Amazing Race's Leo and Jamal: It's Déjà Vu in the Worst Way

For the second straight Amazing Race, Leo and Jamal came thisclose to making the final three. Like last season, they started Sunday's All-Stars semifinal leg in first place, but dropped back to fourth after getting lost en route to Bolesworth Estate in England. "The fact that we came short again in the same position, it was déjà vu in the worst way," Jamal tells TVGuide.com. "That's the toughest. I wouldn't have minded if we had gotten out earlier but the fact that we were right there and almost had a 33 percent chance of winning again, that's the hardest." See what else the Afghanimals have to say about their exit, why they didn't U-Turn Brendon and Rachel, and what happened to the GPS in Leo's brain.

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Do you know how far behind you were?
Jamal: We were about 30 minutes behind. ... We didn't see [Brendon and Rachel] because when we got there, no cars were there. All the clothes were gone. We saw some commotion in the foreground, but I don't know if that was them. Their clothes were already returned and everything.So you knew you were last.
Leo: Yeah. After we got the first eight shots in the pigeon-shooting Detour, then it sank in, like, "Oh, great." But we thought we were still in it because the driving was so difficult, so we thought someone could get lost. We didn't give up.How did you get lost so many times?
Jamal: We were pretty good with directions the whole race. Other teams were following us, and the one time we really needed directions, we asked every local there. No one had any idea as far as where that estate was. ... It was pretty tough. We should've taken a different route instead of asking locals. We should've tried to print out something or get a map.Leo: It was really ironic because in other episodes, between Jamal's driving and my navigation, we caught up with so many teams. In Italy, we passed three teams. That's how great our driving was. The next leg, without directions, in Switzerland, we got around phenomenally. Even last night, they didn't show it, but we drove about five hours on the wrong side of the street after leaving the airport and we got to the first clue at the hotel about two, three hours before everyone else. So we really were confident in our driving. It was like everyone kept saying, "It's that way," but they didn't know which way it was. We were trying to be as conscious as we could by asking people.What happened to the GPS in your head, Leo?
Leo: [Laughs] It was there, but it got kind of blurred up in Northern Wales. It was having a malfunction.Jamal: What we should've done was follow Dave and Connor [after the Roadblock]. That was, I think, one of our biggest mistakes. We were so cautious of not letting other people follow us, but knowing we were the last two teams leaving from the Welsh poem, which was so hard to do, we should've just waited for them for two minutes and followed them. They left there last and finished the leg first.Leo: That's one of the things we probably would've changed, but how everyone followed us in Switzerland, we didn't want people following us because we thought we'd be good. We took a risk and it didn't pay off. We did the shooting pretty fast, so if we had waited for them, the Accidental Alliance would've been in the final three since Brendon and Rachel got the wrong shoe sizes.

Amazing Race's Jet and Cord: Navigation was our downfall

Is this elimination harder than last time? You started off well in first place and ended up fourth both times.
Jamal: I think both eliminations are just as tough just because we finished fourth both times. We just want to get in the final three and get a fair shot at the $1 million. 
Leo: I think for me it was the last one. I did the robot and you could see it slipping away because we knew that was the last Roadblock. This one, we weren't seeing it slip away, but we felt it slipping away. It was a little easier. We knew it was out of our hands because of the directions. It was tough both times.
Last time, you were very content to do your own thing and your personalities rubbed a lot of teams the wrong way. People thought you were manipulative for some reason. This time, you obviously were in the Accidental Alliance. Were you consciously trying to befriend and work with more people?
Leo: Last time, people were so old-fashioned and really glued to ethics. We wanted to be close with everyone. ... When it came down to the wire, last season, three teams ganged up on us, and we didn't want that to happen to us again. We were close with Dave and Connor, and Jen and Caroline, so we made a pact to get the three of us through to the very end. We were going to U-Turn Brendon and Rachel or Jet and Cord. We never promised who it would be. It may have seemed like we lied, but we never promised who we were going to U-Turn. When Jamal messed up his knee, it swayed toward Jet and Cord because they are fast, they're strong, they finish Roadblocks like no other. We really look up to them. We had to take someone out to benefit us with the injury that we had.
Jamal: The alliance was with three teams. We never told the cowboys or Brenchel we weren't going to U-Turn them. We knew we would U-Turn one of them. There's a bonus clip on CBS.com called "Friendly Advice" that shows we're contemplating who to U-Turn. Dave and Connor were talking to us, and we're throwing out different scenarios.
Leo: We actually talked more with Brendon and Rachel than Jet and Cord during the race. Jet and Cord really ran their own race.
Would you have U-Turned the cowboys if Jamal didn't injure his knee?
Leo: I don't know. It was 50-50. We saw Brendon and Rachel's backpacks, so we knew the last two teams were Jet and Cord, and Jen and Caroline, and our alliance was with the girls. So we knew if we didn't U-Turn Jet and Cord, Jen and Caroline might be out.
Do you know why Dave and Connor were so worked up about getting U-Turned? You guys have been U-Turned three times total and handled them all well, but they were so angry about theirs.
Jamal: The U-Turn is part of the game. That's what a lot of teams don't understand. If you get U-Turned, you're supposed to take it in stride. You were U-Turned for a reason. If you're not last already, you're probably one of the best teams or the biggest threats. The best thing to do is to go into a U-Turn expecting to be U-Turned and if you don't, it's a bonus. When Dave and Connor got U-Turned and they U-Turned us, we're not going to sit there and complain. That just wastes time.
Leo: I don't know why they were complaining as much as they were. It's part of the game and whatever the reasons that Brendon and Rachel had, it probably makes sense, and for Dave and Connor to U-Turn us, that probably makes sense, so you just have to deal with it. We survived three U-Turns. Sometimes things turn out the way they're supposed to and sometimes they don't.
Jamal: Yeah, you should be honored to get U-Turned! [Laughs]

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They see you as a threat.
Jamal: Exactly! Look at it as a good thing. Once it's done, it's done. Just go and do the tasks.What are you up to now?
Jamal: Working, running our businesses here. I'm based out of Orange County and just running a real estate company and a car dealership out here.Leo: I have a bar in Pasadena called The Speakeasy and might be running for mayor! So keep an eye out. Instead of happy hour, it'll be called Afghanimal Hour. Stop by for a drink!The Amazing Race All-Stars airs Sundays at 8/7c on CBS. Catch up on the season here.(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)