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The Amazing Race 22: Exclusive Interview with Jessica Hoel and John Erck

Posted on 03/13/2013 by Gina in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews

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Jessica Hoel and John Erck of The Amazing Race 22

 

by Gina Scarpa

 

It's safe to say that, for years to come, Jessica Hoel and John Erck will replay this week's episode of The Amazing Race over and over in their heads. The pair fell behind on a Detour in Indonesia and Jessica was convinced that they should use their Express Pass, but John wouldn't hear of it. The Road Block ended up being such a short task that they couldn't make up enough time to get out of last place. The pair were sent home with the Express Pass in their hands, a first on The Amazing Race, and we talked to them in an exclusive interview today about their time in the competition.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why did you decide to run The Amazing Race together?

A. Jessica: I think we wanted to run the race together... I mean, John is my best friend. He's the person who knows me the best. We're together all the time, we work together well. John is very thoughtful. He is good at being methodical and smart. I thought he would be good at mental challenges and I typically move kind of quickly. Sometimes, I dont think things through as much.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you feel that winning the first leg ended up being a blessing and a curse? You won two Express Passes but you had a little bit of a target on your backs.

A. Jessica: It was kind of interesting. It was definitely a blessing and a curse. The 2 million reward last season was so awesome. Yeah, you want the Express Pass but to have that responsibility to give it to someone else pushes you towards an alliance. Nobody would really want that responsibility to give it to other people. You don't want people thinking you have some kind of relationship with them or be offended by it. And then that was our story and to be honest, it took up a lot of who we were. We were so much more than that. It's kind of a bummer that the Express Pass was our whole story. But at the same time, it was awesome that we got first place.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It seemed as if you were wavering on your deal to give Connor and Dave the Express Pass. Is that accurate to say or was it just a brief moment of thinking maybe that wasn't the best idea?

A. John: We gave Dave and Connor the Express Pass as soon as humanly possible. I think that we were answering questions related to the alliance that had gotten started. In terms of the pass, we intended the entire time to simply hand it over to Dave and Connor because they earned it.

A. Jessica: Watching it, it's interesting because we 100% would've given them the pass hands down. We had made some comments but we were always planning on giving it to them.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who was behind the formation of the alliances you were a part of? Did you initiate any of it?

A. Jessica: Going into the race, we were like, "We're not making any alliances." We wanted to work on our own but Idries and Jamil wanted an alliance. We kind of walked into their conversation. You have four other teams staring at you. It was kind of stressful. The same thing happened with the second alliance. It looks like we formed it, but Joey and Meghan approached us.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Let's talk about this week and the decision not to use the Express Pass. The Detour was such a quick one, and that's not something you could've predicted. Were you banking on something tougher or more time consuming that you could bypass?

A. Jessica: Yeah! If it would've been another Fruity Top situation... it literally only took us ten minutes to complete it. It was like, "Oh man that was so easy!" There were so many factors and we could say we could've done things differently. We had no indication the roller derby girls had already gotten there. You have no way to track how far away you are from each location.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Jessica, you said that this was going to be a tough one to let go of when you were eliminated. How did the two of you handle things afterwards?

A. Jessica: I am so competitive. With everything in life, I'm competitive and I get so down on myself. I would dream about the Express Pass afterwards! We're young, we're having a fun time, and we just have to remember that this was such a cool experience. Our friends and family don't care how well we do. When you think about it like that, things happen in life and you can learn from it. I just think it was such a cool experience.

 

 

The Amazing Race airs Sundays at 8/7 on CBS.

 

(Image courtesy of CBS)

 

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa


  


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