When I first bumped into Amazing Race, I didn’t really get it. I mean, people racing around the world … fun for them … where’s the buzz for us?

But when I got home, my brother got me watching Season 9, and I was hooked. Why? The nice guys. The hippies. The hair people. BJ and Tyler.

I also liked the geeky couple, and the old folks, and the Ray-Yolanda were fun too, because they were real. But mostly, I just liked the nice guys.

I liked that they got through the show by having fun, playing fair, and spreading good kharma. I liked that they seemed to want more than just to win, and that everywhere they went, they left people smiling.

I don’t know if playing nice was part of their strategy, or it’s just a hippie thing, but I was really sad when they turned mean towards the end. The episode where they badmouthed Mr and Mrs Nasty aka MoJo broke my heart. Granted MoJo deserved it, but not coming form my nice guys!

And when they had to yield them and start mind-effing the frat boys, I almost stopped watching the series. Fortunately, on both episodes, their meanness came back to bite them, so they went back to playing nice.

What I like most about BJ and Tyler is they had fun. They love to travel, they speak lots of languages, and they have a way with people. More than once, they had everything taken away from them, and somehow they survived.

The game took all their money before Australia, and they begged on the plane and got more money than everyone else. In Sydney, again, they lost all their clothes and had to wear  Yolanda’s girl-pants, but they went parading the streets and Tyler got paid to take off his shirt, which was a feat in itself.

The frat boys on the other hand were the … overdogs … if such a thing exists. They had stereotype good looks, great athletic bodies, competitive spirits and a mean streak. They’re were the ultimate sportsmen, built to win, cutting corners, getting a head anyway they could. In survival of the fittest, they were the fittest.

When I look at my business, I think of BJ and Tyler. Everybody loves the underdog, but it’s more than that. The Frat Boys are the model of capitalism – trample toes, be the best, win any way you can. BJ and Tyler are more like have fun, do good things, and fortune will come to you, rama rama ding dong. Me, I’m a rama rama ding dong kind of girl.

I know that in the real world [and soaps, and wrestling] the good guys rarely win. But BJ and Tyler were mostly good, and they won a million dollars. So there’s hope of making money while doing what I love and having fun.

Of course, wearing sandals, eating bugs, having long hair, and taking off you shirt in Australia helps too.