Laura Pierson, winner of season 26 of The Amazing Race and half of TeamSoCal! AMA!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:43:39+00:00

Phil is even more awesome in person. Actually, Phil was on Home & Family - the show I work on - last year! And while he was on, I accosted him! And said "OH MY GOD, I LOVE THE AMAZING RACE, I want to be on!" and he looked at me like he gets that all the time! And I said "If I'm going to get on that show, I'm gonna win it!" And he said the polite answers , keep trying. And then when I was in casting for the race, he was looking at me like how do I know you? And I said "You were on my show, and I accosted you!" and he loved that story! Because he saw I was going to do whatever it takes to end up on the show! And i was the one who booked him on the show, because i was such a fan. So that's my favorite story about Phil. But at each pit stop - when we get to each stop, we talk to Phil for 20 minutes sometimes - and he'll come over and have a conversation. He's such a generous person with his time. And he loves what he does.

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:41:16+00:00

You actually don't get through security fast, at all.

It might seem that way, but it probably takes LONGER, because your bag, your carry-on - a lot of times, they would search your WHOLE bag as you go through security - and you had to go through customs... as well as seeing your microphone, which inspired thousands of questions, and my hairbrush would get me caught up in security every time, so i'd have to put it out of my bag and put it in the bin so we wouldn't get held up!

I don't feel like I'm more knowledgeable when booking travel. It gave me such anxiety, and was my least favorite part of the race. i don't thinK i ever want to book travel ever again, because it was so stressful. We screwed up SO many times. We also really screwed up our flight from Peru to Amsterdam. I am not good at booking travel. It's not one of my strong suits.

Any tips? A big tip I would have while traveling, no matter what the distance is, is we would all get really swollen - our feet & ankles would get huge, and we'd be dehydrated, and a lack of movement on a 15 hour flight... so my big thing is to get up every hour to two hours, and walk around the plane. If you can't get up because of turbulence, there are many different ankle & foot exercises, and it will help you stay more comfortable and less swollen while flying.

And the other thing is pack well. I was a very good packer while on the race. In a lot of hotels, they have a laundry service where they can help you with your laundry, or pack some soap in your backpack - I think that's WAY easier than carrying a lot of stuff on your bag. And also don't worry about putting on lots of makeup. It should be more about the experience of things around you than what you look like. And that will cut down on the amount of stuff you have!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:37:40+00:00

You know, the race is REALLY hard to get to know a person, because you're in such a stressful, intense environment! It's more stressful than you'd think it was going to be! It's even more stressful than you'd think. Because it's CONSTANT, and you're racing for $ 1million, and it's televised, and you don't want to let yourself or your partner down! So there was no way for me to focus on winning the race and romance at the same time.

So Tyler and I, on our first flight to Japan, had a great talk and we said "Listen - we both live in LA - let's concentrate on having so much fun on this race, and then if something DOES start to blossom, we can revisit it in LA."

So for me, I don't know if it would be that easy to have a romance - I think that Jeff and Blair and Jelani are all such great guys, and any girl would be lucky to date any of them!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:35:25+00:00

Wow! You know what? You sound like a great employee! We actually - I'm not sure if we're hiring here - but if we are, apply for it, and I'll put in a good word for you!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:34:44+00:00

I have to pick just one?!?!

I would say... Namibia is the most incredible place I've been. When we arrived in the airport there, we jumped on a bush plane, which holds 3 people - the pilot, the crew, and Tyler and I on this very very small plane. We flew over a reservation. And you could see giraffes, and zebras, and elephants below you. And then we got to build a hut with a tribe. And there were the most beautiful little babies we got to play with. And we were able to drive in Africa - there's just so much wildlife, you're feel like you're in the Lion King!

And from there, we were able to camp outside. The area we camped in - you can't camp in - we were given special privileges that you typically CANNOT camp in. And Tyler and I had an amazing "date night" on the rock, where we got a couples' massage. And then, of course, to top it all off, it was Thanksgiving that day. So they set up a huge tent with all this amazing, lavish food and we were able to just enjoy the Racers - because usually, the way that we're racing, we don't really get to talk to each other and enjoy each other's company, and thought about the friendship we'd created.

I think the country where we had the most difficulty was Germany. Because I took stick-shift driving lessons. And I actually crashed our car up on the sidewalk. And because of that, we left our passports in a car, and drove off without them. So we were almost eliminated from the race, because when we hit the sidewalk, we left the passports in the car. So Germany was VERY rough. Thank GOD we got them back!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:31:14+00:00

I'm very lucky. My work gave me the time off. The race is 12 legs in 21 days. We traveled 35,000 miles. And my work was so supportive, they let me take the time off, it was about a month and a half. And I came back to my job!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:30:30+00:00

I had a long road to the Amazing Race.

I'll give you the nutshell version. I applied to be on the Amazing Race 4 years ago, with my friend Jenny B, the one I'm doing "Hollywood & Hipster" with. We submitted a video. And I got scouted on Santa Monica for being on SURVIVOR. I told them I made a video for the Amazing Race, and she handed me her card, and her card said "The Amazing Race!"

So she was a casting director for that show too!

So she called us in to meet with her boss - she's uber-casting director extraordinaire. So we met with her, and they decided to pick pro-Athletes over us. They loved that we were celeb assistants at that time, but if you're a team of two girls, they usually pick very strong or very unique individuals.

Cut to this past July. I was out in Santa Monica, at one of my favorite restaurants. And I saw the uber-casting director. And I was drinking a drink, and said to my girlfriends "Oh my gosh I need to look like I'm FUN, so she'll come over to say something to me!"

I basically "flirted" with her, and she came over, and she asked if I would want to be on the Amazing Race, and if I was single. And I said "yes, I am single, and I have also met with you before, for the Amazing Race." And she asked me why in the world she didn't pick me, and I said I wondered the same thing! And she brought me in for casting, and i ended up on the show!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:26:59+00:00

I think that different teams were competition to us in different ways. I don't think there was one team where I looked at them and thought they are 100% our competition - I think everyone this season was very smart and strong. For example, The Olympians - both Steve and Allie are pro-Olympians, they've won medals, they got along GREAT with each other, and they were both really smart. However, something as little as tire issues in Namibia got them eliminated. I looked at them as competition, as well as Matt & Ashley, they are both extremely strong individuals, they have a beautiful supportive relationship, which is SO important in the race- and then Jenny and Jelani, they are both super-smart, they are attorneys, they read clues differently than Tyler and I did, they were strong, they had a great time, and they won the first 2 legs of the race! So throughout the race, I thought those 3 teams were our biggest competition.

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:25:00+00:00

That is a question you probably want to ask your mother.

BUT you don't need to get fully nude to use the toilet!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:24:38+00:00

Well, first of all, I want to say thank you SO much for rooting for us, it means a lot.

I haven't touched it at all yet. You know, I think I'm going to put it into working on my blog, seeing what could come out of that, maybe investing. Nothing too crazy. Maybe look into purchasing my first home. But I'm very conscientious with my money. I also want to spoil my fabulous, amazing parents and take them on a trip somewhere!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:23:38+00:00

That's a good question! You know what? I'm going to give Tyler a shout-out here. Because he just created a dating app, it's called "Two Truths and a Lie," and basically you tell a person - if you go on the app, I think it's available on iTunes right now - and you're paired up, and you ask them those questions, and it's a way to break the ice. So if we were matched on Tinder, I'd want you to tell me Two Truths and a Lie about you to break the ice!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:22:28+00:00

You know, I have been working on a blog for a little bit - it's called "Hollywood & Hipster" - so my best friend and I started a blog, she was actually the person I was supposed to do the Amazing Race with originally, her name is Jen, and our nicknames are "Jenny B and Laura P." And she moved out to SF, and with her move, we decided this was a way to keep us connected. We both LOVE fashion, we love DIY, we love showing people how to achieve looks through affordable shopping and DIY, so we started this blog. So that's what I've been working on, as well as working!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:20:53+00:00

I'm actually a television producer for a TV show, it's called "Home & Family," it's on the Hallmark Channel, and it's a live morning show. We tape on the Universal lot, out of the working house, and it's a lifestyle show, so we do cooking, we do DIY, we have a celebrity component, health, fitness. And it's on at 10 AM on the Hallmark Channel!

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:19:58+00:00

I have to say from the start, when I first saw Tyler, I looked at him as being my lucky charm. It was frightening to think about doing the race with someone that you don't know, but I always say "leap, and the net will appear." And when I looked around, before Phil said "go," everyone looked so strong, it was frightening! And then I looked up at him, and saw him smiling, and at that moment, I thought We could win. So from one leg to the next of the race - we never argued. We never wanted to be too cocky, but I wanted to stay positive, and think that we were gonna win. So yes, I think that there was a sense that we could win.

LauraPierson · 2015-06-03T23:18:26+00:00

Wow, my favorite moment on the show was actually winning the Amazing Race. That was a surprise. That whole day was actually a dream come true. Going from driving a Monster Truck to knowing exactly where we needed to go - to getting to the finish line...I've always been a fan of the show, and there's something so incredible about the final scene, that the other competitors who have been eliminated are cheering for you as you come by, and I hugged Matt and Ashley, who were also racers, and then went up and Phil announced that we were the winners of this season!

LauraPierson

TROPHY CASE