Huntsville's Anthony Battaglia, brother win CBS' The Amazing Race
By, NewsObserver.com (Photo courtesy CBS Entertainment)
RALEIGH — “The Amazing Race” itself took a month to complete.
The celebration? That may run twice as long.
Bates and Anthony Battaglia have a million dollars to split and countless memories after winning the 22nd edition of CBS television’s “The Amazing Race.” While the competition ended in the middle of December, the finale wasn’t shown until Sunday night as the Battaglias hosted a viewing party at Lucky B’s, the Glenwood South bar co-owned by Bates Battaglia and Mike Lombardo.
The party was spilling over into Monday when the free-spirited Battaglias, called the “Hockey Brothers” on the show, got together for an interview. Bates Battaglia is a former Carolina Hurricanes forward and both played pro hockey, but they said it wasn’t just their athleticism that was decisive in the “Race.”
“Yes, we’re not just good-looking, we’re smart," Bates said. “We’re just friendly people but if we have to beat you in a foot race, we’ll do it.”
“The Amazing Race” is a reality TV show in which two-person teams compete in challenges as they race around the world. Teams are gradually eliminated and the winner is the first to make it to the finish line in the final leg. This season’s race went through Washington.
In the two-hour finale, Bates Battaglia put on the bulky mascot outfit of the Washington Nationals to catch a baseball dropped by Anthony, who was suspended on a zip line high above the field at Nationals Park in Washington. Bates needed just a couple of tries to make the catch. Another team needed 17.
Told that one of the teams referred to them as “old athletes,” Anthony replied, “They did? I didn’t hear that. That’s OK. We’re still extremely good-looking. And we still won.”
Bates Battaglia, 37, helped the Hurricanes reach the Stanley Cup final in 2002. Now retired from hockey, he played in more than 600 NHL regular-season and playoff games.
Anthony, 33, has never made it to the NHL. He played a handful of American Hockey League games but has spent most of his professional career in the ECHL, a step below the AHL. He played for the Huntsville Havoc of SPHL after the “Race” ended.
The “Race” was filmed from mid-November to mid-December, Bates Battaglia said, and everyone was sworn to secrecy as to the outcome and the winners of the $1 million prize. Which, the brother said, also was part of the fun.
