William "Bopper" Minton was forced to withdraw from The Amazing Race's 24th season, the show's third all-stars edition, due to a pancreas attack that left him unable to physically compete.

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Bopper was supposed to race with his "Kentucky Friends" teammate Mark Jackson, who was initially willing to throw in the towel at the idea of his best friend being unable to enjoy all the Race has to offer right alongside him. However, Bopper convinced Mark to stick with it for his family's sake and the potential life-changing $1 million grand prize, so former Racer Mallory Ervin was brought in to be Bopper's replacement.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Monday, Bopper opened up about what it was like to miss out on The Amazing Race: All-Stars.

Below is the concluding portion of Bopper's interview. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: Were you worried that Mark would have trouble enjoying his experience on the Race without you? Because the first episode showed him being very sad and missing you, so I'm wondering if you worried he'd almost feel guilty to have a blast while you were ill at home.

William "Bopper" Minton: Well, he was. We had a conversation in the motel after we left the doctor's that night. He was feeling a lot of guilt and I told Mark, I said, "Look, alright. I know you're feeling guilty." I said, "But could you imagine the guilt that I would feel if I'm the reason that you don't get to go through with this race." So the guilt was equal there.

But, you know, me and Mark are from a small county and there's not any jobs here. And so, the financial gain that he looks to gain, the $1 million, oh God, there's no way that I would even consider asking him not to do it.

So, to me, it felt like there was guilt on both sides. But you know, I saw that Mark missed his buddy. I always got his back in any situation, whatever we encounter, so yup! There's going to be a little bit of that, you know, "missing you pal" kind of thing going on.

Reality TV World: I was wondering about that from your end as well. It's pretty apparent you guys are inseparable, so did you have a tough time at home while The Amazing Race was filming because you didn't have your best friend around? Was that hard to deal with, especially since you had the pancreas issue?

William "Bopper" Minton: Absolutely! I can't lie. I'm a crybaby anyways and everybody knows that! So, the minute I come home and walk in the front door, I was in tears. I was devastated.

I had to look my little girl in the eye -- you know, I was looking to go and change her life -- and I just had to look at her in the eye and apologize to her. But she put her arms around me and said, "You don't need no apology at all, daddy, I'm just glad to have you home."

But you know, watching it last night was a little bit rougher than what I thought it was going to be. It really hit home. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. We were all crying, but the Lord has got a plan for us all, so I think I just got to turn it over to Him and throw the dice and let them roll the way they roll.

Reality TV World: You and Mark obviously had some time to think about racing strategy before the show began filming. Did you two plan on doing anything differently this time around? I mean, obviously you didn't get to race, but did you think of ways you could've improved on your initial run?

William "Bopper" Minton: Yup, the only thing that we were going to do, you know, there's one thing about the Race. You cannot plan and prepare for the Race, because you never know what you're going to do next.

I don't care how strong, how smart, whatever -- you cannot prepare for The Amazing Race because you do not know what is going to -- when you rip that envelope open, you don't know what's going to happen.

So the only thing me and Mark could do was actually look back at what went wrong in our first race, which was not reading those clues thoroughly, and really just having more fun and enjoying the experience. And that's what me and Mark were going to do differently this time, was we were going to stay focused and have fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! That's all we were going to do.

If you come onto the Race overthinking, that's what's going to get you. So you have to, as far as the way I look at it, you have to go into that race just not -- don't worry about it. Don't even think about it. Just do it. That's what you have to do.

Reality TV World: Which team/teams do you think will be a big threat to everyone else this season, do any pairs stand out to you for being strong or uber-competitive or anything like that?

William "Bopper" Minton: Well, I actually think Mark and Mallory, if they put their heads together, I think they're going to be a big threat in this race this season. So, you know, but you got "The Globetrotters" Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nate "Big Easy" Lofton. It's their third time, they are big guys, they're smart, they're in shape.

There are several teams. You got "The Cowboys" Cord McCoy and Jet McCoy. It's their third time. So they're the total package, so the competition level on this season is hard. It's hard to [pick] people out right now. There's [Brendon Villegas] and [Rachel Reilly]. They're fighters. If you give that team a second chance at something, you might get your butt beat.

Reality TV World: Are you going to apply for The Amazing Race again and try to get cast with Mark? And if the show gave you the chance to race again, but only if you brought along a new partner, would you take advantage of that?

William "Bopper" Minton: Absolutely. I would do it. Me and Mark had that conversation and I would do it in any way. If they called me right now and said, "Bop, would you like to do the Race again? How do you feel about that?"

I'd say, "Brother, I'm going to come now. I'm going to put a backpack together right now and jump on an airplane and I'm heading to LA. If I run with Mark, I run with Mark. If you pair me with someone else, I'm game for that too. I'm ready. I'm ready to do it again, period."

Above is the concluding portion of Bopper's exclusive interview with Reality TV World. Click here to read the first half.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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