Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' team Marty Cobb and Hagan Parkman talk (Part 1)

The Amazing Race eliminated "Mother and Daughter" Marty Cobb and Hagan Parkman during Friday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 28th season.


The two women became the first team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's second Pit Stop at the Plaza Bolivar in Cartagena, Colombia, in last place.

Marty and Hagan were very disappointed to be eliminated so early on because they were looking forward to more adventures together.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Marty and Hagan talked about their short-lived The Amazing Race experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: As you two were running to find a taxi, you saw [Cameron Benson and Darius Benson] drive by you in one. So is it safe to say heading to the Pit Stop you knew you were in last place?


Marty Cobb: Yeah.

Hagan Parkman: Oh yeah. We knew. (Laughs)

Marty Cobb: (Laughs)

Hagan Parkman: I mean, we knew that we were -- us, and Darius and Cameron -- were the last two teams to leave the mud pit, and so whenever we got to the cooking challenge and we saw the other teams still there and leaving, we knew that it was us at the very bottom.

Reality TV World: How long did it take you to find a cab and then how many minutes behind Darius and Cameron did you arrive at the Pit Stop?


Marty Cobb: Well, we did have our original cab. We kept it the whole day, so we knew ours was back at the juice stand. We just had to get back to him. And time-wise, Hagan, what do you [think]? I mean, probably only a couple of minutes I would think.

Hagan Parkman: Yeah. Because we were more than halfway through with our run when [the brothers] passed us. So I would say five minutes probably before we got to our cab. But our cab was so slow, so we're really unsure.

Reality TV World: The episode showed you two talking about how you had made a mistake though regarding your cab after you finished the Detour task. What was it then? Did you just allow your cab driver to drop you off too far away from the location of the cooking task or something?

Marty Cobb: Well, yeah, absolutely. We should've taken the cab to, you know, the cooking station. For sure. The only thing I will say -- and Hagan, you can add to it -- is, you know, our cab driver was so slow, No. 1.

And No. 2, when we got the clue, we asked for directions and this girl kind of pointed around the corner. We saw the arrow and so we just kind of started thinking, "Okay, we can do this." And the more we ran, the more we realized how far it was.


Hagan Parkman: And our cab was so slow that we were just over it. We were like, "We'd probably run faster than he'll drive."

Marty Cobb: Mhmm.

Hagan Parkman: And so we chose not to just sit there. We didn't realize, though, that it was three or four miles down the road.

Reality TV World: What was going through your minds when you were running to your taxi as Cameron and Darius were driving past you in a cab? Were you starting to break down emotionally at that point or were you trying hard to keep your composure and remain optimistic?

Marty Cobb: Yeah, you know, it was just heartbreaking. Obviously we were not anywhere near ready to go home, and when you get a couple of bad luck [situations] that you can't control, that kind of gets to your nerves anyway.


And Hagan did as good as she could've done in that volcano. She did great! It was just by the time she [searched] there was barely anything left. And then our cab driver was so slow! We were just like, dying. We were dying.

Hagan Parkman: It would've been nice to finish [the Detour] and have our driver at least try to speed for us. But to go through all that and then sit in a cab that's going 10mph, you're just way more than pissed off. And then you're eliminated! So how can you not be upset, you know?

Marty Cobb: And then when we watched them drive by us, we knew obviously that they were going to get there before us because our cab driver was so slow and, you know, they finished. So we knew that unless something really freaky happened with somebody else, we were in last. So that was really, really heartbreaking.

Reality TV World: You girls had a leg full of misfortune, including getting on a late flight that was ultimately delayed, getting a slow cab driver, etc. Is there any one event you mainly attribute your last-place finish to or do you think it was the combination of all the little things?

Marty Cobb: I think it was definitely the flight.


Hagan Parkman: Yeah. If we would've gotten to the [Roadblock task] earlier, I would've found the emerald quicker because there were more left to pick from. So, it was definitely the flight that set us back. But then again, the cab driver was so slow, so it's really hard to pin it on one thing.

Marty Cobb: I think it's both those things. Like Hagan said, I mean, same thing. We got there at the ticket counter before [Scott Fowler and Blair Fowler], but our girl took -- we were there another 30 minutes by the time everyone else got their flights to find us a flight.

And then we landed 30 minutes before Darius and Cameron, but we got to the volcano at almost the exact same time because we were so slow. So, it made a difference.

Reality TV World: Hagan, going back to the Roadblock task when you were looking for an emerald in the volcano, how long did that take you? The show made it look like you were starting to get really frustrated.

Hagan Parkman: I was there for probably 45 minutes. It was a long task and it felt like forever. But yeah, I got there and then Cam showed up. We jump in and he immediately finds the emerald. I found a pink stone and a blue stone before I ever came across an emerald. And so, I literally think I got the absolute last bag that was in that volcano.

Reality TV World: How long did the Detour task take you? It seemed like you two were in your element with that whole cooking challenge and got it done quickly.


Marty Cobb: We did! We actually did.

Hagan Parkman: Yeah. It was fast. I feel like if we had all gotten there at the same time, we probably would've beaten more than half of those teams in the cooking challenge. It took us probably 20-25 minutes.

And yeah, we were working really well together. I went and grabbed those fish without even asking her about it while she tackled the rice. So we didn't even need to talk. It just clicked and we made it happen. We got it done really quickly.

Reality TV World: Did you two start to form alliances with anyone even though it was early on? If not, which teams would you have liked to work with down the road?

Marty Cobb: I think from the very beginning, the teams we kind of felt the closest to were probably [Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl] and [Sheri LaBrant and Cole LaBrant] and maybe Blair and Scott.

We just kind of bonded with them in the beginning and we were all in the same semifinal group. But you know, we weren't really there long enough to get into too much of that, but I would say those were probably the teams we felt the most aligned with. What do you think, Hagan?


Hagan Parkman: Yeah, I think so too. And honestly, at the airport on the first day, we did talk to Darius and Cam a lot. And they were giving us these ideas on how to get through the Race. We were helping each other out, so we were talking about them also being in an alliance with us. It's just crazy it came down to our two teams at the end.

Marty Cobb: Yeah.

Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Marty and Hagan's exclusive The Amazing Race interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski