When Bernard Curry was first asked to take part in the new season of The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition, he immediately knew he wanted to team up with his younger brother, and fellow actor, Stephen.
But, in true sibling style, it took some strong-arming to get The Castle star to agree!
“I’ve floated doing a show like this with him before, and he’s said no,” Bernard, 51, shares ahead of the show’s return.
“But when we were approached for this, I felt like this was probably the one show that Stephen might actually say yes to.”
While the chance to win $100,000 for One in Five, a charity that supports mental health research, ultimately outweighed his reluctance, Stephen, 49, says there were some valid reasons behind his initial hesitation.
“My fear has always been with reality TV that, as an actor, you’re going to get uncovered as a fraud. And then when it comes to things that involve general life skills, I figure the risk rises. But I promise we aren’t frauds!” Stephen shares.
With a laugh, he continues: “I also have the knees of a 90-year-old and the eyes of a bat, so I was a bit concerned that physically, I might bring us down too.”
Bernard adds, “When I was trying to convince him, Stephen, in his self-deprecating way, was like, ‘I reckon I’m just going to be a liability. You’ve got this competitive nature, and I’m just going to tell jokes!’ But then I told him that actually might be the secret weapon.”
Luckily, saying yes didn’t test their closeness. With two years between them, Wentworth star Bernard says, “We get along unnervingly well”.
In fact, the pair quickly realised their brotherhood may just be their superpower when it came to racing against the other celebrity teams.
“Bernie and I are the two youngest of five, and we’ve travelled a lot with the family, by ourselves, and with our wives as well,” says Stephen.
“We are certainly no strangers to sleeping in the same room!”
After a hard day’s racing, Bernard and Stephen loved nothing more than retreating to their shared hotel digs.
“We’d get a game of footy on the TV and get a few beers delivered,” says Bernard. “It was a great way to unwind after running around all day.”
But, no matter how close they are, that didn’t stop them from making a few mistakes while gallivanting around the globe.
“Remembering all of the challenge rules was tough. And we managed to leave our bags in the car not once, but twice!” Bernard says.
“Anytime something is really challenging, we just see the funny side, though,” Stephen says.
“I think that’s really important on a show like this. If you start letting things get to you, then you’re going to get rattled.”
That wasn’t an issue for the brothers, though.
“We’re so glad we did this,” says Bernard.
For Stephen, it was “an awesome experience”, he says – “even if my knees didn’t always agree!”
Catch The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition on 10.
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