Exclusive: Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena talk 'The Amazing Race' (Part 2)

Joey Graceffa and Meghan Camarena were eliminated from The Amazing Race during Sunday night's tenth broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 22nd season.
 
The "Friends and YouTube Hosts" became the sixth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's ninth Pit Stop at Niddry Street South, a cobblestone alleyway in Edinburgh, Scotland, in last place.


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

Reality TV World: How did you guys feel about Max Bichler and Katie Bichler in general? Because earlier in the Race, it looked like you guys were frustrated with Max for making fun of John Erck for getting eliminated with an Express Pass in his pocket.

Joey Graceffa: We really didn't like Max. We got along with Katie. She was actually really funny, but watching the show and seeing all the things they said bad about us, it's just like, "Wow, they were super fake to us," like we totally thought that they were kind of nice -- except I could see right through Max.

Meghan Camarena: Yeah, he was rude.


Joey Graceffa: But Katie, that threw me off because she was actually like a "B" word. (Laughs)

Meghan Camarena: (Laughs)

Reality TV World: When I talked to Pamela Chien and Winnie Sung recently, they basically said they thought that was just Max's personality -- someone who's funny, sarcastic and jokes a lot. Looking back, do you see that perspective at all? It kind of sounds like you'd just simply disagree with that school of thought.

Meghan Camarena: I think Max is kind of a jerk. I think he was trying to get laughs out of people, but he kind of crossed the line of being a bully and just like making fun of other people because of, I don't know.

I have no idea what his motives were with doing that, but he definitely did cross the line. It felt like high school, like people being bullies for no other reason except for like -- I don't know.


Reality TV World: In terms of your alliance with Mona Egender and Beth Bandimere, do you guys think you had a real friendship with them or was it more for strategic purposes or maybe because they were kind of all you had for support?

Meghan Camarena: Watching the episode when they were talking about it, it seemed like we cared about them a lot more than they cared about us.

Joey Graceffa: Yeah, like, "Try to lose them! Try to lose them!" (Laughs)

Meghan Camarena: And we're like, "Ohh the derby moms!" (Laughs) Frickin' Mona jumped over trash cans and we had no idea at this time that we were racing for last.

Reality TV World: For the whiskey barrel Detour task, the clue instructed you to roll the barrels to the festival but Bates Battaglia and Anthony Battaglia kept picking them up and carrying them, which some viewers thought would result in a time penalty or something. Can you kind of clarify what happened there? Had the clue not stated you necessarily "had" to roll them or did Bates and Anthony actually get a penalty but it just wasn't shown in the editing?


Joey Graceffa: No, it just said transport them whichever way you can without getting help from people.

Meghan Camarena: Oh, but there was also an asterisk at the bottom of the clue that said, "If you are a professional athlete and have super-human strength, you can lift the barrels up above your head."

Joey Graceffa: (Laughs)

Reality TV World: So I'm guessing you two might've tried that but didn't succeed? (Laughs)

Joey Graceffa: Actually, we tried pushing multiple barrels at a time, thinking like, "Oh the other barrel will push this barrel in front of it." We tried three at a time and then were like, "Alright, let's bring it down to two."


Meghan Camarena: I was like, "How did they do it in Donkey Kong?!" (Laughs) 

Reality TV World: I wanted to get your thoughts on Chuck McCall and Wynona McCall's time penalty during last week's episode for rolling their cheese wheels instead of transporting them on the sled? They thought that penalty was pretty unfair.

Meghan Camarena: Well, keeping the cheese on the sled was really freaking hard.

Joey Graceffa: Yeah, that was the most difficult part. You had to go slow down the hill to make sure you didn't lose your cheese halfway up the hill and have to go all the way back up.

Meghan Camarena: So that was definitely the challenge in itself. Sliding down the hill was no problem, but when the cheese fell off, it was really hard to pick it up and put it back on the sled.


So I can understand why they did get that penalty, because it wasn't an easy task. And I mean, like, we could've done that from the beginning too. We would have, but the challenge itself was keeping the cheese on the sled.

Reality TV World: When you two showed up at that particular Pit Stop, you were pretty convinced you were out. Is that right?

Meghan Camarena: Well, Joey wasn't.

Joey Graceffa: I felt like it wasn't our time and I was just like, "No, there's no way." So I had a lot of hope, like, "Please, there's got to be something."

Meghan Camarena: I was at my breaking point. You know, I had run three miles uphill in the snow both ways, and I was just so tired and giving it my all. And it felt like we had come in last place because of me because I wasn't strong enough and I wasn't fast enough and Chuck and Wynona had beaten us. So I was feeling all of that weight and it kind of just led to my breakdown.

Reality TV World: Could you describe the thought process behind running to the Pit Stop? Did it not cross your mind to take a taxi or did you think the Pit Stop was a lot closer than it actually was?


Meghan Camarena: There were no taxis, like all of the taxis were up at the top of the hill. So we were just waiting for a taxi, and Chuck and Wynona had finished the cheese thing so much later than us, that of course all the taxis had come down. And while we were running, we were looking for taxis. There just wasn't any. It was a small town.

Joey Graceffa: We even stopped at a hotel and they were like, "Oh yeah, we have one taxi but it's gone. We can get you one in 10 minutes." I was like, "No, we're just going to run the rest of the way" after that.

Reality TV World: I know you're both YouTube hosts but how well did you know each other before the show? Your relationship wasn't as clear as some of the other teams. Would you consider yourselves best friends?

Joey Graceffa: Yeah, we've been friends for like four years.

Meghan Camarena: Before we both lived in L.A. we would like talk on Skype a whole bunch. We both would do music videos when we first started, so that kind of bonded us together along with all the other nerdy things that we like.

Reality TV World: So you knew each other before you started working together then?


Meghan Camarena: Yes, absolutely.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race and was it your first time applying for the show?

Joey Graceffa: Yeah, it was our first time applying and we went in and they liked us, and yeah!

Meghan Camarena: And they were like, "You're perfect, go ahead!" (Laughs)

Joey Graceffa: Actually, we were alternates but we ended up getting on.

Reality TV World: How much notice did you two receive that you'd be racing before filming actually began? Was it a last minute situation?


Joey Graceffa: No, I think we had like a month.

Reality TV World: Would you ever be interested in competing in an all-stars edition if given the opportunity or were you almost a little relieved the Race was over when it was?

Joey Graceffa: I think we were really relieved when it was over and we were like, "I don't know if we could do that again!" But now, like we're so pumped up, we want to do it again.

Meghan Camarena: I'm so ready! Put us back in the arena! We're like Katniss and Peeta, we'll do it.

Reality TV World: Katniss and Peeta minus the fact they were sort of in love right? (Laughs)

Meghan Camarena: Yeah, we're just friends! (Laughs)


Joey Graceffa: (Laughs)
 
Above is the concluding portion of Joey and Meghan's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski