Two UF alumni are competing on this season of “The Amazing Race.”
Brodie Smith, 28, and Kurt Gibson, 30, met in 2006 through UF’s Ultimate Frisbee team. Now, the two are competing on the reality show, where contestants race around the world trying to get to destinations first to win $1 million.
Contestants this season had to be prominent on social media. Smith gained about 6 million followers across his social media accounts by posting videos of himself throwing trick, or complicated, Frisbee shots, he said. He grew up watching the show with his family.
“I obviously was a fan of the show from the beginning,” he said.
He said one of his first videos was him throwing trick shots by Century Tower and the Swamp. Now, he makes content for social media.
Gibson, who now plays in an ultimate Frisbee league with Smith in Dallas, Texas, said the two of them still wear UF clothes to team practices.
“I wear only Gator stuff,” he said. “We kind of bleed orange and blue.”
He said he’s only missed one season of ultimate Frisbee in his life — when he was diagnosed with stage-three colon cancer in 2008.
“I’m pretty blessed to have gotten through it with flying colors,” he said. “I was able to get my strength back and play.”
After finishing six months of chemotherapy, he said he was back on the field. His experience made him want to inspire others fighting cancer.
“As negative as it was, I think so much positive came from it,” Gibson said.
Now, Gibson is traveling across the world on the show.
“Why wouldn’t you want to go on ‘The Amazing Race?’” he said. “That was really our attitude towards it."
While filming, he and Smith worked well as a team because they’re both competitive, Gibson said.
“Everyone on the race had their moments,” he said. “If adversity comes, we know how to quickly overcome it.”
Smith said there wasn’t much information about rules for the race online. Experiencing the race was more gruelling than he expected, both physically and mentally.
“Really, all you could do was just get familiar with the rules,” he said. “You can’t really simulate what the race is.”
Gibson said his training for ultimate Frisbee helped prepare him physically for the race.
Besides working out, Gibson said he watched previous episodes of the show to understand the race.
“When I want to succeed at something, I put my heart and soul into it,” he said.
