[MB.]

So I was listening to an interview with Julie and her casting (hi)story is pretty wild: she made it far into the casting process for Africa (and her interview was in the same room and at the same time as Ethan's) but didn't make finals, then she went on an impromptu holiday to Spain to cheer herself up during which time she missed a call from Lynne Spillman inviting her to finals after all, then Lynne recommended that she apply for the The Amazing Race to make up for her not getting a spot on Africa, except 9/11 happened on the same day as the TAR2 finals and Julie's race partner had to go back to New York, then after about a decade Julie rediscovered Survivor and decided to stalk Lynne for four years, and then she decided to set up her Etsy shop as a last ditch effort to get on the show (knowing that she needed a more interesting selling point), at which point she finally heard back from casting

In summary, Etsy is good for helping you get on Survivor, Spanish holidays are not

edit: oh and because her maiden name was Goldsmith, she assumed for years that Kelly took her spot on Africa and held a grudge against her for it