Gary and Matt Tomljenovich get eliminated from 'The Amazing Race'

Gary and Matt Tomljenovich were ultimately unable to overcome the their Speed Bump penalty -- and several other small mistakes -- to avoid elimination.


Gary, a 47-year-old construction manager and mortgage banker from Laurel, MT, and his son Matt, a 22-year-old student from Bozeman, MT, became the eighth team eliminated from The Amazing Race's fifteenth season during last night's broadcast of the CBS reality series.

"When we came on this, our No. 1 goal was to have fun, we were going to race as hard as we could for as long as we could, and I think we did that. I think we accomplished that," said Gary.  "To be able to spend this one-on-one time together has been priceless. "

The Amazing Race's eighth fifteenth-season episode began at the previous Pit Stop at Bogs Gard Farm in Sweden.

Since "Teammates" Herbert "Flight Time" Lang and Nathaniel "The Big Easy" Lofton were the first team to arrive at the Pit Stop, they were the first team to depart at 2:23AM.


They opened their clue, which instructed them to travel 236 miles by ferry across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia. Once there, they would have to use one of the 10 keys they received with the clue to try and figure out how to open the door to the building Mustpeade -- the secret layer of the brotherhood of the blackheads -- where they would find their next clue.

Flight Time and Big Easy and were followed by "Dating Couple" Meghan Rickey and Cheyne Whitney (4:12AM),  "Married Couple" Ericka Dunlap and Brian Kleinschmidt (4:37AM),  "Brothers" Daniel and Samuel McMillen (5:04AM),  and Gary and Matt (6:29AM).

Since the next ferry didn't leave for Estonia until 5:45PM, all of the teams were able to make it -- as Gary and Matt thought about the Speed Bump penalty that awaited them for finishing the previous non-elimination leg in last.

"We've got to be on our game tomorrow, we've got a Speed Bump," said Gary. "It's do or die. It's not a pretty place to be and you've got to be serious."

The ferry arrived in Tallinn and all of the teams grabbed cabs to Mustpeade, with Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan arriving their together. They opened the door and closed it quickly -- disallowing Brian and Ericka from entering with them.


Meghan and Cheyne and Sam and Dan were then met by a Roadblock, in which one member from each team would descend into the building's cellar and find an candelabra with a number attached to it before using it to find the corresponding room number, where they would find what appears to be a blank scroll.

What they had to figure out is that if they would hold the scroll over the lighted candle, it would reveal their next clue. Cheyne and Sam decided to do the Roadblock.

Gary and Matt arrived at Mustpeade and were met by their Speed Bump, which only they would have to complete.  Gary and Matt would have to find a sauna bus and take a five-minute sauna with some locals. After that they'd be able to continue on the race.

While they were able to easily do this, the five minutes was enough time to let Ericka and Brian and Flight Time and Big Easy into Mustpeade, with Ericka and Flight Time choosing to do the Roadblock task.  Cheyne was the first to figure that the scroll read, "Pikk Hermann Tower Garden," followed by Ericka.  Matt chose to do the Roadblock, however he quickly ran into a problem.

"I have no idea what a candelabra is," opined Matt.


Sam was able to decipher the scroll as did Flight Time, and they exited Mustpeade as an anxious Gary awaited his son.

"I'm feeling a little frustrated right now because I can't help him," he lamented as Matt continued to be lost inside.

"I don't frickin' get it," said Matt. "Am I missing something?"

He subsequently figured out that candelabra "sounds like a candle" and found his room, however  -- similar to a mistake made by Flight Time -- he thought the message would be revealed by rubbing the scroll with a crayon.

The minor mistake cost Gary and Matt some more time as Meghan and Cheyne and Brian and Ericka arrived at Pikk Hermann Tower Garden where they were met by a Detour and had to choose between "Serve" and "Sling."


In "Serve," teams would have to play a round of volleyball in a bog against a local team.  They would have to score five points to earn their next clue. In "Sling," teams would have to plant themselves in the bog's mud and fire small vegetables from a slingshot at a moose target If they made a direct hit, the table below it would collapse and dump cabbages on the ground -- along with their next clue.

Meghan and Cheyne and Brian and Ericka chose "Serve," as did Sam and Dan and Flight Time and Big Easy -- who ended up sharing a cab after they argued over who should have been able to use it.

"They're just following us," accused Sam.  "It's frustrating."

Once Gary and Matt arrived at the tower they ran into a few more problems, including that they arrived on the wrong side of the tower and went inside it before realizing the clue box was on the grounds.

"We're getting way behind," said Gary as the found the clue box and chose "Sling."


"Anything can happen," added Gary. "We're not giving up until we hit the mat today. We do not want to go home."

Meghan and Cheyne's previous volleyball experience proved valuable, as they were able to score the points pretty easily. They opened their next clue, which instructed them to travel to the Pit Stop at Keava Rada Overlook Tower. Meghan and Cheyne were the first team to reach the Pit Stop and received a sauna.

Sam and Dan, Flight Time and Big Easy and Brian and Ericka had a hard time finding the marked path to "Serve" and once they did they learned only two teams could complete the task at the same time. Sam and Dan and Flight Time and Big Easy played "Serve," and luckily for Brian and Ericka it was right next to "Sling" -- allowing them to switch.

"We were kind of forced to do the sling," said Brian.

Flight Time and Big Easy were able to score five points just ahead of Sam and Dan, however the Globetrotters went in the wrong direction when looking for the Pit Stop and Sam and Dan had a slight lead in the foot race to host Phil Keoghan.

Flight Time had a difficult time keeping his balance on the narrow wooden path carved out in the bog, and he almost took Dan down.


The brothers were the second team to reach the Pit Stop, followed by Flight Time and Big Easy.

"We were running. He came behind me and tried to push me that way, and that's when we both fell down," Dan told Phil.

"We didn't know that the elbow and the physical stuff was in play," accused Big Easy.

The two teams continued to bicker on the mat after checking in.

"If it was the final leg, I think we would have had to run through the guys," commented Big Easy in a confessional.

Brian and Ericka were able to complete "Sling" before Gary and Matt even arrived, and they became the fourth team to reach the Pit Stop. Gary and Matt completed the task before heading to the Pit Stop.


"I think this could be it buddy," said Gary. "We just didn't have our A game today, We messed up in a couple places."

They then got the bad news from Phil, as they were the last team to reach the Pit Stop and ousted.

The Amazing Race's next fifteenth-season episode will air Sunday, November 22 at 8PM ET/PT on CBS.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio