Episode 32 - From Small Town to Broadway & Amazing Race Winner | Craig Ramsay

In this episode of Cracking the Success Vault, Sean Penhale sits down with Craig Ramsay — Broadway performer, Amazing Race Canada winner, fitness expert, and resilience advocate — to explore a journey defined by authenticity, creativity, and personal transformation.

From growing up in Harrow, Ontario to performing on Broadway and appearing on major television shows, Craig shares how he carved his own path in highly competitive industries — while staying true to who he is.

This conversation goes far beyond entertainment.

Craig opens up about navigating identity, overcoming rejection, and breaking free from societal expectations. He shares how authenticity became his greatest strength, why resilience is built through life’s hardest moments, and how redefining success changed everything for him.

In this episode, Craig and Sean dive into:
• The journey from small-town Ontario to Broadway stages
• Navigating identity and embracing authenticity
• Overcoming rejection and building emotional resilience
• The intersection of fitness, mental health, and self-expression
• Lessons from The Amazing Race Canada
• Why success is about following your heart — not just chasing outcomes

Craig also shares powerful insights on abundance, creativity, and how embracing who you truly are can unlock opportunities you never expected.

If you’ve ever felt the pressure to fit into a box, struggled with rejection, or are searching for a more meaningful version of success — this episode will resonate deeply.

🔑 Topics Covered

🎭 Broadway, television, and performance career
👏 Authenticity, identity, and self-acceptance
💪 Fitness, mental health, and emotional resilience
📺 The Amazing Race Canada experience
🧠 Overcoming rejection and societal expectations
✨ Abundance, mindset, and personal growth
🎯 Redefining success through purpose and fulfillment

⏱ Chapters

00:00 – Introduction to Craig Ramsay
02:22 – Growing Up in Harrow, Ontario
04:24 – Navigating Identity in a Small Town
06:23 – Returning to Roots and Authentic Living
09:45 – From Broadway to Reality TV
12:24 – Fitness, Mental Health, and Self-Expression
18:14 – The Impact of 9/11 on Career and Purpose
22:55 – The Amazing Race Canada Journey
26:30 – Manifestation, Rejection, and Success
33:52 – Building Emotional Resilience
37:28 – Creativity and Teamwork
42:54 – Abundance and Gratitude
54:46 – Advice for Growth and Performance
01:01:27 – Upcoming Projects
01:05:54 – Defining Success

🔗 Guest Links

Website
https://craig-ramsay.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/craigramsayfit/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And I was devastated. Like I would be so upset and crying for days.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Just because someone else is winning doesn't mean you're not. You maybe need to reframe some things or rethink some things or change path.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Everyone thinks I'm loaded and I'm not. Like I still have a house to pay off, and every single dime from my Amazing Rights Win went into that investment.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Craig Ramsey, our featured guest, is an internationally recognized figure in fitness, stretching, and motivation. This best-selling author and sought-after speaker is originally from Harrow, Ontario, and divides his time between Canada and Palm Springs. Known for his remarkable energy, positivity, and resilience, Craig is celebrated nationwide as the co-winner of the Amazing Race Canada. His diverse background includes training with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and performing in major Broadway shows such as Mamma Mia and Fiddler on the Roof. Craig's unique expertise seamlessly merges performance, wellness, and mindset, making his personal story a powerful testament to movement, growth, and living life to its fullest potential. All right. Welcome back to another episode of Cracking the Success Vault with Spectre Group. Today we are joined with by Craig with Craig Ramsey. Yeah. I am super excited to have this conversation. We had uh a really great FaceTime there a couple weeks ago. We did. I got to learn a lot about you. Probably too much. No, not too much. Is it too much? Well, we'll we'll let uh the audience decide. Let the audience decide. Um, but I don't think not everybody knows your story. Uh obviously, you do have a great social media presence. You've done reality TV, Broadway, musicals, other things. Uh, but let's kind of start from the very beginning. Okay. Um, where did Craig grow up? Yeah, how did he grow up? And then what kind of led you into this path of I'll call it like fame slash reality TV slash stuff? And we'll get into the rest of the.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

I don't get the fame portion often. I like you. Thank you. Well, that's I think that's generous. Uh thank you. Uh, but uh yeah, I grew up in Harrow, Ontario. I'm a county boy, and I loved it. I had a great upbringing, uh, supportive family, thank God, and uh great community. And I always loved to perform, and I think everyone noticed that. So uh they tried to support me as much as they could, but obviously there's limits to um how I can expand and uh grow my entertainment uh abilities in Harrow. Uh but then I got uh lots of opportunity in Windsor to work with a lot of community theater, and I went to WCCA uh program for the arts in uh midway through high school, and then I went for a year and a half to University of Windsor for their BFA musical theater program. I found that uh the program wasn't a great fit for me because I was truly obsessed with performing and not wanting to write down about performing. Got it, you know, with a degree program. So that's my fault. Yes, yeah, that's my fault for not researching what would have been the best match for me. Uh, but uh valuable experience and then danced. Uh always had this love for ballet, even when I considered myself more of an actor singer, uh, but I was very flexible. Even as a hockey player, uh, I was doing those double axles and triple LUTs uh on the ice. And uh I loved ballet and I was able to attend the Royal Winnipeg Ballet from university as a student on full scholarship, thank goodness, because uh is a very expensive genre of the entertainment industry. And then um got back to combining all of them singing, dancing, and acting, which led to uh a really lucky and and wonderful Broadway uh onstage performing career.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah, and then I got reality TV, kind of fell into my lap.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that in a sec. Um so that's that's the upbringing. Up that's the upbringing. Yeah. And and we talked on the phone um when we first met there uh a little bit about obviously being gay, being open. Uh who me? Yeah, who you right? What? Um, but as a as a as a young kid in you know, country harrow, yeah. Uh how was that like? Because it's not like it was now, where it's a lot easier to be open and a lot easier to just express yourself. But growing up, I'm sure it was difficult. Yeah, big sip here. Here we go. We're gonna get into the real the real weeds of this.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Yeah, and I don't even know if I would make the statement that it's easier now. I think that it the social media aspect has a whole different level for especially youth coming out. Uh, but I can definitely speak for my own experience. And it growing up in Harrow, um if if anyone's not familiar with Harrow, it's one of the smallest uh communities in Essex County. And uh I think it lent itself to have huge benefits for me because it was so small and everyone knew each other. And uh with that, I think we all loved each other. Like everyone was somewhat of an outcast when you're there's only a certain number of people. Yeah. So we all can relate to each other with that, and there's a sensitivity to it, at least when I grew up. And I think that uh adults know who you are before you do as a youth. And I think that it was quite obvious to a lot of people, but not to me, because it was my journey.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And like I often talk about this uh when I when I go um with a keynote uh on uh equality and diversity, in the sense that um when I was y young, there it wasn't about the sex or the sexuality aspect of it. Something was different with me, right? And there was uh like this air of um of lightness, if you will. And I found that the adults really protected me, which was lovely.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

In community, in school, and in um my church, even the United Church in in Harrow. And I was protected through those development years that I'm I wish all children had, and they don't. So I would say Harrow is truly the greatest place to grow.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah. And this is one I'm one of the reasons why you're moving back. You're moving, you guys are moving your life back.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Well, the truth is too, some people know this, a lot of people don't, is that I really never left. Like, as I said, Harrow isn't Broadway, Windsor isn't Broadway, and for years I kind of judged on like inappropriately the area because it I didn't understand why it couldn't provide me the satisfaction of my career that I wanted. So as I mature, it obviously became obvious that I was reaching big. Like I wanted it all, I wanted the big Broadway stage. Um, but with that, I never considered New York my home, LA my home, on tour with Mama Mia for two and a half years throughout the US. I always considered Harrow my home. So whenever I had a retreat or a vacation or time off, I would come to Harrow, but I would regroup. It's um it's sort of like in you know, Forrest Gump, Jenny, when uh she would go back home and she is is just hibernating. That's what I would do. And it was at my parents' house. And now I live next door to where my parents' house was. Yeah. Uh so it was a good transition, but I never really left. I never felt like I left.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah. Yeah. And it's one thing to like have these like big dreams and these big aspirations of doing these things that so many people can get lost in what you become and who you have to maybe become to do these things. Right. Uh, because I I was just had I just had another episode uh of this podcast recently where uh like the whole conversation was about like knowing who you are and knowing what your purpose is and knowing the things that you want to do versus the things that maybe are you're driven by your ego or you're driven by you know trying to prove other people wrong or whatever versus doing what you wanted to do. Yeah. Right. Um I never have any of that?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I really struggled with as as most um LGBTQ youth would would, I overcompensated for aspects of myself, um, which actually led to a lot of um survival skills, if you will, which led lent itself to uh a lot of benefits on the amazing race, which is why I I feel a lot of um LGBTQ people do really well on reality shows of that nature because we know how to handle stressful situations, get out of problematic uh dangers.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yeah, uh obstacles. Um so there's definitely um aspects of myself that I hid for years or downplayed, um, which is just not that that's what happens.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I if I could tell my younger self, I would have said, be authentic when you surrender to being your authentic self is when your career, the universe will align all of the potential for you.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

And it wasn't till I did that into my, I would say, really late 20s, even though I was out and accepted my myself to some degree, I still was holding back thinking this is what the world wants to hear from me. Right. And I shouldn't have cared. I should if I tapped into that earlier, I mean everything happens for a reason, but sure. If I tapped into that earlier, I think um I would have had greater success, but I'm certainly happy with what unfolded.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, and where you're at now. Yeah, obviously. And so you have the ballet in Winnipeg.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Right. And then when did um sort of the reality TV and all that kind of stuff sort of come about in life? And how did that come about in life?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

9-11 really changed me as a performer. I was with Mamma Mia um in on tour in Boston, and uh I was staying at the Double Tree with uh a lot of the terrorists. And so the next day was really hit home like that. It was a shocker. And I really didn't want to perform in Mamma Mia that night, nor did a lot of my castmates. But uh we took a vote uh if we're going to, and collectively uh we decided to do it. And that night I have never seen a larger uh uh attended um uh group at the stage door, and they weren't there for autographs, they were there to thank us. And it really pivoted how I look at the entertainment industry. And I found myself wanting shows that really make a difference, like Fiddler on the Roof. Um, all shows are a great experience for me, but the ones that stand out are the ones that have a message that challenges society and makes people think. And I was so fortunate to do a lot of great shows like that, like um Steven Sonnheim How Princess Bounce, uh the um uh Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway was one of the most special um shows that I've ever I've had the privilege of doing. And even cats to some degree, don't spit out your coffee because I was gonna. Cats is I think it is a really fun shift of energy for an audience. But my career got to a point where I became frustrated um sharing someone else's story, and I r felt like I wanted to focus on my own journey and who I am as a person um in relation to fitness. So I was overlapping training a lot of my castmates on Broadway, and uh there's as you can imagine, there's a lot of like eating problems, eating disorders, uh self-body image issues that exist there. And I found that I was um feeling like I was making a difference and in turn feeling um a different pride in myself that I wanted to expand that into reality TV. So I didn't jump into um reality TV like uh competition shows or anything like that. My first one was Bravo's The Intervention, which uh was a weight loss show.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Helping people transform their lifestyle, which in turn helped them achieve the physique goals that they wanted, but that wasn't the point. The point was to change your life.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Right. And is this right around the time when like all of the like um big weight loss shows were like a big thing, the um biggest loser. Biggest loser and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah, I was ghost training, uh, which is off-camera training for biggest loser and quick push-up, all of these huge infomercials. Um, I was part of the success of the beh but all the behind the scenes. Um, not that I needed the credit for it, but I think that reality caught up with me where um uh Bravo reached out and they were certainly interested in me bringing that expertise but in front of the camera. Uh I think that at the time, though, the only concern was they were afraid that um it was going to come off because I've had an established acting career that I was acting the part rather than actually knowledgeable and able to guide people through uh the process of life transformation.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Right. And so is this process of life transformation, fitness, working out, etc., is this something that you picked up in high school? Is it something you just learned as you started to become more involved in the actual ballet and Broadway shows? Is it something you just learned because of your own physique, wanting to stay fit and then transition to others? Or have you always had this like desire and knack for fitness?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Wow, that's a really good loaded question. Uh, I'll break it up into two points. Uh, the first is that I'm uh I've always been really sensitive and caring person. Like I am uh half Lenore, half Chuck, my parents. And when my mom got sick with fibromyalgia, it destroyed me. Like destroyed me. Where I took it upon myself because it was really hard for her to get answers. I was like, I'm gonna find the answers. So like I went to the bodies exhibit and had a full month there trying to study the body. And and in that process, it opened me up to sensitivity of other people's struggles around me. That's why in on Broadway it it really lent itself for me to to help people. And I I found that um uh a passion that uh I didn't know existed was to assist people. Uh also in that I need to say that a lot of fitness people professionals are the most unhealthy people. And me included to some degree, we talked about overcompensating as a skinny, short um boy growing up in in Harrow. Like I I I have a 15-year-old, um, and I often reference, I said, uh, you have to understand what I grew up with. Um, I was at boob level with school dances for the majority of my my career, or my um education years. And I said, and I didn't want to be at boob level uh for me personally. So in overcompensating, I wanted to I wanted to change my physique so that I wouldn't be bullied as much. And so I packed on muscle. It was during uh Mamma Mia. And I was quite young when I did, I was the second youngest cast member in Mamma Mia in the original Mamma Mia. And I gained a lot of muscle mass. And as the cast mates told me, I went from a boy to a man in a short period of time. And that was armor for me to protect myself. Um, but me recognizing that I think helps relate to other people's uh struggles of of putting on an armor uh just in the opposite effect for the weight loss show, which would have been uh a boundary uh for them to not let people in by covering it up with unhealthy habits.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah. And and and so you you said that a lot of the people that are typically fit bodybuilders, et cetera, are sometimes the unhealthiest in terms of not sometimes, almost always.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Almost always. Why do you say that? Uh I I again I think it's it's like the pendulum swings. It's excess. Yeah, excess. Uh the body is not built to take on um that much physical activity uh for that long, uh, that um uh muscle mass. Like the organs don't know the difference between unhealthy weight and health what we deem is healthy weight. Healthy weight. So, like even myself, as I get older um and I packed on a lot of dense muscle mass, it's it's time for me to strip that away because it's not as healthy on my heart, my organs to sustain that size when I need to be fit and I need to shift now what those goals are for uh stability, um, strength and stamina. And so if I want to run, I gotta take off some weight. And going to Italy for the last two weeks doesn't help because all I did was eat pasta and lemon cello after after the meal. Uh-huh. Um, yeah, so uh that that's the balance that I think uh it does not exist in uh in the uh fitness world.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

It's interesting you say that because I think a lot of people uh they look at the super fit person and they're like, man, I just wish I was fit. I wish I could look like that. But I've never actually, I mean, I've been around fitness as a competitive swimmer for you know 30 some odd years of my life. Yeah. I've never heard somebody talk about like taking weight like off, yeah, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah, I think that uh athleticism with a sport is a a little different because it is short-lived. Like we I think I you even with the Danielle uh interview where you talk about a window of opportunity that you have with that. Uh with bodybuilding, it's hard for people to give that up. So I think that it just progresses more and more where it's dense muscle mass upon dense muscle mass, and then that becomes highly unhealthy on your organs.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Interesting. So then, okay, so you do all of this, you learn all of this stuff. You start learning all this stuff because your mom didn't diagnosed. Yeah. Um, and I would I would 100% agree with you when you say, you know, you you feel, I mean, you seem like an extremely empathetic person who can take on a lot of feelings from the people around him, I'm assuming. Yeah, yeah. Um how did that then progress into you were just helping your other castmates, your other ballet members, etc., because they wanted it, because they saw what you were doing, because and you are right, there is probably lots of anorexia, bulimia, et cetera, in in that world.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Um, I mean, we were just talking and just kind of joking about um one of the reality TV shows outside. Um Age of Attraction. No, the other one. No, the other one. Model one. Oh, America's next top model. America's next top model, right? And you see a lot of eating disorders, etc., with people who because they're supposed to fit this mold that the industry wants you to be. Right. And then when you look at it, I mean, my wife and I were were talking about it the other day because when that documentary came out about that show, yeah, a lot of the stuff that was on that show like wouldn't fly today. Oh, no, there's no way that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Oh, even my shows, even my reality shows. Yeah. And why do you say that? Oh, d times have changed and good. It's great that they've changed. I I think it it's a blessing. I mean, I the my next reality show was uh Newlyweds, the first year, which was uh a reality show with Bravo TV that did air in Canada as well, where it followed my husband and I's uh first year of married life together. And it was a year and a half, truth be told, of of almost daily filming. Um, but there's so much that would not fly, even that we were a part of. Really? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Like what? Uh if you can say anything.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Uh I I just think that w when um our our our marriage was the first legal federal same-sex marriage featured on a reality TV program in the States.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Brandon and I. Wow. And that had a lot of responsibility. Uh and I think that the audience around us expects us to fall into um stereotypes. And we we kind of gave into that a bit.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Oh, really? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Oh, yeah, yeah, I think so. Um and and leaned into what they wanted you to be like. Or like and and identify like who takes the garbage out. Oh, you know, who's the most sensitive one. And but I think that inquiring minds wanted to know. Sure. And we we do um Brandon and I certainly do fit stereotypes. Like we we do. I mean, he's the fashion guy. We talked about it. He's the fashion guy. Stereotypes. I am not.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Like hopefully this is acceptable today. Um luckily gray and white go together, so my wife didn't say anything to me today, so that's good.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah, and we we tried uh desperately to have a child at the time, uh, a second child, because Brandon's sister and her wife, uh, Brian Jen, um, we co-parent uh a 15-year-old now. He's almost 15. Um, but uh uh he was only two at the time when we had the reality show together, and we tried to uh I tried to get her pregnant. And uh with it, there was so many obstacles that we had no idea that we were facing, and being on TV, it was heartbreaking. Like to know that because of our non-traditional coupling and and family, uh there were legal efforts to stop us from uh accessing um IVF and and options. It would cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars, which would be free for traditionally married or together couples just because we were LGBTQ. And so it was hard for us on TV to realize these things as a same sex couple and our unique family. Um and yeah, I it was it we did a turkey based insemination in Vegas. Uh the first ever can you imagine on TV? It was pretty extreme. Yeah when. Brandon and Bree's mom delivering my semen in a champagne flute from one room to another.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Right? Like I mean, I'm being honest. Yeah. But it was jarring and shocking. Um, so I I don't know if we would do any of those things today.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

I don't think we'd have to.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

I don't think you'd have to either. Right. Because things have progressed, which is good. Right? Because we need to.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Especially in Canada, we're progressing. I think in the States, uh it's rolling back uh very aggressively, which is um very disheartening.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Uh so I'm just I'm just so thankful to be here in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Here in Canada. Yeah. No, I appreciate I I I mean we love having you. Yeah being a Canadian Canadian boy, being famous all over the world.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Well.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Um so okay, so you do newlyweds. Yeah. Um and then how does that all transition into things like the amazing race and all the other shows that you've done?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

The Amazing Race came about because my best friend Catherine Reeford, um, we we got to know each other well by dancing in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet together decades ago. And we've been best friends since. We lived together in major cities, Toronto, New York, LA. We have quite a past in the history. And um at the time in 2019, we were invited back to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet um to kind of honor the acting careers that we've had coming from a trained dance background with their school. So it was kind of an initiative to show um that the quality of dance, even 20 years later, from their school, is there and is exceptional and led to incredible careers for Catherine and I on Broadway. But then the artistry of us being actors as well, coming back to the ballet in uh the roles Lord and Lady Capulet in their Romeo and Juliet, um, they wanted to really bring that artistry back into the ballet. And also they recognize that Catherine at that point, six years before, um, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She had a grapefruit size tumor removed from her brain. They got what they could, but it was a terminal diagnosis where she lived two to five years.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

So um they she had cognitive uh damage done, and um, they wanted to assist her in revisiting what it was like to be on stage in that capacity, which is a generous gift.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

And but recognizing that it would be very tough for her, they knew that we were partnered so well throughout the years. So I was uh included on my own merit too, but certainly they recognized that me being there to support her would be a help. And she improved dramatically. Like we're um the medical industry was wanting to study her and travel her around the world to figure out how she was able to access and develop um uh damaged part of her brain.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Um, and from there, Catherine was so eager to have more improvements and more challenges. So she said, What can we do? I don't want to see this fade away. I want to keep going and keep living. And she kind of looked at that like she needed that in order to continue living. So then I was like, Well, what about that really, really difficult, impossible, stressful show, The Amazing Race Canada? And she said right away, she goes, Yes, that's what I want. And I said, if you want it, I'll want it. Because I never would have searched out for it if if this wasn't the situation.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

And so we when we decided to do it and sent in our uh interview tape, I think her story was so compelling and our dynamic as um they look for really strong teams. We felt like if we put it forward, we were gonna get it. Uh, I I think maybe that's manifestations. Um yeah, so it aligned. And when we got it, it was so exciting and it brought Catherine a lot of security. Then COVID hit. So then they had to deliver a message that said, we're gonna postpone it a couple weeks. Because we all know it was really touch and go at first, and then they said it's gonna delay a year, and breaking that news to Catherine with her getting an MRI every three months, telling her if she's gonna live another three months.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

They were devastated. But lo and behold, medical miracle, and she had that to look forward to, right, which really I think saved her. We got the opportunity in 2000 2022.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

So that's how we we got to to doing it. Um but I wouldn't have actively seeked out that or any kind of competition reality show. No.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Right. So uh I don't know if this is a controversial question. Do you think it to me? Because I believe I believe in the whole manifestation thing. If you want it to happen, you know, you still gotta go to work and you still gotta go put in some effort and you gotta do all that kind of stuff, right? Like as as Jim Carrey would say, you can't uh you can't just think about a goal and then go home and sit on the couch and eat a sandwich. Like you have to actually go to work and still go try to do things. Um, do you think that there was a uh a point in the maybe application process or whatever that because your LGBTQ and because of her diagnosis that you just you thought like, yeah, they'll probably accept us just because of the situation, just because of the circumstance?

SPEAKER_01 27:10

I thought that they weren't gonna accept us. Um You thought it would be the opposite. Yeah, I thought the opposite because uh usually you have to have such a clean bill of health that I was like, there's no way Catherine's going to Why would they put this person with the condition on a shoulder that could potentially be devastating? Setting up for failure. Um, and uh the doctors cleared her. The doctors basically said you should be dead. You can do whatever you want, right? And she's like, okay. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So that was her turn. And mine, I actually thought that me having so much reality experience um would have uh definitely hindered the the acceptance. Excluded you from it. Yeah. And uh I have a reality experience, but um also um I was in the States. Like I I was mostly working in the States, so I thought that it's Amazing Race Canada. And as we know, Canadians have a lot of pride, and it was hard to communicate in a three-minute video how much I am Canadian and how like much pride I do.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

I've been working in the states and living in the states and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Right. So I didn't think we were gonna get it because of that. Um, but luckily uh we did. They didn't do their research at all. Like they had no idea that I had any reality experience when we showed up day one. And I know how to work those cameras too. Right. So really, I doubt they'll ever have anyone back in the capacity of being a triple threat singer, dancer, actor like Catherine and I, and the the fact that I have so much reality experience, I don't think Amazing Race Canada will ever revisit that.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah. So you've said a few times now that uh in applying for a role or applying for something that um the fact that you've had past experience being in front of a camera, maybe people thought, or maybe they you think the audience or the producers would think that you're acting or it's not legitimate or it's not real. You've said it a number of times now. Do you find that in in society or in Hollywood that that that they're really trying to look at that kind of thing and say, what is this person's past? And rather than are they the right fit for the show that we're looking for, they're actually saying, like, maybe people aren't gonna like it because they think they're acting.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

In reality TV, anyone that's been a part of reality TV, the repeated theme that gets obnoxious is authenticity. Like these producers, and it's the bottom of the barrel part of the entertainment industry, reality TV, to be honest. Like, and I say that not in to demean it because there's some brilliance that happens on camera and behind the scenes for sure. Um, but it it I think that the low-hanging fruit is reality TV in the entertainment industry, and that word authenticity, they're looking for someone that is trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes. And with, as I said, me and Catherine being triple threats and and having the luxury of having these great careers. We've learned a lot of um things along the way in um researching roles. Like we've had these great careers, and when you research a role, you dive into it.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

So, like Catherine went to nursing school, right? She she has all this great knowledge, um, and uh some of the roles I've played too, where it does um lend itself to knowing uh like a plethora of different uh what we thought was use useless skills that helped on the amazing race.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Um but yeah, the the authenticity, it's hard for them to accept that someone can have multiple lives in this one.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Um the the one difference I'll say, and I say this often when I go into universities and talk to to students in the arts, is it's in my opinion, it's all about getting in the room. Like if you environmentally put yourself in these situations to succeed, eventually it's gonna happen. Right. But it's when you get upset that there's limitations or the no's, the rejection, and then you isolate and you limit what your outreach is, that's where you are limiting yourself. So there's so much talent in this area. And I truly believe if a lot of the people that I even went to school with just physically up themselves and put themselves in New York, or you know, and there's circumstances, of course, that that are far greater than people's will and determination. But the the difference is, I feel, is if you can put yourself out there, if you do send in the audition tape for reality TV, you gotta do that in order to be considered.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

And if it's one thing I did, it's it's that.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Yeah, I was gonna say, because that I mean, that's a message that I hear a lot. Yeah. Of like, you just gotta face the rejection. You just gotta kind of do it. You gotta put yourself in the right place. Um what do you think made I I don't want to say this is easy. I don't think it was easy for anybody at a certain point in time. Sooner or later you're like, I'll just it's it's rejection, it's another rejection, it's another no, whatever, right? But to start that process, you don't really strike me as a guy that when you were younger really were bothered by the rejection. You know, do you think that's because your parents were so supportive and the community was so supportive and everybody just kind of looked out for you that you were like, I can go do these things and they and they cheered you on. And or did you ever have a point in time where you were actually like, I don't know if I should do this thing because they might not like me and you just didn't go do it because of somebody else's opinion?

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Oh my God, all the time. I I thank you for bringing this up. I think what my parents did well uh is they allowed me to process uh disappointment and rejection. So like I remember even in speech competitions, you remember those in school that we'd have and like science fairs. See, I loved them and I was so passionate about it, but I never won. I never won. And I was so upset because as a kid, you know, you strive. I want that first place, I want that. And I was devastated. Like I would be so upset and crying for days. And my parents let me do that, and I think that that's what has gotten me through because I get terribly upset. Like I was just rejected for Charlottetown Festival for this summer. I got rejected for um Royal Manitoba Theater Center just recently, like two Anna Green Gables in a row. And it it destroys me, it does, but I process it, I recognize it, and I'm able to then get over it. Uh I that's what I also go into these schools and and share that um you are human. And what makes you a great performer is the fact that you are affected. So, how do you tell someone don't be affected by the rejection? You do, you have to process it and you have to put it into perspective of what it is. Your life is far grander than one gig. And the universe is aligning what is going to be appropriate and spectacular for you. It's a hard trust to do, but it's the only way to go because then when it does success happens, it starts to make sense. And that happens with maturity and with age. And you know, I'm there. I'm almost 50. So I've had I've had a little way. Oh god, you're almost 50? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

I would not have put you that way.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yeah, I'm 38. I would have put you at like 43.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

43? 44. Oh, I'll take that. That's I mean, I'll take 49. You know, well, thank you. Yeah, I'll take my age. I I've earned it. I've earned every year, I've earned every wrinkle, and uh, you know, I'm I'm losing the hair. I'm surprised I have what I have at this point.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Fair enough. Um, so are these some are these some messages that you're also then like passing on to your son?

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Because like I don't know if my parents ever like let me process things, I guess. I mean, they must have. I guess I never really like put it together, but I was never like I never felt sort of emotional. I was never very empathetic. I am a pretty empathetic person, I think. At least people tell me I am. Um, but I was just like, okay, well, I guess I lost. I guess I'm just gonna have to go work harder. I never really like I guess I would never say I never really dealt with uh emotion. I'm just like, well, okay, next. On to the next thing. Um and I don't really know where it came from. But are these some things that you're like talking to your son about when it when he has some failures that in his life, whether it's like school or sports or arts or anything like that, that you're like trying to pass this same coaching or mentorship on to your own kid?

SPEAKER_01 35:27

I I think by being vulnerable myself, I mean I think he witnesses the world around him, including us as parents. Uh, and we're very different. All four of us are extremely different, which I always tell him, I'm really proud of you for navigating uh unique relationships with people and still being consistent with who you are and your personality. Uh I I give him the space to process and to think on his own before I fill in those gaps. I kind of want him to I and I can gauge that. Yeah. Um, and no, he's he's he's really, I feel well-rounded. Um, and and we have open communication. Um, and I I think just leading by example, I'm not perfect. He sees it. I apologize when I think that I've I've done some terrible parenting, which certainly I think all parents can relate to, like when you have those moments. And I sit back and I I rewind and I say, This is how I feel. I could have done it differently. I'm sorry. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:20

So I think I have that as a husband right now. My my my son is too young for that. He's only 10 months, but uh man, there's some times where I'm again male, female, different. She's with him all the time. I'm not, and I'm like, I'll just come home and like play with him, like wrestle or do. And I'm like, well, he's 10 months old. Like my wife's like, be careful. Like, I just I just want to see him, I just want to have fun. And she's like, Well, yeah, but you're not here all the time. You're not here every day, right? And I have to like, okay, like, how could I have handled that situation better? How could I have done this thing differently?

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

I I like the fact that you're like give them space to do it themselves before intervening. Because I think in anything, whether it's business, ballet, anything, right? Like you can't do it for somebody, right? You can't you can't want it, you can't want it for them, right? Whether it's success or what you can't want the role for somebody more than they want it for themselves. But you also have to kind of let people fail as much as it kind of sucks. But that's the only way they're gonna learn. You can coach them, but you gotta give it some time, I find.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

I'm not gonna be able to learn where someone is. This applies for parenting and for even um the fitness aspect uh or wellness aspect of my my career in life. I need to get as much information and collect information and allow people to speak and reveal all of that in a comfortable setting, right? So, like giving people that space is really important for them to exhaust what they need to get off of their chest. Um, that that's where I kind of collect data and information again, which helped on the amazing race. Yeah, like to kind of pay attention to um the other racers and the producers and the challenges, like being an observer is really important for success. I find interesting.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

And so when you say that in the fitness world, that you are letting people talk um and express themselves in that way, you're hoping that while they're talking that they're uncovering the thing that they think they need to change?

SPEAKER_01 38:31

I guess it it it varies. Like it I think that when someone is working out and they this is how we always look at it, especially weight loss. Okay, let's let's talk about weight loss. Uh, if if someone is on that journey and they're putting the physical into motion, right? And they are sweating, um, I always look at every single pound loss is baggage that has collected on someone over time. And it's not important for them to, and I'm not a trained, you know, uh therapist by any means, but it's not important for us to identify, oh, this is when that abuse happened. This is, you know, those specific situations, but rather the emotions and feelings that can come up from the weight loss journey. So a lot of times if if they just have the space to communicate, it it is their journey, not mine, to manipulate. Uh, the reveal is allowing for that excess weight to come off. I it's for me, it's been proven. Like I I have helped people lose weight off camera, even in more uh more off camera than on camera because I've had more off opportunity off camera, um, because of that. It's an emotional journey that they're on, and then the physical is the the benefit, the uh the health benefit.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

So you so if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying when you're working out with somebody and they start losing weight, they start going through the exercises, etc., maybe they do start losing some weight, they you know, start to see some success that they start to have this emotional reaction to how difficult it they thought it was going to be, but it's actually not that hard. It's just consistency, and then that spirals into other things. Is that what you're doing?

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Not before the weight loss, it's the movement. Like if someone is putting athleticism into motion, is when uh I find that um that's when the emotions come out, right? And you can feel it in your own workouts, like even if someone's bodybuilding, um, if you tap into who you are as a human as you're working out, all of that energy comes from someplace. That those are the the things that I'm talking about from your past that again, you don't have to identify, but whatever emotions you feel, if that drives your movement and then the weight loss comes off. So it's harder to put that into motion for people because a lot of people are fearful and they get in their head, like, oh, why is this so hard for me? And I'm and I'm like, You're human, it's not. It's terrible for me too. Like, I I do not enjoy being on a stair climber. I don't like I enjoy the benefits. Nobody likes a stair climber. Exactly. No one likes to be truthful. I don't think anyone really likes the physical activity. People that have put it into motion and then see the benefits of it, they like the feel of the benefit the benefits after the workout's over. After the workout, or once it starts snowballing and it becomes a habit and something that they immediately tap into where it chemically changes their mood. But to get jump started, it's not easy. It's not if I take two weeks off, which I did going to Italy and coming back to it, I have to respect my journey back and not beat myself up.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Yeah. Why is this so hard for me? I'm a loser. All that still pops into my head, but I know how to kind of counter it and give myself some grace.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah. I was gonna say, is that that's something you taught yourself how to do?

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Yeah. Right. Like I find the same thing. If I'm if I'm uh, okay, you know what? Time to, you know, make some calls, time to book some appointments for the office, whatever. It's like the first couple are like, oh man, that's a little rusty because I haven't done it in a couple weeks. But then you start getting into it, you're like, oh, this is fine, this is just natural again, and it's easy. But yeah, when I was first starting out in the business, like it was hard. Like trying to pick up the phone day after day and get rejected, you're like you have to really learn to like find a way to deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

And I would probably agree with that physical fitness is kind of the same. Like once you're in a habit, yeah, you can fall out of the habit, but the more you do it, the easier it is to come back to it. Um, you already have that mental fortitude, you've already built up that resiliency to kind of just keep going. It still takes effort, yeah, but it's just not like it's just not like a rubber band. It doesn't just come back instantaneously.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Not for me.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Right?

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

So interesting. Okay. Um and so if you uh we talked earlier, like so we talked a little bit earlier about if all these things hadn't have happened, we wouldn't be where we are today, and that kind of stuff. Are there some things though in your past where maybe you feel like you would have done something a little different? Maybe like a failure that you had that maybe you you kind of wish you could go back and redo or something.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

Oh, I'm sure. I I think um I I I would have loved for someone to shift my energy around money and abundance coming from a small town.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

We did talk about that a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Yeah, I think we did over the phone, right? Yeah, yeah, where um uh coming from a small town and especially Canadian, because we don't have um, especially when I was younger, we don't have that American dream mentality where it's like, oh, I can have this and that. Like it's not really um part of uh my makeup. So going into the US and having even the success on Broadway, it it was kind of a hard pill to swallow and to accept that the successes I was getting, and also where do I take it from there? Um, like I remember um when we my husband and I bought a Land Rover car. I had so much guilt, like and res like I was debating this was a terrible idea just because of the amount of money that that it was, but it was zero percent financing, it was going. Be a car that was going to be able to have us travel appropriately with all of the stuff that we have for filming and for his work and my work. So it made sense, but it was really hard, and that was only six years ago, for me to adjust my hero brain into uh accepting abundance and or uh that kind of um spending.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Um so I wish someone shifted that for me and and I would have heard that that it's okay, you're not a bad person if you want money and or if you have money come in.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Yeah.

unknown 44:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

I mean, listen, I mean in my business, I talk a lot, we talk I talk about it a lot. I mean, that's what I do, right? As a financial advisor. But the the fact that so many people attach so much stuff to money has always been kind of intriguing to me because money is really just a tool, right? If if you're a good person and you make a lot of money, you're probably gonna do a lot of good with it. If you're a bad person and you have a lot of money, you're probably gonna do a lot of bad with it. And so, but we don't come most of us don't come from money, right? So when you grow up with a certain lifestyle and certain thoughts, certain feelings, whether it's family or friends or um that kind of thing around money, it can be really hard to kind of change that. Right. Uh especially when we start making significant money that, you know, not everybody makes every day. Right. Right. So it becomes a little what do you think was the what do you think was sort of the hardest part of that for you when it comes just to to this concept of money?

SPEAKER_01 45:31

And I think developing relationships that are respectful, like with even producers of Broadway shows, or anyone that had money, I kind of looked at them as evil, to be honest. Okay. Like and I'm talking like many years ago, I've shifted that where uh as you just said, there's good people with money. Right. But coming from this area, and you know, my my my parents had um they worked their butts off in middle class jobs. Um, but I I always looked at money, people with money as can I trust them? How do they get that? Because we did we don't see that. I don't see people uh inheriting wealth when I grew up in in Harrow. Um so I I shifted that and um certainly I have lots of friends um at many financial levels, right? Doesn't matter. Um but that was something that I had to shift because I'm in that world, right? I'm around all of it. All of it all the time, and more money than not.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

And so how do you how do you accept that and be in a world that you're not bitter, right? Right, or like judging. Yeah. Um so no, I shifted that.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Do you think it's because I mean when I got in the business, I I was always taught you know, people when we're growing up, you hear people use like that person is filthy rich.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:47

Right. And it's kind of like the the the mentality around the words that we're using to describe people who have money, because like, yeah, they have a lot of money, but that doesn't mean that they're filthy people in that sense, right? Right, yeah. Um, do you think it has a lot to do with that kind of fact that you just maybe those were the things that were being said around you? I think I'm learning something today.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Yeah. No, I I didn't really analyze that, but of course it comes from from that.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

Yeah. Interesting. And so what do you think? Um uh now that you've sort of overcome that, um how do you think you kind of feel and operate now? Do you like do you sense not dealing with it? Or I don't know how the best way to say this, uh before you dealt with it, I guess, and before you kind of opened your mind up to that concept. Um do you find that you looked at your career or your job opportunities or any of the experiences differently than you do now?

unknown 47:55

Right?

SPEAKER_00 47:55

Because offering, you know, let's just say you got offered a role, let's say 10 years ago for whatever a million dollars a year versus a role now, having two different trains of thought around money, there must be like some kind of a different feeling or a different thought process. Or do you think before you might have felt like a bad person? Whereas now you're just like, it just is?

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Well, you I've had great success in the entertainment industry, but the level that I've had has not seen incredible wealth. It I just haven't. Um I I'm open to it. I've I've always been like, come on, bring it on. Yeah. But uh, you know, ensemble contracts on Broadway don't pay a lot. And you get thrilled when you're an understudy and you get on to go on for a week or two weeks because you make, you know, quadruple the paycheck that you normally would.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:42

Um, so I've seen, I have seen money come in, but I think in my circumstance, being um a foreign uh you know worker um and putting so much into my green card and my citizenship, I've had investments that have depleted a lot of my wealth um that I haven't seen in Americans um there. So, like I wouldn't say I have resentment at all against that um or judgment, but um I I give myself grace that I haven't been able to invest in things differently than other people that were in my same situation because even the dollar being different, I certainly filtered a lot of money back home to protect family and take care of them with vacations and things like that. So I've lived a life of of wealth. Like I feel like I'm I've always been a millionaire, even though my bank account has never seen that.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Uh and but that that shift I um I think helps too, where there money still comes in. Uh, that's why when people ask me, like, what do you do? Sometimes I'm like, I don't know anymore. Like, yes, I'm a performer and I've done reality TV and fitness and all this stuff and books and and that, but the money has come in from so many different um opportunities in my life. It's hard for me to say I do this for a living. Yeah, but the universe certainly does still take care of me. I'm open to that and I need it. I need to shift that energy around money so that I'm able to financially be stable.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

Right. Yeah, it's funny you say that because that was one of the things I do remember from our initial conversation, is I was like, all right, so like tell me what you do, Craig. And you were like, uh, what don't I do? Uh act, dance, speak, yeah, uh, go on TV shows, reality, like all these different things. Like you're not the you're not the I don't want to say average person, not the typical person with a nine to five job, right? Being paid for the same thing all the time. Um, you know, money comes and goes. Yeah, it does different jobs, right? Yeah. Gotta be, gotta be aware of that at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

Yeah, but I'm also open to people um being supportive of me in my life. Like I have to really give it to so many wonderful friends that understand that um, and this might come off totally wrong, but that my line of work in entertainment industry is being of service. Like so many people that are part of my life, my family too, they've had incredible fun opportunities because of what I do for a living. And they understand that the the it doesn't generate a whole lot of income opportunity. So when I've needed it, I've had people step in and help me, which is hard to accept too. You know, we're in like a 40 plus year old man, and I'm like, I need help with rent. And it has happened um because it it's ebb and flow, like it it's not always coming in in this industry. Um, but now uh I'm just so grateful that I I have an opportunity to kind of mature and grow up and I do have a home. Um and thank you, Amazing Race. But every you know, every single everyone thinks I'm loaded from the amazing race. And like they maybe they get um uh confused with the American show. But even the American one, the taxes are enormous. So uh, you know, a half a million doesn't let someone fully retire uh in in in their circumstance in the and again entertainment industry. But everyone thinks I'm loaded, I'm not. Like I still have a house to pay off, and every single dime from that from my Amazing Race Win went into that investment. But I am grown up, like I have a home. Right. And so many people, even my age, uh don't have that uh opportunity and that luxury to have.

SPEAKER_00 52:11

Yeah, there's tons that are, you know, they they are stuck renting, you know, house prices over the last call it decade have skyrocketed. Yeah, you know, it's not easy for young people, let alone older people, from getting a place if they haven't already got one.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

It's not easy. Uh, I mean, I see it every day, right? And I we we we talk mainly in the industry of when you hear it in the news or you see it online, it's you know, how is the next generation going to be able to afford? Yeah, sure, but there are other generations beside the next one that are still having a problem because things have just got astronomically expensive in this country.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

Yeah, right. So yeah, and Brandon, my husband, um had he he he that works um in a salon. He has a salon in Palo Alto in California, and there's a lot of um very high-end business people there, social lights and and such. And for decades now, he's been told you need a financial advisor. And he keeps saying, like through the journey, I have no money for it. And they said, that's exactly why. You know, it's like at the balance of well, how do you pay for one? How do you do all this? But really, that's the number one theme that we've heard for decades. And just recently we were we're doing that. Like I think we talked about it a little bit. Um, where I I think we're giving it a go to see what how we can um create wealth that um we are unaware of how to do that.

SPEAKER_00 53:38

Yeah, and I think it's just it's a it's a financial literacy thing, right? I mean, we are not taught, and I would probably assume it's the same in America, but we are not taught how to manage money or how to save or why we should save or how five bucks every week grows to a big number by the time we want to retire. Like we're just not taught, right? Right. Uh it's one thing I love about um my job is being able to educate people about something that gets me excited about, very similar to you in that sense, as I get to coach and teach and do other things, but in an area that you love. Yeah. Right? Numbers has just always been something that I've loved to do. Wow. Right. So I'm kind of lucky in that sense, you know.

SPEAKER_01 54:19

I think it's great. Yeah, I would have loved a class in that in uh Harrow junior school or even senior school. That would have been marvelous to hear.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Yeah, I hear that a lot. When I meet with like teachers and stuff like that, they're like, Oh, you should come and teach. But unfortunately, it's you don't want to put the conspiracy hat on, but you know, it's not banks and it's not government's job to teach us how to manage money. Right. Right? They just they want their taxes and banks love keeping our money from us, right? So um, but it's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

But it's something too when I do go into schools and talk to them in high school art schools and uh university programs where I say, you know, this industry is lucrative. Like I don't want to make it out that like I haven't made any money. I certainly, you know, two broke girls, I see r royalty checks coming in still from years down the road, and it's small stuff, but it still pays for my phone bill. Like there's opportunity um in in this entertainment industry that uh are not really taught in schools where I think because of my experience I'm able to bridge that gap and tell them like when I first moved to LA, I did this, um, I showed up and and did this print audition, which is for like a magazine, like an ad um for Intel Bentium processors or whatever it is, and all they wanted was a yoga post. I didn't have any yoga experience, I just was like, oh, I think this is it, and I was confident with it, and I got hired for it, and it was more money than I made during Mamma Mia. Really? Like on day one. Wow. And all I had to do was stand on an ex and slate my name. Like if you if you expand what you think of it in the entertainment industry, and I think that a lot of kids don't know that that exists, there is money to be made, and it can be really lucrative and fun. It's like live your life.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Yeah, very different, right? Not nine to five, not stuck in an office, not right, you know, that interesting.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

But even if it is a nine to five and it turns into one, uh, you know, the the studies show that theater kids succeed in other aspects of the business world.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

Yeah. Why do you think that is? Because I think it's the creative, I think it's the everything is different, kind of go with the flow a little bit more, they're open to different opportunities. Yeah. Um, they can problem solve things like that.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

Take rejection.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

Yeah, for sure. And think outside of the box as you say like creativity. Uh, and I think working with uh people. Like one thing that really worked for Catherine and I on The Amazing Race was we didn't look at it as uh anything other than an ensemble show. We've never, well, just recently we do have our own two-person show now, but we've never on Broadway had our own show. It's always we work well with a group. That's how you survive in on stage performing, right? You're an ensemble. So I we looked at that and we respected everyone differently than a lot of the other teams did, and we kind of brought everyone in together. And in that process, I think people liked having us around and had liking us around protected us and gave us more longevity too. Right. And I think that that transfers over to the business world with any theater, theater kids. That's why theater's so important, even in high school. Yeah, it really shouldn't be cut. We think we should be putting more and more money into the arts uh for creativity and and that community-driven uh part of this this world.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

Yeah, I mean, I never even thought about it that way, but yeah, just dealing with people, dealing with the rejection, which is all the things that we do all the time, whether it's you know, trying to find a spouse or friend groups or career paths, like we're always meeting new people all the time.

SPEAKER_01 57:46

Which is my number one advice to my my son is the biggest decision you're ever gonna make is a spouse. You know, you keep you can't uh choose your your family except your spouse.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

And you you really have to be solid in what that is and what that looks like uh for both of you, mutually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Yeah, I know I agree. So what's next for you guys then? What's next for you? What's next for you, Brandon? Obviously, I remember you guys are moving here. He's yeah, is he you guys threw your party already, didn't you? No, it's coming up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

The permanent residency party. So I did sponsor Brandon for permanent residency, uh, which uh we've been putting into motion for years, really. Um, but uh the opportunity presented itself recently, so we're thrilled uh that we're here more times than not now. Okay. Um of course work still has us abroad. Brandon uh works with the B-52s and the Go Go's, and he's on tour with the B-52s over the summer. And the the huge benefit I get to do is I'm the rock lobster whenever I'm in town with them. So I get to dress up in the rock lobster outfit at the end and do some fun dance stuff and um be on stage with them. But Catherine and I, my amazing race partner, uh, we do keynote presentations that is uh on the power of friendship and how important human connection is in an AI-driven world. And that really motivates uh corporations um and makes them smile. And it's the first ever story song and dance keynote. So it's highly entertaining, but it hits all of the keynote uh requirements, if you will. And uh that's been wonderful to travel across Canada and do what we love to do and bring our story of resilience and and passion to um to people. And then we have our our two-person show Behind the Curtain, which is uh coming back to this area. We had a uh sold-out amazing experience at the Capitol last year, and we want to bring it to Essex County, so we're doing it at the Bank Theater in Leamington on Friday, July 3rd, and tickets go on sale uh very soon for that.

SPEAKER_00 59:45

What is that about? Uh oh well because I don't know what you're talking about, so I'm kind of can I'm kind of interested.

SPEAKER_01 59:53

So behind the curtain is uh a full show of Catherine and I uh and our journey together, a friendship, a decades-long friendship in the entertainment industry. So we tell the stories that have never been shared before. And the way that all of this came to be was uh Catherine is writing a book, and I'm assisting her and interviewing her for the book that she's uh gonna write. Because we we definitely have a lot of impactful stories. Stories. Yes. And with the book, um, there was a whole list of of these stories that we categorized and put away uh that should never ever be shared and um should be burned. And then Catherine at one point she's like, I have terminal brain cancer. What do I care? And she's like, let's do a whole cabaret on those stories. And because our journey for decades has been together, her stories are my stories. I'm there with her.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:43

So we piece together this cabaret that is very vulnerable but relatable. Like people are howling, they're laughing, laughing. And then one minute later, they're in tears of joy. And because we we definitely take everyone through the journey, if not just the amazing race win, but behind the scenes of our Broadway careers and Catherine's cancer journey. I mean, uh, she's such a remarkable person living with a terminal illness and given three-month increments at a time. Um, but we sing highlights uh from our Broadway careers, so a lot of favorite tunes are shared. Um, but the stories are not they're the behind the scenes, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:23

Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. I think my wife would love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:27

Yeah, so July 3rd in the area. Yeah. I might have to I might have to bring her and the little boy out. Please, yeah. It's it's definitely not family friendly. It's adult content only. It's 10 months, so it's fine. He'll go over his end.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:39

He won't remember, it's fine. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:41

Let's just put it this way. Um, my son has not seen the show and won't see it for a few years. Yeah. Ten years.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

Yeah, 10 years. Um cool. Uh well, listen, I mean, we're uh much over time here, um, but we could probably talk for a long time. Um, every time we've and I trust we will again. 100% we will. Um what uh is there anything else that you want to share for anybody listening audience-wise, about anything coming up for you or anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

I'm getting more involved in the community here in Windsor and Essex County. Uh I'm thrilled. I I just love uh directing, choreographing. Um, so stay tuned. You know, there's some fun uh things in the in the works.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:23

And yeah, I just uh and say hi. I just I love connecting with this area and I I think that there should be a lot of pride that exists in in Windsor and Essex County. I would agree. I think we have something so special here. Obviously, you know, I've had the luxury of traveling the world, but there's nothing like being home and being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:41

Yeah, I mean, listen, I didn't grow up here, uh, and I am uh wholeheartedly uh with you on that. Um, this is my home now, has been for eight years, but like yourself, I have traveled the world. I've done 25, 26 countries, done it for swimming, done it just for normal travel, done it to meet friends. But Windsor is just it's fantastic. Yeah, and there's so many people that just don't know that it is a great place to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:07

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

I'm so grateful to to be here and to have stayed connected with the area. And thank thank you for everyone for being interested in what I've been doing too. Uh, I think my my closest friends are from here. Uh, they know me better than anyone. You know, I really have not changed a whole lot since that grade five boy, you know, at Harrow uh senior school. And those friends know it. Uh and they're it it's really it's comforting for me because they are intrigued and they care, but there's not um any competition or resentment against me. Like I find that there's some people in the entertainment industry that it's difficult for them to hear and be around stories of other successes that they didn't have, you know, and it triggers them. And that's what's really comforting is that um yeah, people are interested, but they they just love they love hearing it so they can see it all behind the curtain. July 3rd.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:58

Man, I love we could talk forever. Every time you every time you say something, there's always one more thing. Because I love what you just said there, but like there's so people need to be aware that if you if you want some good in your life, you have to actually want good in other people's lives. Oh man, very nice. I've heard so many times we're just like that, where you're like, yeah, they just they're jealous of someone's success or they're jealous of something that they're doing, but like if you're jealous of that person having the success, yeah, why like why would you get it in your own life?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:30

Yeah, abundance is not limited, abundance is not limited, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:32

And just because someone else is winning doesn't mean you're not. You maybe need to reframe some things or rethink some things or change path, but you can win too. Yeah, right. And it's not just uh, well, he's winning, so I'll never win. You can win too.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

It's it's interesting to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

Catherine and I never thought we'd win the amazing race. We never did. It never popped in our mind that we would win it. We felt the win, like I we didn't want to discount that, and we sat in that place of, oh, that win feels good, right? But all we wanted was longevity and we wanted to be in the game. That's it. And that led us to the finale. And then it was only at the very end of the finale where it it even be popped in our head that we could win this.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:12

That wasn't the goal.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:13

And I think that transfers over to life.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

It wasn't just uh, we're coming to win this thing. It's we're coming to have an experience.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

But shouldn't that be life? Yeah, shouldn't that be a job? Shouldn't that be a uh a show? Like it doesn't matter. I what I learned over the years is now um it doesn't matter if it's on Broadway or Windsor Light Opera or any any theater, even locally. What's behind you, that million dollar set, is none of your business as an actor. You're facing forward and you're delivering the same energy to an audience, doesn't matter where your stage is. That's what I'm saying. Uh I'm thrilled to be back because now I'm able to to have fulfillment like I've never had before right at home.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:48

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Uh and so I didn't prepare you for this. Uh we always end the podcast with one question.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

What does success mean to Craig?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:59

Wow. Oh. Success for me would be happiness.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

Smile. Something that makes me smile and feel good. I shouldn't even say smile. I should say in the heart. Like if you follow your your feelings from a heart place, as long as it feels good and easy, that's successful. And that doesn't mean that's riches or anything. It's just satisfaction.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:30

I can get behind that. 100%. I mean, if you can't if you can't uh you can't enjoy and you can't feel good, right? Then you got to change something up. Yep. It's just not it's not fun to go through life not enjoying what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:45

Yeah, lead from the heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:46

Yeah. I love that one. It's great. Uh well, thank you very much, Craig. I appreciate the time. This was a fun conversation. Yeah. I know this isn't going to be the last time we have one of these. Um, I'm sure you're going to be a guest on this again. Uh hear about all the things that you've done for the community uh in the future.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:02

Great. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:04

Uh that's it for another episode, guys, of Cracking the Success Fault with Spectre Group. Uh, as always, you can find us on uh your your Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify. You know where to find us. Until next time.