An Interview with Mikhail and Steffen from ‘Race to Survive: New Zealand’

RACE TO SURVIVE: NEW ZEALAND -- "Packrafts, Portages and Pain" Episode 202 -- Pictured: (l-r) Steffen Jean-Pierre, Mikhail Martin -- (Photo by: Tim Williams/USA Network)

Steffen Jean-Pierre and Mikhail Martin shocked the television world last night at the end of Race to Survive: New Zealand on USA Network. For despite braving ten days without food and working their hardest to pace themselves and stay in the race, they made the brave call to call it quits over safety and health concerns, and well, now that their exit from the show is public knowledge, we here at NTG had the distinct honor of sitting down with both of them to discuss their experiences and their difficult decision.
 
John Betancourt: Definitely want to start by asking the million-dollar question, how hard was it to make the decision to step away from this competition?
 
Mikhail Martin: Oh, you’re starting with the easy ones?
 
John Betancourt: I figured we would ease into it!
 
Mikhail Martin: No, I mean, what can I say like this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. And like $500,000 would change all of our lives. And we were really looking forward to doing that. And yeah, it was extremely difficult, extremely difficult. I mean, I… if you know me, you know, I love to win a competition. And I love to take on any challenge head on, and to have to leave the competition this way, just was really heart wrenching. And like, I really felt like I was letting down, like everybody at home, you know, Steffen, I know, he's worked so hard to, you know, be ready for this. And, you know, to have us go out that way, it's just not a good feeling. But, um, you know, there's always takeaways from it.
 
Steffen Jean-Pierre: Well I just wanted to add that we, we literally went into this race with the mindset that we're not going to quit, we said, we're gonna go to the end. Whatever happens, we're just not going to quit. So, to be presented with that situation, where we have to make that choice of safety versus quit. It made sense that, you know, we -- I didn't want to risk Mikhail injuring himself anymore. I know, Mikhail didn't want to, he wanted to make sure he was able to go back home to his family, and his partner in one piece. So, you know, that it was the right decision. But it was… it was so hard to make.
 
Mikhail Martin: It may be hard to see on TV, but the terrain is extremely dangerous. And you know, where we were, you know, it could be life or death. And, you know, we want to you know, we love adventure. And we love doing that. And we're trying to do it as long as we can. So, we made the decision.
 
John Betancourt: Now obviously the decision and your farewell, is slightly edited for run time on the show, and I think this is a great opportunity to really break down how it happened for the fans. So, could you each walk us through how the decision came to be?
 
Steffen Jean-Pierre: So, I don't know how the decision to leave was portrayed. But I'll tell how it happened. We, you know, Mikhail did injure himself. And we said, let's keep on going until, you know, let's just see how your knee is feeling, let’s just keep on going. So, we proceeded to go for a bit more down the path. And it was one point where we were going, we were just climbing out of a riverbank, which should have been pretty routine, and I saw Mikhail struggling, there was actually a big, huge boulder that just started rolling down and it nearly missed him. And this is something that it should have been pretty routine, you know, like, I shouldn't have been worried about an injury and stuff, but to see him almost hurt himself, doing something pretty simple. And knowing that we had so much more miles to go cover. When he came to me and said, “I think I'm gonna need to bow out,” I you know, remember that, that incident and that made it easier for me to just, you know, let it go. But yeah, it was not an easy decision for us, and I let Mikhail expand on that.
 
Mikhail Martin: So, you know, we were getting down to the food cache. And, you know, we probably had about 20 minutes to go until we got there. And, you know, that's when the injury happened. And I felt it… and I heard like a cracking and a pop. And, you know, that's just something I've never experienced before. And I know, that's never good. And, you know, I guess with the adrenaline, I told Steffen, you know, this doesn't feel good. And, you know, we may have to go but you know, we came in not with that attitude. And we decided, you know, we're just going to keep going, maybe we can walk it off. We thought maybe grabbing some food would make it feel better. And so, we got to the food cache. And you know, we finally got our first bites, in you know, who knows how many days it was, and we decided to continue. And yeah, that's when what Steffen said happened. We you know, we were climbing out of the bank, and it all happened so fast, it was like a flash and you know, just see rocks falling down towards us. And then it just really hit me like, you know, this is, this is bigger than a race like this is life or death now, and, you know, we definitely love living (Laughs), and we want to be able to continue to do this time and time again. And, you know, definitely thought about, like all the messages our family at home, you know, told us like, “make sure you come back in one piece,” you know, “we're going to be proud of you no matter what.” And, you know, I think, you know, I may have said it before, I may have said it already, but you know, the best competitors know when to bail out and then move on to fight another day.
 
John Betancourt: Now, you guys went 10 days without food, you keep fighting hard through and through to the very end. Which is amazing, I don’t think I would have made it past the first hour. But to push yourself like that, leads me to wonder, what you learned about yourself during this competition that you didn’t know before.
 
Steffen Jean-Pierre: I learned that can go 10 days without eating (Laughter from all) No, I'd say my biggest takeaway from the experience was just my ability to deal with challenges, I think, you know, the way Mikhail and I worked together, I think, it wasn't something I like, I had never been through that sort of challenge with someone and just like, you know, it's such a unique experience to experience with one other person. And, and I think the way that we able to kind of to make decisions with each other, and not turn on each other, I didn't know that I had that in me. So, you know, I learned that I can work with, you know, that my relationship with Mikhail can go through something like that and come out a lot better.
 
Mikhail Martin: I think, you know, you have amazing friends, but you don't really get to see how amazing they are until you go on such a big adventure like this. Like, I already knew Steffen was strong, I knew he had all the skills, but when you see it, and when you see it in action, it's just super inspiring, like Steffen was literally running up these mountains. And, you know, meanwhile, I'm looking like, wow, like, humans can do that. So, I think it's just amazing and super inspiring to see your friends like being their best self. And, you know, like, we didn't argue or fight throughout this entire thing, which is also amazing to just to show that, like, two people can come together, and do something very hard. And do a good job. Right. And I think finally, the last point is, you don't really know what you're capable of, until you're thrown into a situation I think, you know, we as humans are able to adapt to many challenges.
 
You know, I never expected to go 10 days without eating. And we did it. And we were doing a lot of other things that I did for the first time, like whether it was rafting in a canoe, or, you know, summiting some mountain and, and going down with an ice axe, right, like, a lot of these things were very, were first time for me, and just knowing that there's always more in the tank. And that, you know, with a strong mind, you know, you can push forward and do some of the things that may seem impossible. So, yeah, super inspired, and again, inspired me to sign up for an ultramarathon. I never thought about doing it. But after that race, you know, the sky's the limit. And, you know, I've already started training, and in September, I'll be running 70 miles. So, it's gonna be great.
 
John Betancourt: What are you each going to miss most about this competition?
 
Steffen Jean-Pierre: For me, it was definitely the views that we were getting in New Zealand and just to experience that wilderness, that I don't think, outside of doing another similar show, I don't think we'll ever have the opportunity to, like, be dropped into another country and just, you know, go into like, the most rugged areas and do some of the most heinous things that we did. So that part of the adventure I'm, you know, the minute we tapped out I started missing it. You know, it's it was like, just a lot of top-tier fun. So, yeah, you know, I'm longing to go back. And you know, with some food this time, and yes, experience more that New Zealand has to offer.
 
Mikhail Martin: So, one of the things, you know, we spent a lot of time in the water. And there's one time when we were going down the chasm and you just get water all over your face and whatever, and you drink the water, New Zealand's water tastes amazing. Like, unlike any water I've ever tasted before. And that may be one thing I miss, but, you know, like, just the beautiful landscapes of everything. The trees are very distinct. And, and I think just having that connection, to travel to a place and having to learn about all of its like, nature. And, like, it's very interesting to travel to a country and, and come in with that perspective. Like, how can I live off this land? How can I become one with this land, and I'm really gonna miss that. But I hope I don't have to miss it. Because like, going forward, I would love to bring that into my practice of traveling, you know, getting a deeper understanding of the nature of the place. I'm going to and, and yeah, just having that lens as, as opposed to, you know, like a regular vacation.
 
John Betancourt: Last question I have for you both today. What are you most proud of when it comes to what you accomplished here?
 
Mikhail Martin: You know, I think I'm just super proud. Like I said, we did something very little people are able to do, and we did it without fighting at all. And I think, you know, especially in this time in the world, you know, I think people can learn something about learning to work together. And, and that sort of thing. I think I'm most proud of just, you know, only giving up because I had to, not because I wanted to, or just because I thought it was too hard. Like I really had no other choice but to give up because I couldn't walk anymore through that terrain. And yeah, just super proud to be from New York City, not this natural landscape. I work as a software engineer, so I don't do this every day, but still be able to get out there and compete and, and just be that that role model for people out there just to let them know, “Hey, you may not do this every day, this may not be something normal for you. But it doesn't mean you can't do it, and that you should get out there try it anyway.” And who knows, you may be pretty good.
 
Steffen Jean-Pierre: Yeah, I'm just going to kind of kind of echo Mikhail’s statement. Definitely just the being able to be go there and compete. I think, you know, Mikhail, as he said, that it was his first time doing a lot of a lot of those activities. But I think with a few different decisions, we could have been very competitive in the race, and I'm proud of how we represented ourselves out there. You know, I don't have to worry about like, my mom watching it and watching me, you know, break down or be you know, a big a-hole on TV. So, you know, I am proud, I am proud of what we left out there.
 
Mikhail Martin: Yeah, there was something else you had said Steffen, like when, you know, when we had left the race and, you know, back to like, our parents, like our parents made huge sacrifices to, to come to the United States. And, you know, they had to work very hard for us to be able to actually get out there and enjoy our lives. And, you know, I'm very proud that we were able to kind of live out that dream for them. You know, they growing up, they didn't have opportunities like this, they didn't have the chance to even to do half of this. And, you know, here they are, they work very hard their whole life. And, you know, they get to see their sons on TV. Like being very happy. And you know, some of it was challenging, you know to watch, but, you know, they knew that we were very happy. And what more can you ask for?
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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