by David McAlpine

Last night on The Amazing Race, Thomas and Jill were the last non-all-female team standing. They were the first out of the pit stop in Seoul, but got lost in translation in Los Angeles when they couldn't decipher the word puzzle that would lead them to their last task. RealityWanted spoke to Thomas and Jill this morning about their third place finish and what's next for the couple.

Q. David, RealityWanted: How did it feel making it all the way through the race, only to come in third on the last leg?
A. Thomas: It was utter disappointment. You know going into the race there's a lot of factors and things can not go your way. Overall, I think we finished pretty strong, we had a pretty smooth process without making too many mistakes, it was just a third party situation that you can't control.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Thomas, you were billed as the "smart one." What happened with not knowing "Don Quixote"?
A. Thomas: It's funny, because my second major was Spanish with a Spanish Literature focus. I even read Don Quixote in Spanish, so I had an idea going into it, but I needed to confirm it on the Internet. I didn't know exactly how Quixote played into it and there are lots of Quixote studios, so I needed to confirm it.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Who did you think was going to be your competition from the start?
A. Jill: Ron and Tony. Right when we met them, we thought they were strong, so it was a shock to see them go first. Thomas thought we needed to knock all the guy teams out first but I kept saying the girl teams were stronger.
A. Thomas: Looking at the girl teams in the beginning, you wouldn't think they'd be your toughest challenge, but we didn't know anything about them at the time.

Q. David, RealityWanted: Did you have a strategy going into the final leg?
A. Jill: Well, we were trying to save the last Roadblock for Thomas hoping it was something physical or had to do with speed. The whole time, we were trying to alternate each other for the Roadblocks, but it really all depended if you could see what was going on or not. It was definitely making a gamete decision every leg.

Q. David, RealityWanted: How do you think you worked together as a team on the race?
A. Jill: From the beginning we knew that we had to work together and I think we worked well as a team throughout the entire journey. We had a goal, we wanted to make it to the final three, and there was never a time when we weren't giving 100%.
A. Thomas: I think things started clicking when we were leaving Bangladesh. It gave us a little more energy and confidence and we felt like we really finished the race strong minus the final leg; we were always asking the right questions. I don't think I was ever disrespectful to Jill and she wasn't to me, either. Sure, there were times when we snapped at each other, but that happened to everyone, and in the race, it was amplified.

Q. David, RealityWanted: If you could visit one of the places again, where would it be and why?
A. Thomas: I would go back to Norway. It was really my scene with the mountains, the lake and the greenery. We were climbing and biking everywhere, so it's definitely a place I'd love to go back to.
A. Jill: There are so many cities that you go to and they're so amazing, but I really enjoyed England and driving up the countryside. My mom is from there, so I had a little bit of a connection with that. I also enjoyed Norway and Sweden just because of how beautiful everything was.

Q. David, RealityWanted: What about a place you wouldn't want to go?
A. Jill: Ghana and Bangladesh! The first leg in Ghana was rough, it was so hot, people were sleeping outside in the streets. The people in Bangladesh, too, were very overwhelming.
A. Thomas: I think the overcrowded aspect of Dhaka (Bangladesh) and the heat made it hard to handle. We got lucky because we got there so early in the morning, I can't imagine the teams having to do what we did at noon or in the peak of the heat.

Q. David, RealityWanted: What did this race do for your relationship?
A. Jill: We've been dating for a while, so it was a great memory to keep and to share with our family and friends.
A. Thomas: It was truly a unique opportunity that we can only share together. We really came out towards the end and that's something we can only be proud of. We did it together and we each had to do certain things, so as long as that's the way you look at it, I don't think it can be anything but good.

Q. David, RealityWanted: How are you guys doing now? Are we going to see another engaged couple come out of The Amazing Race 17?
A. Thomas: We're at where we're at right now. We're still together and I think we have a good relationship.
A. Jill: We're not in any rush right now! We'll see down the road.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine

For more Amazing Race links, visit SirLinksALot.net.