Rupert Boneham and his wife Laura Boneham were eliminated from The Amazing Race at the end of the second leg during the latest broadcast on CBS.
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The former Survivor castaways, who raced as a married couple from Indianapolis, IN, arrived at the second Pit Stop of The Amazing Race's 31st season in Luang Prabang, Laos, in last place and were therefore eliminated from the competition.
Rupert, 54, previously competed on Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Blood vs. Water.
As for Laura, 49, she previously competed on Survivor: Blood vs. Water as Rupert's loved one.
During a recent exclusive interview with Reality TV World, Rupert and Laura talked about their short-lived experience on The Amazing Race. Below is a portion of what they had to say.
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Reality TV World: What did you think of Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater's decision to U-Turn Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce? And then what about Becca and Floyd's choice to U-Turn Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl? Did either of those moves surprise you?
Rupert Boneham: You know, I knew the Racers -- even though Rachel is seen as a Big Brother, she's still got the Racer in her also. I knew the Racers were going to fight amongst themselves; they didn't see, especially the Survivors as much of a challenge.
And I have to say, we are not showing much of a challenge. All three of us Survivor [teams] are kind of hitting at the bottom right now.
But you know, it didn't surprise me too much that Rachel wanted to create a little drama and use the U-Turn. I don't know exactly why they did it.
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Laura Boneham: We don't really know the back history, you know?
Rupert Boneham: But yeah, it didn't really surprise us that Rachel would do that. And then watching "The Afghanimals" [Leo Temory and Jamal Zadran] try to pawn off the U-Turn and get Tyler and Korey U-Turned by handing their picture over was kind of...
Laura Boneham: A little influential.
Rupert Boneham: Yeah! So, that's just what I always say. Returning players are tough. Returning players are a little sneaky; I know because I was a returning player in Survivor. I can be a little tough and sneaky.
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Reality TV World: Right, well Leo and Jamal are already playing kind of dirty two legs into the Race. As viewers saw last night, they also led Nicole Franzel in the wrong direction so they could jump into the lead at the end of the leg. Do you respect that type of gameplay, given the strategy and blindsides you were both used to on Survivor, or do you look down upon it? And do you think that might come back to haunt Leo and Jamal?
Rupert Boneham: It's just like U-Turning people, we already had the plan that we would never U-Turn anybody just to be able to get through it [faster]. Just to get through the U-Turn would be joyous enough for us. U-Turning somebody brings so much negative energy on you.
Laura Boneham: Yeah, and Leo and Jamal, we actually saw the good side of them! They were cool and were kind of Rupert fans, and so they were like, "Hey, if you can keep up" -- because we were in the tuk-tuk hanging out with them -- but we actually ended up, of course, not keeping up with them. But they were tough competitors and were cool and then they kind of offered...
Rupert Boneham: Offered help to us!
Laura Boneham: Right.
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Rupert Boneham: But yeah, we don't ever condone the sneaky behavior or being the bad guys.
Laura Boneham: Yeah, we don't like to see that.
Rupert Boneham: We like being the good guys. We always had it in mind that we would work together with others. When you saw [Chris Hammons and Bret LaBelle] and Laura and I together looking for a tuk-tuk, we had one.
But silly Laura and I gave it up to Bret and Chris, and we got the next one that came down, which was the worst tuk-tuk in the world!
Instead of fighting for the tuk-tuk with Bret and Chris, we said, "To heck with kicking them out and keeping the darn thing and going." It's just who we are.
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Reality TV World: Rupert, you said you're one of the toughest Survivor castaways ever but The Amazing Race kicked your ass. Would you admit then the Race was harder than Survivor? Maybe even more physically demanding? And after he answers, Laura, let me know if you agree with him.
Rupert Boneham: You know, on Amazing Race, you are in panic mode the entire time you're in the Race. We had no idea if we were first or last in the Race.
In Tokyo, when we found Tokyo the restaurant, we were the first ones to get the clues, but we didn't see any other clues in the guy's pocket, so we thought we were last already! We were in panic mode. We were in panic mode constantly, throughout the entire game. And that's a tough way to be for so long.
In Survivor, there are times when you're in panic mode and there are times like that, but there's a lot of down time and a lot of time where -- I mean, I remember looking at my own tribe saying, "You guys are making me crazy. I'm going hunting and I'm going to end up getting something and we're going to eat tonight."
I would go spend an hour or two or three in the ocean by myself and relax! And I'd bring home food that we'd eat! But Survivor, you might starve and you might be hungry and you might not have good comfort, but you're not in panic mode 24/7 either.
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Laura Boneham: Yeah, on the flipside, on Survivor... you're missing home and you're thinking about the game and your strategy, but on Amazing Race, you're just running and running and running.
You're in Tokyo, there's a million people around, it's pouring down rain, you can't read the sign, you're trying to hang onto your husband who likes to run ahead. You're talking to people and trying to figure out where you're going, and it's crazy! It is a crazy game.
The Amazing Race is definitely harder in a lot of ways. It's most definitely more mental and physical and more difficult than Survivor.
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To read the first portion of Reality TV World's exclusive The Amazing Race interview with Rupert and Laura, click here. And be sure to check back with us soon for more.