Elimination Interview: Leo and Jamal

Read what Jamal and Leo had to say about their time on The Amazing Race and how they stayed positive!



Lee J: Afghanimals: How cheated do you guys feel when Amy had to help Nicole complete what seemed like half of her road block challenges? And on a more positive note, what's the future with you and your new girlfriends?



Jamal: it was pretty tough to see what a road block that would consist of one person completing see 2 people complete. It proved that we were the team to beat and for them to accomplish that was to simply help each other every step of the way. As for the Ice Queens we made friends for life with them and are always in touch.

Leo: Hey Lee! I guess it all depends on how you look at it. From a strategic standpoint it was brilliant for Nicole to have someone else help her with her roadblocks. We most likely would have been in it, if everyone worked on it by themselves, because it was definitely not an easy roadblock. I'm pretty sure Ally and Ashley would have helped us out, if we all were at the make-up challenge in the previous leg. We have made new friends for life with our race wives. I talk to them on a daily basis and have made memories to cherish for a lifetime. They definitely made the race that much more memorable for us and am excited to create more memories with them. We have a Vegas trip in the works, so that will be tons of fun!



Christine S: You had such an amazing head start going into that final challenge of building the robot. Do you wish you had not told that other team where the smaller version was?



Jamal: it was in our nature to help a team we liked and we would not think twice to help Marie because she never did anything wrong to us. We love Marie and Tim!!

Leo: Hey Christine! Yes, we had a great start and that haunts me till this day. Of course I could dread on it, shoulda coulda woulda sort of thing. I''m sure if I didn't tell her, it would of bought us a little more time, but towards the end we became really close with Marie and Tim. I only regret not working with them earlier in the season, we would have been a force to reckon with. I love Marie!! No regrets here!



Wai K: To Leo&Jamal: I love you guys and wish you win the race! How far were you guys behind Nicole & Travis in Japan?



Jamal: only 10 mins and looking back now the speed bump took us 12mins and if that wasn't there maybe things could have been different.

Leo: Thanks Wai! I appreciate it! We were about 10 minutes behind Travis and Nicole. Things might have been different had we not had a speed bump!



Kimberly S: Leo and Jamal, if you had to do it over again would you still tell that lie about the U-Turn? Do you think it engendered more ill will than it was worth?



Jamal: it was a lose-lose situation for us. If we told the truth they would have been upset as to why we u-turned them. The reason why we were forced to lie was to show other teams we were still a threat when the next u-turn board comes. You only get one u-turn per season and for us it worked. Amy was scared the second leg in Abu Dhabi and told Travis and Nicole please don't let them u-turn us. So our strategy worked.

Leo: Hey Kimberly! If we had to do it again, we would not change a single thing. We ran the race on our own and didn't change who we were. Unfortunately we were forced to U-turn Brandon and Adam. We knew that since everyone was against us, most likely nobody would have believed that we were forced to do so. If we didn't U-turn Brandon and Adam, we would have been eliminated. Another part to the "lie" was strategic. You are only allowed one U-turn, so if other teams realized we already utilized our U-turn we wouldn't be considered a threat in an upcoming U-turn episode. It played to our advantage at the end, because Amy was flustered in Episode 8 thinking that we were going to U-turn them, even though we couldn't have. It did engender a lot of ill will, but at the end it didn't affect our game as much as people might have thought.



Shannon B: Afghanimals- was it hard staying so positive even though all the other teams were out to see you fail?



Jamal: When teams were aiming to get us out that only made us more focused and determined to succeed. We like the extra pressure and sometimes we ask ourselves what if the table was turned and teams ganged up on team Boston or Travis and Nicole I wonder how they would have broken down especially now seeing they couldn't complete the last 3 road blocks!!

Leo: Hey Shannon! It was not hard at all staying positive. It's how we run our lives every day. The other teams just motivated us even more to have fun and prove everyone wrong. It added more fuel to the fire. One of our biggest goals from day one was to interact with the locals, take in the different cultures, and to have fun. The amazing race wasn't just about winning 1 million dollars, it was about the experiences, the locals, the cultures, and all the challenges. Everything we were tasked to do had purpose. Having the privilege to dive into people's daily lives was awesome, and we wanted to make sure that we left our Afghanimal foot print everywhere we stepped. We didn't want to act like robots and not acknowledge our surroundings, so staying positive was the only way to go!



Lavin M: Afghanimals - what was your most favorite leg of the show? What was your most challenging task?



Jamal: I liked the leg in Austria and the singing road block with the choir. It was challenging and was fun in the same time. Austria was very rich in history and looked very beautiful.

Leo: Hey Lavin! My favorite leg of the show was definitely the first day in Bandung, Indonesia. I had such an amazing time during the road block with all the kids. It made me forget that we were racing, and I just wanted to dance with everybody haha. It was very memorable, not to mention we won that leg as well. The energy in that dome was awesome, the people were awesome, and the music was awesome. It felt like a coming home party for the Afghanimals and we definitely let everyone know we arrived! The most challenging task was finding those shears in the tea fields. It didn't help that all we ate that day was a king cobra snake. After a while, all I kept seeing were tea leafs over and over again, and that ultimately put us in last place from a potential first place finish. I hope I never have to find another pair of garden shears again!