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Kristin · @tvinsiderscoop

26th May 2014 from TwitLonger

Amazing Race All-Stars' Brendon and Rachel: We don't regret u-turning Dave and Connor ------

Brendon and Rachel came up short on The Amazing Race All-Stars finale, coming in third again thanks to a bad cab driver. Not only that, but they had to watch their nemeses/U-Turn targets Dave and Connor win. "They earned that, but it was tough because we were so close and we couldn't race the leg we wanted to race," Rachel reveals. "We were out of it once we got into that cab, but the episode was still exciting to watch. It was cool to see how close it was between [Dave and Connor, and Caroline and Jennifer]." But how far behind were they? Find out below, and get the Big Brother duo's take on the U-Turn drama, their baby plans and more.

Did you guys know that you're the first team to complete the full Race course twice? So you have that consolation prize.
Rachel: Yeah, I heard that. Isn't that cool? The first team to cross the finish line twice! We've never been eliminated from a reality show! [Laughs] It could've gone better. Stupid cab drivers!

Do you know how far behind you were?
Brendon: We weren't that far behind. Probably minutes. We knew we were third. When we got to the helicopter and read the clue and saw what the challenge was, we knew at that point. It was really hard to mess that up.

Were you hoping for an extra task after the landing instead of a run to the finish?
Rachel: Yeah! That was crazy! I was like, "Oh, my God! Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We might have to race around the track." We thought it would be something super-crazy, but it was just land and run, so whoever got in the helicopter first was going to win. But it was really cool watching Brendon come down. I don't think you could see it that much on TV, but they were wearing futuristic suits, so you could see them in the air. They had all these cool dots that lit up.

Do you think you overthought the leg because you're from Vegas? You ended up running inside the Mirage.
Brendon: Yeah. We got dropped off at a different area. I think the big part was the frustration. We already knew we were behind.
Rachel: I think because our cab was so bad and we knew we were third, we were so flustered. The clue said to go to the employee entrance, but our cab driver didn't drop us off at the employee entrance. We were dropped off on the other side of the Mirage, so we had to run and find that entrance.

How much time did you waste searching in the Mirage?
Brendon: It was like three minutes. We were running, so we ran through. Finally, we went outside.
Rachel: When we got there, Dave and Connor, and Jen and Caroline were still getting changed to go up.

They accused you of playing dirty and then you tried to steal Caroline and Jen's cab.
Rachel: Yeah, but oh my God! Our cab driver was the worst cab driver ever. Seriously, we were telling her to turn right and she couldn't read her GPS. We knew exactly where we were going and the sign on the freeway even said to go right, and I'm not even kidding you, she stopped in the middle of the freeway on one of those meridian things in the center and was pulling into it. We thought she was going to go off the highway.
Brendon: It was into the divider. She stopped in the middle of the freeway in the triangle area in front of the divider. She still couldn't figure it out. It felt like this could not be real. It was bad. She literally had a GPS and did not know how to use it.
Rachel: They need to take away her cab license. ... When we got to the Neon Graveyard, we thought A) it would be the smartest thing to do to give Caroline and Jen a horrible cab driver and B) there was no other taxi. It was late at night, so it was tough. We wanted to switch, but there were no cabs and we were so far off the strip. If the cab driver would've switched cabs with us, it would've been amazing. Their cab driver was so good. We would've been right in it. And it's not like we forced him to take us. It's ultimately up to the cab driver if they want to take us or not, and he didn't.

Did you expect Dave and Connor to be so angry about the U-Turn?
Rachel: Oh, my gosh! We were shocked how much they complained about it. And not only did they complain about it that one leg, but they did the rest of the race, and they had a personal vendetta against us that they told Caroline and Jen to join in on. We told them that day, "We're U-Turning you because you're literally right behind us and we want to win the leg." And on Season 19, when Cindy and Ernie didn't U-Turn the snowboarders, they didn't come in first that leg. It's a race and we want to win. And [you should] just deal with it. The U-Turn is part of the race.

Did you get along before that?
Rachel: I think we did. But again, it's a race. Brendon and I came to win and we're very competitive. I don't know if we got along with them that much.
Brendon: Well, a lot of these teams are very good at putting on shows. They go on the race and they race as the person they think you want to watch. For Rachel and I, we race with our hearts on our sleeves. We're emotional. You see that. You saw it [on the finale]. I do think we matured a lot on this one. But we're out there to win it; we don't hide that. We are who we are. Other teams try to come off as really nice, really sweet all-around people, and all of the sudden, if something doesn't go their way, you see their true personalities come out. I think we got to experience that a little this time around. For Rachel and I, we've had our moments where we've wanted to kill people on Big Brother, especially, but we were able to set that aside and after the show say, "Hey, it's nothing personal." And it's all good. We were expecting that to happen here. I honestly expected them to reach out afterward and for Dave to apologize to Rachel, not necessarily to both of us, but to her. He never did that.

You're obviously used to people ganging up on you, but do you regret U-Turning them because they weren't eliminated and it gave way to the Accidental Alliance. Before that, it didn't seem like anyone was specifically targeting you.
Rachel: I don't think we regret it, but honestly, it's a race. Brendon and I came to compete and if people hate us because we're playing the game, so be it. We're here to play the game and race how The Amazing Race should be raced. We don't really care that they hate us, but it did make it harder because of course, it's easier to have teams who want to form alliances with you. But when it comes down to it, Amazing Race isn't about having alliances with teams, so it's silly when they have them.
Brendon: But the Accidental Alliance did work well this season. They carried themselves for two legs.

In a way, you U-Turned the right team since they wound up winning.
Rachel: Yeah. We U-Turned them and made a good decision. It doesn't matter that they weren't eliminated. Not every team who is U-Turned is eliminated. Not only were they a strong team, but they also were right behind us and they were right behind us in every leg. Dave and Connor were never in the back of the race. We were making a strategic decision and it turned out well in our favor.
Brendon: It's funny because everybody made a big deal about it when [the episode aired] and when you see us make us make it past the next U-Turn, I never heard anyone say that it was a bad decision. We knew it was risky.

You had to have been scared as hell about getting U-Turned then.
Rachel: We were totally, 100 percent expecting to be U-Turned. We were so worried because we couldn't U-Turn anyone, so if the Afghanimals didn't decide to U-Turn the cowboys instead, who knows. The way that leg unfolded was crazy.

Where are your baby plans now since you didn't win the $1 million?
Rachel: [Laughs] We're definitely trying. Brendon's graduating in about a year, a year in a half. Winning the $1 million would've been nice because that would definitely help us afford a house and diapers in L.A., and just put down roots for our family. But we want to have a baby and we're not going to plan our baby around our Amazing Race schedule!

Last time, you said you were retiring from reality TV and you obviously un-retired. Are you going to make that same proclamation again?
Rachel: [Laughs] You know, never say never!
Brendon: Rachel's the Michael Jordan of reality television. She'll retire every two years and then come back.

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