Exclusive: Shelley Porter talks 'The Amazing Race' (Part 2)

The Amazing Race eliminated Shelley Porter and her daughter Nici Porter during the sixth broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 25th season. 
 
The "Mother and Daughter" team became the fifth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's sixth Pit Stop at Casbah D'If, a fortress like structure, in Marrakech, Morocco in last place.


Shelley and Nici had trouble navigating themselves in the last leg and were known for arguing during most of their race.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Tuesday, Shelley talked about her The Amazing Race experience. Nici was unavailable. Below is the concluding portion of Shelley's interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: You and Nici clearly had an issue with Keith Tollefson and Whitney Duncan on a prior leg. What are your thoughts about that team in general, and looking back, do you have any regrets when it comes to U-Turning them or the little argument you had with Keith while waiting to retrieve a clue?

Shelley Porter: No regrets whatsoever. I raise my children, you know, you play to win, yes, but you also use good sportsmanship when you do so. And, if you're given a set of rules, you follow them. You don't try to improve your time by breaking the rules. And that's what he was doing.


He was trying to prevent us from getting the clue while he waited for her to come to the mat. You just don't do that, and I'm sorry, I don't take being bullied. I don't care who you are. (Laughs) So what? You're taller than me? I can be just as loud and boisterous as you. You're not going to do that. You're not going to push us around.

The U-Turn, his actions at that point made the decision to U-Turn them easier, because it turns out, it was going to be either them or [Amy DeJong and Maya Warren].

Because whoever was in the square was getting the U-Turn so that she and I had time to go get our stuff and pay our cab driver. He was just easier to spot than Maya and Amy were, and I like Maya and Amy, so I'm not sorry that I had to -- if I was going to hose somebody -- I'm glad it was them. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: So it sounds like your decision to U-Turn Keith and Whitney wasn't just personal -- there was some strategy involved?

Shelley Porter: No, it was okay, strategy really didn't have anything to do with it. We needed to U-Turn someone to buy time to go pay our cab driver and retrieve our backpacks. Because if you notice, everyone on that leg had their stuff but us. We left our stuff with the only Spanish-speaking Moroccans that we happened to locate.


Since Nici speaks fluent Spanish, it was like a diamond in a coal mine. It was like, "Oh my God! We're not pulling you back, we're hanging onto you because we think we're going to need you later." And once we realized we didn't, it was like, "Okay, well, there's no point in going back now. We're just going to leave them with our stuff and we'll just get it at the end."

We needed to U-Turn somebody so that we could go get it. That's it. Whoever was in the square was going to be U-Turned. It didn't matter. If the dentists [Misti Raman and Jim Raman] were down there, they would've gotten it. It was whoever we saw first.

Reality TV World: I want to get your perspective on Keith and Whitney's theory in thinking the smart move would've been to U-Turn Misti and Jim in order to flush out "The Save" they had been carrying around in their pockets. But your decision to U-Turn Keith and Whitney actually got a team eliminated entirely. So which option do you really think is better?

Shelley Porter: Eliminate an entire team. You're going to get three non-elimination legs for every season of the Race. "The Save" is one and then we have two regular ones. So, I'd rather them keep it. At least I know where it is or when it's going to happen. I'd rather "The Save" die in their fanny pack. That makes more sense.

Why keep them -- flushing "The Save" sounds good in theory, but really, how does it help? There are going to be three non-elimination legs. We've already had one. Jim's got the other one in his fanny pack and we don't know when the third one is coming. It didn't matter. Three times, someone's not getting eliminated no matter what happens.


Reality TV World: You helped Tim Tsao and Te Jay McGrath out at one point with the bundles of hay in the stable. Did you have an alliance with them or were you planning to align with anyone else in the future?

Shelley Porter: No alliances. We went into the Race thinking we were not going to make any alliances. It's just, in the moment, if it was beneficial to us to help someone else, then so be it. We helped them at one point, we planned flights with Maya and Amy at another point.

During the St. Thomas leg, we worked with [Dennis Hour and Isabelle Du]. If the moment presented itself and it was beneficial to us to help somebody else or work with another team, that's fine, but no official alliances, no.

Reality TV World: Which team or teams did you view as your biggest competition?

Shelley Porter: Oh everyone was. Yeah. That was the best season to be on. There weren't any [weak] teams. Everybody was physically and mentally capable of winning the Race. It really was anybody's -- anybody's Race.


You cannot honestly, just because Jim and Misti have won all these trips -- "Oh, they're the ones that are [going to win]. You don't know that! Seriously. Because the cyclists [Kym Perfetto and Alli Forsythe] are strong but they're definitely a lot scrawnier than Jim. (Laughs)

But it's anybody's -- anybody's race. If I was going to compete on any of The Amazing Race's I've ever watched, I'm glad it was this one, because I had 10 other teams that were just as awesome and worthwhile watching, or fighting against, as me.

Click here to read the first half of Shelley's exclusive interview with Reality TV World.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski