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.

We often get lost in life, both geographically and metaphorically. In some of the most stressful situations in our daily lives, we can choose to push through it with a smile, like Becca Droz and Floyd Pierce. We can practice self-care to avoid unwinding, like the new iteration of Colin Guinn and Christie Woods. We can even turn to a spirit guide, like Rupert and Laura Boneham were able to do. Unfortunately, sometimes you can lead an elephant to water, but you can’t make him cross it, as was apparent from the married couple’s lousy time in Laos.

It was a rocky start for the Survivor pirate and his wife on the race. Once they touched down in Tokyo, they had a tough time navigating the streets. Finding a clue parked in the park proved even harder for them, and their four-hour Japanese jaunt put them in last place. Luckily for them, Art Velez was struggling to climb a makeshift Mount Fuji, allowing Rupert to pass him with ease, neon wig and all. Surviving by the skin on their teeth, they vowed to keep scraping along, not slowing down as they recited the Lao alphabet. But things came to a hard stop at the Roadblock, as Rupert’s excitement at seeing his elephant spirit guide waned every time his ride would stop and fill up on food. The tie-dyed man could only sit and watch as the pachyderm put him in the back of the pack. With some encouragement from Laura, they finished out their race with their heads held high.

Now out of the race, Rupert and Laura talk with Parade about the situation that led to their elimination, why they got so lost in Tokyo, and what they learned about each other on the race after 21 years of marriage.

What was your first reaction when you got the call to bring your Survivor skills over to The Amazing Race?

Rupert Boneham: Laura and I have always watched The Amazing Race, and we always thought that game was tough. But when they called us up and asked us if we wanted to be one of the Survivor teams…oh my gosh. Of course you want to say yes! You don’t really think about the stress level you’re going to incur when you’re out there. When we got the call, there was very little thought. We almost immediately said yes.

Laura Boneham: How can you pass up that opportunity?!

What was it like watching your elimination back, considering how it all went down?

Rupert: It stings watching it on TV. And there’s so much you don’t see. When we left the Detour, we were still in seventh place. But we got in the wrong darn tuk-tuk, and by the time we got to the Roadblock, we were last. It’s a tough game.

Laura: We’re grateful we got to do it. But you want to win and have all the experiences! You miss out on so many cool things and places they get to see.

Rupert, are elephants still your spirit guide after your experience at the Roadblock?

Rupert: (Laughs.) I still love the elephant. But the other elephants came running to their people, while mine had to be coaxed out of the pen. By the time I even left that boarding area, the other teams were coming in, and I knew I didn’t stand much of a chance. But I wouldn’t throw away my spirit guide just for one scared little elephant.

Laura: It was a baby!

Laura, what was it like watching all of this from the sidelines, knowing how frustrated your husband was getting?

Laura: There are just so many factors in The Amazing Race. You still don’t know what’s coming up. Is it going to be a non-elimination? I had to have that hope in my head. Reality TV has its twists and turns, and you always hope for something to go right. (Laughs.)

Rupert: (Laughs.) Something to save us!

Laura: Right. We’re at the mercy of this poor baby elephant, and there was nothing he can do. He did his best. You can’t control animals. There was nothing even his trainer could do. It was torturous to watch.

Backtracking to the first leg, what was exactly going on navigation-wise? It’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone take a four-hour night walk in the park.

Laura: Oh my God.

Rupert: (Laughs.) Our experience with reality TV is Survivor. Unfortunately, you saw us even pulling out our flashlights looking for the clue box. There’s no way Amazing Race teams would do that; it’s just unheard of. But we kept thinking that it has to be in this park. The one time Laura said we should go across the street, I, unfortunately, poo-pooed it. That was the worst mistake in the world.

Laura: The park was massive! You had no idea you had to cross over a busy street to get to another part of the park. That was not obvious whatsoever. They didn’t even show how much we struggled.

Rupert: (Laughs.) Thank goodness Art couldn’t make it up the hill. He’s a great guy. But it would have been even worse if we were the first ones out.

How do you keep up good spirits when you were so behind during these tasks?

Rupert: There were so many ups and downs. We were the first ones to find the Tokyo Tokyo restaurant, but we didn’t realize that. We thought we saw the guy pull a clue out of his pocket and we thought it was the last one. We were in panic mode the entire time. You saw me look at Laura and say, “This is a tough game. I’m ready to quit this darn thing.” And Laura kept inspiring me to go. We helped each other keep going so many times. Instead of being that couple that argues with each other all the time, our relationship is strong enough and fortunately old enough that we were able to keep each other going when we were at our worst.

Laura: We’re able to lean on each other, and thank goodness. They showed a lot of me helping Rupert, but it was honest to goodness a team effort. Rupert did so much with navigation that they didn’t even show.

You spoke at your elimination about how The Amazing Race “kicked your ass.” What was the hardest transition from Survivor to the race?

Laura: Survivor is definitely more my personal style. (Laughs.) It’s grueling. I’m a runner, and to put 20 pounds on your pack and go through the sensory overload of running through a city like Tokyo. There’s a language barrier, and you can’t read any of the signs. There are so many factors that make it so tough. I have respect for everyone that’s raced.

Rupert: On Survivor, I remember telling my tribes on my first couple of seasons, “You guys are making me crazy. I’m going to go out in the ocean and catch us some food.” I had some downtime where I could re-energize myself. On The Amazing Race, you are in panic mode all the time. You’re running; the adrenaline is pumping. There is no real downtime. It’s a totally different game.

You spoke in a secret scene about how much the classroom Detour made you think about your family back home. Can you elaborate on that?

Rupert: That’s one of the reasons why we picked that challenge. We got to see the kids and get that empowerment from a younger generation.

Laura: We were missing our daughter, and it definitely helped fill us up. There was the cool energy of the kids laughing at us and clapping. I do like cooking, but I knew the other side of the Detour would be very detailed. So we thought we would try the school.

Rupert: And we knew that option would be tough too. But I really wanted to go to the school. And when we got it–and I thought we did it pretty darn quick–the empowerment from all those kids yelling and screaming was great. We stayed around for an extra second or two hooting and hollering with them before we ran out.

Laura: We shed a tear or two, possibly.

What was your dynamic like with the other teams both inside and outside Survivor?

Laura: We got along with everybody.

Rupert: We really did. There were no teams we didn’t get along with. I did have a bit of a past with Corinne and Eliza from Survivor, though we’ve never played together.

Laura: We gravitated towards the Survivor teams. But I don’t know if you really want to align yourself with Corinne and Eliza.

Rupert: (Laughs.) They called me fat and old.

Laura: They kind of had a nasty side and had nicknames for everyone.

Rupert: Actually, the Afghanimals offered to let us follow behind them in case we got lost. But oh my gosh, they were quick. We way over-packed; we were such newbies. It just killed us.

We saw the double U-Turn come up this leg. Did you have a plan as to whether you would use it at all this season?

Laura: We would not have used it.

Rupert: No question. We would have run through every darn U-Turn. If we could get through without getting touched, the better. We would never U-Turn anybody. Never never.

What was your reaction to watching the Amazing Race teams getting targeted so early on?

Rupert: From sitting back and watching the other teams interact, the racers were only seeing the racers as any competition.

Laura: It’s not surprising at all.

Rupert: It was pretty obvious that they didn’t see as much competition. If I went out on Survivor with brand-new players, I would think of them of people I could use. Returning players have a good advantage, and they know a lot of the ins and outs. So the other racers are going to be their biggest competition?

You have known each other for 25 years. Did you learn anything new about your relationship in such a unique environment like The Amazing Race?

Laura: Again, we leaned on each other in stressful situations. Being together for so long, you learn when to push each other’s buttons, when it’s okay to joke around. We would spend hours in that park together encouraging each other. “Keep going, keep walking, keep looking.” We learned to hold each other up.

Rupert: I don’t think I learned anything. I think I was re-affirmed about the strength Laura has. The race really tests you. We’ve put our relationship in some really strong tests going out and doing reality TV. Watching Laura was amazing. It really re-affirmed the strength that I knew she has inside of her.