‘The Amazing Race’ Season 26 Cast: Flight Problems ‘Screwed’ Jonathan Knight & Harley Rodriguez, But NKOTB Singer Hopeful for ‘All-Stars’ Return [VIDEO]
Fans hoped to see New Kids on the Block singer Jonathan Knight and boyfriend Harley Rodriguez make it to the end on The Amazing Race, but unfortunately for the pair, problems finding a flight to Thailand in the third leg eventually led to their downfall and elimination.
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Despite being saved on a non-elimination leg in Phuket and being given a chance to continue the race in Bangkok and potentially overcoming being in last, the couple, who have been together for seven years, unfortunately couldn't quite make up all of the time they needed to prevent being eliminated.
"Time was not on our side," Knight said in a post-race interview with TV Guide. "The airport stuff screwed us obviously. That was our meltdown."
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The couple's problems began when they were unsuccessful in getting a flight out of Japan at the same time as other teams-leaving a whole day behind them as they all made their way to Thailand. They were able to cut the time they were behind to roughly three hours thanks to the other teams needing to wait until morning to complete their next tasks after arriving in Phuket, and were further able to cut the lead other teams had on them to an hour and a half. Now, they think that maybe if the legs had been planned where they allowed them to go anywhere else, they may have had an even bigger chance to catch up.
"I thought we would've been able to catch up a little bit," Knight said. "You never really know. I think if we had gone to another country, we would've been able to. The whole leg before that, we didn't see anybody. There was no indicator of where we were in the order."
However, despite their elimination, the pair aren't too upset-and are actually hopeful that they have a chance in the future if another all-stars season comes up.
"That would be nice. I'm still taking it all in," Rodriguez said. "It'd be nice because the stuff we know now that we didn't know then, especially with the airports, we'd be a lot smarter with situations like that.
"I think it'd be fun to do all-stars just for those reasons," Knight added. "Those reasons and more, but just to have a second chance and come in with more insight."
The Amazing Race airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
