These people are real deals.
The two Bayridge brothers have achieved their lifelong dream of competing in “amazing races.” This is a feat of seven years.
Nick, 32, and 28-year-old Mike Fiorioto, made up one of the 14 teams competing in their 37th season of the CBS reality competition show, creepyly dubbing them as “a season of surprises.”
“It's surreal,” Mike said. “It's a lifelong dream come true. We're still pinching ourselves about it.”
Last week, the brothers survived the second episode of the show through tooth skins after being forced to say goodbye to the “intersection” challenge.
Mike and Nick survived the exclusion slightly, but headed enthusiastically for episode 3, which aired Wednesday evening.
“We're a rare variety. Brooklyn makes us us,” Nick said.
The show is notoriously mentally and physically exhausted, but the pair was prepared for tolls.
Nick and Mike submitted five audition tapes, eventually progressing to the final round of the cast, which was eventually picked up by the competition. The dedication that was recognized even by representatives of CBS was unusual.
“The producers probably got tired of us and saw that we weren't merciless and come back with every 'no' we got,” Nick joked in an interview with the post.
But its tenacity was precisely because the brothers were cast during this season of their beloved television show.
Nick and Mike first tried their hands at an audition for the 2018 show. And they boldly quit their job as accountants and left the tech startup for the chance.
It hurts, but the initial rejection spurred the Brooklyn brothers and was the first to jump into their mission.
The pair whipped up a fierce training regime for both the brain and body, including CrossFit, escape rooms, salsa lessons, map navigation and even manual car driving.
“We had to learn stick shifts, which is obviously something we didn't use in Brooklyn, New York. Having a stick shift car here is a scary idea, but in racing, we knew we needed to learn it.
Importantly, the brothers became students of “amazing race.” They rewatched every episode of every season and carefully looked at each challenge and puzzle in the Holy Grail of the spreadsheet.
“We had 'How many memory challenges do we have?” and 'Were there a certain part of the season and tended to be heavy on certain types of challenges?” Mike admitted that the practice was a form of “pretty extreme hyper preparation,” and didn't want to leave behind any overturned stones when it came to preparing for the race.
That dedication was also blown away by the lives of their brothers outside of their training after quitting their job – Nick and Mike went into business together.
They have founded Blankets of Hope, a nonprofit organization that works with schools across the country to attach handwritten letters to blankets.
In 2023, they launched the Best Self University podcast. It explores successful stories of athletes, academics and more, and runs out of industry city offices.
When the brothers were ready to fire their fifth “amazing race” attempt, they realized they had a completely different bond than they did seven years ago when they first auditioned.
“We're more of a relationship show than anything, and over those years there's been a lot to understand a lot in our own relationships. Over the years, we really understood who we are as people.
“We are brothers, business partners, best friends. We literally spend more time together than our own wife.”
Nick and Mike couldn't reveal much about their experiences on the show – the third of the episode airs Wednesday evening – but they teased that they could put more salsa dance classes in their training regime.
