‘The Amazing Race’s’ Quinton and Mattie on their unseen ‘nail in the coffin’: ‘Pulled over by a really cute French policeman’
Quinton Peron and Mattie Lynch started the seventh leg of “The Amazing Race 34” in last place and unfortunately ended it the same way. The former Rams cheerleaders fell behind the pack quickly when they got lost driving to Toulouse, France. They got a glimmer of hope when they saw Aubrey and David leave the rugby Roadblock just as they arrived, but lost some more time later when they were stuck behind a barricade, and in the end, they were the seventh team eliminated.
But neither of those incidents was the fatal blow to their chances. The pair was also pulled over, which was not shown in the episode. Find out what happened below.
Gold Derby: What was it like watching the episode?
Quinton: Depressing.
Mattie: We knew what was coming, but it was sad to watch it because it’s been three months since we got home from the race before it aired, and knowing what had happened to us, and you replay every single thing that you did on the race. Some nights it would just keep me up just thinking about it. So to see it come to life, it brings those feelings back. It’s not stress because we had such a great time together, but it’s the “what if?”
Quinton: I watched it with my students last night and they had no clue what was happening. I kind of set them up. I watched one randomly with them, watched last week’s, so they didn’t think I was getting eliminated. So they were like, “Wait, Mr. Q, what’s happening? Oh, my God! No!” [Laughs]
Gold Derby: How far behind were you? Did you see Aubrey and David at the Pit Stop?
Quinton: Yeah. I would say less than five minutes and that’s what hurts the most. Even after all that craziness that happened, it was so close.
Gold Derby: Is that more painful than to not have seen anyone during the whole leg?
Mattie: Yeah, because then you kind of just fizzle out. I guess there’s a sense of — I don’t want to say calm, but I don’t know a different word — but when you know you are going home, you are the last person, then you can just enjoy it. That’s what you saw Glenda and Lumumba do last week. For us, it was constantly like, “We’re not out of it yet. We have to keep running.” And when we saw them walk off the mat, that stung a lot.
Quinton: We had that hope. There was no hope when were circling the stadium for hours, it seemed. But the minute we saw them run out, we were like, “Oh, my God! We’re only five minutes, 10 minutes behind.” It’s that hope that’s heartbreaking.
Mattie: Even when we got to the Pit Stop, we saw Aubrey and David get off the mat, but Phil [Keoghan] built it up, saying, “There’s no non-elimination leg” and was drawing it out. I was like, “Is there a penalty?” We still held on hope even on the mat knowing we last. [Laughs]
Quinton: And again, you don’t see anybody when you’re racing, when you’re in your own cars, so you don’t know where anyone is. And watching it and seeing Marcus and Michael pass Aubrey and David as they were getting in, I was like, “Wait, we were that close?!”
Gold Derby: Did you think there could be a team behind you guys? Someone got hopelessly lost too?
Mattie: No, because you get to the clue box and there’s only so many clues. We pulled the last clue. [Laughs]
Quinton: You see I didn’t even give her a chance to read it. I was like, “I’m doing it, it’s mine!” There was no conversation. “Who’s ready? I’m going.”
Gold Derby: It looked like you started off on the wrong foot because you seemed to be going down a local road instead of a highway like everyone else was. What happened navigation-wise?
Mattie: That part was editing. When we looked like we were still in the town and everybody was on the highway, that was us getting from the Pit Start to the road. That was the first thing because the rest of the drive was green and then you get to the freeway. … But we did start off on the wrong foot. We were supposed to go down this road. Quinton says, “Oh, they’re going this way? It’s supposed to be this way.” Five seconds later, he goes, “Nope, they’re wrong.” [Laughs]
Quinton: I was under the impression that everything Aubrey and David did was wrong when it came to driving. … And then I realized, “Oh, shoot, it’s the other way.” [Laughs]
Gold Derby: They messed you up because they switched drivers and navigators.
Mattie: Yup, but I even say in the car, “Oh, we’re just keeping them on their toes.” Then we just got lost. There’s the big freeway, the A20 that you saw everybody take. That was the fastest and most direct. Then next to it was D something. We went on the A20 and then there was a split that said continue on the A20 or go on the D something. And when I looked at the map, you could’ve taken both to get there, but we were so close to the stadium that, to me, it looked like if you took the D, it would get you there quicker than the A20, which was my bad because we got on the D freeway and it was more side-street-y with a lot of roundabouts. That slowed us down and in our mind that was a fatal error, but in reality, it wasn’t that bad. I think it messed us up more mentally than practically.
Quinton: You would have to make a right on this street, but we missed that street and there’s no other way to get around, so you have to drive 10 kilometers to turn around. The freeways are obviously not like how they are in the U.S. There are no streets every half a mile. The next opening is 20 kilometers this way and you’re like, “Wait, that’s a whole different city!”
Gold Derby: I don’t know if it was an error or bad luck, but it seemed like the fatal element was that blocked crosswalk. What happened there?
Quinton: To get to the Couvent des Jacobins, there was a slight right and a slight left is what we took. Mind you, the next street over is where we’re supposed to be. But as we’re driving, the street is getting smaller. I was like, “I’m getting uncomfortable. Why is this getting smaller?” And then the barricade came up and I guess it was like an outdoor mall, which is crazy. We were stuck there. But I think the nail in the coffin was when I got pulled over and they didn’t show that.
Gold Derby: What happened?
Quinton: Once we got out of the capital, we stopped at a mechanic shop to get directions. The streets are really hard to navigate and the lights are really small, and I guess I ran a red light. But I was next to a car the whole time. In my mind, I thought if I stay next to somebody the whole time, I can’t go wrong. Then I get pulled over by a really cute French policeman. [Laughs] I was like, “Oh, my gosh, you guys, he’s hot.” Once he schooled us, Mattie — she’s hilarious — she was like, “Well, while you’re checking our information, can you show us where this is?” It was a map of the Couvent des Jacobins. That was the funny part. Even in the stressful moments, we were still able to laugh and have a good time. I have gray hairs from this race.
Gold Derby: I can’t believe they didn’t show that. That feels important.
Quinton: There’s a lot of things they didn’t show. They didn’t show in Petra our driver just taking the wrong way. That was the most frustrating leg for us because that was the first time I felt we were actually racing for first, like, this is it, I see Molly and Emily, we’re racing next to them. We were told not to talk to our drivers because they know the way and I guess the route was 45 minutes, but he took an hour and a half. He took a different way. So even when we’re not driving, we still had issues, so that was kind of defeating. I had told Mattie, “Hey, let’s enjoy the race. We haven’t enjoyed the race. We’re sitting in third.” And to hear Aubrey and David behind us, we were just confused. That leg was rough. That was the start, mentally, of the downward spiral because … we were just scared. Once you get us in car, I was like, I can’t, I’m stressed, I don’t trust anybody, I don’t trust the roads. We were sitting in the car going like, “Oh, my god, this is luxury. We have a driver, they know where they’re going. Mattie, fix up your hair and makeup. I’m gonna roll out my quad. You want a snack?”
Mattie: That’s not an exaggeration. He’s not just playing this up right now. We actually said this in the car because we’re sitting there like, “We don’t have to navigate ourselves. We are living good.” Totally living it up.
Gold Derby: You guys seemed to have blown through most of the tasks, including last night’s. And a lot of them were up your alley — a lotta dancing, choreography, and even the rugby, which is not football, but you’re athletic and you were very gung-ho in kicking it.
Quinton: I’m gonna speak on it. I don’t think people give us the credit we deserve. I feel like everybody is easily supportive of David when he has to build a Ducati because that’s in his wheelhouse or of Molly sculpting and she was like, “Oh, my God, sculpting, I was in a sculpting class.” But when it’s a dance challenge, everybody’s like, “Ugh, another dance challenge, of course you’re gonna do well.” And one, the dance challenges are Detours, so there are options. I’m pretty sure if we did the Arabic challenge, we would’ve been good at it too because it’s memory. But as dancers, we’re trained, we’re athletes, so no matter what athletic task you want us to do … we got it because that’s just our lifestyle. And when it comes to memory, our brain, we’re kind of all around. We have to remember [choreography] and pick it up. It’s more than just “Oh, I can shake my ass and I’m cute.” No, we’ve put in years and money to be where we are today and it’s frustrating when we don’t get that [credit]. The rugby challenge, I said I had a sports background at the very beginning. That’s why I chose to do it. Mattie said she was an intermediate pickleball player. That’s another thing they didn’t show and now there’s a whole pickleball show! [Laughs]
Mattie: I could’ve been recruited!
Gold Derby: I don’t think we saw enough of you guys. I feel like you guys were very efficient at the tasks and maybe it was because you didn’t win a leg that we didn’t see too much of you, but did you struggle with anything?
Mattie: I would say, with the exception of Ducati, we did everything proficiently at least and some we excelled in. For example, the metal detector test, he excelled in. The anatomy test, I excelled in. Sculpting, I stayed on par. I didn’t struggle with that. The only one we lost a little bit of a placement in a challenge was Ducati. That was hard for everyone but Emily. [Laughs]
Gold Derby: Quinton, you frequently winked at Mattie. Is this an inside joke between you guys?
Quinton: We were just trying to have fun, especially in that particular moment in Amman, the cart. We had a couple legs where we didn’t race with anybody because we were so far behind, so this was one of the first times where it was like, hold on, everybody’s here? Let’s party! And as a dancer, that’s our energy. I love being around people, now it’s time to put on a show, let’s have some fun. And it was a straightforward challenge that I could not be so stressed out. Just copy it, bang, look at my partner, let’s have fun with it. That was honestly one of my favorite legs because did have fun.
Mattie: We’re such cheesy people that when we do something funny to each other, that’s what the winking is, like, “Ya like that?” [Laughs]
Gold Derby: What are you looking forward to watching in the remaining episodes?
Mattie: I’m looking forward to Iceland and I’m saying Iceland because I know Quinton was very heartbroken over not going to Spain, and that’s what’s next. That’s probably his answer.
Quinton: [Laughs] She read my mind. I wanna see what happens in Spain because that’s literally the places I said I wanted to go to: Spain and Africa. A little bit of the Middle East Africa-y, but Spain was it. And yeah.
Mattie: And we didn’t know until we got our phones back and we saw that they might be going to Spain next and Quinton was like, “What?!”
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