Exclusive: Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater talk 'The Amazing Race' and shocking U-Turn voting twist

Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater were eliminated from Season 31 of The Amazing Race during the latest broadcast on CBS.


Rachel, 34, and Elissa, 32 -- who raced as former Big Brother houseguests and sisters from Van Nuys, CA, and Las Vegas, NV, respectively -- were ousted from the Race to win $1 million after arriving at the eighth Pit Stop at the gardens of the Grand Hotel in Giessbach, Switzerland in last place.

"I guess I was super delusional that I thought we could win," Rachel cried upon learning her team's fate at the Pit Stop.

"Rach, we win at life! We have healthy babies, we got to do the Race together," Elissa reminded her sister.

During a recent exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Rachel and Elissa talked about their time on The Amazing Race. Below is the first portion of what they had to say.


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Reality TV World: Rachel, how long after Jamal Zadran did you hit your apple target with the crossbow at the Roadblock before you got to head to the Pit Stop? The show made it seem like you were pretty much seconds behind.

Elissa Slater: Yeah, that is accurate!

Rachel Reilly: Yeah! I was really quick. It was really fun. I think I might have gotten it right after he did. I didn't even know that I had gotten it! I kept shooting targets, (laughs) because I was like, "I'm going to get one eventually!" But yeah, I was pretty close

Elissa Slater: You literally got, like, three in a row after him, Rachel.


Rachel Reilly: I know! I did!

Elissa Slater: That's such a good question, because it was actually painful to sit there and watch. He literally got it and then it was probably not even -- maybe one to five minutes later or whatever.

It was such a short time frame, and then she literally got three in a row. And everyone was like, "Oh my god, she literally got three in a row." (Laughs) So we were like, "Ugh!"

Rachel Reilly: Yeah, you had to get the swing of it. Hold thee crossbow up and aim higher. That's what my friends were telling me, that you've got to aim higher because it always gives you a little bit of kickback.

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Reality TV World: So then how long after Leo Temory and Jamal did you finally check in to the Pit Stop when you got eliminated?

Rachel Reilly: Honestly, we don't know. We didn't actually see Leo and Jamal the rest of the leg until we saw them at the Pit Stop. So, usually, if it's really close, we end up on the mat together, as you see. So it could've been 10 minutes-ish, who knows. I really have no clue to be honest.

Elissa Slater: And they are really fast runners and we literally had to trek up a mountain (laughs).

Rachel Reilly: It was a long haul and we knew we were last, so we were kind of like, "Um, okay!" Even if we were racing them up the hill, like, I would've tried. I would've given them all I've got. But yeah, we don't know.

Reality TV World: Did you have a smooth run to the Pit Stop though? It seemed like Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce got lost, so I don't know if anything happened to you girls that wasn't shown.


Rachel Reilly: It was hard, but we were pretty good with directions. So Elissa and I, we had a map and kind of knew where the town was. We saw the boats because we were screaming at everyone, "Where are the boats?! Where are the boats?!"

Elissa Slater: Yeah.

Rachel Reilly: So everyone pointed us in the right direction and by this time, they probably saw a few other teams in front of us, running with backpacks and camera crews. So, they helped point us in the right direction of the boats.

Elissa Slater: I'm really good with directions, so we never got lost the whole race.

Rachel Reilly: Yeah, we never got lost. And you know what else too? We saw there was a big hotel or like a big mountain top on the other side of the lake, so we actually took our boat directly toward it and then I saw the red and yellow flags.


So I was kind of like, "I think that's probably the right place because the clue kind of made it seem like it was going to be at the top of something." So, we just went towards that instead of going around the lake or something.

Elissa Slater: It was hard though, when we got on the lake, because we were literally just driving across this big lake aimlessly, like, I was like, "Where are we going?!" That was the part where I really was a little confused, but yeah, we just went straight toward the building that we saw.

And our boat went 2mph. Actually, it said 0mph. It was literally on 0mph and we were like, "Is this thing on?!"

I was so frustrated! We kept turning the boat off and then back on... And I think we did see another boat in front of us. So that probably was Leo and Jamal, right Rach? I don't really remember, but.

Rachel Reilly: Well that's the thing. I think it was like, since we're pretty good with directions, we always kind of knew the general area.

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Reality TV World: Voting for the double U-Turn in front of everybody was a pretty shocking twist for The Amazing Race. What did you girls think of that voting format in general? And do you think Racers would have targeted different teams had they been able to vote anonymously?

Rachel Reilly: I think it's such a fun twist that The Amazing Race came up with for Season 31, because they've never done the U-Turn vote.

And how appropriate that it was on a reality show when you have Survivor, Big Brother and The Amazing Race all competing for the million dollar prize?! So for me, I thought it was such a really fun thing they added this season.

Reality TV World: Had the U-Turn decisions been anonymous, would you still have selected Colin Guinn and Christie Woods? And do you think Bret LaBelle and Chris Hammons still would have selected you girls?

Rachel Reilly: The Amazing Race was so much fun, we couldn't be upset about anything!

Elissa Slater: I wasn't upset, but I think if it had been anonymous, it would've been the same vote. I think everyone just voted how they truly wanted.


I don't know. I mean, I never watched them on Survivor, and so I have no idea how they play, but I know from racing with them, we were always, like, neck and neck.

We were always the two teams that were close, so it definitely would've been smarter to not pick a team they could actually compete with. But whatever. I say 20/20. Who knows!

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Be sure to check back with Reality TV World soon for more from our exclusive The Amazing Race interview with Rachel and Elissa.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski