The drag queens and best friends were eliminated on the eighth episode of The Amazing Race Canada’s ninth season and reflect on their journey and dream challenge do-overs with IN…
By Bianca Guzzo
The last time IN spoke to Jermaine and Justin (who you may know as Anastarzia Anaquway and Kimora Amour from Canada’s Drag Race) we were in the thick of their cross-country journey as contestants on The Amazing Race Canada. The charismatic duo made it to the eighth leg of the race where they completed a word search under a microscope, carried a meat pie through an obstacle course, and repelled off the side of a rock to find a code for a word puzzle. They were unfortunately eliminated when they arrived last on the mat in Saguenay Quebec (an episode that aired on Tuesday, August 29). IN had the chance to chat with Justin and Jermaine again following their elimination from the race, all about bringing their authentic selves to every challenge, racing with no regrets, and what challenge they would love to do again, but for fun this time.
Sadly, you were eliminated at the end of last night’s episode? What surprised you about how you played the game beginning to end?
Justin/Kimora: I don’t think anything surprised us.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: What surprised me is that we played the game from beginning to end [laughs]. We didn’t think we would make it on the show first and foremost. Secondly, we thought we would be the first team to be eliminated. Luckily that was Gisele and Gail, and we made it to the eighth leg. Listen, we got so much more out of this than we anticipated.
Justin/Kimora: By far.
Now that we can get into specifics, what challenge or leg was the hardest for you?
Jermaine/Anastarzia: You said we can get into specifics girl! SPECIFICS! I think for me the hardest part about running the race was keeping my composure. There were moments that I literally wanted to snap, crackle and pop at some things and some people, and I had to contain myself, so that really was the hardest. I absolutely love challenges, so anything they threw at me I was willing to just jump in headfirst and get it done. I’m a challenge kind of person and I love challenging myself. That’s why I am where I am today in life.
Justin/Kimora: I wouldn’t say there was a more challenging leg than the other. There was a more frustrating leg, and that was definitely the leg with the jump. But other than that we had a blast. We had so much fun doing this race and it was an absolute joy to have that experience under our belts.
During the third leg they took a six hour time penalty for not completing a bungee jump challenge and another challenge where they had to set a wedding table in the same leg. They arrived fifth on the mat, but because of the penalty had to wait it out until the last team got there. They got bumped to last place but were saved as it was a non-elimination leg.
If you could pick one of the challenges to do over again, which one would it be? Would it be the jump? Would you have gone for it or do you still feel good about not doing that?
Justin/Kimora: Absolutely not. I will never bungee jump [both laugh]. The gentleman tried to push me and I had an aversion. I was like “nope we’re not doing this, this is not happening!”, so no. I don’t know… The pancake challenge was something I would love to do again. That was an amazing moment for us and I loved every moment of it. It really kind of started our momentum.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: For me it’s the tree dancing challenge. I would LIIIIIVE to do that again. I’ve been trying to google those people who did it like “hey, where y’all at! I wanna go in a tree again, come put me in a tree”. That was really exciting.
What was your favourite stop on your cross-Canada journey?
Justin/Kimora: I’m going to say Saguenay Quebec because we got to go to the spa [laughs]. Saguenay was really, really nice. I enjoyed Saguenay quite a lot.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: Because I can’t remember too well, I’m literally just going to say, all of them?
Justin/Kimora: Tofino was beautiful. It was like Canadian Hawaii.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: OOOOOO I’m going to go with Tonfino! Tofino for 500! It is beautiful.
In the diving challenge when Justin couldn’t complete the task and Jermaine had to step in and finish it, we saw how frustrated you both were. How did you overcome that frustration to pull ahead and continue racing?
Justin/Kimora: You just continue going. Starzie said “you know what, let’s switch it out” and I said “absolutely because I can’t see”, and I wasn’t used to the wetsuit when it came to diving. I’m used to tropical climates and not freezing cold water, so it was a little cumbersome for me, so that trade definitely came in at a perfect time.
What was the hardest aspect of being on The Amazing Race Canada?
Jermaine/Anastarzia: The hardest part for me was the directions and navigation, finding our way to challenges. Outside of that everything was fun.
Justin/Kimora: And for me it was the lack of public transit use. I can figure out anything with public transit, and the fact that we were limited to our feet or the wonderful array of Chevrolet vehicles that we had. It was tough because I begged so many times like “I could just catch this bus and it’s going to bring me to wherever I want to go”.
Prior to last night’s episode you arrived last on the mat twice without being eliminated. What was going through your mind when you believed you were going to be eliminated from the competition?
Jermaine/Anastarzia: As of last night we were the first team to arrive three times on the mat last. Baby we just made history. Y’all ain’t ready for that.
Justin/Kimora: First drag queens…
Jermaine/Anastarzia: First to be last on the mat three times…Honestly though, I just wanted to go home. I was like “could y’all just do what y’all have to do and let me go home please.
Justin/Kimora: I had found out that my uncle had just passed away, and I was just like “well, I’m going to the funeral, and I’m getting my chance to do that”. That’s kind of where my mind went. It was just like “let’s just go”
You were the first team at the pass board in last night’s episode and you chose not to slow down another team. If you had a do-over would you have put another team up there?
Jermaine/Anastarzia: We would have remained civil and did the same thing we did. I’m going to say this and hope the producers are listening. If that was a U-turn I’m telling you, we would have U-turned the hell out of someone. Because a pass literally just means this team has to sit here and wait until the next team gets here, but every team was on top of each other getting to that pass board. Realistically speaking it made no sense whatsoever. Had it been a U-turn I promise you we would have U-turned someone.
Justin/Kimora: Yeah that would have made more sense and we would have been able to effectively change the trajectory of the entire game.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: We literally would have put the nails in somebody’s coffin to go home.
Justin/Kimora: Buh-bye.
What piece of advice would you give to your past selves before starting the race?
Justin/Kimora: Don’t overthink it. That’s the one thing I would tell myself. Approach things with a much more fun aspect. It’s not that serious, stop. Have way more fun. Laugh in way more people’s faces as you run by them. Just enjoy it a little bit more. That’s the only thing. I enjoyed it after I got out of my head. Just look at the bigger picture and enjoy it.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: I’m glad Justin said that because for me it would have to be being more of a compassionate human being. I was so hellbent on winning the race I was so hellbent on getting challenges done, and getting to the next one, and getting to the mat that I completely disregarded my teammates feelings. Justin has never said anything to me about it but when I watched the show back I was like “I feel like a mean girl”. Justin would be talking and I was rolling my eyes like “well you should have done the bungee jump”. Like, I was jabbing and jabbing and I was like “you look like a bitch right now” [about himself]. So for me, it would be “be a little bit more human”.
What was the first thing you did after you were eliminated?
Justin/Kimora: Eat.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: I was about to say eat but I can’t remember.
Justin/Kimora: Eat…and have some wine.
Jermaine/Anastarzia: Oh yeah. You did get liquor.
Justin/Kimora: Because I was running a very clean race, no liquor, no marijuana, no nothing in my system. I was trying to be very present, so the moment we were done I was like “give it to her! [laughs] ANYTHING LEGAL!
POST A COMMENT