by Gina Scarpa

 

Marcus and Amani Pollard were the picture of calm, cool, and collected this season on The Amazing Race and never gave up, even when times were tough. They preached that they didn't know the meaning of the word "quit" and were people of their word. When they struggled with a flight simulation task on the finale, they repeatedly tried until they got it right. They reached the finish line in third place but the important thing was: they reached the finish line. Today, we talked to the married couple in an exclusive interview about the highs and lows of running The Amazing Race.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made the two of you decide to try out for The Amazing Race?
A. Amani: Well, initially Marcus was going to do it with a former teammate. That kind of fell through. We had a honeymoon baby and we're always doing challenges at home. He was like, "Babe, you wanna do it?" We applied like anyone else. We had to go through casting, we had to submit videos that our 9 year old taped, and we got through.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You struggled a little bit in the beginning but came in first during leg in Thailand. What was that like for you?
A. Amani: Okay, so you saw the celebration on the mat, right? [Laughs] We were screaming and Cathi was in the background, screaming for us. That whole time, we felt like we were just racing against Bill or Cathi because we hadn't seen anybody that whole day. We love Bill and Cathi, we call them Ma and Pa. It was hard for us, thinking we were going against them for last. When we got to the mat and we knew neither one of us was going home, we were so happy!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You had already passed the U-Turn when Laurence and Zac tried to send you back. When you watched that back on tv, were you surprised that they targeted you?
A. Marcus: Not necessarily a surprise. Zac and Laurence were playing the game. At that point, they felt like they needed to get in first. I don't know why they thought they were first. They thought we were behind them and they wanted more space to lead. I don't think it was personal

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: In this last leg, what was the biggest issue with the flight simulator task?
A. Marcus: My knees were hitting the dashboard. It wasn't designed for a guy over 6 feet tall, 255 pounds. There was a balance. If you pressed one way... flying it was fine, landing it was another. I think the biggest thing was that I really dislike flying to begin with and it seemed so real. It was like, "I just killed another 127 people on that plane." I was thinking if I was a true pilot, all the people I just took out...

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Despite being far behind Ernie and Cindy, you did (and always have this season) continue to run the leg with everything you had. That was something very important to you, yes?
A. Amani: Well yeah and as you know, we've got four kids. That's just the kind of people we are. If we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it. We don't know what quit is. We have to be an example. Say what you mean and mean what you say. There were situations that were hard but again, you can't quit. You've gotta keep doing it and you never know what the outcome could be.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You spoke often about wanting to be a good example for your children. What has your family's reaction been to watching you on the race?
A. Amani: Are you kidding? We've been jumping off furniture, swinging from chandeliers. I don't know what was more fun - doing the race or watching it with the kids. Seeing how excited and proud they are and seeing that nothing is impossible. You need to dream but you need to be a doer. I think it's exciting to see Mom and Dad on tv... it kinda helped drive the message home for them.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You two have been together for a long time and you know each other so well. Did you learn anything new about each other from being on the race?
A. Marcus: I've always known Amani is such a competitor but I figured out that she's really in my corner, and she's my partner. At the house, I don't get so frustrated but on the race, I get frustrated and she said, "Hey, let's take it slow and figure out what we need to do next." We're the epitome of fire and ice. I think that's one thing that we really figured out.
A. Amani: Um, I don't know that I really learned anything that I didn't know because this is what he did for a living. A lot of this stuff I kind of saw but I thought it was awesome to see that we can be a team at home but when you take people out of your environment... it's very stressful. Although we think we're best friends and great communicators, when you put us in a situation where millions of people are watching, we still are who we are. We didn't change who we are. That's what I love and it made me love him more!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It must have been tough to be away from your family, but if you got a call from The Amazing Race to do an all-star season, would you go back again?
A. Amani: I think so! Marcus... if we pull out the driveway going on a date, he's talking, "I miss the kids!" We'd have to talk about it but it would be awesome.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

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