[InC-terview] 'Ride 'N Seek' Host Jaime Dempsey Talks Adventures, Challenges and Spiders!

Jaime: So many different things! We’re jumping off waterfalls and doing this three-hour navigation through the water to get to the massive Kawasan Falls, which was so beautiful. There’s a lot of jumping too! I do trapeze one day and there are more quirky stuff like (when) I tried mermaid-ing, I tried my hands at flair-tending (Ed Note: think bartending but more theatrical) in Boracay, which is kind of the party island, so it was really fun to do that and get involved in the party scene over there. And then we did more cultural things like meeting up with the locals and learning about their culture. I learned some martial arts there too, so there are a lot of action and adventure, as well as a lot of deeply rich culture as well.

Jaime: I think it gets more challenging! It's like the production team is thinking: ‘Oh, this didn’t stop her, let’s see what else can she do!’ I was just watching a bit of season 1 to just go back and refresh (my memory) as somebody was asking me questions about season 1. It’s funny to look at yourself four years ago and you look completely different! I remembered it was very cultural-focused the first season, and we’ve gone really adventuours since then... I mean we still keep in touch with our cultural side, but our adventures have gotten completely demanding. 

Jaime: I feel the show inspires people to include these (adventures) in their itineraries - a little less of a nature tourist attraction. It also helps the whole community as well. You step out of those big resorts and go to smaller bed and breakfast, get to know about the people that run it and they will give you good advice on the smaller local, adventurous and cultural things to do. If you get in touch with a couple of them who work with the tourism board and they will personally take you all around the areas.

One of my favourite moments happened when we weren’t even shooting, and a couple just took us to a restaurant which is kind of a bamboo shack, all open-air. And when it started to rain, the lights went out and we all brought out candles... so it was really something we wouldn’t have experienced at some resort. So yeah, don’t be afraid to immerse yourself in the local culture.

Jaime: Everybody leaves in impression on me of some sorts. For this season, I still stay in touch with the local tour guides I met on Facebook and you know, all the people that touched my life, I try and keep them part of my life. And then there’s meeting the local tribe and seeing how they live - so simple and so kind of freely and so content! I was living out of my backpack for two months and I realised I have all these clothes that I don’t really wear and I don't need them. I learned that life can be simpler. And People that I meet help me with that. 

Jaime (without hesitation): Eat spiders! There's the show Fear Factor, and I don’t think I can do that! Some of the things that they eat… I can’t, I’m not that extreme. Well we do some kind of exotic and adventurous stuff like that time where I ate a pufferfish which you know, is super poisonous if you don’t cut it properly. And then there was also red ant eggs... I ate a dish of those. Like some other strange things but I just can’t with those (on Fear Factor). I don’t think I can do the large insects like cockroaches, I just can’t! 

Jaime: I think I take each challenge as it comes to me, I don’t have any plans for new challenges in that sense? I just kind of let them happen naturally. I have done things like jumping out of a plane, jumping from waterfalls and riding different terrains. There is a challenge I would really like to do and it’s an off-riding adventure from Los Angeles to Boston to Vegas and it’s all off-road. So that's something on my bucket list, is to get better in off-roading and maybe one day get better. It’s like a three-day ride!