Realitywanted.net » Donkey Kicks First Team Off The Amazing Race - Interview with Ari Bonias and Staella Gianakokos

Donkey Kicks First Team Off The Amazing Race - Interview with Ari Bonias and Staella Gianakokos

Posted on November 6th, 2007 by Mark
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I caught up with Ari and Staella yesterday from The Amazing Race 12. There is no way to butter it up, being the first to get kicked off a show is never fun. Getting kicked off a show first after being kicked by a donkey adds insult to injury.

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: What initially got you both interested in being on the show, did you watch prior seasons?

A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: My mom was the one that convinced Ari and I to apply. We are both huge fans of the show and went to an open casting call to try out.

Q. Mark Realitywanted.com: Did you guys have a favorite past team or team that you rooted on from a prior season?

A. Ari, The Amazing Race 12: I really liked Rob and Amber in season 7 and The Amazing race All Stars. Rob reminds me of me because I don’t care if I hurt people’s feelings since this a race and a game. Its too bad people didn’t get too see much of me.
A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: We also liked Charla & Mirna. People had pre conceived notions about them, but they ended up being such an aggressive and strong team.

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: Someone has to go first, how hard it is to have been the first team eliminated?

A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: There is no doubt about it, no one wants to be first to be eliminated. Ari and I said from day one that we did not want to be first team to go. It was the luck of the draw, but then again, we had the donkey incident. We ended up with a very bad donkey. Had we had a different donkey, I think we would had gone much farther in the game, I hate losing

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: What place were you in when the donkey pooped out on you? For a while you guys had a nice lead.

A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: We were in first place when we got into the taxi. Also, we did not steal the taxi it was an accident. During most of race we were in 4th or 5th place. After our donkey stopped walking people started passing us, when we saw the last team pass us we knew we needed to get our donkey moving.

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: Do you have any hard feelings against donkeys now?

A. Ari , The Amazing Race 12: I don’t like donkeys now, they should be used as piñatas only. I’m kidding, I love animals but this donkey brought out the worst in us. It sucks that it made me so mad that I wanted to eat it for dinner. Its like this, I love people but we all run into individuals that we don’t like at times, this is how I felt about our donkey.

A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: What you didn’t see on TV is that we were with the donkey for almost seven hours. We had bruises from being kicked, we were sunburned, and dehydrated. I also got crapped on by our donkey.

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: That’s one hard ass you guys had. Did you learn anything about yourself or other after watching The Amazing Race?

A. Staella, The Amazing Race 12: When we were in the taxi we did not know we were in first place until I watched the show last night.

Q. Mark RealityWanted.com: What a blast it has to be to take part in this, sorry you were the first to go. We are all excited to watch this season. Would you like to share your myspace for fans?

A. Ari – Without a doubt. My myspace is
and Staella’s is

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