Phil Keoghan is the host of The Amazing Race season 32 and he feels that Gary Barnidge and DeAngelo Williams' brotherly closeness may lead to some clashes.
Barnidge and Williams met while playing for the Carolina Panthers in 2008. While Wiliams saw a nice accomplished career with the Panthers, Barnidge's was more of a let-down. In 2013, Barnidge was signed to the Cleveland Browns, beginning his short time as Williams' rival. Barnidge did seem to have an impressive career in 2015. However, their roles on opposite teams weren't meant to last for long. Now, they've teamed up again to tackle the challenge that is The Amazing Race season 32. On the show, teams rarely make it through without some trouble.
Host Phil Keoghan mentioned to Cinemablend that although Gary and DeAngelo are like brothers, they have different dynamics that might strengthen their team, but also lead to some disagreements down the road. They did rally after a tough start, moving up from being nearly eliminated in the first episode to sitting comfortably in second place in the next episode. Keoghan elaborated, "They're like as I said, brothers from a different mother." The host added, "They give each other a really hard time and that's because they like each other so much. They both have a different sort of approach to things."
The Amazing Race should offer them a taste of the competition they enjoyed during their football careers. DeAngelo is more of a family man, while Barnidge is helping to create free football camps for children overseas, so the two do have different approaches to life. Their respective outlooks may translate to their strategies. It takes some ingenuity to pull a team together and win, but Keoghan has described DeAngelo as very "amped up," while Gary provides balance with his "silent killer" mindset.
This is the exact dynamic that the New Zealand television personality warns could cause trouble for the two later on. "I will tell you that as things start to heat up, the competition starts to heat up they’re going to butt heads, they definitely butt heads," Keoghan remarks. "There’s a deep love underlying love there but there’s sparks between those two. They make life entertaining." They may be an entertaining pair for the audience, and their penchant for pulling themselves up by their bootstraps to excel in the competition is impressive, but teams rarely make it through this type of reality competition if they can't stick together.
If Barnidge and Williams end up clashing during The Amazing Race, hopefully, they will patch things up or use that heat to their advantage to win. The Amazing Race season 32 was filmed before the start of the pandemic, so Gary and DeAngelo can reflect on their fun during the filming as they sit back and watch. Gary Barnidge even tweeted about episode two a few days ago. He posted, "I think the backflip @DeAngeloRB wasn't need you show off lol #the amazingrace."
Sources: Cinemablend, CBS, Gary Barnidge/Twitter
The Amazing Race airs Wednesdays at 7pm on CBS.