‘Race to Survive: New Zealand’ Winner Speaks Out After Dramatic Finale

[Warning: The below contains spoilers from Race to Survive: New Zealand finale.]

After a grueling 150-mile trek over 40 days, the winners of Race to Survive: New Zealand were crowned. With six prior eliminations including a few tapouts and even a shocking disqualification of early frontrunners Oliver Dev and Spencer “Corry” Jones, it came down to three teams enduring all the elements the grueling competition threw at them.

Mountaineering divorced couple Creighton Baird and Paulina Peña, Canadian roughnecks Nikola “Nik” Milutinovic and Kennedy Taylor, and the heroic smokejumpers Ethan Greenberg and Tyrie Mann Merrill put their bodies and minds for this ultimate test of will and endurance. The sixth race and final run for the $500,000 started with the Creek Run right into Dead End Cavern. In the last two days of the game, they continued to the Alpine Climb into The Dome before The Final Push up to The Summit. There the golden medallions await the first duo to make it.

After briefly falling behind and meeting a dead-end, the airborne firefighters Greenberg and Tyrie Merrill rebounded to become the Season 2 champs. We caught up with Merrill (Greenberg was out at a fire) about his life-changing experience on the show.

(l-r) Ethan Greenberg, Tyrie Mann Merrill — (Photo by: Patrik Giardino/USA Network)

How does it feel to win Race to Survive: New Zealand? 

Tyrie Mann Merrill: The biggest thing for me being home is my family is proud. Just for me, not even winning, just being who I am on TV. That’s the only thing I can really feel for. I have just been working and keep doing that.

You and Ethan opened up a lot for the cameras. Did you expect to do that so much?  

When Ethan talked about his father and things like that, we had a conversation at camp. Just the two of us realize that this show is bigger than the contestants. It’s about a message too along the route. When Ethan shared his story, I wanted to do it too. We’re in it together and will put ourselves out there together.

It was expected. We planned it. When I first mentioned my rollover and all that while we were on the race. We had an interview afterward. I agreed to discuss it. It was cool. I hope that younger men can see Ethan and I be who we are in today’s world and still cry and be okay. I’d say we are in a pretty male-dominated workforce. We’re all people with emotions. I think being able to show that was the coolest thing.

The big shocker was Corry and Oliver getting taken out of the competition after Corry was found to have killed and eaten a protected bird. How did that affect your mindset? 

It didn’t change anything game-wise or emotional. If anything, it was a bad situation. Everyone was not stoked about it. It wasn’t cool. It was something they shouldn’t have done. Afterwards, for us, we stuck to the plan and kept it going and rolling and continued to do what we were doing. I don’t think it would have changed anything had they stayed in the end. Those guys were breaking pretty bad. I think they would have been lucky to place.

There was a point toward the end where Nik and Kennedy moved ahead of you two. Talk about how you moved past that. 

Even during the race, I think we were just chomping. We were full of adrenaline on that last race. When we saw people, we didn’t want to see them again. We were at that point where this was what we had been waiting for. We planned accordingly. Those guys surprised the hell out of me. I was surprised how they were moving. They were all amazing. During that Final Push, we had no water. We ate all our food the night before. We had nothing in our packs. It was the lightest our packs had been the entire time. We were taking the right steps we could stay ahead and do what we were doing. The game plan stayed the same.

(l-r) Ethan Greenberg, Tyrie Mann Merrill — (Photo by: Daniel Allen/USA Network)

It was really nice to see that moment all three teams shared. You all felt like winners in the end by just finishing such a competition. What was that moment for you? 

I remember the first survival camp where all of us were talking and all the contestants thought winning this thing would be great. But we also saw that just finishing is a huge accomplishment. Just for the fact we got to see all of New Zealand. They took us to all these places. Insane views and eating food we never have eaten before. It was a whole package trip. It was everything you would want for my kind of vacation. I think it was cool like that. Every one that did finish felt like they accomplished something. That was huge. I’m so proud of all of them because they never quit. That’s the biggest thing. That’s huge in our field. I don’t care about the fastest guy. I care about the one who isn’t going to quit. I have nothing but respect for all of them.

What was it like going home after going through all this? It was mentioned you both lost a collective 31 pounds. Did you have a big meal? 

Nothing really changed. I got off fire season, came home for five days, and went straight to New Zealand. It was the same routine when I got back and the last several years. I haven’t been home. This is my first summer home since I was 18. Coming back home felt very natural. After that, Ethan and I went skydiving two or three weeks later. Probably the biggest physical thing I had was when I came back from skydiving and stopped working out and let my body recover, I probably gained 15-20 pounds. I went back to working out after that. My resting heart rate went down to about 37. Kind of crazy.

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What will you take from this experience? 

To me, the most memorable thing of this entire thing will be my spiritual connection. When I left, I had my Navajo ghost beads. I always found fire and spoke to my family like that. This time alone was very different. I bled into it more or less. I let them feel me. When I went back home, shimá who is my mom, hugged me and said, “I don’t know what it is. You’ve always been gone. But every night I felt you with me.” I said, “That’s because I was talking to you every night.”

It was cool to see from the very beginning when I was on the couch and being told I was going to be doing it to the point of following the lines. Even the first day before when we smoked the first eel I woke up that morning and started making that smoker. Ethan is like, “You checked the lines if we got something.” I told him no, but I knew we got something. My gut told me. I trust my gut. We made it right then and there. Throughout the entire experience, I just felt like everything aligned for me. That has been my life story. That connection has been the best experience of all.

What are you going to do with your piece of the $500,000? 

I was going to put it on black first thing. No, I’m an entrepreneurer as well. I own a tree business in my hometown. I’m not even smokejumping this year. So, I’m committed to my tree business. With the money coming in, I’ll do what makes sense. All I care about is profit. So I will probably do good with it I’d like to say.