Amazing Race's Jaymes and James: We Had a Lot of Taxi Trouble

Don't tell Jaymes and James they lost The Amazing Race yet. "Somebody did actually tweet that we won, so I retweeted it! I was like, "'Yeah!'" Jaymes tells TVGuide.com. "Spreading false information! [We'll] hashtag 'sorry, Josh and Brent'! We're proud of what we got. We got a silver medal in The Amazing Race. That's freakin' awesome. What an accomplishment for two guys who couldn't even find the abacus lady in the first leg to make it to the final leg in the Race." Despite falling behind early on the final leg, the fan-favorite Chippendales made up time at the final Roadblock, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Beekmans. Find out how close they were.

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What was going through your head when you saw that you were second? You looked so devastated afterward.
Jaymes: We had two goals. Goal No. 1 was to win this money for our families, to take care of James' mom and to take care of my dad. Goal No. 2 was to get through the entire Race and to have a great time doing it. We accomplished the selfish goal of completing the last leg and we had hope we could win until we saw them. We're OK with second, but when you go on the Race with a goal like we had, it sucks to let your family down. ... That was the first time on the whole Race I was actually speechless. James had my back there. I was devastated. The cameras shut off and I didn't know I could cry like that. I just had to go to the corner and have a second after it was over because I really thought we were going to win. We really felt like we had something extra to make it happen.James: You're grateful for the experience, but you also want to bring something back to the people who helped you out. While it was exhilarating to make it to the final three and come in second place, it was disappointing to not be able to help our families the way we originally intended and set out to do.How far behind were you?
James: It was mere minutes. I don't know how it looked on TV, but it was mere minutes. The last challenge was really tough. Everyone struggled with it.Jaymes: We had a lot of taxi trouble that you didn't really see. ... Our biggest challenge then was finding Gotham Hall. We thought it was something Batman was at! [Laughs] Finally, a police department helped us. ... We got to that last challenge pretty far behind. Because everyone struggled, I don't think many people realized how fast James did that. We didn't know the "hellos" and "goodbyes," but we did learn "please" and "thank you" because that's what you should learn to be polite. We had a good knowledge of what the languages were.James: I could kind of sound it out for certain countries where I knew the flag and I felt pretty confident. I felt like I was able to make up some ground as far as the time we lost from being behind after the boardwalk. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite fast enough to close the gap and pass Josh and Brent.Do you think the time you wasted at the boardwalk did you in?
Jaymes: No. I think it was our taxi trouble, to be honest. We had amazing taxis the entire Race and it finally caught up to us. I would love to do a Race where there were no taxis. Whenever we had to drive, we were first or second. ... It's nothing against these taxi drivers. They can't possibly know every location in every city. No one's the Yellow Pages. It's just unfortunate our bad taxi luck kicked in trying to find Lombardi's, trying to find Gotham Hall. I don't even know when we got lost because we don't know our way around the city! We saw the sights, so that was nice! [Laughs] We circled Lombardi's about 16 times before we got there. Then our taxi driver just took off and left us in the dust.How long did it take for you to see the sign at Coney Island?James: We had tunnel vision at that stage. It was the last leg and we were absolutely certain it was going to be some crazy ride. We just completely missed it. But even at that point, we weren't that far behind. They discovered it a little quicker, but it wasn't fatal. But then our taxi left us! All those little setbacks add up until you have a bigger time deficit than you started with.

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Do you have poor observational skills? You missed the abacus lady during the first leg and now this.
Jaymes: [Laughs] We even said that this was the doggone abacus lady in New York City. Here she is and we can't find her again. But on the first leg, it took us from the front to the back. We really were not that far behind after the New York abacus lady. How strong was the alliance between you, Natalie and Nadiya, and Trey and Lexi?
Jaymes: The alliance may have looked intense, but it was just working with people that you've clicked with and spent time with. I think what people forget when they watch is that we Racers don't see everyone or everything. You do at home because the show is edited to show everything and everyone. We enjoyed Trey and Lexi's and the twins' company. We hadn't met the Beekmans really. We had been separated from them and when we spent time with them in Spain and France, we were like, "Oh, we like you guys too! Let's race around France together!" I think had we met Josh and Brent earlier, we would've had a great time with them and we probably would've had an alliance of four. And we're so happy they won. But it's weird how you could be running the Race and not get to know anyone for days. We didn't even get to talk to James and Abba until Russia.

Abbie and Ryan said you guys had an alliance early on and that's why they were so upset with you U-Turning them. Did you?
Jaymes: We didn't want to do that to anyone. We met a lot of amazing people on the Race.
How's your dad doing?
Jaymes: My dad's a fighter. You tell him that he has incurable cancer and he's going to say, "Hey, I'm going to show you that it actually is curable." He's in a huge treatment plan of chemo and radiation. We started a website to help with all the expenses that come with it, www.forgetcancernow.com. If every Amazing Race fan donated $1, we could take care of everything. People don't realize the value of $1. It's been amazing just seeing the support from people. My dad's prescriptions are $2,500 per prescription. I want to call my parents and say, "Hey, this is paid for." James and I believe that your parents take care of you when you're a kid and then you take care of them when you're an adult. We were given this platform for a reason. I firmly believe that we were put on a national television show at this time, even though we did not win, to still raise the money to take care of my dad.
Are the cars a nice consolation?
James: Do we actually get cars or do they just say that? [Laughs]
Jaymes: I can't wait to see James give his mom the car. That was his goal: I can't wait to get my mom a car with the $1 million. We were neck-and-neck with Trey and Lexi, and we just happened to get there before them and I think it was because James' mom was supposed to get this car. I'm giving my parents my car and they're gonna sell it to pay for my dad's medical expenses. The trips are nice, but the cars can help our parents. It was definitely the best leg for us to win besides the final leg.

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What else are you up to?
Jaymes: When's the next Race start? We're ready to go back!You're a shoo-in for Unfinished Business 2.
James: That sounds great to me! I'd love to go through the experience again. I'd love to do an All-Stars.Jaymes: It was so fun. You gotta go do it. I tell everybody I meet that they have to do it. But we're at the Rio seven nights a week! James' band My Name Engraved is releasing new music.James: We recorded a new EP. It should be out next month.Jaymes: I have a brand new single coming out as well called "Tonight." And just making the most of life. You never know what day's your last, so live life to the fullest. That was reflected on the Race. You never know what leg is going to be your last, so run it like it's your last and enjoy it.