Carol and Brandy - TAR 16

[anders332]

Amazing Race’s Carol and Brandy: We Aren’t ‘Mean Lesbians’

April 13, 2010

Carol Rosenfeld, 47, a consultant living in Los Angeles, and her Salt Lake City-based teammate, Brandy Snow, a 40-year-old actress, were the second team to have their run ended by the dreaded U-Turn on this season of The Amazing Race. The former girlfriends spoke with PEOPLE about being labeled “mean lesbians,” how they really feel about Caite Upton and how the competition cost them their relationship. –Carrie Bell

You said on the show that “dumb did us in.” Did anything else was contribute to your elimination other than the U-Turn?

Brandy: The U-Turn was the end of us. We were totally blindsided and did not consider ourselves the biggest threat.
Carol: It was funny and surprising to see how big of a threat [the cops] thought we were.
Brandy: It was a very physically competitive race and we did the best we could in every situation. We brought our best game. I don’t have regrets about how we played it and I don’t have any about how we treated any of the other teams. We were very focused on our performance and not on the other racers.
Caite had particularly nasty things to say about you in her explanation for why they u-turned you.
Brandy: We weren’t mean. There are way more clips of her hating on us. To be labeled mean for an off-handed comment while Jordan is on national television doing a spot-on and hysterical imitation of her seems like a gross double-standard. We were vilified for a comment that was not meant in any way to be a judgment call.
Carol: If the meanness was so constant, why didn’t they air any of it? I made a joke on day one [about her] racing in her sash and tiara. I thought it was funny then and I still think it’s funny.
Brandy: When we were around them, I felt we were nothing but respectful and kind.

Your reaction and exit speeches were memorable to say the least.
Brandy: I was nervous for last night because I knew I had reacted poorly. When I’m attacked and sabotaged, I go to the fight instinct. The gloves came off. Perhaps the name-calling and impersonations were not the best sportsmanship, but as tired as we were and as emotionally invested as we were in the competition and to have it all taken away, I reacted honestly in the moment.

Are you able to forgive and forget?
Carol: Well, me being a mean lesbian and all, they don’t want to run into me in a dark alley.
Brandy: It‘s been an emotional roller coaster watching it and being labeled. This is my national coming out party. My friends and family knew I’d been in same-sex relationships, but in general people didn’t know. I partially did it because we were only the second lesbian couple on the race. I wanted to raise awareness and be positive.
Carol: I’m very hesitant to say Caite is homophobic because that’s a very harsh statement. But, man, to watch her saying the “mean lesbians this and that” in that derisive tone week after week, it’s hard not to let your mind go there.

Your exit means yet another season without an all-female team in the finale.
Carol: We won’t see an all-female team win as long as we have to race in men’s boots … When the guys have to start running in high heels, it‘ll be a fair fight.

You had been dating less than a year when you started. How’d that affect your relationship?
Carol: Getting ready for the race hijacked the honeymoon part of our relationship … Our relationship was more disposable because of its newness. I cannot recommend this for new couples.
Brandy: It took a toll. We’re living in different cities and focusing on being friends right now.

Did you take away any good memories?
Brandy: I liked Malaysia the most because we worked together best on that leg and we did all the tasks. I loved the culture and the it was beautiful and our cab driver rocked.
Carol: Even though I stepped in llama s— and got kicked by a cow, South America far exceeded my expectations. Those volcanoes were stunning.

Amazing Race’s Carol and Brandy: We Aren’t ‘Mean Lesbians’ - PEOPLE TV Watch

[Bearcata]

I don't think Caite was homophobic calling this team the "Mean Lesbians". I just think it was the team nickname given to them by the other teams. From her behavior I wouldn't want to be friends, a co-worker, a relative, much less a teammate of the "Bitter Brunette" her attitude sucked on every episode and she drew the blonde into it.

[gracie]

I'm glad to hear the exit interview put in context. Trouble is, a lot of times your true colors show up when you're tired and emotionally drained.

[Rembrant]

Notice how Brandy once again says she got sabotaged? She's still going on with that! I hate when racers take the Yield and the U-Turn this harshly and call it cheating and sabotaging. This just further prove that the poison in this team is definitely Brandy, somehow I feel Carol would be pretty okay had she had someone else as a teammate, because Brandy was just unbearable.

[Krom]

I don't think Caite was homophobic calling this team the "Mean Lesbians".

I think both are true. They WERE a pair of mean lesbians AND Caite is probably at least marginally homophobic. They have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, other than the fact that both played out simultaneously.

Again, its the classic reality show situation where we have a group of scumbags, all desperately trying to position themselves as "the good guys" (when in fact none of them are).

somehow I feel Carol would be pretty okay had she had someone else as a teammate, because Brandy was just unbearable.

Possibly. She is, after all, an "actress". Which means maybe she was "performing" half the time we saw her. In other words, consciously trying to sound witty to get camera time.

[Duckyface]

For the lesbians to say that calling them lesbians is somehow wrong seems odd to me. Do they think there's something wrong with being a lesbian?

There is something wrong with being mean, and obviously few people like being called that, but if they don't want to be called out as mean then they shouldn't act that way.

They are mean and they are lesbians.

They called Caite and Brent dumb models, both of which seem to be true. They can dish it out, but they can't take it. I'm glad they're gone.

[nanaslbkp]

I'm glad to see they are gone too. When they were u-turned, didn't one of them say,"She did it because you're prettier than she is." ?? What? I don't see that at all. I didn't care for all the bickering throughout their race. On to the finale!!

[RealityLovesMe]

I do see why they think being called "The Lesbians" seems at least a little homophobic. To be labeled as "the lesbians" in real life IS wrong. But this is the amazing race. That is how things are done on the amazing race. Every team has a nickname. I don't think the name "the lesbians" is evidence of homophobia in this instance. Maybe some of them are homophobic, but I haven't seen convincing evidence of it (except with Jeff and Jordan on another show). The Lesbians weren't very nice. That is probably why they weren't liked.

[ChelsieFan]

I didn't like them. Glad they are out.

[mrsean]

I think Carol and Brandy were "bad monsters" sometimes during the race, but they were right about Brent and Catie IMHO (stupid and immature). Also, there's nothing wrong with B/C being called "the lesbians" every now and then, however Catie took it to a whole other level by deciding to forget that B/C actually have birthnames.

I know the Amazing Race producers like to amp up the rivaly between teams, but that really should be have told Catie to stop with "the lesbians" constantly. All it did was to continue to prepetuate the negative stereotypes that a lot of Americans have of South Carolinans.

Could you imagine the amount of complaints that CBS would have received if every clip Carol and Brandy were referring to people as "the heteros" or the "the homophobes" or even worse "the breeders"?

I think the race is will be a lot less interesting without "the lesbians" :-) and that Team Dumba-s cost themselves a shot at the million dollars due to their extreme stupidy with the Yield.

Go Teams "Bro and 'mo" and "Ride some Cowboys"!