LAST EDITED ON 11-13-01 AT 10:58 PM (EST)

No spoiler value (except for the fact that the show was filmed in March and April); these are just for fun.

From the University of Notre Dame August MBA Alumni News:

REALITY TV SHOW CHALLENGES MBA ALUMNUS

Kevin O'Connor (MBA '98) will be featured in the fall CBS series The Amazing Race, premiering on September 5. The reality show follows eleven teams of two as they race around the world for a million dollars. Each team will begin in Central Park and travel to cities around the globe using very limited resources with the goal of getting back to New York city first. Kevin (in black) and his teammate Drew were fraternity brothers at St. John's University in New York. Kevin is currently a litigation consultant with Deloitte & Touche in New York City.

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From the New Jersey Journal, Sept. 4, 2001:

City Man Joins In Race
By Michaelangelo Conte

BAYONNE -- The recent appearance of one Bayonne resident on the CBS reality television program "Big Brother 2" had dismal results, but now, just two months later, a second city native takes a shot at reality TV fame and fortune.

Kevin O'Connor, 36, of the Bergen Point section of the city, along with his fraternity brother Andrew Feinberg, tested their mettle on CBS's "The Amazing Race," which premieres tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Filmed in March and April, the two competed against 10 other teams racing around the globe to win a $1 million prize. Sworn to secrecy by CBS executives, the outcome of the race remains a mystery.

Beth Feldman of the CBS public relations office in Manhattan said O'Connor and other competitors in the race are barred from speaking about the show or the outcome of the race until after the show airs. Competitors on "The Amazing Race" never knew where they were going next or what challenge they would face once there, said Feldman. At each destination, the teams were forced to compete in a series of tasks - some mental and some physical - before learning where to race off to next. Restricted plane travel and strict budgets added to the tension, as teams were forced to rely on wit and ingenuity, perhaps sleeping on park benches or in bus stations and traveling on buses, trains, boats, taxis, bicycles, and even camels, according to CBS.

Teams furthest behind were eliminated as the race progressed and the first team to arrive at the final destination captured the $1 million prize. Whether O'Connor's team came out on top remains to be seen as the show's 13 episodes unfold.

O'Connor, a lifelong Bayonne resident, grew up on Lord Avenue near Second Street. For the last four years he has lived on West 6th Street, near Kennedy Boulevard, with his brother Brian, 31, a systems analyst with Metlife and his father Joseph, 70, who is retired from AT&T and the Bayonne Board of Education. Kevin O'Connor attended St. Andrew's Grammar School on Broadway in Bayonne and St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, where he graduated in 1984. In 1988, he received a bachelor's degree in accounting from St. John's University on Long Island, and he later earned a master's degree in business from Notre Dame in 1998.

For the past two years, he has worked at the World Financial Center in Manhattan as a senior manager in the dispute consulting group of Deloitte & Touche, a big five accounting firm. It was while at St. John's University in the fraternity Delta Psi Upsilon that O'Connor met Feinberg, his teammate on the show.

O'Connor's neighbors Pat and Peggy Boyle were pleased to hear he had made it onto the program and they had every confidence his conduct would be acceptable. "Kevin and Brian are the most lovely and pleasant young men you could have as your neighbors," said Peggy Boyle, who added that she remembered a crew from California came to interview Kevin O'Connor months ago, but said she and her husband had not heard anything about it since. The couple did not know how he fared in the race, but guessed he did fine. "He looks young enough, strong enough and I think he is ambitious enough to do well," said Pat Boyle, who said he was aware of the incident leading to the expulsion of Bayonne's Justin Sebik from the set of "Big Brother 2" in early July.

"I know the other guy (Sebik) said what he did was just a joke, but Kevin is worlds apart from doing anything like that. He is in a different class," said Pat Boyle.

Sebik, 26, of Avenue E was ejected from "Big Brother 2" after he reportedly pulled a knife on fellow contestant Krista Stogall. Stogall and Sebik were two of the 12 contestants on the show living in a house and vying for $500,000 in prize money, according to a spokesperson for the show. During a make-out session, show executives said Sebik held a carving knife to Stogall's throat and said, "Hang on, I'm going to slash your throat. Would you be mad if I just killed you." Sebik, who had already been warned about hostile acts toward his housemates by the show's producer, insisted the incident with the knife was merely a joke.

Later it was found that Sebik had been arrested in Bayonne and charged with simple assault in June 1996, and in April 1997 he was charged with two counts of simple assault and two counts of theft, but all charges were later dismissed by a judge, according to Bayonne Municipal Court officials. These findings raised questions about the thoroughness of background checks conducted on contestants by "Big Brother 2" producers.

According to the show's Web site, Kevin O'Connor said that during the shooting of his show he would most miss Pepsi and watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament. A Web site poll also lists his team as the second most-liked team of the 11 competing.

The 13 one-hour installments of "The Amazing Race" will air on CBS weekly.

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From New York Lawyer, Sept. 5, 2001:

Court Officer & Consultant Race for $1 Million
By Susan L. Harper

How do you prepare to compete in the latest reality TV show: a 35,000-mile around-the-world race?

You could do worse than work as a court officer in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

"Being a court officer, you are not only physically fit, but your observation skills are heightened since you don’t know what you may have to deal with," says senior court officer John Standberg. "I think that being from New York City gives them an extra shot, being able to think fast on their feet."

Standberg is talking about his colleague, senior court officer Andrew (Drew) Feinberg, 35, and Drew’s friend Kevin O’Connor, 34, a litigation consultant with Deloitte & Touche. They’re one of 11 two-person teams which are competing on CBS’ “The Amazing Race,” which debuts tonight at 9 pm.

Think “Survivor” on speed.

All the team members have pre-existing relationships, including best friends, grandparents, an engaged couple, life partners, and, in the case of Kevin and Drew, fraternity brothers. The teams face a variety of physical and mental challenges – including traveling on limited budgets, sleeping on park benches and riding camels.

Not to mention getting from the starting line in Central Park to JFK International Airport while there's construction on the Van Wyck Expressway.

The winning team will receive $1 million; each week, the team in last place will be kicked off the show. Like “Survivor,” the show is taped, and Kevin and Drew are prohibited from talking to the press until after the episode airs in which they win or get the boot.

But based on CBS promotional materials, we know several things for sure: They’re big. They’re bald. They constantly bicker. And they describe themselves as “the ugly Americans.”

Hey, who better to represent the New York legal community?

“Unquestionably, his training as a court officer will help Drew in this competition,” says Paul Croce, a fellow court officer in Brooklyn Supreme Court. “Once you are in Supreme Court, you must know how to deal with the public. Anything they throw at him he will be able to take, since he knows how to diffuse a situation at any time.”

“I was not terribly surprised that wanted to do something like this,” says George Zuber, lead partner with the Deloitte & Touche’s tri-state dispute consulting practice, where Kevin is a senior manager. “Our firm’s culture encourages people to follow their passions. Kevin puts a lot of energy and dedication into what he does.”

Both men took leaves of absence in March and April to compete on the show.

The pair met in 1984 when they were undergraduates at St. John’s University. They were members of the Delta Psi Upsilon fraternity, with Drew eventually becoming president and Kevin vice president.

“Both are very smart and able to work together. Kevin is very analytical and Drew thinks out of the box, ” says fraternity brother Joe Thompson. “Drew actively keeps fit and Kevin lost 30 pounds to prepare for the competition.” Both are single, though Drew has a steady girlfriend, according to Thompson.

On the down side, neither speaks a foreign language nor has ever been anywhere you need a passport, according to the CBS web site. That lack of experience with the rigors of the road apparently takes its toll; in a commercial for the show, one of them is heard to shout “We’re lost!”

What the pair lack in navigation skills may be made up by their sense of humor. A critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer who has screened the first episode calls the duo “Beavis and Butt-head” with a “refined sense of goofiness.”

So did they win? “Recently we went to our friend’s wedding in Atlantic City and we even got them drunk,” says Thompson, “but neither would speak.”

Maybe actions speak louder than words: neither has quit his day job.

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From The Observer (Notre Dame U.), Sept. 5, 2001

Cheer, cheer for ol' Notre Dame
ND alum among cast of CBS's newest reality project "Amazing Race"
By MELISSA RAUCH
Scene Writer

Kevin O'Connor has always had a strong fascination with reality television.

When MTV debuted the first season of "The Real World" in 1992, he was instantly hooked. During his days as an MBA student at Notre Dame in 1997, he persuaded his skeptical roommate, Gary Moore, to check out the show — then in its sixth season — and soon both were addicted.

His love for reality television also influenced his more recent excitement over the tribal conflicts and immunity challenges of CBS's "Survivor." Still, though some have called O'Connor's love for reality TV an obsession, they never expected it would result in his participating in CBS's newest global adventure competition, "The Amazing Race," premiering tonight at 9 p.m.

Touted as "'Survivor' on speed," the contest features 11 pairs traveling around the world completing various tasks to win (you guessed it) $1 million. It will not be an easy path for the contestants, as they have no idea where their next mission will lead them — anywhere from Australia to Africa. Since the program's executive producer is Hollywood heavyweight Jerry Bruckheimer ("Top Gun," "The Rock") viewers should expect non-stop action.

"The Amazing Race" has many elements to distinguish it from the pack of the fall season's other new reality shows such as NBC's "Lost" and ABC's second incarnation of "The Mole."

CBS promises added drama will arise because each twosome has a pre-existing relationship that will simultaneously be strengthened and challenged as the partners work together.

The pairings also allow viewers to root for their favorite couple: the grandparents, the engaged couple, the mother/daughter, the life partners, the lawyers or the attractive, single female teachers whose faces we undoubtedly will see plastered on magazine covers during the next few months — regardless of how they finish in the game.

"The fraternity brothers" feature Kevin and his partner Drew (CBS does not release the last name), who met in 1984 during their undergraduate days at St. John's University in New York.

In their online bios, they explain that money was not the only motivating factor in the "frat boys'" decision to submit an audition tape to CBS. More importantly, they had "never been anywhere where you need a passport." It was an opportunity they could not pass up.

The pair will not traverse the globe in style, however, as an extremely restricted budget will force them to get creative, and maybe a little dirty, as they move from one destination to the next.

The spending budget was deliberately fixed to make wit, strategy — and perhaps even some backstabbing — the keys to victory. Despite the show's fast-paced, adventurous theme, many familiar with the show claim the mental aspects of the game play a more prominent role than do the physical.

While strength and age might influence a team's combined endurance or stamina, such as allowing a more rugged pair to sleep in a train station under a bench all night, the teams had to rely heavily on their intellect and ingenuity to complete their assigned tasks. In traveling, contestants have to manage their time, money and energy when deciding on modes of transportation, ranging from a wide spectrum of options, including buses, boats and camels.

They might also gain an advantage by misdirecting other teams in order to secure that last plane or train ticket. But all's fair in reality TV.

The way in which teams are eliminated in "The Amazing Race" offers a final unique feature. Rather than the subjective voting systems featured on "Survivor," "Big Brother" and "The Weakest Link," merit and competition decides winners and losers in this race. The teams that lag the farthest behind are out. The winners of this contest, will truly deserve it.

Although the show was taped in March, CBS is doing everything in its power to keep the winners a surprise. Each contestant had to sign a confidentiality agreement in order to participate.

Fortunately though, Scene was granted a sneak preview of the show's first episode and it does not disappoint. The pace is energetic and the characters engaging. The Race does not feature aspiring actresses and singers trying to make a name for themselves, but real people who decided to go on the trip of a lifetime.

When they fight (and boy do they fight) it's not over how to cook rice properly, but how to make decisions in high-pressure situations. The interactions within and among the teams will also captivate audiences as rivalries quickly develop and certain teams look like they're ready to crumble at any moment.

Viewers will definitely take sides quickly, and even without the Notre Dame connection Kevin and his partner are sure to be popular favorites. In short, they're absolutely hilarious.

As each team introduces itself in the first episode, Kevin's voiceover jokingly explains, "Oh, we're the ugly Americans. There's definitely the potential for an international incident."

When the teams are first released to begin the race, the 10 other pairs immediately run for the first clue. The frat boys instead take their time making it up the stairs. To be honest, they look like they had a difficult time making it to the site that morning after a long night of beer drinking.

They continue to charm as they try to complete their first mission. While trying to read a map, Drew excitedly exclaims, "Zambia! That's where we are!" to which Kevin quickly retorts, "That's Namibia, Jackass."

In a more lighthearted moment, a challenging physical task inspires one to shout to the other "Swing, you fat bastard, swing!" For the sake of viewing entertainment (and consequently CBS's ratings) one would hope these two last for a long while into the game.

Oddsmakers have already begun to speculate on which team will be victorious. Not surprisingly, the young, strong and intelligent "frat boy" duo top many of the lists of predictions. Reality News Online gives them 1-2 odds of coming home with the loot, but believes they will have strong competition from "the Working Moms," as "Survivor's" Gretchen and Tina have taught America not to underestimate this strong demographic.

Other early favorites include "The Dating Couple" and "The Lawyers." Though expectations of victory are not high for "The Grandparents," they will likely garner the sentimental vote.

If all these features aren't enough for Notre Dame students to catch on to this show, they should enjoy following the adventures of their fellow Irishman O'Connor, who wears a conspicuous yellow Notre Dame hat throughout the episodes. Of course, there is one catch. "The Amazing Race" airs on Wednesday nights, opposite NBC's "The West Wing," which features a fictional Notre Dame alum, President Jed Bartlett, who has also been known to sport some Irish gear from time to time. Thank goodness for VCRs.

Contact Melissa Rauch at Mrauch@nd.edu.