‘The Amazing Race’: Melinda and Erika on their ‘doofus’ mistake and regrets about not U-Turning Carson and Jack
Leg 8 of The Amazing Race was the end of the road for Melinda and Erika Papadeas. After struggling to keep up with the pack and being tripped up by a tricky cypher puzzle, the mother-daughter duo was the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop and got eliminated by host Phil Keoghan.
"It was really hard to watch it back knowing what we were going to see at the end," Melinda tells Gold Derby (watch the video interview above). "It was really difficult — but it was enlightening!"
Erika interjects with a laugh, "It was more difficult for me because there was lots of hate on my reading abilities. That wasn't our favorite leg to watch. We're just really proud of ourselves for making it to the final six. There were 14 teams, we were the last female team, and my mom was the oldest cast member — absolutely amazing."
While traveling through Sofia, Bulgaria, teams were specifically instructed not to take taxis, but to instead travel on foot or use the metro transit system. That information slipped through the cracks for Melinda and Erika, who hailed cabs throughout the leg. In the end, no penalty was assessed because they finished in last place anyway.
After watching the race back on TV, both now realize it was all meant to be. "That whole leg of the race was a lot of running," Erika explains. "Ultimately, if we hadn't taken those taxis, I don't think we would have even seen people along the way as frequently as we did. Also, my mom would have been so exhausted. For my mom to have the energy to absolutely crush it for her last Roadblock — as much as misreading the clue was such a doofus thing to do, it did ultimately prolong us and allow us to enjoy that leg of the race."
After finding their clue at a klek shop near Russian Monument Square, Melinda and Erika had to travel to the library at Sofia University. There, teams had to translate two book pages from Cyrillic to English using a cypher before receiving their next clue. The most difficult part of the task was discovering the translation key was on the back of the cypher itself. After all the other teams had finished, Han and Holden Nguyen let Melinda and Erika in on the secret.
"The fact that Holden came back, even though we were the very last team, was really cool to see," Erika says. "I hate to say it, but my mom would have probably been like, 'We can't help them!' To have them come back to help us — we're grateful."
At the final Roadblock, Melinda crushed the Bulgarian dance routine, which she credits to her experience in Greek dance. "That really helped me," she explains. "The steps are a little bit different...but it was a good challenge for me versus Erika. We got done pretty fast and we were able to see Han and Holden at the mat."
When asked if they could re-do anything, Erika says she would have U-Turned Jack Dodge and Carson McCalley instead of Mike and Nick Fiorito during Leg 7. "I love them, but they are such good racers!" she exclaims. However, Erika also admits she had no idea Jack and Carson were behind them at the time, and felt like they had no choice but to U-Turn Mike and Nick in order to save themselves. "It was so hard and Erika hesitated," Melinda recounts. "I was like, 'No! You have to do it! It's do or die for us!' We really did not know anybody else was behind us."
Melinda and Erika also share their favorite race moments, what we didn't see on TV, and who they're rooting for to win the $1 million prize.
Leg 9 of The Amazing Race airs April 30 on CBS.
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