Michael Rado likes busting stereotypes.
A butcher, who worked as a chef for many years, he is not the most likely contestant on a globe-trotting endurance show. But Rado, who grew up in Medina, is competing on Season 29 of The Amazing Race, the CBS show that takes competitors around the world and subjects them to a series of brutal obstacles and challenges.
Burly and brawny with a bushy red beard and lots of tattoos, Rado said people tend to misjudge him.
“People look at me and think, ‘Well, that dude drinks beer and punches people,’ ” said Rado on his get-to-know-the-cast video. “Well, I do one of those things.”
He means the beer.
The season opened with 11 teams of two. Rado and teammate Liz Espey finished in 10th place last week as they vied for superiority in Panama. They will need to turn things around Thursday night if they want to have a shot at staying in the game and winning the $1 million first-place prize.
This year’s twist is that competitors are paired with complete strangers. The Amazing Race taped last June, but Rado cannot reveal any results. The numbers: The cast and crew shot 12 episodes in 21 days, visiting nine countries and 17 cities while traveling a total of 36,000 miles.
Contestants, or “racers,” run, jump, climb, crawl, drive, fly, parachute and paddle their way to the finish line. It’s extremely taxing.
How did Rado prepare?
“Not enough,” he said during a recent phone interview. “It is the most emotionally, physically and mentally challenging thing I’ve ever done, outside of being a parent. Nothing can prepare you for it.”
Rado, 38, trained for months before the show with a power-lifter and said he lost about 25 pounds.
“But I should have done more cardio. Not only are you running everywhere, but you’re running with all your possessions on your back. You’re always hungry, you’re always thirsty, you’re always tired.”
Brazil is the destination in Thursday night’s episode, and later this season contestants will also hurtle through Tanzania, Norway and Greece.
It’s a long way from Rado’s butcher shop in Pittsburgh.
After graduating from Medina High School in 1996, Rado bounced around for a few years before deciding to pursue his love of cooking by enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
His restaurant gigs took him from New York to Las Vegas to Cleveland to Pittsburgh. Three years ago, he and his wife, Katie, who is from Brunswick, acquired an 80-year-old butcher shop in Pittsburgh and rechristened it Butcher on Butler.
The couple and daughter Pearl Anne often get back to Ohio to visit family in Medina, Vermilion and North Ridgeville. Ohio is also represented on The Amazing Race this season by Jessica Shields, a K-9 officer with the Youngstown Police Department.
Rado said his biggest takeaway from the experience was the soul-enriching rewards of travel.
“I would encourage everyone to go and see the world. Money spent on travel is never wasted. Meet people from different cultures. Do things you are scared of. Eat things you are scared of.”
Clint O’Connor can be reached at 330-996-3582 or coconnor@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClintOMovies .