ADA, Okla. – Jet and Cord McCoy of Tupelo, Okla., will be part of the CBS reality TV show “The Amazing Race,” set to begin airing Sunday, Feb. 14.
The McCoys, ranch-raised cowboys who have made their names in the sport of rodeo, make up one of the 11 teams competing across nearly 40,000 across five continents and eight countries, according to a release issued by CBS. The teams will begin the show by working through the congested streets of Los Angeles and must rely solely on public transportation to make their ways to Los Angeles International Airport.
The teams will be competing for the $1 million top prize and will participate in a World War I reenactment in France, retrace the early days of The Beatles and come face-to-face with one of the world’s infamous villains, according to the CBS release.
“We’re like a lot of the rest of the world,” Cord McCoy said in the CBS video snippet that introduces the teams. “I mean, we raise cattle to feed the country, and we break horses to ride. We compete for entertainment, but if you take the hats and boots away, I think we’re just like the rest of America.”
Cord McCoy is a regular fixture on the premier tour of the Professional Bull Riders organization, the Built Ford Tough Series. He is also a five-time International Professional Rodeo Association world champion – he won the 2001-2002 all-around and saddle bronc-riding titles and the 2001 bull-riding championship – who produces his own event in Ada, Okla., each spring, the Cord McCoy Invitational. He also qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2005.
Jet McCoy is a four-time IPRA world champion who won all-around in 1990 and 2001 and saddle bronc-riding crowns in 1998-1999. He competed at the recently completed International Finals Rodeo and finished the 2009 season ninth in the saddle bronc-riding standings.
“I think Cord and I are on the race mainly for the competition,” Jet McCoy said in the video bio available on “The Amazing Race” Web site. “Growing up, for us, our life was always about a competition of some sort or another.
“Being cowboys, if you don’t compete, if you don’t win, you don’t get paid.”
And while the McCoys realize the race will have its share of adversity, it’s nothing new to them.
“When you’re crawling down on an 18-hundred-pound bull, that’s a little unnerving, too, but we do it all the time,” Jet McCoy said in the video bio. “I think that’s one of the things that’s going to help us as far as the race is concerned.
“I think we’ve got the tools to handle anything that we face.”
They also carry the cowboy “try” that’s been part of their lives – something that’s helped them overcome injuries and other adversities they’ve had in order to win championships.
“When they say go, we’re going to be all out,” Cord McCoy said on the video bio. “Neither one of us are afraid to put it all out on the line. I think whether we’ve got a million dollars when it’s done or not, we’re both going to be able to look in the mirror and know we’ve done our best.”
