Are These Amazing Race Gals Gay?

Debbie Cloyed and Bianca Smith went into The Amazing Race (Tuesdays, 9pm/ET) intending to be the first all-female team to walk away with the $1 million prize. (Click here for photos of all the teams.) Unfortunately, a major navigational error on their way from Chile to Argentina set the gal pals back by almost five hours and sealed their fate. Here, they discuss their mistakes, Rob Mariano's controversial Roadblock strategy and what they really mean by calling each other "lifelong friends."

TVGuide.com: So you really had no idea you were heading in the wrong direction for two hours?
Debbie:We had gotten directions from someone who told us that it would be a five-hour trip, so we were expecting a long drive and weren't perturbed at all by how long we were on the road. We were double-checking our directions along the way, but every single person would tell us something different, and our map was pretty inadequate at that point. So we were just going with it and having fun and then, when we saw the ocean, we knew we had screwed up.
Bianca: After a week of racing we were going on very little sleep and so you have to go on trust instead. We trusted that the initial directions we received were correct, and they ended up being wrong.
Debbie: You have to understand: Bianca is pursuing a Ph.D. in education, I just finished a novel, and I have two photography books coming out. But we've always been horrible with directions. [Laughs]

TVG: Your getting lost was ironic, since you were the one team that actually spoke Spanish fluently.
Debbie: It's funny. Bianca and I have traveled the world together. Between the two of us, we've been to 30 countries, except for South America. So for us to get to go to a place where neither of us had been before and be able to communicate was terrific. And we have more travel plans now. Bianca is going to Australia this summer, we're going to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa in the fall, and after that, we're going to move to Buenos Aires for a year.
Bianca: We'll teach English, Debbie will write, continue with her photography, and learn how to dance tango! Every couple of years, we get cabin fever and have to take off to another country. So when we saw Buenos Aires, we fell in love and were like, "All right, we're coming back."

TVG: You clashed with Rob a few times. What's your take on that stunt he pulled at the Roadblock? Brilliant strategy or flagrant cheating?
Debbie: I love the compliment Rob gave me: "That chick is tough. She's got the b---s to yell at me." That was my favorite part of the show. I was like "Right on." That settled [our conflict] for me; it's all good. We're more proud of ourselves if we play fair, but he did it a different way and that's life.

TVG: Were you aware that Rob had stolen your cab in Chile?
Bianca: No, we didn't know about that. We watched it for the first time along with the rest of the world. It is interesting and funny to see behind-the-scenes stuff like that. But we weren't shocked.

TVG: You were very vocal about wanting to be the first all-female team to win the race.
Bianca: That was definitely something that was important to both of us. We felt it was bigger than ourselves, and it was a chance to show that women are just as strong and just as tough [as the male teams]. And really, I think we accomplished that. Our lack of direction skills aside, I think we maintained our dignity and our strength throughout. I know for a fact that we have more guts than many of the men in our lives. That is what's unfortunate about the fact that we didn't win. We had what it took and luck wasn't on our side. It's about time that a women's team wins the race.

TVG: The show billed you as lifelong friends, but at times you seemed... er, more than that. Care to comment?
Debbie: We're lifelong friends, but I am aware of [the speculation]. I think it's a shame that people have to ask questions like that because it's obvious that they don't have a friendship like we have and have had our whole life. If only they could be so lucky. It says more about them than it does about us. Bianca has been with me my whole life. She's seen every triumph, every sorrow, every good, every bad, every boyfriend. She's my family.
Bianca: Also, culturally, my mother is Mexican and this is the way we behave. We're very touchy; we love each other and we're not afraid to tell each other. Life is too short to be boring and not love with all your heart. So that's where all the touching, kissing and loving came from. But we are definitely lifelong friends. We live on separate coasts right now. I live outside of Washington, D.C., and Debbie is in L.A. But we talk on the phone five times a day and visit each other often. Whenever we part, we always have a plan for a future trip to look forward to.

TVG: Bianca, settle a lingering question. Did you deliberately point Ron and Kelly to the wrong sandpile on the beach in Peru?
Debbie: We're glad you asked us this! We have to set it straight. I'm the one who went to go look for the piles, and Bianca somehow got the information wrong...
Bianca: Actually, Debbie, they did show what happened. If anyone has TiVo they can go back and look. I watched it again, and it showed that I said to Ron and Kelly, "There's a 7:00 and a 7:40 flight. I think the middle one is the 7:00." I don't know if they put the "I think" part in there, but they definitely showed that I told them there were two flights. When they got to the middle pile and saw it was 7:40, they should have gone on to the next one.
Debbie: That sort of thing adds drama to the show. And you have to understand, we were so far ahead of those people at that point. We were trying to help everyone. It was not intentional. Bianca is a very wonderful, honest, golden-hearted human being. We felt so horrible when we found out they thought that we had misdirected them. But then they got back at us by keeping us off the bus the next day!