After competing on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! early last year, Pete wondered what the next big adventure could be. And when The Amazing Race Australia came knocking, it was the perfect opportunity to take on a new challenge and do one with his wife of over 20 years, Bridget.
"Bridge is someone who has no desire to be on screen but this is a show that she was like, 'Yep, I'll definitely do that'," Pete told 10 Play.
"Choosing her was not a way to avoid an awkward marital conversation either, she's genuinely the best person that I could have asked from a strategy point of view," he laughed.
"With that said, she's been so supportive of me over the years, I get to do fun things and come back to tell her about it. To have her by my side and share the experience with her was pretty phenomenal."
While competing on The Amazing Race, Pete is also currently starring in the third season of Taskmaster Australia.
"Between I'm A Celebrity, Taskmaster and The Amazing Race I've spent most of the last year being blindfolded by Channel 10 and not told anything," he joked.
When the race kicked off in Buenos Aires, the pair immediately got lost and wondered if they had made a terrible mistake agreeing to go on the show. For the first half of the race, they were one of the teams who wound up at the back of the pack.
During the fifth leg, the pair took a time penalty that meant they were the last team to check in, thankfully it was a pre-determined non-elimination and they were given a second chance. Making the most out of that second chance, Pete and Bridget found their momentum, climbing up the leaderboard and even winning two legs.
"We kept on saving to each other we were just doing one wrong thing a day, and sometimes that's all it takes to put you at the back of the pack," Pete explained. "We spoke to our youngest son, Oscar, and he said, 'Just take it step by step'.
"That was our mantra from then on, and we started making our way up the leaderboard," Pete continued.
Heading into the semi-final with their second win under their belts, the Helliars hoped to continue that momentum, but a Road Block -- a challenge only one team member can complete -- was the 'one wrong thing' that would become their undoing.
One team member had to use a slingshot to knock down 10 tin cans. The deceptively simple task proved to be more frustrating than anything else, with Pete and Bridget losing any lead they had on other teams as Pete struggled to knock over his cans.
"So many shots just missed and, often you might mention in The Amazing Race that you lose by a minute or a few minutes. We lost by inches. It was frustrating to be there for as long as we were."
Still holding onto hope, the pair ventured to their next challenge. Thinking back to the sixth leg of the race where they took a wrong turn, Pete and Bridget had convinced themselves they were out of the race -- but once again managed to slip through.
"We reminded ourselves that weird things can happen on The Amazing Race and you're never quite sure where you are.
"Billy and Oscar were still [at the Detour] and it was a fashion challenge so Bridge had a bit more of an advantage there," Pete continued. "Not being critical of Billy Brownless’ fashion choices but I was pretty sure Bridge had the lo-down on that," he laughed.
Unfortunately, the Brownless boys were able to finish the Detour just ahead of Pete and Bridget, and it was a desperate race to get to the pit stop. Once they arrived, Pete and Bridget had to receive the tough news that they had just narrowly missed out on a place in the grand finale.
"It was pretty disappointing to get so close," Pete admitted. "To get to say we got through every episode and we experienced it all would have been great.
"We absolutely loved it, we would do it again tomorrow if we could. I’ve never experienced anything like it," he said. "To experience triumph so closely tied together with pain, and then set and repeat many, many times. At times it was awfully frustrating but the thrill of hitting the mat a couple of times in the first position... To get as far as we did, we were pretty thrilled."
Pete and Bridget were racing on behalf of Cure EB Foundation, an organisation dedicated to finding a cure for Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
“We got involved with Cure EB about a year and a half ago and EB is this horrific disease which is basically akin to having sunburn on the inside of your skin. There’s no government funding because it’s a pretty rare condition, so awareness and money is needed."
“We were pretty driven to try and win it for Cure EB and the kids who suffer from it, it certainly helped us in those moments when you’re thinking, ‘This is hard’, that there are kids who have to get bandaged up every day so that their pain is bearable or manageable," Pete said. "We were very proud to be supporting them and will continue to do work with them in the future."
You can find out more about Cure EB as well as all the charities our celebs are competing for here.
Don't miss The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition Grand Finale on Sunday, October 20 at 7pm on 10 and 10 Play!
