AE: You've been best friends for 12 years. What the secret to maintaining a lasting friendship?
Danny: Tolerance. [laughs]
Oswald: Actually, you know what? He's joking but all it really takes is a dash of patience and a lot of respect for each other.
Danny: That is the recipe. That came out of our grandmother's book.
Oswald: Patience and respect is something that is incredibly important. The fact is we're both very different people. We find common ground when we're together, we have a lot of fun, but like everybody, we have our disagreements. When you have a disagreement with someone, they bring things to respect to each other, not belittle one another. That's the key.
AE: Even in this season, you seem to have such a different philosophy from the other racers who were so focused on the money and seemed to fight so much more. Where does that attitude come from? Does it have anything to do with being gay or does it have more to do with your personalities?
Oswald: Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that we both come from a communist country in which, when our families were growing up, they were quite comfortable. Then overnight, they lost everything when the country was nationalized. So for us, while we do enjoy the nicer things in life, we keep it in perspective that it's here today and gone tomorrow. The key is to really enjoy—
Danny: Enjoy the moment. You have to live for the moment. I remember many legs of this race where I just paused and took in where I was at. I don't think that a lot of people do that. They just go through the motions and they forget what it is that they're doing in life. Just take in the beauty.
AE: You seemed to have a wonderful rapport with Phil. I especially loved the week you chased him around the Pit Stop covered in coal. Were you two flirting with Phil?
Danny: We were flirting with Phil. I would love to be in Phil's pants. [laughs]
Oswald: And by that he means he wants to stand on the mat to welcome all the racers.
Danny: Yeah, that's it.
Oswald: Phil's very playful. He's a really cool guy.
Danny: A great guy. We actually watched our last elimination at his house.
Oswald: From season two. By the way, that leg of the race you mentioned, where we did the coal, that was also a very important leg for us. We actually happened to be in Maputo on World AIDS Day. Again, kudos to CBS for showing that we did stuff when the parade was going through handing out the condoms and encouraging people in Africa to get tested, raising the awareness of something that is so important. We dedicated that leg to the memory of Danny's partner Nelson who passed away a few years ago. It was sort of divine intervention that we were there on that day, and maybe, in some small way, we were able to bring attention to such an important cause around the world.
AE: You guys touched on this a little earlier, but what did you think about the other gay team on TAR - Bill and Joe?
Danny: They have an ugly dog. I have the Hilton sisters, Sabrina and Samantha. Much prettier dogs. I didn't bring them on TV because once you put an ugly dog on The Early Show [on CBS] you can't bring pretty dogs, so I left my dogs at home. I thought it would be too gay for the two gay teams to both bring their dogs. They ruined it for the Hilton sisters, but that's okay.
Oswald: I think there's a dog rivalry going on here.
Danny: Have you seen that rat? Come on.
Oswald: Poor Guido. He's getting old.
Danny: He looks bad. He should have plastic surgery like his dads.
Oswald: Shut up.
