Bay Ridge brothers eliminated from “The Amazing Race” look back fondly at experience

Two Bay Ridge brothers said goodbye to “The Amazing Race” as they were eliminated from the competition show during the season’s seventh episode aired on CBS, on April 16.

Mike and Nick Fiorito, who tried for seven years to get on the popular show until they finally made it, lost during a challenge in a Bulgaria hay field. 

“To see ourselves go home while watching the episode last night hurts,” Nick said. “A first, it was easy for our minds to go to the place of ‘We’re losers, we lost.’ We worked our butts off, but we weren’t good enough. We couldn’t even get past the seventh leg of this race.’”

However, they decided to take the positives and embrace the accomplishment of finally getting on the show.

“We decided to focus on the fact that in another true story, we’re winners because we came out on top in the sense that we fought for seven years to get on the show,” Nick said. “So many people were inspired by seeing us achieve that dream.

“We stuck together until the end. We didn’t blame each other when times got tough. We displayed what brotherly love really can look like. We did so many good things, and we are super-grateful to even have this experience like that,” he continued.

When they were eliminated during the show, the brothers recalled some of the highlights on the show, such as jumping out of a plane in Dubai, riding camels and operating ATVs through a cave in the middle of the forest in Bali.

Now in its 37th season, the CBS reality show features teams of two that race around the world with a goal of winning $1 million. 

Although the Fioritos didn’t take the big prize, they were surprised at how many people showed them support and encouraged them.

“All of the messages we got from friends and family and random strangers who watched us said they were touched by how we conducted ourselves,” Nick said. 

“That is something that will live with us forever, and has already been a part of our story. So I think in a few years’ time, we’ll look back on this time and it’ll all make a lot more sense. But for now, we just got to keep the faith and trust that it’s all happening for a reason, and we do we definitely believe that.”