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Before we get into everything, I think a lot of fans would be expecting me to ask you, Alyssa, about the fact that you're...expecting! You spoke on the race about how you wanted to win so you could start a family. But, despite not winning the million, you posted on social media yesterday that you were pregnant. Massive congratulations!Alyssa Borden: Thank you so much. It's just something we talked about during the race, that the race was the one big thing we wanted to do before we started this journey. And we're just so lucky and grateful that we got back; we enjoyed our summer. And then in October, we found out we were pregnant. And it was one of those things we kind of wanted to keep to ourselves for a little bit and just enjoy watching the season play out, watching us talk about how we wanted to do this after, and then at the end, be like, "We did it! This is our next journey." So we're really excited.Well, let's talk about what got you on this journey in the first place. Talk to me about your history with The Amazing Race. And what made you decide to go from fans to racers?Josiah Borden: I grew up watching Survivor and The Amazing Race. And she grew up watching Survivor and The Amazing Race, and that was it. And I never thought I'd go on The Amazing Race ever, because I am the world's worst person at directions. So I never even applied. I never thought there was any chance I would lose day one. I'm horrible at directions. I meet Alyssa. We fall in love, we watch The Amazing Race together.And then we're just like talking about what we would do on the season. And I'm like, Yeah, but I'm horrible with directions. And she's like, "I would navigate." And that's what you do with reality TV: You watch and put yourself in people's shoes. You're like, "How would I do this differently? Would I do this better or worse?" It's so fun that way. And then whilst we're doing that, I'm starting to realize, "We should go for this. We should apply." And she was like, "No, we shouldn't apply. That's insane." And I was like, "Oh, let's be insane. Let's go for it. Let's do it." And it worked out, and it's a dream come true for both of us.Alyssa: And once we decided we wanted to do it, it was like we had to do it. It was our obsession. And I mean, I feel like the luckiest two people in the world to get to have done it because it was everything we wanted. And to do it together, to have these memories forever, to get to share this with our kids someday, it's so special.Josiah: If we just had a million dollars now! But I'm waiting for a Venmo.[Laughs.] So let's get into how your race ended. Because I feel like the Portugal leg saw a shift in the temperament that you had in the race up to that point. Most prominently, Josiah, after being so laid-back and good-humored, you say at one point, "I'm so scared that nothing is funny right now." Was there something that prompted you to feel this way, or was it just a shift in mood?Josiah: Mike, it was a massive shift in mood. And wasn't Alyssa noticed it, and I tell her on the train track, and they actually show it. I say, "I'm just so tense." And I felt that the entire leg. We had an hour and a half lead, and I just felt tense the entire time. And I'll tell you what, I know Alyssa so well. She is a competitor at heart, and she's extremely confident, and rightfully so. But I know the shift of momentum that can happen in sports. And when you have an hour and a half lead, and if someone shows up. And I said that over and over again, even though we were like an hour and a half lead, I just wanted to keep us worried. I wanted to stay nervous, and then I got tense because of it. And then, sure enough, it happened. And, actually, when that happened, when Jonathan and Ana showed up, I returned back to my normal self. Because I was afraid of this happening the entire day. I was afraid whoever was behind us for an hour and a half was gonna catch up, right? I knew at that point it was Jonathan and Ana. When it happened, I returned to my normal self. Because the worst case scenario happened, and that's when I felt back to my normal self. And I was like, "Let's do this. We got this." But you're right. I did feel different the whole day. I felt tense, and it was high stakes. It was a beast competition. That top five was just a group of people that I don't ever want to run with again, to compete [against] in anything. You're absolutely right. You nailed it. It was different.Alyssa, you talked at one point about, during difficult moments, you would dive into the task and save the freaking out for the car. Talk to me about that compartmentalization and how difficult it was to maintain that.Alyssa: When we were working on a challenge, we felt like we were so good. We were good at the challenges; we felt pretty confident there. And also, we were together. I felt like when we were in the car, the pressure was all on me, because I was the navigator. And as much as I do feel pretty good about navigating, and we showed our strengths in navigating. The first self-driving was Bulgaria, and that was our [second] first-place. So we were good at it. But I feel like that's when I was feeling the most amount of pressure. And before the race, I was the first person to tell everyone, like in our interviews, "I'm so good under stress. I do anesthesia. I was a Division 1 athlete. I know how to handle stress." That stress when you're sitting in the back of the car in Portugal and you're lost and you're in the Final Four, it's something I never felt before. And honestly, I just didn't want to let Josiah down. And not that navigation was the nail in the coffin for us, but it was definitely part of it. So it was just very stressful in those moments, trying to just focus on what we had to do, but also get over my anxiety about it and the pressure of it all. And I think that's why the car was very tense for us.You mentioned on the show that you usually work separately. And, from our perspective, it seems like you were able to work fairly seamlessly together, perhaps with the exception of what we just saw on the raft. Talk to me about your dynamic. Was your edit a reflection of how you got along on the race?Josiah: So I have to be honest. Yes, it really was. And to be honest, it is a reflection of us in our normal lives. But I want to highlight that, also, the raft is a reflection of us in our normal life. And I want to scream to the rooftops. And I told people in production, because when we were doing the interviews to get on the show, they're like, "Do you all fight?" And I said, "I'm so proud of the fact that we fight." We're passionate people, and we're allowed to have different opinions, and we voice them unabashedly and unafraid to do that. And, in the raft, it didn't show, but Alyssa called me a dick. She's like, "Don't be a dick to prove a point." And you know what? Mike, I was being a dick to prove a point. So I love that we had that dynamic in that relationship, and I think that really it was a good representation overall. Most days, almost every day, we just run along smoothly. And it's the hardest part is, when we're on two different paths, when we think something different, we want to align, and sometimes you have to cave to the other person. But to do that, you've got to find it out and show your opinion and show your voice. And we both do that. And we're not afraid to say that we do fight. And I'm very proud of that. So, yeah, I think it was a great representation overall.Alyssa: I have to give Josiah a lot of credit. Because there were moments where I was spiraling, and you see it, he pulls me back. And there are moments where I'm about to snap, and he'll just look at me and be like, "We got this. I love you. You're the best partner." And it's like, how in those moments do you not let that just spiral into negativity and chaos? Of course, that brought us back. Of course, that helped me refocus. And that's just having a great partner. And I was really lucky to have that, because I need someone like that.Josiah: And I just need someone to call me a dick sometimes.[Laughs.] Exactly, bring you back down to Earth. I want to talk about your consistency on the race. Up until your elimination, you were the only team to have never finished in the bottom two of any leg. Did that match your expectations before the race? And what do you think was the biggest secret to your success?Alyssa: It's crazy to hear something like that. Because I think we realized we were good, but I don't think we gave ourselves much credit during the race. And Josiah was like, "I believe in us. We can do this. We can win this whole thing." And I would be out there. And I really thought some of the teams as just unbeatable at times. And when I saw Jonathan and Ana show up, it was almost like the air went out of my sails, because I just felt like they were going to beat us. And it wound up being a puzzle, which sucks, because that is one of the challenges that like they probably beat us in nine times out of 10. But I don't know what the secret was. I think it was just our communication and our well-roundedness. We did a lot of preparation for the show and tried to do just as many different things as we could to get ourselves ready.Josiah: I think that we did go in thinking that we could do this. I know it's very popular to be like, "No, I had no idea." But sincerely, we went in thinking we can absolutely win this show. And then we showed up. And honestly, the competition this season – and I'm a big fan of the show. This competition was wild. And it was so fun. I love it. I wanted to compete against some of the best people. And I'll stand on my grave saying that they're some of the best people we competed against. Alyssa is a beast. And, like she said, that was my tension the whole day. And I wish I didn't have it, that fear of someone showing up to the train station. Jonathan and Ana showed up to that train station, and I saw it in her eyes, and I was like, "No!" Because when Alyssa is confident, no one can stop her. We play tennis, and it's so frustrating for me. Because I could be up by everything, and she's at love still, and she'll come back and beat me. But we do work well together, and it was just so stressful.What's one thing you wish we got to see from your time on the race that didn't make the edit?Alyssa: Early in the season, we quickly realized the social game of The Amazing Race this season was going to be more important than any other season. Because Phil was throwing out things like, "You're going to be able to affect other people's races. There's gonna be twists every leg." So we instantly were like, "Okay, our social game is gonna be more important than we thought." And this one turned into, like, quite the little schemer. And when he heard a word about there being any type of alliance between Jack and Carson, Scott and Lori and Ana and Jonathan, it was his mission to break it up.Josiah: I was not having it. No chance, no chance. And you see it in the show, when they say, "We have this loose alliance," I thought that loose alliance was in blood. I thought they were tied up. So I said, "I'm going to come after all of them." And so at the Double U-Turn, we got Scott and Lori and Jonathan and Ana, that part of the alliance. And then I kept coming for Jack and Carson, and I wanted to get them so bad. And I would bring it up with people. But they are so lovable! And that's what made me afraid of them, too. If I met them and I'm like, "I like you so much," that makes me afraid of you on this show. Because on any show, if I like you, automatically, you're terrifying to me. And so it was so hard to get them. People didn't want to do it. So I was after that alliance the entire time.Well, I want to turn that likability back on yourselves. Because I've certainly seen a lot of comments from fans this season reacting so positively to your relationship. What has it been like to see such an overwhelming reaction to your partnership?Alyssa: We didn't know how people were going to perceive us. We didn't know how we were going to come off, and we prepared ourselves. I mean, I think anyone going on reality TV has to prepare themselves for what could happen online and the comments you could receive. And the love that we've received is overwhelming. It's amazing. I get DMs being like, "I want my daughter to watch this and tell her that she needs to find a husband like yours, and tell her not to settle until she has someone like him." And that touches me more than anything. And of course, I believe that. And I know that in my life, I see it every day. But for other people to get to see that, and to decide to be that inspiration, and our love story to be an inspiration, it means more than I ever could have seen coming out of the show.Josiah: I have to say, I get so much of that. And that's so heartwarming and touching. But I've always said that, if I had a daughter and never met Alyssa, I'd want my daughter to look up to Alyssa. She's a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman. She's just a great, great person. So I know that it's like, "Oh, look, this guy's being nice to his wife. That's wild." But my wife is this incredible human being. And I think that everybody who knows her would say she's out of my league. And it's an ongoing joke. Her grandma's like, "She's way too good for you."She must have loved whenAlyssa called you a dick on the raft, then!Josiah: [Laughs.] That's right. But what I love about reality TV is that you get to see a reflection of people in their real life under stressful, challenging, competitive scenarios. And I love that. And just to be a small part of that...Chip and Kim will always be heroes to me. You know. That relationship to me was so freaking awesome, and we talked about it when we were watching this. So, either way, just to be a small part of that for people is so humbling more than anything.
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