There are very few relationships quite like a father and his daughter. And that was very much proven through Ernest and Bridget Cato’s time on Season 37 of The Amazing Race. After the first leg in Hong Kong, the father-daughter duo was in great shape at the top of the pack. But in a Season of Surprises, the return of the Intersection became their downfall. For another early-out team, it was all about keeping a beat.
With years of physical training, competing in races in the past, Bridget and Ernest were prepared to jump out of anything. But drumsticks? Not so much. Despite their early exit from the race, Ernest and Bridget are prepared to do it again! Not just in hopes of winning, but to experience the people of the world once again. Ernest said, “I wish I could have just stopped sometimes and just hung out and just sat on a bench.” Though, Bridget would never let her dad do that.
Bridget and Ernest Reveal Why They Were the Best From the Cato Family

Image via CBS

COLLIDER: They left the race with a bang. It’s Ernest and Bridget. How are you both?
ERNEST CATO: We’re well.
BRIDGET CATO: We’re good. We’re good. Last night was tough. A little bittersweet, but happy to be talking to you right now.
COLLIDER: If you could describe your experience in one word, what would it be?
BRIDGET: Oh man. One word.
ERNEST: Well, I’m going to play on the show. Amazing.
COLLIDER: I’m here for it.
BRIDGET: That’s a poke out. I would say, I would just say special. It was special. It’s a special experience.
COLLIDER: What was it like watching yourselves on television?
BRIDGET: It was a little, it was exciting, but it was also a little, I was a little anxious just to see kind of, to see your face on a screen and knowing a lot of people are watching and you kind of know the outcome. It was super emotional, all the support we got. And then just watching last night’s episode, it was a little, it was a little tough.
ERNEST: With me watching myself on television and watching my daughter on television, I forgot that it was a show when we were actually part of the show. I can’t believe that I actually just tuned everything out and was focusing on what we were doing, and I was totally transparent up there. That was good for me. That was good for me.
COLLIDER: Of all the potential partners you could both have had, why were you the best pair to represent the family?
BRIDGET: Oh man, I think, so we, as a family, we’d always watch it. Me, my dad, my sister, and my mom. And just our experiences on like family vacations, I think we’ve been in some interesting debacles on family trips where we’re in Jamaica, and we decided to rent a car, and we’re driving. And in Jamaica, they’re on a completely different side of the road. And so it’s my dad, obviously in the driver’s seat. And my mom would try to be in the passenger seat. She’d get stressed out, come to the back. My sister would be in the passenger seat. She’d get stressed out. She’d get kicked out. And then I’d go in the passenger seat, and we were able to figure it out. And I would navigate. So even before The Amazing Race, it was my dad in the driver’s seat, me in the passenger seat. And just figured we’d make a strong partnership on the race
ERNEST: Bridget keeps it cool.
COLLIDER: That’s a good quality to have on the race. All right. Let’s talk about the intersection. It was back. What was your first reaction when you discovered that it was the next step of the game?
BRIDGET: I think I was a little stressed because it’s one thing where it’s like me and my dad doing something, and it’s just like the only people impacted are me and him, but when you have an Intersection you’re working with another team, you have two other people now that you have to be mindful of, and you want to make sure that you’re staying strong for not just each other, but for that other team as well. So it was that added pressure of impacting another team definitely took a toll on me.
ERNEST: You know, I agree with Bridget with that. That’s the part that now you’re responsible for someone else’s game. And the last thing you want to do is negatively affect someone else’s game. So, that pressure there exists.
BRIDGET: Yeah, but we, we were on the first flight with Mark [Romain] and Brett [Hamby] and Jack [Dodge] and Carson [McCalley]. So we had some time with both of those two teams during our travels, got really close with both of them. So it was a little stressful knowing that the intersection is coming up, and they were just us through an odd number of teams that were coming up on the intersection. So knowing that the last team there would have to wait for the second kind of wave of teams was a little stressful. But it was exciting when we got there first, and then we worked with Mark and Brett.
ERNEST: And Bridget and I didn’t feel that pressure initially when we were going to that part of the show because we knew we were behind the other two teams, and we just assumed that they had already got there, paired up, and they were gone.
BRIDGET: So we thought we were going to be waiting.
ERNEST: So we are just waiting for whoever would show up. So we were good. Then we found out we were in first place. It was like, we’re moving pretty good. For a while.
COLLIDER: What was it like working with Mark?
ERNEST: Mark’s a good dude. You know, Mark is solid. I really enjoy working with Mark. Mark will be a friend forever. There will be a bond between Mark and I that could never be split. That’s for sure. But Mark is a really good dude. So is Brett. But I would say this, everyone that we had an opportunity to build relationships with them, were all very good people. They did a very good job with show.
COLLIDER: Bridget, did you feel like you wanted to be up there with your dad to help him out during the drumming?
BRIDGET: That was the hardest, hardest part. I know my dad was stressed while he was up there, but just being down in our little pit area and just watching time after time and not being able to do anything about it, but offer words of encouragement was, it was, it was tough. I wanted to be up there for sure.
COLLIDER: The drumming challenge really was a reset for all of the teams, but then we got to the Detour, Mochi or Mawashi, you selected to go the sumo route. What made you go in that direction?
BRIDGET: I think at the time that felt like the easier decision. And we knew we had some ground to catch up, and we just thought that was the easier option. But something we keep talking about now watching the show last night was, I think we were just so amped when we got there and there were other teams there, the thought of potentially switching to Mochi didn’t even cross our minds. Obviously, you don’t want to play the what if game that leads to a bottomless swirl, but I think if we would have just taken a deep breath and realized, okay, these teams that were way ahead of us are still here. This is a hard one and swap to Mochi, there is a chance we may not be talking to you right now.

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COLLIDER: We did have a shocking double elimination at the first leg. Was there hope that maybe this was going to be a non-elimination leg?
BRIDGET: Yes!
ERNEST: We were chatting it up a little bit. We were hoping that would be the case.
BRIDGET: Phil [Keoghan] was talking to us, and we’re like, keep talking, Phil, keep talking.
ERNEST: Don’t stop.
BRIDGET: So yeah, that hope was there, but you know, everything happens for a reason.
COLLIDER: There really is no bond quite like a father and their child. You two really have a special bond. What was it like sharing this experience together?
ERNEST: Man, you know, that’s, don’t get me crying on this show, Mr. Block. You got a cool name Block, don’t mess it up. No, this was really good for me because throughout my life, I’ve been really busy and to have this opportunity, just to have this time with my Bubble Gum just meant the world to me. And then not only just the time, but able to have an experience of watching that she has the ability to lead. So she wasn’t just my daughter or my Bubble Gum, she was my partner. And even sitting here right now having this conversation with you, it’s clearly I’m taking the lead from her because you know, I’m learning from her. I have literally learned from her through this day. So Amazing Race, thank you. It has made me a better person and a better father. I think I’ve always been a cool father though.
BRIDGET: Always cool.
ERNEST: I’ve always been a cool father.
BRIDGET: Always in control, but cool.
COLLIDER: Would you do it again?
BRIDGET: A thousand percent. Yes.
ERNEST: Listen. My wife’s been asking me this question. Oh, by the way. Bridget’s engaged.
COLLIDER: Congratulations.
BRIDGET: Thank you.
ERNEST: Cato’s need a do-over. Cato’s need a do-over.
BRIDGET: That’s something, we always said our downfall on the show is going to be freaking something musical. My dad struggles with rhythm, so it was heart-wrenching.
ERNEST: I’ve been practicing now, man.
BRIDGET: We always knew something with music was going to be our downfall. We’ve always done marathons, triathlons. Physical was never going to be an issue. It’s a bummer that the show started so heavily with music. We had the dance the first leg, which we somehow managed to get through. And then we were hit with the drums. So if we could go back and get another shot.
ERNEST: We were prepared. We were prepared to jump off of mountains, out of airplanes, dive in the deepest oceans. And they gave me drumsticks.
BRIDGET: We were not prepared for drums.
COLLIDER: You got to experience two really incredible places in Hong Kong and Osaka. What was it like being immersed in these worlds?
ERNEST: Can I have that one?
BRIDGET: Yeah. Do it. Take it.
ERNEST: I love the people. I mean, from the cab drivers in Asia, they just embraced us. Them cab drivers literally got us where we needed to be. And I tell you, I could feel the love and support I was getting on the stage from the drum master and his folks up there. I could really feel the support. And just the people itself. Wherever we were at, folks were just totally engaged with us. I wish I could have just stopped sometimes and just hung out and just sat on a bench.
BRIDGET: I would have been like, nope, we gotta go.
ERNEST: But just to have the ability to go into another world and culture and be respectful of it.
COLLIDER: Of course.
ERNEST: Be respectful of it. The folks there were very patient with us. They look like they just wanted to be, have a role. Very supportive folks. You didn’t even know it was just extremely supportive. Cato’s need a do over.
COLLIDER: I’m here for it. Let’s end on a high. What was the best part of The Amazing Race that was not game related?
BRIDGET: The other people. I would say, it was crazy because you’re on a race and it’s you and your partner. You are trying to beat the last team there, and that can sometimes be cutthroat. But from our experience from the start of the race to the last leg we watched last night, the other teams were just so, so great to work with. Loved our time with, um, Jack and Carson and Brett and Mark and just the people! I mean, you’re competing, but it was just the other teams were some people I’ll never forget.
ERNEST: Although it was a competition, you still, well, we still were supporting others. We wanted to win, and we would’ve, you know, if that, you know, but you still just to watch other folks going through the same things that you’re going through. You wanted them to succeed? I would say the people. And the patience.
COLLIDER: Well, congratulations on this experience, and I’m ready for a re-do. Let’s do it!
BRIDGET: Let’s do it. Let’s do it. Thank you so much for talking with us today. You made something bitter a little more sweet.

The Amazing Race

Release Date

September 5, 2001

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Elise Doganieri, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman