Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce talk 'The Amazing Race,' being U-Turned and how they prepared for their return (Exclusive)

Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce were eliminated from The Amazing Race's 31st season, right before the final leg when one team will win $1 million, during the latest broadcast on CBS.


Becca, 28, and Floyd, 23 -- who raced as friends and former The Amazing Race Racers (Season 29) from Boulder, CO, and Highlands Ranch, CO, respectively -- were ousted from the Race after arriving at the tenth Pit Stop in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in last place.

"It sucks to lose, but we have more to be grateful for than to be sad about," Becca said following her team's elimination. "Floyd and I are some of the luckiest people in the world, that we got to live our dream -- not just our dream but our delusional childhood dream."

"Twice," Floyd noted.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World after the episode aired, Becca and Floyd talked about their The Amazing Race experience. Below is a portion of what they had to say.


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Reality TV World: If you two had gotten to the Double U-Turn board in first place, what would you have done?

Becca Droz: There's a difference in getting there in first place and getting there in second to last place or something. I think we were onboard with, "Don't use the U-Turn if you don't have to."

I'm pretty onboard with that, but I know Floyd and I kind of disagree actually about U-Turns a bit.

But yeah, I kind of had the same perspective as [Colin Guinn] and [Christie Woods] and [Tyler Oakley] and [Korey Kuhl] in that sense of just wanting to keep my hands clean and win it fair and square without trying to disadvantage another team if I don't have to.


But yeah, it's also a game. So I think in the moment, if we were feeling stressed and knew a strong team was behind us, like yeah, maybe we would have used it.

Floyd Pierce: Yeah. I 100 percent can't say if I would or would not have used it. Because, like, my view on U-Turns is that it's a mechanic in the game and it's completely fine to use that mechanic to try to get an advantage on the other teams.

So, if we had been in first, I don't know! I'm not exactly sure whether I would have used it or not. It's tough. I can't say one way or the other.

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Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you saw you had been U-Turned by Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo? Did you assume at the time they didn't have a choice in the matter or that the move was something personal for some reason?


Becca Droz: I think we saw it as, "We're in last." I don't know how they knew we were behind them, but yeah, it didn't feel personal at all. It felt very much game on!

Reality TV World: Floyd, do you have an insight into how Nicole and Victor knew you guys were behind them?

Floyd Pierce: I've heard just from the rumblings of the cast talking about it that they might have at one point caught up with the people ahead -- or something about how they had to be turned around.

Because [Nicole and Victor] almost skipped the U-Turn board, so the teams ahead might've told them, "You've been U-Turned. 'Team Fun' is not here so go back and U-Turn them." That's the story I think could've [happened]. I don't know.

But Nicole and Victor were also with Colin and Christie and Tyler and Korey initially before they broke off to do the other Detour, so they probably had to know we were either fourth or fifth -- somewhere behind them. So it's a combination of the two.


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Reality TV World: After you two competed on Season 29, how did you prepare for racing on Season 31? Did you practice anything, take lessons or hit the gym or something? (Laughs)

Becca Droz: Floyd and I were able to train together a bit because we knew we were going to be on the Race together and we live in the same town. So, we did a handful of things together.

We went out to the Boulder Reservoir and got on the boats and practiced paddling, because we were both pretty new to boating and wanted to get more comfortable in that terrain.

I took Floyd to his first yoga class, which was hilarious! (Laughs) And that was, for me, I think the most important thing, just going to yoga and trying to get my calmness on.


And then my main training regiment, which I took Floyd on part of, was in Boulder, there's the Flatirons, which are massive, beautiful slabs of sandstone that overlook the town. And as a climber, they are climbable, and you can also just run up to the base of them.

And so my training regiment was running up to the base, [work my way through] the Flatirons and then run down, which is pretty freaking physical. For Floyd, I took him up just on the first part of that run, just running up to the base.

Floyd Pierce: Which was an experience! That trail was a [high] level of running, man, but it was great. And then also, on top of that, I biked quite a bit.

Because obviously there was some low-key, leftover fear after that whole fiasco in Vietnam. So I biked around Boulder just to make sure I felt good with that, and I did.

And then we also did an escape room together to kind of test that mental, puzzle part. So that was really fun.

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Reality TV World: When I talked to Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle last week, they said they were only given a few days notice until they had to leave for the Race because they were an alternate team. So how long did you guys actually have between when you learned you'd be racing again and when you left for filming? And I'm assuming it was an easy decision to make?

Floyd Pierce: Yes, it was very easy obviously. When we first got a call to go back on the show in like March...

Becca Droz: They were like, "Are you interested?"

Floyd Pierce: Yeah, yeah. They were like, "We're doing something you don't know yet, but are you interested if we did?" So in March, it started to be a reality, and then I don't think we had confirmation until like...

Becca Droz: May! It was May because I was traveling internationally and they were like, "We need your passport!" And I was like, "Ugh oh, I can't do that. I'm not in the U.S."

Floyd Pierce: That's right.


Becca Droz: But it ended up working out and I think it was the very first week of May when we finally got the final confirmation and we left a month later.

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Reality TV World: Why do you think Nicole and Victor are the only team left on the show who haven't raced before? Do you think there's an advantage to being a mixed-gender team?

Becca Droz: Yeah, I'm curious. If you look at the stats in The Amazing Race history, only three all female teams have won. I don't know the stat for all male teams, but it does seem like a mixed-gender team is usually better balanced.

Maybe that's partially culturally, like in certain situations, people respond better to women or a man, just depending. And then definitely Victor had a lot of physical strength in that team.

But I wish there was more -- maybe it's just how many all female teams there have been in comparison to other teams who have actually been on the show -- but yeah, I'm curious. It doesn't seem like it should be something that's so gender advantageous. The game, I feel like, should be something that doesn't matter and anybody can win.


To read the first part of Becca and Floyd's exclusive The Amazing Race interview, click here. And be sure to check back with us soon for the concluding portion.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski