Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back! Every week, Parade’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team most recently eliminated from the race.

After learning so much on your first trip around the world, going back on The Amazing Race should be like riding a bike. Unfortunately, that simile is a sore spot for the energetic “Team Fun,” aka Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce. The pair of positive people had their race cut short the first time around with a bike-based bout of heat stroke. The second time proved to be smoother until bike navigation, a double U-Turn, and broken eggs got the best of them, sending them out in fifth place once more.

After meeting as teammates on season 29, Becca and Floyd were no strangers to the race the second time around. Their first major obstacle came with a U-Turn in Laos at the hands of Rachel Reilly and Elissa Slater. The disadvantage, coupled with Becca’s slow pachyderm, sent them to the back of the pack. But it was a temporary position as Becca’s physical prowess coupled with Floyd’s musical talents put them back in the hunt, earning two dominant first-place finishes. When Leg 10 hit, they vowed not to repeat history. But it would be a trip to the land of windmills that would take the wind out of their sails.

Things got off to a smooth start for Team Fun in the Netherlands, with a tandem bike putting their cohesive teamwork on display. But they soon got lost navigating through the problematic Dutch roads, as the other teams began to pull away from them. After hauling butt to haul a cow, an ice cream cart provided a surprise not-so-sweet treat: another Double U-Turn. This time it was at the hands of Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo, who saw their pictures on the board from the vengeful Afghanimals. Facing the other half of the Detour, they hoped their quick pole work could vault them out of last place. But their effort broke one of their eggs, a mistake which put them and their moods back in the ditch. Despite keeping up hope, they couldn’t catch up in the canals of Giethoorn, damning them to a repeat finish.

Now out of the race, Becca and Floyd talk with Parade about what led to that costly egg error, their reaction to being U-Turned twice, and what they learned about each other racing as friends instead of strangers.

You get the offer to come back on The Amazing Race. How many nanoseconds pass before you say, “Yes”?

Floyd Pierce: Zero nanoseconds.

Becca Droz: There’s no question.

Floyd: It was already a “yes” before they even finished the question. (Laughs.)

Becca: We were almost expecting it. We thought if they were going to bring back racers, considering the way we went out and how fans we were responding to us, we were probably going to be pretty lucky and get another chance.

What did your training look like for this season, considering you now not only knew each other, but live in the same state?

Floyd: This was the first time Becca and I knew each other before the race, so we were able to train together in Boulder. Becca brought me on these runs up Chautauqua Mountain which were brutal. (Laughs.) But it was really good training for when we had to do that mountain run in Switzerland. We did a lot of biking too. We actually did an escape room together to test our puzzle-solving skills in a timed situation. We also opened up to each other a lot more about the emotions we had from the first race. We were brutally honest to each other about how we felt, how we were embarrassed, how we held grudges. It brought us closer and helped us grow as a team.

Becca: One of the biggest parts of the training was figuring out what the best thing to do with our time. If we have one month, what am I spending my time doing? Floyd and I had different things. While he would run, I would go to a yoga class. I get super competitive, as you can tell. Being able to tap into a calmer internal place is harder for me than for Floyd. And being able to come from a place of calm is huge on the race, if possible.

I can imagine Colin and Christie helped with that too on the race.

Becca: (Laughs.) Definitely. They’re dropping calm bombs and love blasts all day.

Riding your boat to the pit stop last night, you seemed to recognize your fate, but remained hopeful. How did you feel about the whole thing?

Floyd: It was crazy. That canal challenge took at least an hour because there was a maze of boats. So we had this dread that we were in last place, but also there was a very strong hope that something could have happened. Going up to the island, we actually didn’t know if we were in last place. We figured a “Keep on Racing” leg wasn’t technically a non-elimination leg, so there was always that possibility. But it was tough to hear we were eliminated. It wasn’t as dramatic as our last exit, but it was still tough. We were filled with a lot of regrets. They also told us we were 15 minutes behind Nicole and Victor at the end. So it was a pretty close race all the way through.

Becca: We thought, “There’s gotta be a way. We’re not meant to be eliminated. It just can’t be.” (Laughs.) There were definitely moments where we thought this was the most depressing, slow-motion elimination ever, chugging along the canal. But we also tried to remember, “We don’t want to be the team that’s giving up.” That hope be dope, you know what I’m saying?

Can you elaborate on the difficulty you had finding the Detour on the tandem bike?

Becca: Oh my God.

Floyd: At this point in the race, we had the mentality that we didn’t want to follow other teams. We did that in some earlier legs, but we figured we were getting to the end and should make decisions on our own. At the yacht club, we and the Afghanimals were the last teams to leave. There were two paths, and the clue said the Detours were on two random numbered farms. To our left, we saw acres and acres of farmland. To our right was the main road we biked on from the town. After struggling for a few minutes, we found a map on the side of the road and saw the farm number for the cow Detour. If we had just gone down the main road, we would have gotten there faster. Instead, we found the path on the map that took us in a roundabout way through the entire Dutch countryside.

Becca: (Laughs.) The scenic route.

Floyd: We were thinking, “This is a beautiful bike ride!” (Laughs.)

Did you figure you were in the back of the pack after that? And did that affect your reaction when you saw you were U-Turned?

Becca: Getting on the bike, I said something like, “The reality is we are really far behind right now.” We started to realize at that point that Nicole and Victor had been there and were already going to their second Detour. So we knew we were in dead last. But did we expect to be U-Turned? No! Of course not. We’re Team Fun; we already got U-Turned once. Give us a break! I’m not exactly sure how they knew we were behind them. But it’s not what you want to see when you’ve been lost in the countryside for a long time.

Let’s get to the eggs. Why did you decide not to check if any were cracked when you went to the market for the first time?

Becca:I felt invincible. They don’t show it, but I hesitated to jump over that moat a number of times. While Floyd just jumped it and body slammed into the water. (Laughs.)

Floyd: I just had to go for it! There was no hesitation.

Becca: I wanted to make sure I got it first try and not fall in. Then I got over and was like, “Yeah! I feel good; we’re in this.” That got me really amped. I put a bunch of grass in the bag to cushion the eggs. When I jumped back across, I felt even better. “I jumped across the moat with these eggs. Yeah, baby! We’re in it!” I vividly remember Floyd asking, “Should we check the eggs?” I poked my hand in there, pulled out an egg, and didn’t really look. That’s a moment we’ve gone back to many times. What were we thinking? We just weren’t. We were trying to keep moving forward. We did really well up to that point recognizing decision moments and taking a breath to make a good choice. We were in survival mode, and there must have been something going on with stress hormones that made us make a really irrational decision.

On the note of U-Turns, how did you react to the first U-Turn against you from the Reilly sisters?

Floyd: I was convinced there was some conspiracy against us. We were so confused. Of all the teams, why U-Turn us specifically? I thought there was some plot with the Reilly sisters and the other teams to get Team Fun out. But we later found out they didn’t appreciate that we left them when finding the travel agency in Tokyo. I really didn’t know why that all happened until I watched that episode on TV. After we finished, I felt a lot more chill about it. But we knew we couldn’t trust the Reilly sisters.

We’ve heard from Amazing Race teams this season how this has been the hardest course that they’ve run. What made things so difficult?

Becca: What made this season were the competitors. It’s hard to compare challenges because they’re so different. You’re always navigating foreign lands, and nobody knows where they’re going. But having the layer of really competitive teams who know how to race, play socially, manipulate minds, and get around places was extra intimidating. The first time out, we were like, “This is great! We can beat any of these teams no problem.” This time it was like, “Wow, there are some really, really strong teams here. They’re making us question our abilities to win this race.”

Floyd: A lot of this race made it feel easier than our first season. Becca and I knew each other, so we’re better together as partners. I wouldn’t say the challenges were easier, but they were cooler than our first season. Any challenge that doesn’t involve riding a bike with shrimp traps is better. Being on a second time, your mind is also not focused on the awe of being on the show. You’re more focused on the race itself. It almost feels like there’s more room for stress to enter.

You spoke about making a progression in your friendship in preparation for your second season. Now that you’ve raced together again, did you learn even more about each other?

Floyd: That’s tough. We continued to dig deeper into each other’s personalities. I learned a lot more about Becca’s background, her strengths, and her weaknesses. I discovered how she grew up and how that affected her communication style. Also, the Becca you see on TV is still the real Becca. She’s one of the most spontaneous, fun-loving, and inspirational people I’ve ever met. We’ve gotten deeper on the positive on the negative, and I’m excited to keep going.

Becca: Floydy Boy! (Laughs.) We got to process everything together. I saw how open Floyd was to any topic I brought up with such an open mind and no defensiveness. I don’t understand how he stays so calm. I’ve been trying to get into how he doesn’t take things so personally. We’ve been learning more about how our own histories have shaped us. There’s some magical balance between us. He helps calm me down, and I light a little fire under his booty.

We’re constantly in the pressure cooker of the race, which is revealing to us our areas of growth. There’s no place where you get such immediate feedback on what you’re good at or not as an individual and team. We were able to take that each leg, process everything that we could, and apply those lessons to the next leg together in a constantly open conversation.