HistorySurvivor winner Boston Rob Mariano and monster-truck champion Dennis Anderson don't shy away from adventure.
But even these two adrenaline junkies were daunted by some of the extreme challenges they faced in their new History Channel reality series, Around the World in 80 Ways—and that includes driving motorized cupcakes through San Francisco.
Here's what the reality thrill-seekers told us days after completing their 10-week expedition across four continents...
"Some of the transportation [was] crazy and almost death-defying," Dennis was saying—when Rob interrupted: "Death-defying when you almost killed us four times!" Rob blames Dennis' leadfoot for stranding them on Africa's Chobe River—surrounded by hippos and a terrified production crew.
"I swear it looks like it was staged," Dennis says. "[The boat's stalled engine] fired up at the last minute and we just took off."
The dynamic duo use 80 different forms of transport to circumnavigate the globe—including hovercraft, ostrich carts and riding barrels down Victoria Falls and over—but their greatest challenge might be working together. "It's going to be a comedy for the most part," Rob laughs about the show. "Dennis is a good boy from North Carolina, and you guys know I'm from Boston—it's a disaster."
Being inseparable from Dennis for 10 weeks was "kind of like being on the island," Rob said, comparing the show to Survivor, before adding, "But when you're on the island you can go find a little area to hang out by yourself."
After winning Survivor on his fourth try, Awesome Rob insists he's finished with that reality competition.
"No, no mas," he insists. "What left do I have to do? If you guys want to see me fail, it's not gonna happen."
Dennis admits he came close to failure himself on Around the World. "Three weeks into the journey, I was ready to pull the plug," he said, but Rob pointed out: "Luckily we were in the middle of Africa, so there was nowhere to go."
Now Dennis is grateful for the unique experience—and no one is prouder than his cohost.
"To see Dennis at 50 years old travel around the world for the first time—and to have new experiences and appreciate them—makes me realize there's so much you can experience in life as long as you don't close yourself off," Rob says. "He's kind of a pain in the ass, but once you get past that he's a pretty good guy."
"I'm kind of a pain in the ass?" Dennis sputters. "This dude is a major league pain in the ass!"
"I can't believe some of the stuff that we've done," Dennis says. "It's unique, crazy, some of it's stupid, some of it's funny."
"Some of it was dumb," Rob adds. "We did some dumb stuff—we're gonna regret that stuff."
"We were in these cupcakes…" Dennis begins, before Rob interrupts: "Don't tell the cupcake story!"
Ignoring his partner, Dennis explains, "We were in these motorized cupcakes in San Fransciso…We're cruising along, he's being a little pissy. He's riding in the pink cupcake, I'm in the chocolate one. At that point it made no difference."
"Pink cupcake or chocolate cupcake, we're both riding in motorized cupcakes," Rob says. "Is there one that's more ridiculous than the other one?
"Grave Digger wants to be known as The Cupcake," he adds.
"You can be the Pink Peppermint Patty," Dennis retorts.
Around the World in 80 Ways premieres tonight at 10 p.m. on the History Channel. Come for the exciting escapades…stay for the cupcakes!