Brittany Fletcher and Caitlin King were eliminated from The Amazing Race during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition's 21st season.

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The "Best Friends" team became the third team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's third Pit Stop at Sma Negeri 1 Bangil School in Bangil, Indonesia in last place. The pair finished behind all the other teams due to bad luck with multiple becak drivers, who either got lost or had trouble communicating with the girls.

In an exclusive interview on Monday, Caitlin and Brittany talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including what exactly they attributed their last-place finish to, why they didn't tell one of their becak drivers to just follow Gary Wojnar and Will Chiola at the fork in the road, and why they were so frustrated and confused during Sunday night's leg of the Race.

Below is the first portion of Caitlin and Brittany's interview. Check back with Reality TV World tomorrow for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: Last night's episode made it look like your elimination really came down to your becak driver. Just to make sure, was that really the case and was it as close as it looked on the show?

Brittany Fletcher: It was one of those things that, I mean, everything they had at the end there -- where we passed Gary and Will and that whole scene, yes, that definitely was right at the peak. But what had actually really happened was, right before, we were actually finishing -- we finished the task first at that challenge of the "Lion's Head," and so, we were in sixth.

When we got in our becak, our driver, he actually didn't take us to -- it said, "Head towards the park," or whatever it was called. But anyway, he sent us straight to the Pit Stop and totally down a different route, and so, we did not pass the U-Turn the first time we headed there.

So what happened was, we went back to where the Detour challenge happened and we were searching around the area for the U-Turn map because we didn't see it on our way to where we were. So we figured it had to have been around that field. Then we realized, "Okay, it can't be here. It's gotta be on the way." They took us a different route or something.

So we went and got another becak driver. He actually started heading towards the Perliman too, and we actually saw the U-Turn mat over our shoulder, and that's when they said last night we were like, "Stop, stop!" And so we got out of the becak-thingy, and then after we left the U-Turn mat, we got in our becak [with the driver] that had actually just taken us to the Pit Stop.

So the frustrating thing that America didn't see was that that driver had taken us to the Pit Stop, so we thought we were golden going back towards the Pit Stop. But that's when we passed Will and Gary -- because we thought we had the upperhand there, because our driver had just taken us there.

So, we couldn't believe it when he went left and not right, because we had just been there with that same driver. So that was what definitely was very frustrating.

Reality TV World: About how far behind Gary and Will do you think you got to the Pit Stop? Because last night's episode showed them literally still on the mat when you got there.

Caitlin King: On the show, it looked like we were just like really, really close to the mat when we had gone left in that fork in the road. But what you couldn't see, was there was still, I mean, probably half a mile -- maybe a little less than that -- until we got to the actual mat.

So, they kind of just -- I think they were just kind of waiting there for us when we got there. But I know it did look like we were really, really, really close.

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when your becak driver did go one way at the fork and Gary and Will's driver went the other way -- did you have a good feeling? It sounds like you did since you had already gone to the Pit Stop once.

Caitlin King: (Laughs) I think when we went to the left we kind of pretty much knew we were going the wrong way. We were just at a loss for words at that point because he had just taken us there.

And so, when that happened, it was just we knew we weren't going to be able to turn around and beat them at this point. So, it was really an upsetting moment for us I think, and just kind of very confusing and frustrating at the same time too.

Reality TV World: Some viewers are wondering why you didn't just follow Gary and Will wherever they went and then beat them in a footrace to the Pit Stop mat, because you guys obviously seemed pretty confident that you were the stronger team. But it sounds like that's why you maybe didn't even consider that approach -- because you thought your driver knew where he was going?

Caitlin King: We thought for a second about getting off of the thing and trying to run, but they really go so much faster than you can run. And we still had a good amount left before we actually got to the mat. So, that wouldn't have helped us at all. And when we got off of our rickshaw thing...

Reality TV World: No, I'm sorry. Maybe I misstated the question or something. I meant instead of passing Gary and Will when you found them, just staying behind them and following them wherever they went instead. I didn't mean [getting out of the rickshaw and] running the entire last half-mile to the Pit Stop.

Brittany Fletcher: I don't think people kind of realize how far it kind of was at the fork. I think that's why Caitlin was saying that.

Caitlin King: Uh huh.

Brittany Fletcher: But, the thing too is that I think why we didn't wait is -- you know, we've had people ask us that. It was because first of all, you couldn't really communicate with the drivers at all. And so, like I said, I thought our driver knew exactly where he was taking us and we had enough confidence in him that he honestly was taking us right back to where we were.

So, it was one of those things too where it was really hard to -- when you're in that heat of the moment, to kind of put your hands up to tell him, "Stop." I mean, you're telling him to, "Go, go, go," and so, as soon as you tell him to stop, it just kind of confuses them more, especially when you can't communicate.

So to be honest, it was -- we thought he knew exactly where he was going, and we trusted him and we were just like, "Go, go, go" because we had just been there.

If we hadn't have just been to the Pit Stop (laughs) previously, I mean, I think we definitely would have stayed behind them and followed them of course. So, you know, that was just one of those things that it was kind of out of our control, and it ended up [being] exactly why we were eliminated.

Reality TV World: Obviously like you girls have mentioned earlier, you had a difficult time trying to find the Double U-Turn board there. About how much time do you think you lost then, and do you think that was really more of the key reason as to why you ended up finishing in last place rather than taking the wrong fork in the road later on?

Brittany Fletcher: The guy at the beginning, the driver, took us on a different route. So, we completely didn't even pass the U-Turn on the way to the actual Pit Stop. So, we thought we were just going with the flow. We thought we were heading to the U-Turn mat and it ended up being the Pit Stop.

So it's one of those things when we didn't see it along the way, that's why we went back to where the Detour challenge had happened. And actually, the guy of the second rickshaw becak we had gotten in didn't even -- he wasn't even taking us on the route that would've passed the U-Turn too.

So, thank God we saw it over our shoulder. That's why we had actually gotten out to go to the U-Turn mat. So, of course it plays a role into why we were eliminated, because if he would've taken us down and headed toward the Perliman and the four streets that we were telling him and pointing at -- where the U-Turn mat was -- yeah, we would've finished sixth and checked in sixth at the mat.

But it was one of those things that we had, I mean, we just thought we were going the right way because of the way we thought he knew where he was going.

Reality TV World: You were shown saying you lost another 15 minutes when trying to pay one of your becak drivers earlier in the episode. Was that actually the case, and if so, what was the big hang up there? What took 15 minutes?

Caitlin King: No, I think we lost time with both of them. I definitely, I mean, you don't get to see how much time we really did lose. Just 15 minutes is a ton in the Race, and so, every minute that we were just standing there trying to figure stuff out was a huge disadvantage for us.

Brittany Fletcher: He was just -- when we went to pay, the guy was just staring at us. He wasn't giving us any feedback. I mean, he wasn't giving us hand gestures. I think the part that they showed on the episode last night was the end when we had been asking for 15 minutes how much we pay. I mean, we had locals shouting numbers, and then the guy just kept like looking to other people.

We were asking, "How much does this ride cost?" Because we didn't want it to affect us later and get penalized. Our guy just literally stared at us. He clearly didn't know what to do. At one point, he told us it was free. That's when we knew we were in trouble that, "Here he is telling us it's free." I mean, nothing's free.

Above is the first portion of Caitlin and Brittany's interview. Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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