BJ & Tyler

Brian Jeffrey "BJ" Averell and Tyler MacNiven are a team of Best Friends on the 9th season of The Amazing Race.

Profile
BJ & Tyler are bohemian best buds who first met four years ago during the Semester at Sea program, where they shared the experience of sailing around the world. One of their most memorable moments was starting a dance party in the streets of downtown Guilin, China, which turned into a mass gathering of hundreds of Chinese men. They have been friends ever since, whether bouncing on trampolines at Burning Man or spontaneously swimming in the San Francisco Bay.

BJ is a graduate of Harvard University, while Tyler graduated from UC Santa Cruz after completing two semesters abroad—one in Hungary, the other in South Africa. Both have traveled the world extensively and speak several languages including Spanish and Japanese.

Both BJ and Tyler share a love of adventure, travel, and good times. After graduating from college, BJ moved to California to pursue surfing, karate and frisbee. Meanwhile, Tyler fell in love with a Japanese girl and decided to impress her by walking the 2000-mile length of Japan.

Their primary motivation for taking part in THE AMAZING RACE is to share in the adventure of racing around the world, meeting new people and, of course, winning $1 million.

Race History

 * Leg 1: 2nd
 * Rotor Head
 * Arrived 2nd.
 * Leg 2: 1st
 * : BJ
 * Climb It
 * Arrived 1st and won a trip for two from Travelocity to Tahiti.
 * Leg 3: (4th) 2nd
 * : Tyler
 * Scour
 * Arrived to Phil in 4th and were told that the leg isn't over; kept racing.
 * : BJ
 * Break It
 * Arrived 2nd while running backwards.
 * Leg 4: 1st
 * Laundry
 * Chose not to Yield
 * : Tyler
 * Arrived 1st and won a digital imaging package from Duracell.
 * Leg 5: 2nd
 * Big Fish
 * : BJ
 * Arrived 2nd.
 * Leg 6: 5th (15-minute penalty)
 * : Tyler
 * Herculean Effort
 * Arrived 5th, but because they took a bus to the Isthmos Train Station having gotten off the train at the Corinth Train Station, they were issued a 15-minute penalty. But Lake & Michelle did not arrive and their placement was not affected.
 * Leg 7: 5th (Non-elimination)
 * Watchtower
 * : BJ
 * The blazing heat took its toll on BJ.
 * Arrived last, but were not eliminated.
 * Leg 8: 3rd
 * Sand
 * : Tyler
 * Arrived 3rd.
 * Leg 9: 4th (Yielded Joseph & Monica; Non-elimination)
 * Yielded Joseph & Monica
 * : BJ
 * Wet
 * Got into a three-way footrace against Eric & Jeremy and Joseph & Monica.
 * BJ took a rocky path thinking it was a shortcut, which proved to be a mistake.
 * BJ's error caused them to arrive last closely behind Joseph & Monica. But they were not eliminated because it was a non-elimination leg.
 * Leg 10: 1st (Fast Forward)
 * : Won the Fast Forward
 * Arrived 1st, but they didn't have the golden gnome ticket. Still, they are one of the final three teams racing for $1,000,000.
 * Leg 11: 1st
 * Messenger
 * : Tyler
 * Arrived 1st and won two T-Mobile Sidekicks, each with three years of free service.
 * Leg 12: 1st
 * Deliver It
 * Due to the inclement weather, they decided to switch.
 * Drill It
 * Arrived 2nd at the Roadblock.
 * : BJ
 * Finished the Roadblock 1st.
 * Arrived 1st and are winners of The Amazing Race.