Exclusive: Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly talk 'The Amazing Race: All-Stars' (Part 2)

"Newlyweds" Brendon Villegas and Rachel Reilly finished The Amazing Race: All-Stars, the CBS reality competition's 24th overall season and third all-stars edition, in third place during the finale. 
 
Brendon and Rachel lost the $1 million grand prize to winners David O'Leary and Connor O'Leary, who are "Father and Son Cancer Survivors," as well as runners-up Jennifer Wayne and Caroline Cutbirth, who are "The Country Singers."


After 22 cities, nine countries and more than 23,000 miles, Brendon and Rachel were devastated not to win. 

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Brendon and Rachel talked about their The Amazing Race experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: When you guys had U-Turned Dave and Connor, they obviously held a grudge and Dave was shown making a comment about you making "the old man" complete both sides of the Detour. Some people interpreted Dave's comment to mean he sort of expected the other Racers to maybe go easier on him because of his age. Is that how you two felt? If so, wouldn't you think receiving any special treatment would just make Dave's victory less meaningful for him?

Rachel Reilly: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I just think that it doesn't matter if you're older or younger or a boy or a girl or whatever. When you're racing, you're racing. We're all in the same shoes, and like, we didn't U-Turn him because he's the old man, and we didn't U-Turn him out of some personal vendetta. We literally U-Turned him because we were being strategic and they were literally the team right behind us.


And so, we wanted to win that leg and we ended up winning $15,000. So we have no regrets, you know? It's just like, he took it so personally, but for us, we wanted to win. We don't know when you're going to get eliminated on The Amazing Race.

And Brendon and I went to win a million dollars and we went to compete and win as many legs as we could. Because last time, you know, we didn't win any legs, and this time, we said, "We're going to try to win the legs! We're going to try to go for prizes and maybe win a fun vacation or some money or something."

Brendon Villegas: Yeah, and Dave and Connor had actually -- even in the very beginning, in China, one thing they didn't even show was Rachel and I helping them on the subway. They were lost and they were like, "Could you guys tell us where to go?!"

And we were like, "Yeah, definitely!" We were going anyways and we would've had to act like we didn't know where we were going and then just get on and they were going to follow us anyways.

So we were like, "Yeah, come with us. Whatever." Because we had maps already. We had maps, we printed out maps, we knew where we were going. And yeah, they followed us, and then we went to the place and they cut right in front of us in line. So I was like, "Oh, okay!"


It's like, you want help but then you want to capitalize on top of that. So that's why it was funny, because even when they expected us to help them on the Spanish Steps and in Italy, I just didn't understand what they were thinking and how they would get upset in us not wanting to help them, you know what I mean?

Especially when we were in first place. That, to me, it was just mind-boggling. Because obviously, to me, you didn't come here to play. You came here, again, to get carried or have people feel bad for you because you're older and give you free passes all the way.

Reality TV World: Something that sparked a lot of talk was the moment you two had decided to steal Caroline and Jennifer's cab. I just want to know whether you two still stand by that move. Also, were you surprised the cab driver didn't give in, and any insight on why you think he refused you?

Rachel Reilly: Yeah, we wish he would have [taken us]! I think it was a great move, and if we would've been able to steal the cab, then who knows, Brendon and I might've won The Amazing Race, you know? So I think it was a great move. Everything we do is not out of a vendetta, it's literally out of strategy.

And our cab driver was so horrible, and when we got to the neon graveyard, there were no other cabs around. So it was either, go back in this horrible cab and waste time, or try to get Caroline and Jen's cab, because they were the only other team with a cab around. We offered him money, we were trying to get him, but he just wasn't budging. (Laughs)


Reality TV World: You two mentioned a couple times that the Race isn't about being polite, that it's about doing everything you can to win $1 million. However, some viewers have argued that you can do both at the same time -- race politely and respect the other teams all the while being cutthroat. So what are your thoughts on that? And looking back, do you have any regrets at all?

Rachel Reilly: I think we were polite.

Brendon Villegas: Yeah!

Rachel Reilly: I think we raced very politely. We never have a personal vendetta. We have never been mean to people. We are very strategic, and if people get that feeling because we're being strategic, then, I mean, I think that's unfortunate. But Brendon and I helped [Luke Adams] and [Margie O'Donnell], you know? We encouraged them because we didn't want them to give up.

Brendon and I helped [John Erck] and [Jessica Hoel]. We helped "The YouTubers" [Joseph "Joey" Graceffa and Meghan Caramena]. We helped Dave and Connor in the subway. We helped [Herbert "Flight Time" Lang] and [Nate "Big Easy" Lofton]. We helped "The Afghanimals" [Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran], you know? We helped "The Cowboys" [Jet McCoy and Cord McCoy] once.


So I think it's like, we do help out other teams and we do race politely. We don't go around like knocking people over or anything, but when it comes down to it, if there's a U-Turn, that's a total game move! They put it in the game so that people can use it and utilize it. So it's a game move, and stealing someone else's cab, it's a game move.

We're not stealing their cab so that they're stranded. Our cab was still there. We were literally taking their cab because it was a faster cab and we wanted to win a million dollars. So, if we got dealt a bad hand, aren't you going to do anything you can to try to turn it around? And of course! You know, especially if you're doing it for your family.

Reality TV World: When I talked to Caroline and Jennifer earlier today, they said they were kind of edited to look like dumb blondes, and so all the times they helped other teams went unnoticed because those incidents didn't make it into the episodes. It was made to look like they were always the ones getting help.

Brendon Villegas: Oh it was!

Rachel Reilly: (Laughs)


Brendon Villegas: Because that's how it was.

Rachel Reilly: (Laughs)

Reality TV World: So it sounds like you guys feel the same way -- that all the help you gave other teams often wasn't edited into the episodes?

Rachel Reilly: Well, I think it showed -- I think our edit was very fair. I think it showed the Race from everyone's different perspective, and it showed me and Brendon -- we almost got eliminated because we helped Margie and Luke and told them not to give up, you know? So, I mean, how much more can we help other teams when we're literally helping a team not give up?

Brendon Villegas: And pass us. Pass us for last place.

Rachel Reilly: Yeah. And it showed Brendon and Jessica working together at the sewing competition, and I think it showed that we did help other teams.


Brendon Villegas: And when people say "help," there's a difference between working with a team and helping a team. Because at times, we both benefited, and that's really when it is smart to work with another team.

That's why it is important to get along with people, but having said that, there's also people -- like Jennifer and Caroline -- who, all they did was have people do their tasks for them, or helped them to the point where they had to do very little of the task.

But don't get me wrong, they did do their tasks. There were some tasks they did well, but there were so many tasks where we just watched another team pretty much do the task for them. We were blown away that that's going on in the Race, like come on! Really?!

Reality TV World: At the end of last night's episode, Rachel, you mentioned you guys are going to wait until Brendon graduates to start a family. Is that still your plan right now?

Rachel Reilly: Yeah, no. We're definitely trying to have a baby. I mean, I'm not on birth control anymore and Brendon and I are trying. And, you know, it's kind of in God's hands at this point. We would love to have a baby.

And Brendon is a student, so it is, like we said, financially, a million dollars would've helped us because we could afford a house and we live in LA. And, you know, we're still trying to get by and we're still trying to make it. So, we're going to try. Brendon has like a year-and-a-half left, and if we have a baby before he graduates, that's okay with us! (Laughs)


Above is the concluding portion of Brendon and Rachel's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski