Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back! Every week, Parade’sMike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team of Big Brother alumni and their loved ones most recently eliminated from the race.

Phil Keoghan has gone on record that the Big Brother contestants who filled out the cast of The Amazing Race 38 found out very quickly how little their previous reality TV experience applied to their current one. There is, however, one major exception: Jag Bains. Two years ago, Jag made BB history in multiple ways with his win on Season 25. Perhaps most prominently, he broke the record for number of competitions won in a season. So it should come as absolutely no surprise that, racing around Europe with his brother Jas Bains, he replicated not only his dominance, but also another victory for the Amazing Race record books.

Despite their similarity in age, Jag credits himself as the more book smart of the pair, while Jas the more street smart. However, if one thing was made clear across 12 legs of the race, it’s that the two are just smart. When left to their own devices, there seemed to be no task or no route they couldn’t tackle with relative ease. In a season that focused immensely on walking and self-driving, they had the navigation down to a science, to the point where other teams would purposely tail them if they left a task at the same time. Even when it took them multiple tries to complete a task, they adopted a strategy of checking quickly and checking often, which still allowed them to speed through compared to their competition.

Speaking of that competition, Jas and Jag’s past and present on the race dictated their various relationships with the other teams. Kyland Young and Taylor Hale helped them right out of the gate, gifting them an Express Pass before the race even started. On the other end of the spectrum, though, were Izzy Gleicher and Paige Seber. Izzy was still miffed at Jag for contributing to her ouster on their Big Brother season, and that turned to unadulterated fury when they U-Turned the engaged couple. But Jas and Jag had more friends than enemies on the race. They were a part of the most prominent alliance of the season as they, Joseph and Adam Abdin, and Natalie and Stephanie Negrotti formed a coalition that dominated the front of the pack for the first half of the season.

When the teams were given the opportunity to cast a U-Turn vote, it was no surprise that Jas and Jag would wind up with the disadvantage. But even then, when they, in theory, were slotted into fourth place at best, they not only completed the first half of the Detour with lightning speed, they actually got to the second half of the Detour before the teams that U-Turned them. That speaks to how highly skilled these brothers were. Throughout the race, they only finished below third place once, and that was more so due to racial discrimination from cab drivers in Hungary. They became the first team in Amazing Race history to finish in first place the same leg they were U-Turned. And they tied the record for second-most first-place finishes with seven. And it was that seventh one that counted the most, as Jas and Jag finished the final leg in a New York minute. They crossed the finish line in first place, taking home a million dollars, and making Jag the first person to win both Amazing Race and Big Brother.

The day after the finale, Jas and Jag talk with Parade about the secret to their success, the racial discrimination they faced on the race, and whether Jag is eyeing a chance to make CBS history once again.

You guys were the odds-on favorite to win going into New York City. And, familiarly, you were in first place from pretty much touchdown until the finish line. Talk me through your mood as the day went along. Was your confidence growing as you continued through the tasks? Or were you anticipating an opportunity to get tripped up and passed by the other teams?
Jas Bains: I think initially, as soon as we sat in the taxi and it was a Punjabi Sikh driver, our confidence went through the roof. We’re like, “This is meant to be!” This whole full circle moment, we’re the first Punjabi Sikh team on The Amazing Race, and then to get a Punjabi Sikh driver, he was in our corner. So I think we felt really confident in ourselves. I mean, we weren’t kidding when we said it was a three-person team, because he was actually watching to see if other teams were coming in, if they were coming out, how long it would take them. And he just stuck with us the entire time.

Well, let’s go from the end of the race to the beginning. Jag, you just had this record-breaking run on Big Brother. What was your response to being asked to do The Amazing Race? Were you a fan before racing? And was Jas always going to be your first choice partner?
Jag Bains: Yes to both those questions. We watched when we were younger, with our family. And so it was a really special experience for us. Now we’re watching this season with them, and they were with us at the finale as well, which was really beautiful. The moment they asked me to be on The Amazing Race, I knew who’s gonna be my partner. They literally asked me, “Is Jas down to do The Amazing Race with you?” I think they wanted him to do The Amazing Race more than they wanted me to do The Amazing Race! So I think it was a really cool experience to be able to do it with him.

You guys said at one point that you were surprised by how well you were doing on the race. Talk to me more about your expectations going in, and how they were superseded with your performance?
Jag: I mean, look, I mean, we ended up winning the season, right? We end up winning seven legs on the season and maintaining. Even when we don’t win, we do really well. That wasn’t our expectation. Obviously, we want to do well. We were preparing beforehand. But we’re not going to go in thinking, “Oh, we got this in the bag.” And so that’s why we were surprised at how we were doing. And just happy that the preparation was paying off, as well as happy with how we were communicating with each other as a team. At the end of the day, we’re like, “You know what? This is an experience that we get to share together, and we want to be positive throughout the whole thing.”
Jas: I mean, it is kind of intimidating. Showing up to the starting line being like, “Oh, wow. Everyone is a Big Brother team and a loved one. And then one team is Big Brother/Big Brother.” And these are some very strong, very smart, well-rounded teams, too. We’re like, “Oh, wow. We’re gonna have our work cut out for us.”
Jag: And seeing The Amazing Race, we know there’s so many different kinds of things that can happen that can trip up that team. And literally, it takes one leg where you mess up on one thing, and then you’re out. We knew we had to be on our A-game the whole season.

Well, let’s go from A-game to the alliance game! You guys were part of the most prominent alliance of the season in the “Trainwreck.” Did that alliance come about by happenstance, or were you actively seeking out those relationships?
Jag: It was literally happenstance. When that whole train debacle happens and eight teams all get off on the wrong station in Germany, we ran off because we’re like, “Let’s run our own race.” So we separately run off to go to a ticketing kiosk. Joseph and Adam happened to run off there separately as well, and so did Nat and Steph. And so we’re like, “You know what? The three of us, let’s just stick together.” And we worked really, really closely together. That was the longest leg we had; that was 28 hours or something.
Jas: And we trauma-bonded over that. Because it was just us three teams trying to catch trains that we had four minutes to catch. So you’re stressing out, you’re talking about it, you’re checking all the tickets and doing all that. And just from that, it just naturally formed. And we didn’t name the alliance until the next leg. So I think we all kind of processed all that, and we’re like, “Wait, we work really well together.” And then we ended up naming it, so it just kind of ended up happening.

Let’s go to perhaps the opposite end of the spectrum. Jag, you came in here with a pre-existing relationship with Izzy from your Big Brother season. What was your perspective on your dynamic? And did it incorporate into your decision to U-Turn them in Croatia?
Jag: I mean, when we get to the starting mat, we’re gonna pretty much like, “Okay, where’s my standing with all the players here?” Not just with Izzy and Paige, with every single team. And so we knew it’s a Big Brother season of The Amazing Race, so we were assuming that there’s going to be U-Turns or things like that. So we knew we wanted to play that social element of the game, and we’re open to working with them. I think they were wanting to run their own race, and not as interested in working with us or making alliances.
Jas: I think our strategies were different going in, and they didn’t align. Because they were just very independent, and we were like, “Oh, there’s going to be a social aspect to it.”
Jag: But what I will say is that that wasn’t what drove our decision-making. It was not like, “Oh, they don’t want to work with us.” Because there’s a lot of teams that didn’t want to work with us. They were an extremely strong team.
Jas: The first leg, when it’s the equalizer, they’re third place. The way we thought of it, there was like a front of the pack, middle of the pack, and back of the pack. In whichever pack they were in, they were consistently ranking higher. So we had split it up because of the train debacles. And so we were like, “They’re a really strong team. We need to U-Turn them.”
Jag: They’re a strong team. We’re not working with them.
Jas: Something they don’t show is we actually ended up patching things over with them many legs after. And we’re like, “Alright, we don’t need to keep all this going.” So they didn’t end up showing up. But we’re cool with Izzy and Paige. We love them.

Yeah, I know Izzy said on the episode she couldn’t want to yell at you after you U-Turned them. Did that end up happening?
Jas: No, they didn’t yell at us. We had a conversation, a very mature conversation. We handled it super well. And that’s probably why they were like, “Ah, we’re not going to show this, because they’re not yelling at each other or something.” But we ended up smoothing things over.

Is there one thing you credit for all the success you had in the race? One commonality you had in your tactics between navigation, tasks, etc.?
Jas: Great question! [Laughs.]
Jag: I mean, I always say adaptability is the biggest strategy for me and for us. But I think there’s a lot of layers that go into it. I think, first and foremost, it’s not a single-person game. I felt really confident in our relationship and our communication and team chemistry, which helped a lot. We didn’t really argue throughout the whole season. We wanted to stay really positive. But also, you have to fine-tune in on your skills, whether it’s navigation, whether it’s memory, or the different challenges that we have.
Jas: I think navigation was one of our strong suits. We didn’t really get lost. We had teams following us because they also knew it was one of our strong suits. And then, I guess, even if we didn’t get something in the first few attempts, we didn’t let that get to us. And that comes back to that positive mindset of like, “It’s okay. Let’s just try it again. Let’s do it right.” Even on the flower dress Roadblock that I did, it took me 12, 13 attempts, but I was still out of there before any other team. I just didn’t let that get to me. I was like, “Alright, we’re going to keep pushing through. We’re going to keep going.” If you look at the history of the race, the teams that are more positive do make it further. It’s just kind of like a trend that happens, and so we were very intentional about that.

To your point about those skills, the only time this race you fell below third place was only due to racial discrimination from cab drivers. Talk to me a bit more about that experience. Were there other instances like what you went through in Hungary that you had on the race?
Jag: Jas said it before. But that moment was what popped our bubble.
Jas: Our reality bubble. Because you were like, “Oh, we’re on a show. Everything is awesome. It’s all great.” But it really kind of popped it and made us come back to reality. We are two people with turbans running this race around the world, and we are going to face racism and discrimination, right? We were out there for 45 minutes trying to catch a taxi. And then we put on our hoods, and within two minutes, we got a taxi. It was insane. And that’s why the rest of the leg, you see us not taking any taxis. It’s all running, public transport. And then also, just throughout the race, things that we’re used to that are smaller things. Like we’re walking or running down a sidewalk, people are crossing that sidewalk. We face that every day. We’re walking into a store to ask for directions. People are like, “No, you guys aren’t allowed in here.” So you have those micro things that you face too. But that was such an outward example that showcased it.
Jag: For us, again, we just wanted to pivot and keep moving forward. For the rest of that episode, we see the other teams taking taxis places. We didn’t want to stay in that mindset, right? That’s a really negative mindset to stay in. We keep trying to catch taxis; they keep passing us by or whatever. And so we’re like, “You know what? Let’s just run everywhere or take the metro, whatever we can do and make forward, slower progress.
Jas: I mean, even in Romania, when we were doing the skydiving leg. We were in the taxi, and the guy didn’t know any English. And he just looked back at us, and he was like, “Oh, boom, terrorists.” And that’s all he was saying the entire time. And even our camera crew was like, “This is weird.” And we’re like, “Look, if we weren’t in a race, we would have asked him to pull to the side right now and would have gotten out and taken another one. But the circumstances are [that] every minute counts. And we need to stay in this taxi, no matter how uncomfortable the situation. And so that was something we also had to deal with. But in New York, you see we get a Punjabi Sikh cab driver. And so it all comes full circle.

Let’s talk about where your win stacks up in Amazing Race history. Of course, you are the first Punjabi Sikh team to not only be in the race but also to win. Jag, you are the first person to win Big Brother and The Amazing Race. You won seven legs, which ties you for second place in the record books. And you also tied the record for most legs won in a row at five. How do you look back on your legacy, considering everything you were able to do?
Jag: I mean, it’s surreal for us to have the journey that we had. I mean, I’m so proud of us to be able to accomplish that. We had such a wonderful time doing it too. And I think it was just a testament to our preparation, our hard work on the race, our mindset, our communication as a team. I mean, no one goes in thinking, “I’m gonna break these records.” That would be a pie in the sky, crazy goal to have. And so we just feel honored.

It should be noted that nobody in 25 years of the CBS “big three” reality shows has ever appeared on all of them. Jag, considering you’re 2 for 2 so far, should we expect to see you out on an island in Fiji sometime soon?
Jag: I think Survivor would be awesome to do. I mean, I’ve done two, and I’ve done exceptionally well, better than I thought I would do on both of them. And I think Survivor is the next one that I would love to do.