Luke and Margie Adams, were the mother/son team that finished third in The Amazing Race. Luke also had the distinction of being the first deaf person to take part in the race. They had their run ins with Jennifer and LaKisha Hoffman towards the end of the race. I had the chance to talk to Margie about that and many more things. Meanwhile, Luke was off the phone giving Margie his input into my questions as well. Here is what they had to say…
Josh Clinton: Were you both big fans of the Amazing Race before getting on the show?
Margie Adams: Luke is a huge fan of the Amazing Race. I only saw few episodes of the show before we left for the race.
JC:Whose idea was it to be on the show? How hard was it to convince the other person to be a team together?
MA: It was Luke’s idea of going on the show together. It wasn’t hard for Luke to convince me because I thought that we wouldn’t get to be picked on the show but we did!
JC:What do you think ultimately cost you winning the race in the end?
MA: The last surfboard puzzle!!
JC:So you had some run ins with Jen and Kisha. It seemed like it came out of nowhere. What happened there? Was it just the competition or was there something more that we didn’t see?
MA: It kind of came out of nowhere. It was just a long and hard day that we didn’t get to sleep that much night before. What wasn’t shown is that we all slept on the top of mountain. It was pretty cold, rainy, and windy, so we all didn’t get to sleep that much next day. I guess it just added to the fuel on that day.
JC:When I talked to Jen and Kisha last week, they said they couldn’t believe that you were still mad at them a couple of episodes after the initial altercations. Your thoughts on that? Were you still mad or did CBS edit the show to make it seem like you were still mad?
MA: We weren’t mad at them afterward. We just wanted to take them out of the race because we knew that they were a strong team and if it came down to a big footrace in the final leg, they’d beat us. We respect them as racers and they’re great girls.
JC:Any hard feelings with them now?
MA: Nope.
JC:You formed an alliance with Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara. Why form that alliance when really an alliance can’t help you as much in this show as say Survivor, where you vote people out? You are mostly racing on your own.
MA: We all agreed that we would try to help each other much as we could and protect each other when it comes down to a U-Turn & that we would u-turn a team to buy our alliance more time to finish the tasks.
JC:How much do you think that alliance helped you three get to the end together?
MA: It helped us a bit from time to time.
JC:Why did you become such good friends with Jaime and Cara?
MA: We enjoyed their company a lot on the race and they were the team that we trusted the most on the race. We felt like we hit it off together so well on Day One and worked together really well from beginning to end.
JC:Was there any other team that you didn’t really like to be around?
MA: We liked everybody on the race.
JC:What was the hardest part of the race for you?
MA: The rickshaw challenge in Phuket, Thailand was really hard for both of us since it was really hot on that day and we got lost for a good while. Plus, the fainting at the pit stop. It was so long afternoon. We were just so happy that we weren’t eliminated!
JC:What was your favorite part of the race?
MA: Our favorite part would be a boat ride in Bangkok, Thailand where we actually got to relax and enjoy the culture and the city during the race.
JC:Looking back on it, was the race easier or harder than you thought it would be because of Luke’s disability? Was there any part of the race where Luke being deaf hurt you in the race?
MA: The race was much easier for both of us since it helped us much focused on racing and it helped a lot with Luke reading clues really easily and memorized them just once
JC:Was there anything that you wish was shown on TV that wasn’t shown on TV?
MA: The fake crying scene at the airport in Moscow, Russia where Luke pretended to cry as we tried to get on the first flight to Kraysojarsk. It was pretty funny.
JC:Do you think you were both portrayed accurately on the show? Is the Luke and Margie we saw on TV, the same people we would find in real life?
MA: A little different because on the race, we weren’t able to relax and we were very competitive and always under the stress! In real life, we’re more much relaxed and easy going!
JC:Did you learn anything about yourself or the other person that you didn’t know before going on the race?
MA: I realized that I am much stronger than I actually thought I was! Luke learned how to look at the pictures carefully!
– The Amazing Race airs on CBS in the U.S. on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
– The Amazing Race airs on the CTV network in Canada on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
