Bernie and Carrigain Break Down the Twist That Cost Them ‘The Amazing Race’

The beauty of The Amazing Race is that no matter who you are, the race can serve as a learning experience. For friends Carrigain Scadden and Bernie Guiterrez, they walked away learning that, yes, they are the best, but they have things they can work through to improve themselves. Bernie and Carrigain were a dynamic duo who stayed with the pack, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a squabble or two along the way.

When all hope seemed to be lost at the start of Leg 4, they found an opportunity to work their way back in as the first clue reset the teams. But then, the Season of Surprises got them. And got them good. After Jonathan and Ana Towns used the Driver’s Seat twist to divvy out how much work each team would have to do at the Roadblock, Bernie and Carrigain fell behind, ending their time on The Amazing Race. Both Bernie and Carrigain were on the same page about the move that sealed their fate. As Carrigain said, “I’d rather respect the game than just say it was an accident, because you should be smarter than that. Like you have the Driver’s Seat, you have the Express Pass, you have at least a minute to really think about this decision and really pull off a strong game move.”

Bernie and Carrigain Discuss Why They Fought on ‘The Amazing Race’

COLLIDER: Bali was not a complete ball for these friends. It’s Bernie and Carrigain! How are you?

CARRIGAIN SCADDEN: Love that! Great. How are you?

COLLIDER: I’m doing well. Congratulations on a fantastic run on The Amazing Race. How does it feel?

CARRIGAIN: Great. Amazing. Wonderful.

BERNIE GUITERREZ: Surreal, lots of emotions. It’s always feeling blessed, but reliving it is also frustrating, because I just know we could do better. But at the end of the day, it was just a blessing to be able to be out there and do it all and do a lot of things we’ve never been able to do. So it was definitely blessing. Just super happy to be able to do it. I don’t know how many times I can say, “I’m blessed?”

COLLIDER: If you could describe the experience of The Amazing Race in one single word, what would it be?

CARRIGAIN: Unforgettable.

BERNIE: A dream.

COLLIDER: Going in, what were your expectations? How did you prepare for The Amazing Race?

CARRIGAIN: Well, Bernie and I are pretty active frequently, minimum, I would say three times a week. I hate to say two to three, because I feel like two is a little low. So I feel like, as far as physicality, we’re pretty good. Bernie being the stronger partner, and then I did a lot of stuff like GPS and mapping. I naturally have a lot of good navigation capabilities, but I just wanted to make sure that I was on top of it, that I was really sharp, because, you know, The Amazing Race, so you never know what’s going to happen. If she’s gonna have to drive, if I’m gonna have to a find a map, to use a compass, anything like that.

BERNIE: And honestly, I just stay ready. Okay? I compete on my day-to-day. I don’t know if you follow anything that I do, but I do a lot of races. I’m always competing. I’m always having my body ready. I’m always eating right. Something that I kind of did personally was bulk up a little bit, make sure I had a lot of protein and carbs in my body. I also did a lot of puzzles, just to get my brain ready to do potential puzzles. So I downloaded all the things to get my brain going when it came to math and things like that. But if anything about navigating and anything like our directions…Carrigain?

COLLIDER: What is something you learned about The Amazing Race that you didn’t realize until you were actually in the race?

CARRIGAIN: Why did I have to be on the season full of surprises?

COLLIDER: Fair enough!

CARRIGAIN: One, you learn how hard The Amazing Race is, just in general. When you’re watching it on TV, no, that’s hard. And then when you’re in it, you’re like, this is hard. And then you’re like, “Cool, now I have surprises, and Phil [Keoghan] and everybody’s like, “Let’s just switch it up.”

BERNIE: I guess I didn’t realize, I mean, I knew it was gonna be a lot of emotions, but I forget it’s not just managing me, I have to, not manage, but make sure my other, my partner, my other half that’s there doing this with me is also okay. So that was, I think, something that I wasn’t expecting. And I wasn’t expecting for us to go at it with each other, because it’s just what we do. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so early on. I thought we would make it a little bit farther before we started.

COLLIDER: Let’s discuss that little tiff at the Hong Kong Airport. What happened? What was going on?

CARRIGIAN: I felt like I wasn’t being listened to, and it was really frustrating. And it’s not about like, “Oh, my partner just didn’t listen to me.” It made me feel like, “Hey, you brought me in to navigate. You brought me in because I’m strong at this, and I need you to trust and believe that I’m going to get it done. I don’t feel like that’s happening.” So to me, I feel like I don’t have a role. I feel like I’m just a warm body that you’re like, “Okay, there’s two of us, Amazing Race. There’s two people here, so I can be here.” Look, I have ideas. I’m trying to navigate us. I’m doing what I think is best, which I know it’s hard to know on The Amazing Race whether you’re making the right decision or not. But I was like, either we’re working together or we’re not doing this. And that’s how I felt, at least.

BERNIE: I mean, what’s very accurate, right, as you guys could see, or maybe not see, but I’m very…

CARRIGAIN: Headstrong.

BERNIE: Headstrong. It’s my way of the highway. I speak out loud as well, my thoughts and I sometimes don’t filter things out or wait to think before I speak. So, and in my day to day, I will tell her, “No, let’s do this instead,” Or “No, come on this way.” And she’s normally okay with it, but we’re also not racing to win a million dollars, right? So this is a little bit different.

CARRIGAIN: If she’s wrong about us going the wrong way to the zoo in real life, it’s not really a big deal. Like she’s gonna turn on the wrong street, and then she’s like, “Oh my god, this is the wrong street.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I told you.” But we’re on The Amazing Race. We’re in freakin, we’re gonna be in fourth, and now we’re in last place. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

BERNIE: It was a hard balance.

Bernie and Carrigain Disagree with Jonathan and Ana’s Power Move

COLLIDER: At the airport in Kyoto, you said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” You were the sole team on your flight, and yet you were able to keep pace because there was a reset when the first clue was at the rising sun. How important is it to keep hope and optimism, especially in leg four?

CARRIGAIN: I think that’s the only thing that matters because I think some people felt it and saw it, that I did go to that place where I just didn’t have that emotional strength, or that mental strength anymore, and I was just like, “I’m hot.” I just felt like we were so behind, and I felt so defeated when we got 25 because I know that we’re really strong team, but in my head, I was like, “Oh my gosh, 25 pounds of rice.” I cook rice every day, you know, 25 pounds, it’s a lot. So, when you really let your mental strength crumble, I think it’s really hard to recover from that.

BERNIE: I think it’s important to stay positive and see the light in, I always say, “see the light and sh–.” There’s always brightness in darkness. So that’s what we try to do getting to Bali because we were very discouraged. But we couldn’t lean too much into being scared or like, “Is Phil gonna be there when we land at the airport.” We had to be like, no. I said, “No, it ain’t over til it’s over.” We gotta keep pushing. We gotta keep going. We gotta keep trying. We don’t know what can happen. Shoot, maybe the surprise this leg is it’s the non-elimination leg.

CARRIGAIN: Ha ha!

BERNIE: Just kidding, though, because we’re obviously sitting here with you, so.

COLLIDER: How much fun was the ATV? That looked like a blast.

CARRIGAIN: Our cheeks and jaw hurt so much from smiling. I think from the minute that we saw them until the minute that we had to get off, full smiles. The most incredible experience.

BERNIE: It’s what we deserved after being tortured, thinking we’re gonna be eliminated, being three hours behind everybody. I’m like, “Oh my gosh. How the heck are we gonna come back from this?”

CARRIGIAN: I think that just wasn’t on there as much, right? Like you see it, all the teams land at five, and then Bernie Carrigain’s plane lands at eight, and it’s like, the stress of that whole day, of being three hours behind, it was really hard to get out of that already.

BERNIE: But it was like, as you mentioned, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. Being in the forest, being in the cave, literally felt like I was the cave.

CARRIGAIN: Oh, I mean, it was the jungle. It was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.

COLLIDER: All right, so the Driver’s Seat. Ana and Jonathan said they “accidentally” gave you the 25 pound rice threshing.

BERNIE: Thank you for saying “accidentally.”

COLLIDER: Do you believe it was an accident?

BERNIE: No, 1,000% no. And that’s why it just makes me angry because, listen, I’m cutthroat, I’m an athlete. I compete. I get it. I would either give it to somebody that’s a threat that’s up there with me and I need to push you down, or I’m gonna give it to the people already at the very bottom, because I don’t want anybody else mad at me, so let me just keep the bottom at the bottom. Whichever one you want to do, it’s fine with me, but be honest about the move. Don’t tell me to my face it’s an accident because then you’re insulting my intelligence, and then that’s where my claws are out, and I’m pissed off, because just be honest with me. Just be honest, and it’s okay. I’ll respect game.

CARRIGAIN: I would say same thing. I’d rather respect the game than just say it was an accident, because you should be smarter than that. Like you have the Driver’s Seat, you have the Express Pass, you have at least a minute to really think about this decision and really pull off a strong game move.

BERNIE: And why not kind of give us like, “Oh my gosh, Jonathan and Ana threw us a bone.” Now, if something like a U Turn or something is coming, maybe we won’t necessarily vote. You have an ally at the bottom, versus if we do make it up this leg, my claws are out and I’m freaking coming for you. So, just don’t let me have an opportunity, because I’m coming.

COLLIDER: And now knowing that not only did they give themselves 15 pounds, but they burned it, used the Express Pass, and still didn’t gain much of a lead. How frustrating is that?

CARRIGAIN: I think that that’s why it really shows to me, if it was an accident, it’s really silly to make that mistake when you have so much power, because there were teams right behind you, right on top of you that it would have been better suited to give them the 25 to really push them towards the back of the pack, right Especially like with the U Turn coming, really just utilizing all those things. And I feel like the rice, although it was a challenge, and I feel like a lot of us really spent some time there, I think that using the Express Pass for a different challenge, or using the Express Pass for that Penjor, would have been more ideal.

BERNIE: Or waiting to hold it. I was just upset, and maybe, maybe then it was an accident. Maybe they’re not as smart as I thought they were okay? Maybe they really don’t think through things, and that’s why they use all their passes, and then they’re just not, I don’t know. Maybe, who knows? Who freaking knows? Maybe we’re all wrong.

CARRIGAIN: The possibilities are endless.

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Bernie and Carrigain Reveal Their Favorite Place On the Race

COLLIDER: It’s true. All right. So let’s talk about the Detour. It wasn’t even the challenge itself that was the challenge. It was finding it. We saw you fight a little bit as you were going in circles. How frustrating was it finding the actual Detour to you compete in?

CARRIGAIN: It was so frustrating because I already felt like I let my partner down. It’s hot. We’re so behind. I felt that everybody believed that we weren’t even in it anymore. And so now I’m like, we can’t even freaking find the place to catch one. I feel like with every other Detour you would see us get there, and we would do Detours a lot faster than other teams. I felt pretty strongly about that, so to not even be able to get there to start it when you’re already behind, I think we were just melting. It was just like chickens with their heads cut off. It was beyond repair.

BERNIE: No, exactly. And for me, I was also frustrated because I was like, “Okay, I just made Carrigain do something that she wasn’t even supposed to do. Now I have to take on the role of navigating. And dang it, I’m not great at this.” Exhibit A: I chose the complete opposite. I think I just read the direction, as I look back when I got the directions, I think I didn’t have the north and south the right direction. Which is why I said it’s up all the way. And in reality, it was the right direction, it was the other way. Which is why I was so convinced. But no, dude, I saw the map. It said up here. It has to be up here. I saw it in the map. This is my job now. You’re tired, you keep drinking water. I’m gonna figure this out. No, I wasn’t figuring out. Carrigain had to help me. I know you’re tired, but read the map. Where the frick, do we go, girl? Because I don’t know anymore, and I’m lost, and I know you’re upset, we’re all upset. Let’s get there. It was a time. What a time.

COLLIDER: You got to see four extraordinary places. Did one stand out as your favorite?

BERNIE: I loved Bali personally. It was so sad to end there, but I’m just glad I got to see Bali. It was a little bit of a culture shock. Just how many people? How many people are on mopeds.

CARRIGAIN: Beautiful temples. I mean, I was blown away by the history and by the culture there. I just wanted to study. I was like, “Oh, I want to know about all these temples, but I’m in the middle race right now.

BERNIE: The green, the forest, the water.

CARRIGAIN: It was astounding.

BERNIE: It was also like dang you’re gonna torture me. Gave me such a freaking amazing gift, and now I have to leave. That’s crazy.

COLLIDER: What is one thing you learned about yourselves through The Amazing Race?

BERNIE: Nothing that I’m the best. I’m kidding.

CARRIGAIN: And I also learned that. I also learned it’s always better to have the best on your team, because she already has that confidence. But I learned that maybe I could trust my intuition a little bit more, and trust that I’m making the right choice. Because I feel a lot of times you see other teams being like, “I’m not the strongest, I’m not the fastest.” And sometimes, if I wasn’t trying to run so fast, I wouldn’t have missed certain things.

BERNIE: For me, oh, I was kidding about being the best. No, I did, I learned things that I already know, but it just showed more, as much as I think I’ve done self-work, I need to learn still to have more empathy. I need to understand, I guess, having also more patience. Be more careful with my words. A lot of the things that I say isn’t exactly what I mean. So just slowing down a little bit. It’s okay to pause and breathe and just take one thing at a time.

The Dragon Boat Team Would Do It All Again

COLLIDER: How has your relationship changed since The Amazing Race?

BERNIE: Listen, it’s been like this. [Motioning up and down.] I’m not gonna lie. Okay?

CARRIGAIN: The shade!

BERNIE: No, because of me. No, because I’m gonna be honest, right?

CARRIGIAN: I think it’s funny. I think every relationship has its ups and downs, and when you grow together to really expose those ugly sides and be like, “Hey, dude, you need to work on that.” And allowing someone to be like, “You know what? Actually, you could be right about this. And thank you for bringing that to me,” that takes a lot of work. You’re not every relationship can do that, and it’s strong enough to face those repairs. And I think that that’s important.

BERNIE: Having uncomfortable conversations. It doesn’t have to be like dating. With any type of relationship. If you’re able to get through hard times like this and be able to communicate and talk and make each other uncomfortable or say things that we might not want to hear or might hurt somebody’s feelings, been able to work through it, I think that’s more powerful than winning a million dollars. So I’m going to cry, I’m getting emotional. No, but seriously.

COLLIDER: Would you do it again?

BERNIE: 1000%.

CARRIGAIN: I’m waiting for them to tell me when I go again.

BERNIE: Like the bag is still packed. We just have to keep our colors, alright? Keep us in the gray. Well, maybe not. Maybe give us a new color and we’ll be happy.

COLLIDER: What color would you like?

CARRIGAIN: My favorite color is yellow.

BERNIE: And my favorite color is green,

CARRIGAIN: I would be happy in green.

BERNIE: Anything that’s gonna make our skin pop. But like gray? Come on, gray.

COLLIDER: Well, I love your shirts. You want to plug in your shirts?

BERNIE: Yes!

CARRIGAIN: Thank you! So, you didn’t see too much of our story, but Bernie and I met on a dragon boat team, and one of the paddlers made these awesome shirts for us for our watch party. So, it has my dragon boat, and Bernie’s personal training and all things Amazing Race.

BERNIE: Taking on the world. Amazing Race. No, it’s awesome.

COLLIDER: Let’s end on a high. What was the best part of The Amazing Race that was not game-related?

CARRIGAIN: You know what, I do have to say.

BERNIE: I know what she’s gonna say.

CARRIGAIN: Okay, go. Honestly, I know this probably sounds really weird, but everybody who works on the show is amazing. I mean, when you think about people setting up these clue boxes and all the small details. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity that they gave us, but I feel like we were just treated with so much respect and love, and it was just such a happy, beautiful environment. And I’m just so grateful for everyone who does stuff for the show. And I’m, I don’t know, I just think that it was really amazing experience. There was nothing bad for me.

BERNIE: For me, I just love that I didn’t have to worry about food. I just had to circle some things, and food would be in, like, knock on my door. Oh, beautiful. Sometimes I’ll test the waters, like, let me see if they’ll give me two drinks. Like, can I get a milkshake and a juice? Oh, I love being fed. I love food, so give it to me.

CARRIGAIN: Yes.

BERNIE: I thought that’s what she was gonna say! I’m surprised!

COLLIDER: Well, it’s kinda the same!

CARRIGAIN: I laugh because that’s something I would say.

BERNIE: I thought she was going to take my answer! She’s gonna freaking say food eating. But no, she didn’t.

COLLIDER: Production overall. I think you’re both on the same page. Through different perspectives.

BERNIE: Yes! They took care of us. At the end of day, they really did take care of us. It takes, I can’t even imagine hurdling that many people, so many logistics. I’ve been a project manager, so knowing how to like, I know there’s a ton that they have to deal with, and then so many personalities they have to deal with. Woo!

CARRIGAIN: But I mean, everyone was exceptional.

BERNIE: Oh yeah, they were awesome.

COLLIDER: Well, congratulations on a fantastic run. When we get our redemption season, I’m sure we’ll see you in green.

BERNIE: Yes, green! Let’s go! Money!

The Amazing Race

Release Date

September 5, 2001

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Elise Doganieri, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman

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