For whoever wins The Amazing Race: All-Stars, it will be there first victory on The Amazing Race. Uchenna and Joyce Agu, the only former champions in the field, were eliminated from the competition on last night’s episode of The Amazing Race, and for one reason and one reason only: they missed a connecting flight. Going from Poland to Malaysia, they missed their Air Malaysia flight by a matter of minutes, taking them from an hour ahead the competition to ten hours behind. After that, it was over. Uchenna and Joyce kindly stopped by this morning to discuss their time on the show.
Below you will find both the written transcript and full audio of the interview.
When CBS first contacted you about the possibility of an Amazing Race: All-Stars; what was your reaction? Were you at all hesitant to accept?
Joyce: In no way possible, were we hesitant. The minute they said it, we were like, “Yes, we’re in!” They were like, “Do you want to think about it?” (laughs) We were already ready to jump on a plane. So, just the thought of all the excitement we had on the first race was right there and we visualized going back to the same place we were when we were on the show, but we forgot about all the stress and all the hard times.
Uchenna: I think that’s where the hesitance came in, after we said yes, we were like, “Oh my God, do you remember how painful that was?” So we did think about it, but there’s no way you pass up a trip around the world for free.
Yeah, and to become the first two-time winners…was that one of the main motivations?
Uchenna: That would have been really huge. And that’s the whole thing; we really do believe that lightning can strike twice in the same place. And how many times do you get a 1 in 11 chance at a million bucks, twice?
How do you guys think you performed the second time? Did you guys come in with any sort of different game plan or was it pretty similar to what you came into your first season with?
Joyce: I would say that we had to stay true to who we are, because, you know, on a reality show, that’s all you can be, when the cameras are rolling 24/7. So, we pretty much stayed true to who we were and stuck to the same plan we had at the beginning of the other show.
Uchenna: Yeah, I mean the thing is…our strategy was to lay low, not to make any enemies, and then strike in leg 5, 6…or I should say the last 3 to 4 legs, and burst out ahead once the other teams fell asleep. We made our moves this time and it just didn’t work out.
Joyce: We always said that this game is one leg at a time or one race at a time, so the object is to not get kicked off and stay in to the end, and of course be the first to cross the finish line. We just wanted to stay in at all cost.
Of the other teams, who impressed you guys the most? Who was the most surprising in how good they were?
Joyce: I would say the beauty queens; they were very impressive. They’re strong, they weren’t easily intimidated. They’re girly girls, yet they can hang with the best of them. You know, they’re tough. And if we weren’t there, of course, we would have loved to see an all-girl team that would be the ones to come in first. So, we’re just so proud that these guys are still hanging in there and it’s surprising, because they’re so cute when they do it all.
There’s a lot of editing that goes on in this show, obviously. Was there anything that you wish they had shown from this season that they didn’t?
Uchenna: Well, our time going out, last night…we were surprised at how little they showed of the struggles we went through. And we did do all the tasks, they didn’t show it, but we did do all the tasks, the road blocks and the detour. I think that would have been a little more interesting to show, really, that we kept fighting all the way to the end, we didn’t just get a letter to show up at the mat. I mean, we went from being an hour ahead, missing that flight, because of a broken ticket printer to being 10-hours behind and I think there’s a lot more drama that goes with that than what was showed.
What do you guys think was the favorite place you visited on both your seasons on The Amazing Race?
Joyce: Mine has been, from the first show, Botswana. Going on the safari or going out there in the jungle with the animals. But this one I would say, is when we went to Punta Arenas in Patagonia, it was absolutely beautiful.
Uchenna: Mine from this one was Zanzibar, actually. And the Dhow boat ride was 10 hours to get from Tanzania to Zanzibar and of course, throwing those hammers with the Maasai, it was absolutely breathtaking for me.
What’s going on with you guys in the future? Anything you want to let us know?
Joyce: You know, we got a lot of things going on because we’re still working on the baby and with our relationship as long as it’s been, we’re still working on keeping a solid relationship and of course get it all out to our friends and fans of The Amazing Race on our website, with is UchennaAndJoyce.com. So, we’re going to try and keep people posted and updated as to what is happening with us. So people can go there and leave their email and we’ll get in touch with them and keep them posted.
Uchenna: Yeah, we’ve been persuaded to video the final shot at in vitro and also video tape our process on working on our relationship. So the registration site, uchennaandjoyce.com, and we’ll be updating everybody as to what’s going on with this. Because so many people relate to this, and stop us on the street and ask us those two questions: How is the relationship and what’s happening with the baby? And we feel compelled to and we’ve been persuaded to share it in a very, very real way. It’s been difficult shooting it but I think people will…hopefully someone will be helped or moved or in some way inspired by what we are going to reveal.
(Interview Conducted by Oscar Dahl)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
