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Interview with Brennan Swain - Amazing Race Champion

TheForce.net's Joshua Griffin got a chance to interview the winner of the Amazing Race, Brennan Swain. He is a massive Star Wars fan and visits TFN regularly, and will even be making an appearance at the upcoming Celebration 2! Read on for details of his adventure and his love of Star Wars:

Tell us about how you were selected to participate in the Amazing Race.
It's just like the selection process for Survivor (it's actually the same casting directors). Rob (my teammate on the show) and I sent in a three minute video tape where we talked about why we thought we'd be good for the show along with an application. They narrowed the thousands of applicants down to the top 300 teams. All of these teams had a half-hour interview in a few select cities throughout the U.S. Our interview was in Los Angeles (which is where I'm from). After that, the field was narrowed down to 25 teams that were all sequestered in a Los Angeles hotel for eight days. We went through psychological, mental and medical tests as well as a battery of interviews with the show's producers. From these 25 teams they selected the 11 teams that made it on the show. Four weeks later I was racing around the world.

Did they know you were a Star Wars fan?
In some of the questionnaires that we had to fill out I mentioned that Star Wars was my favorite movie. Beyond that I don't think my Star Wars fanatacism came up until we got to Tunisia. I certainly mentioned it when I found out that we had to go to Tatouine (the Tunisian spelling) and then Ksar Hadada. I said something like "We've got to go to Tatouine...and I think we have to find Luke Skywalker." Unfortunately, that never made it on the air.

What was the most challenging aspect of the adventure?
The adventure was very stressful overall. I was always afraid of being eliminated and embarrassed on national television. But, the most challenging part of the race was trying to book plane flights. During the race, if you made a mistake performing a task you might lose a 10 or 20 minutes, but if you make a mistake and don't get the best flight to your next destination you can lose hours and probably the race. Just imagine running into the airport in Delhi, India and telling the person behind the counter (if they can understand you) that you have to get to Bangkok, Thailand as fast as possible.

When did you first see Star Wars?
I saw Star Wars in 1977 at the age of 6. And then I saw it again a few days later :^)

Why is it important to you?
Star Wars played a huge role in my life as a child. It was my favorite movie from the day I saw it and has remained my favorite ever since. I had all the toys and thought I was Luke Skywalker. Check out my nostalgia page on the Star Wars Collectors Archive http://www.toysrgus.com/images-nosta/bswain-nosta.html. Today, Star Wars still is important to me because it reminds me of those care-free days of youth. I've also made a lot of friends as a result of collecting.

Have you made Star Wars appearances since the show?
I haven't, but I'd love to make some more.

Tell us about your involvement with the Celebration 2.
The word spread throughout the Star Wars community that a collector was on a new CBS reality show called The Amazing Race. As a result, a lot of Star Wars fans became Amazing Race fans. I enjoyed a lot of the e-mails that I got from Star Wars fans after the finale. Because of the interest among Star Wars fans and because we had a pit stop in Tatooine I was asked to speak at Celebration 2. My presentation is scheduled for Sunday, May 5, at 10:00 - 11:00 AM. It'll be held in Naboo (Rooms 201-204). I'll be speaking about The Amazing Race and particularly our stop in Tunisia and Ksar Hadada (the Ep 1 slave quarters). The presentation will include a 20 minute video and a Q&A session. I hope to have a full house loaded with questions.

What are your future plans?
I've actually quit my legal job (I was a lawyer) and am trying to stay in front of the camera. It was a natural fit since I already live in Hollywood and I got some great exposure from having been on 13 episodes of a prime time television show that was watched by over 10 million people a week. Rob and I have been working with an agent and manager to try and package a travel/adventure show or something similar. Hollywood moves slowly, but hopefully you'll see us back on the screen at some point. Check out our website at http://www.robandbrennan.com (we'll be unveiling a new look website soon) to keep up with what we're doing.

And how much did you win, anyway? And how much of that went into your collection?
Rob and I split 1 million dollars. So, I ended up with a check for $500,000 (I haven't paid taxes on it yet). So far not too much has gone for my collection. Just give me a little time :^) See you all at Celebration 2!

Thanks again for your time.
Thanks, Joshua!