‘Race to Survive: New Zealand’ Divorced Couple on Competing Together in Grueling Show

Creighton Baird and Paulina Peña were married for two years, and then they got divorced. Four days after the ink dried on the papers to make it official they received the call about joining Race to Survive. The two didn’t let the end of their relationship stop them from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete along with eight other teams for half a million dollars. The high-stakes USA Network adventure series has leveled up from the wilderness of Alaska to the unforgiving elements of New Zealand.

Each duo puts their minds and bodies to the test in several legs through 150 miles of terrain over 40 days. They’ll have to work for every calorie and morsel of comfort or nourishment. There is no GPS or Wi-Fi. What they have is only what they can carry or on their back.  Constantly working against the clock and with fellow competitors on their heels, one decision could mean the difference between success and elimination.

Before the premiere, we caught up with the “Divorced Daredevils” from Salt Lake City about their journey.

Photo by: Daniel Allen/USA Network

When you received the phone call, was there any second-guessing if you wanted to go through this together? 

Paulina Peña: We were in separate places when we got the calls. He was out of service. For me, it was an instant yes, but we had to see what Creighton had to say. I got a call from him, and he said, “Are we in?” I was like, “We’re in.” It was pretty immediate for us to say yes to this.

Creighton Baird: At the same time we said yes immediately, we were second-guessing if we should do it up until the day we left.

Have you watched the first season to know what you were getting yourself into? 

Paulina: We both watched the season like five times, taking notes and trying to figure out game plans.

What was your strategy going into the race? 

Creighton: I feel like our main strategy going in this was go light, go fast. After watching the first season all those times we knew that the lighter the pack, the faster you can go. That can make a difference. Moving fast and getting food. Though we threw food out the window a couple of times.

Paulina: That was also part of our strategy als. One of the things discussed was if you get food, will you lose your spot in the race? It was deciding if getting food was most important or keeping place. That’s where the strategy kept changing back and forth.

Creighton: When you are hopelessly lost and it’s go hungry or go home, then you’re going to go hungry.

What was it like going through this experience together after everything you’d been through in your relationship? 

Paulina: I feel like our relationship came out stronger. There was a lot of healing that was able to happen because of the race and the show. I feel like we came out in a better place than we were going into. That was something I was thankful and hopeful for. That was a big goal. I wanted to have a great relationship with Creighton outside of the show, after the show. Just because we were divorced doesn’t mean I didn’t want him in my life. I always want him to be part of my life. I feel like we got to a place where we were able to make that happen.

Creighton: I think going into the show I didn’t know what I wanted. I tried to set expectations and goals, but it was such a unique place to be emotionally. At some point, I just gave up what I wanted and accepted what it was with what we were doing and what our goals for the show were. Paulina was right in that it made our relationship better where for a lot of people it would have torn others apart.

Paulina: I think so too. Now we can say we’re friends and can go out and it’s not hard or weird.

How would you size up the competition? 

Paulina: It was very intimidating. I was worried we would have stiff competition, and I was not wrong. Everyone there brought a lot to the table. There were a lot of strengths and weaknesses on display for each team. The same for us. It was amazing to see how that played out during the race. These were talented athletes.

Creighton: Both as athletes and personality-wise, this is going to be the best season of reality show you could hope to watch.

Paulina: We’re all best friends now. We talk every single day, and it’s amazing.

Photo by: Daniel Allen/USA Network

Are you ready for viewers to get invested and have their opinions about you? Are you going to watch this back each week? 

Creighton: We definitely have a big watch party for the first episode. A bunch of the team is from Utah or near Utah, so we’re going to try to meet up as often as we can for the episodes.

What’s the one comfort you missed? 

Creighton: Any type of food. Any type of food that will give you energy without a shadow of a doubt.

Paulina: For me, it was family and my dog, Kevin. I missed him a lot.

Anything you brought from home to keep your head in the game? 

Paulina: I bought a notebook that I used as a journal the whole time. I journaled and wrote letters to my family as if I could send it to them. That’s how I kept my emotional side in check to not be overwhelmed about missing them. It was like I could still talk to them in this way. That was hard for a lot of people. Not being able to talk to their families. You just miss them so much. For me, it was about finding a way to talk to them without leaving the show. His mom actually gave us dog tags with a motivational quote on it. We both have those.

Creighton: We brought trinkets from our friends and family with us. Those meant a lot in some really dark times.

What can you tease about the premiere “Water and Ice?” 

Creighton: Every race is incredibly different. In that first race, you see so much of what New Zealand has to offer. It is wild what they put us through.

Paulina: I can say we did so many activities in one race. By the end, everyone says, “That was the first race?” The first race was intense. I don’t want to say rude awakening, but we all were put in our place. It was nothing like Season 1 and a whole different ball game.

Creighton: Ice, rock, jungle, forest, snow, water. They packed so much in every single race.

Have you been to New Zealand before? 

Creighton: It was a country we’d never been to but was on our bucket list. It was a trip that we planned until COVID happened.

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What do you want viewers to know about yourselves before the season gets underway?  

Creighton: I think people will see some real and raw stuff. When you’re out there and can’t fake who you are and what you’re going through and who you are. We talked about it.

Paulina: We do. One thing we were worried about before going through this was that we would be the divorced couple. But we are both so talented and unique as individuals and have so much to offer. We make an amazing team. While we might be the divorced couple, the reason we were able to make this work during the race is we have so many skills that make us such a well-rounded team. We’re climbers, white water rafters, mountain bikers, runners, we do all of it. And do it well. These are things we don’t just dip our toes in but something we go head first into it. We were able to show that during the race. I’m very proud of us. We didn’t hold back.

Race to Survive: New Zealand premiere, May 20, 11/10c, USA Network