Exclusive: Chuck McCall and Wynona McCall talk 'The Amazing Race' (Part 1)

Chuck McCall and Wynona McCall were eliminated from The Amazing Race during Sunday night's eighth broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 22nd season.


The "Married Couple" became the fifth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's seventh Pit Stop at the Bodmi Snowboard and Ski School in Zurich, Switzerland in last place.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Chuck and Wynona talked about their The Amazing Race experience. Below is the first half of the pair's interview. Check back with Reality TV World on Wednesday for the concluding portion. 

Reality TV World: You guys seemed to be in good shape when you got the clue instructing you to go to the Bellevue Hotel in first place. You then arrived at the hotel in next to last place and it seemed like you could never really recover from that point on. What happened there? Did you get lost or hit traffic or something like that?

Chuck McCall: Well actually, I think we got the clue when we were leaving that morning and we were in first place. And then I think we started out running down to the train station and we lost a little bit of ground getting to that train station, and it just kind of went a little backwards from there.


Reality TV World: Wynona, could you talk a little bit about what happened with the Roadblock task in which you needed to climb the mountain. How long did that take you and was it fear or the actual difficulty of the task that was kind of holding you back?

Wynona McCall: It wasn't the fear. When I got out there, there was a board that you could walk on just a little ways out -- just as far as you could see. But when you turned the corner, the rocks, the mountain kind of went under and you were like out a little bit.

But you had to climb up a little bit, which I didn't realize, and the more weight that you put on your ropes, the tighter that you count against the rock. And you had to actually unhook two hooks at the top and swing them over your hands to the next set and then unhook your bottom safety wire and let it drop and then move.

So when I got out there, I had to come back to the right to go climb back up the rock higher in order to get some slack in it. So it just took me a little bit longer, and I had never rock climbed or anything like that before.

I figured that out all on my own out there. By the time I was out there -- it was probably to everyone else two minutes, two-three minutes to do. And it took me probably 10, like five times more than everybody else. But no, I wasn't afraid. I mean, I was afraid, but I wasn't looking down. I wasn't focusing on that.


I was focused on getting to the next section to the next section. And then you had to get your gnome at the end, and if you dropped him, you had to get out and go back around. So, I was taking extra time to make sure I didn't drop my Travelocity gnome. Because when I looked down there, I was like, "Oh my gosh." It was a long way down!

Reality TV World: Chuck, you started off doing most of the Roadblocks and then you switched it up and had Wynona do nearly a handful of the tasks to catch up to you and make it even. What went into that strategy and looking back, do you wish you had handled that differently -- like do you think you would've been better off alternating or trying to figure out who would bring the strengths to a task based upon what your clues said?

Chuck McCall: I thought we played that pretty good because when we read that clue, we both looked at each other and kind of decided amongst us. Like Wynona thought I had the better balance, so anything from walking on stilts to doing some obstacle course [stuff], she thought I'd be stronger at that.

And yes, I did kind of get up like five to one on her, but we were hoping the cards would start falling where we'd get an easier one. But every challenge seemed like a triathlon for us, and at that point, I knew if I did one more, it was going to be Wynona the whole way out.

And when we started getting into, you know, I thought she was capable of doing it, she thought she was capable of doing it, so she started picking them up. I think the way they first fell, being so physical, is how I got ahead. But we were both in agreeance on who was doing what.


Reality TV World: You two missed the train to Grindelwald Grund train station along with Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena. Could you elaborate on what happened there? Was it as simple as you just didn't move fast enough or did something else happen viewers didn't get to see?

Wynona McCall: No, that was it. By the time I got my Travelocity gnome and I got around and had to wait for the guy to unhook [me] and get the next clue, the train was pulling away and I was climbing back into the window. So it was too late. We had to wait for the next train, which was like 30 minutes.

Chuck McCall: CBS had that timed just right, where I think they knew somebody wasn't going to make it. And of course it was hard on me because I'm out kind of in the little viewing window pacing back and forth and I could hear the train coming and I could hear all the other teams getting on it.

I could hear them saying it was leaving in two minutes, one minute -- and then I could hear Wynona still out on the cliff hollering. So, it was what it was, but yes, we missed it.

Reality TV World: So do you think missing that train was the big turning point that ultimately led to your demise in this leg?


Chuck McCall: Well, I accused Wynona of being out there on the ledge sight seeing. I told her, "Don't be out there sight seeing. Hurry up and get around there." But like I said, it was a lot of upper-body strength being out there and the way it worked. But you know, we caught back up. We didn't think we were going to get hit with the penalty there at the end, and we thought we had them beat at the end.

Reality TV World: You guys chose to roll the cheese wheels down the hill instead of transporting them on that sled of yours. Did it ever cross your mind that you were breaking the rules, or were you so caught up in the moment you didn't even consider that possibility?

Chuck McCall: Well we were the last team on the hill, so we really didn't know how the teams ahead of us did it. We were going up the hill while some of the other teams were coming down the hill, which we considered our alliance the hockey guys [Bates Battaglia and Anthony Battaglia] and the country music singer girls [Caroline Cutbirth and Jennifer Kuhle].

And they were telling Wynona, "Just roll the cheese, just roll the cheese! It was easier!" So we assumed that's how they did it too. And like I said, when we got there, the clue read, "Just get the cheese down the hill and get it stacked at the bottom." So we rolled them to the bottom. It didn't say nothing like we couldn't roll it or anything.

Wynona McCall: But we did try to use the sled. We did attempt using the sled, but they kept rolling off.


Chuck McCall: Actually when you see us rolling them, that was like the first time we did it. We felt it was getting us nowhere. We had to go back and round it up and get them on the sled anyways, so you know, for the rest of the way down the hill, we had it on the sled and were dragging it down the hill.

Wynona McCall: And when they told us that you can't roll the cheese, we quit rolling the cheese and had to get it down the hill the rest of the way on the sled. So you know, they gave us one warning, but then we still got that penalty.

Reality TV World: So do you think the 30-minute time penalty you received was fair looking back or no?

Chuck McCall: I don't!

Wynona McCall: We definitely don't think it was fair! (Laughs)

Reality TV World: It seemed like the most difficult part of that cheese task was just getting through the snow without slipping and keeping the sled level so the cheese wheels wouldn't fall off. Could you talk a little bit more about what that was like and why it was so challenging for you guys?


Chuck McCall: I don't think TV did that hill no justice. That hill was so steep and it had at least a foot of snow on it, and it was really tough. Like I said, the angle on that hill was pretty steep. It wasn't like you could just sit on that cheese and ride that sled down. You would've nose-dived and who knows what. But it was a very challenging hill.

Wynona McCall: I was at first in front of my cheese and the cheese was on the back of the sled, and one would fall off one side and the other would fall off the other side. So I would try to put them back on and then I would try to slide down some more and then I ended up with one hill ahead of me and I thought, "Oh my God, well let's just roll it. That's what the girls said to do."

So I rolled one and I was like, "Well I'll just slide down on my butt and get to the next one." But you couldn't get too far ahead of it because if you left your sled or one of the cheese blocks, you would have to get back up the hill to go get it, so you couldn't get too far ahead of it. 

Reality TV World: How long do you think that cheese task took you guys?

Chuck McCall: I said it took us probably at least 30 minutes to get up the hill and probably at least 30 minutes down the hill. (Laughs)

Above is the first half of of our exclusive interview with Chuck and Wynona. Check back with Reality TV World on Wednesday for the concluding portion. 






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski