Riker Twins

There's just something about twins that's hot. The Riker Twins are not as popular as other twins (Like the Carlson Twins) but were both on Amazing Race 3. They are Chicago-born twins Derek and Drew Riker, 32 years old and are Graduates of the University of Illinois, they were models before older brother Derek became an actor and Drew, a photographer. Below is an interview they did.

How do people tell you apart?
Drew: Derek is about half-an-inch taller. We also tried to colour-code ourselves on TV. I was always in blue and Derek was in red or grey most of the time.
Derek: We have to clarify we don't dress like that in our lives all the time.
How did you feel about several teams forming an alliance against you?
Drew: It actually gave us something to work against because it made us more competitive and focused.
Derek: It was actually very flattering for people to think we were such a threat after we had nearly been eliminated in the first leg.
We were very excited. When we were in school, it was kind of the same way. People didn't like us for whatever reason, and it kind of motivated us in a way.
Do you ever regret being nice to the other teams?
Drew: No, because we found that that was probably the best strategy in this race. It wastes so much time and energy to try to be deceitful, but if you share information, you can save a little money, too.
Describe your relationship with your brother and how it has changed.
Drew: I don't think it has changed much. The biggest thing was Derek and I weren't living in the same city for a few years. We hadn't been spending much quality time together in the last two years. The show gave us time to reconnect.
Has being on the show changed your lives?
Drew: My brother's an actor and the exposure has done well for him. He has got a great agent and manager, and has been acting for about six years, doing mainly comedy and comedy improvisations. Hopefully, it'll pay off.
In Hollywood, any exposure like this is usually good. Derek, you want to explain what I'm doing?
Derek: Drew has been doing photography for about the last three years. I'm assuming all this exposure will help him as well. In Hollywood, no matter what you do, if you're recognisable, it'll definitely help.
Derek, why was your marriage kept a secret at first?
Derek: I don't know. That must have been the production keeping a secret, but I would never have kept that secret. I wore my wedding ring the whole time.
Do you think your looks helped or worked against you in the race?
Derek: It definitely helped, like with ticket agents at airports. And being twins especially, and dressing alike, it was kind of a spectacle in itself. People were very willing to go the extra mile for us.
What about in real life?
Derek: I feel our looks did not help at all. There was still prejudice against you even though you would do a good job and you came from a great university, and we were treated differently.
Drew: But it's still human nature that when people find other people attractive, they may be a little bit more attentive and helpful.
What is your reaction to being typecast as models?
Drew: We hadn't modelled for years. But in this show, they did the stereotypical models thing and edited us in that way.
People think that if someone's attractive, they must be brainless and idiots. And if you're bald and fat, you must be funny and intelligent.
Tell us about those Herb Ritts nude pictures of the both of you on the Internet.
Derek: That was taken probably in 1996 or 1997. We were shooting for this book called Herb Ritts: Work. We'd just shot a Gap advertisement with Ritts and a TV commercial with Cindy Crawford that he had directed. He and his boyfriend are two of our best friends in the entire world.
Did it feel odd taking the pictures? You were both naked.
Derek: It was very odd.
Drew: We would never have done a shot like that with any other photographer.
Ritts is so amazing and he made us feel so comfortable. It was an odd experience because we were naked for about 4 1/2 hours.
Derek: With models, it's not totally unusual to do nudes, not that I'm very comfortable doing that.
We always said we would never do any frontal nudity, so that was about as risque as it has ever got.
What's the worst rumour you'd ever heard about yourselves?
Derek: That we're lovers. Like, what are you talking about? It actually came from that picture actually.
Was there a part of the race where you wanted to quit?
Derek: The only time we thought about that was when we were lost in Saigon looking for the route marker.
What are your impressions of Singapore?
Drew: I love Singapore. It seems so similar to California. All the different stores and everyone spoke English. It made the race really easy. We felt like we were home. The people were great and helpful. That was one of our best days.
Are you ever coming back?
Derek: We hope to, one day. We're trying to figure out a way to get there. We're gonna get a clue, hopefully, one day.
How did you manage to look so good during the race?
Drew: It's good, clean living. We'd have to thank our parents. We try to eat well and get a lot of sleep, at least 8 1/2 hours at night.
Derek: Of course in the airplane, before you get off, you make sure you clean up in the bathroom.
Last question. How do you keep your teeth so white?
Drew: (laughs) I think it's because we brush our teeth every time after we eat.
Derek: I've never had my teeth whitened, although I'd thought about it. In Los Angeles where everyone has his teeth whitened, we have yellow teeth. We look like smokers there.