges?’ He’s a pretty good salesman, so after ten minutes, I was ready to eat whatever and jump off whatever cliff to win a million bucks.
AC: Rumor has it you don’t have a television. Had you ever seen the show before, and how did you prepare for the race?
C: Jet has a TV. I don’t, though that will probably change soon. When we were applying for the show, we bought all the old DVDs from the first 15 seasons. We studied what we were going to be doing before we took off and left.
J: It would have been a lot harder going into it blind. But watching the old shows, and seeing how other people played the game and overcame obstacles, definitely helped.
AC: Once you left, and the race was on and you were on the road, what did you miss most about the U.S., Oklahoma, or your ranches back home?
C: We had each other, but it was still tough for us both. Jet is married with a little girl who was 17 months old when we left. I got engaged one and a half weeks before I gave up my cash and cell phone and took off on a race around the world. Both of us got a little homesick, but at the same time, we left on a mission.
AC: As the show went on, you developed a reputation as fair players. Did you ever consider abandoning your ethic and doing whatever it took to win?
C: It never crossed my mind to go back on our ethic. We’d watch how other players would try to be deceiving, but from the word ‘go,’ Jet and I were running our own race. We weren’t concerned with the other teams. They’d wonder, ‘Where are the cowboys? How’d they do that?’ We just did the best we could do.
AC: Your best got you to the finale, but ultimately you didn’t win. Looking back, what was the best part of the experience?
C: Throughout the race, we got so into how blessed we were to go to all these crazy locations and see all these beautiful sights. By the time we were halfway through the race, we were just glad to make it to another leg. Each time we opened an envelope, it was another chapter. What country were we going to? What were we going to see?
J: There was no one best part for me. Every country we went to had something interesting; something new to offer; something new to see. In a way, the last place we’d been was my favorite.
AC: After traveling around the world, did you walk away with any life lessons?
J: Before the race, I considered myself pretty well traveled. I had been to rodeos from coast to coast, border to border. I thought I’d seen a lot of things. But to get outside the United States, and to see other countries and different cultures where people do things in so many different ways, really changed my perspective.
The show’s finale aired in May, and for the brothers, life has mostly returned to normal. Jet is back on the ranch in Ada, OK. Cord is back on tour with the PBR, and busy planning his November 2010 wedding. They’re also using their newfound celebrity to help worth causes – over Memorial Day Weekend, the Cord McCoy Invitational in Ada raised money for the American Cancer Society.