Exclusive: Natalie and Nadiya Anderson talk about 'The Amazing Race' (Part 2)

Natalie Anderson and Nadiya Anderson finished The Amazing Race's 21st season in fourth place during Sunday night's two-hour finale broadcast of the CBS reality competition.


The "Twin Sisters" had been eliminated from the Race just shy of making it to the Final 3 due to arriving at the eleventh leg's Pit Stop in Loire Valley, France, in last place.

"Goat Farmers and Life Partners" Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge were crowned the champions when they were the first team to cross the final finish line in New York, NY, ultimately claiming the $1 million grand prize. "Chippendales Dancers and Best Friends" Jaymes Vaughan and James Davis finished second, while "Dating Couple" Trey Wier and Alexis "Lexi" Beerman came in third place.
 
In an exclusive interview on Monday, Natalie and Nadiya talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience. Below is the concluding portion of Natalie and Nadiya's interview. Click here to read the first half.

Also, to read Josh and Brent's interview, click here and here. For our entire interview with Trey and Lexi, click here and here. To begin reading what Jaymes and James had to say to Reality TV World, click here.  

Reality TV World: Josh and Brent were obviously trying to get into your minds a little bit at that "Chow" task. Did that just frustrate you or were you actually taking into consideration what they were saying strategically?


Natalie Anderson: Well, when we went to the "Chow" challenge, Josh and Brent are obviously much more strategic when it comes to their sh*t-talking. Me and Nadi's sh*t-talking is just completely just foolishness. Brent and Josh, they did get inside our heads. They mentioned that the "dream team" had now become this other team because they were all working, as you see the film, it was like the "dream team" never existed.

That was the whole plan that me and Nadiya motioned from the start with the U-Turn to set all three of us to go to the finals, you know, just Trey and Lexi and then working together with the Beekmans. So that kind of upset us a bit, and I'm not mad at Trey and Lexi or Jaymes and James. It's a game.

But the Beeks got inside our head a little bit, because we were like, "Oh my God! The dream team is falling apart!" People treated us -- like the way we would banter going back and forth with the Beeks -- they were dealing it and me and Nadiya were giving it back.

It was all friendly, but at the end of the day, Nadiya and I tended to get a bit more distracted and tend to get sidetracked. Like the Beeks, they were still focusing on what they were doing while they were involving themselves in the competition banter back and forth.

Reality TV World: When you girls got eliminated, you said Josh and Brent had tricks up their sleeves. When I talked to Josh and Brent earlier today, they said they thought you were referring to how Josh's ankle seemed fine although the team had been insisting for awhile he was pretty injured. So just to clarify, what did you mean by that?


Nadiya Anderson: We were just meaning in general -- like tricks up their sleeves meant, "Watch out Final 3," because they really proved themselves as the underdogs taking over the whole thing. And me and Natty were not as bad. Like if we had anticipated maybe how serious it was going to get and what they were capable of, we probably might've had a better chance.

And tricks up their sleeves meaning, "Don't judge a book by their cover." The Beeks were so sweet, so laid-back, so friendly, so not that cutthroat team, and they were really able to turn it on when it mattered. And that's all that we meant, that the Final 2 teams better watch out for them. And they obviously proved right.

Natalie Anderson: And also, I think Jaymes said "tricks up their sleeves" referring to the language, because nobody knew that Josh was so good at French. Me and Nadiya obviously, we took French but we couldn't speak it if we wanted to even in France. But you know, it was just us like talking just to talk, basically. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: Earlier in the season, you guys took the $100 dollars you found of James LoMenzo and "Abba" Mark Abbattista's money and then split it with Trey and Lexi. You've gotten a lot of criticism from viewers for that move, so looking back on the incident, do you ultimately regret doing it or do you stand by your decision?

Natalie Anderson: I have no regrets in keeping the money. The only thing I would change is probably voicing more -- being more present with the fact that me and Nadi weren't actually 100% percent sure whose money it was.


Because yeah, me and Nadi were joking about it and it came across as we knew whose money it was 100% percent -- we knew it was either James and Abba's, [Rob French and Kelley Carrington-French] or [Abbie Ginsberg and Ryan Danz]'s.

And honestly, all three teams, we had no bond with. We actually didn't like either of the three teams, so we didn't really care about keeping the money. And you know, I understand people are sensitive about it, but you know, if it's not in The Amazing Race rules, people need to not make it so personal and not make it about their real-life situations.

The Amazing Race isn't a real-life situation. In real-life, I would not keep somebody's money if I found it, but I know the difference between a competition and real-life situations. That's what people need to understand.

Reality TV World: When I talked to Rob and Kelley earlier in the season, they said they had no respect for you guys and Trey and Lexi after "stealing" that money. They even said that although Trey and Lexi called themselves "great American kids and Christians," their "true colors" came out this season. What's your reaction to that? Do you think they were being too harsh on you guys?

Nadiya Anderson: Yeah, I think it's complete bullsh*t. I think Rob and Kelley would've kept the money the minute -- I think all the teams would've kept the money as long as they knew it [didn't belong to] one of their friends on the Race. Rob and Kelley, I really don't care what Rob and Kelley have to say about it.


And Trey and Lexi, they're also -- just because they found money and kept it doesn't mean they're not good kids. That's ridiculous.

Natalie Anderson: Yes, exactly.

Nadiya Anderson: At the end of the day, Rob and Kelley, they didn't get out that early. But I don't really -- it's not going to affect me what Rob and Kelley think. I know they're going to affect what the audience thinks because they make it so personal.

[Rob and Kelley] accuse us of being bad people, yet their comments on Facebook and Twitter are so out-of-control, like borderline -- some of their comments are racist. Me and Natty take it with a grain of salt because we signed up for being on TV.

Natalie Anderson: Yeah, we don't really care.


Above is the concluding portion of Natalie and Nadiya's interview. Click here to read the first half.

Also, to read Josh and Brent's interview, click here and here. For our entire interview with Trey and Lexi, click here and here. To begin reading what Jaymes and James had to say to Reality TV World, click here.  






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski