Amazing Race's Shelley on "Horrible Mistake," U-Turn Karma and Nici's Pee Problem

When Shelley and Nici said they drove around Morocco aimlessly for three hours onThe Amazing Race, it was no exaggeration. "We ended up lost for four, so we undersold it," Shelley tells TVGuide.com. "We knew we were going home. The only way we would've survived is if there was a non-elimination, but they had just had one." The mother-daughter bid farewell under much quieter circumstances than their massive Pit Stop blow-up two legs prior and followed Keith and Whitney out, just one leg after their mat spat. See what else Shelley had to say about their final leg — which she hasn't watched — why they didn't purposely target Keith and Whitney for the U-Turn last week and if Nici, who was unavailable for this interview, peed during any other tasks.

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What was it like watching the episode?
Shelley: I actually did not watch it. I watched all of them, but not that one. I couldn't bring myself to watch us go out. ... Maybe 20 years from now [I'll watch]. After Nici and I get a second chance on All-Stars! [Laughs] After we win All-Stars, I can go back and watch this one. It hurts to know where you made your mistakes. To see it play out on screen, I'm like, "I can't do that!"How far behind were you at the end?
Shelley: Two hours. We knew we were last. We thought we were actually further behind than that because we were lost for four [hours]. ... I totally understood how Moses felt wandering through the desert. [Laughs]Why didn't you stop and ask for directions instead of driving for three hours?
Shelley: We did ask for directions, but the directions we were getting from people were, in our minds, messing with directions we were given on the clue about how to get there. We were told to drive through the town, but the directions on the clue don't say drive through the town. It says you're supposed to make a turn. We just didn't listen to the people. I know! They live there! Why are we questioning people who live there and drive there every day? It was a horrible mistake. Hindsight's 20/20.So you figured the best thing to do was keep driving?
Shelley: Pretty much! Nici had said, "I think we should we should go this way." But because what had happened the previous episode where I was right and she was wrong, she took a backseat this time when she shouldn't have. I told her later, "You were driving. You could've gone wherever you wanted to go!" What am I gonna do? Hop out the car and say I'm not going? But we were getting along so well that she was afraid to rock the boat. She wanted us to keep working together as well as we were. We determined that next time, we're just gonna fight all the way through it! Because apparently we're better that when we're angry at each other!Did you consider working with Amy and Maya, or Tim and Te Jay and following them?
Shelley: Yeah. We worked with teams on several of the legs. ... We were following Tim and Te Jay, but we got separated after we got into our cars. We didn't know where they went. All the cars look alike. 

Amazing Race's Keith and Whitney: We shouldn't have fought with Shelley and Nici

When you found out you had to drive yourselves, you looked like you had seen a ghost.
Shelley: Yes, I wasn't happy about that at all. I was concerned with anything with navigation. I'm a terrible driver and I can't see on any given day! On the other leg, I was driving and she was the navigator. I drive like a grandma, so we felt better if she took over both tasks this time around because she can drive and navigate! She unfortunately had both jobs, so I was really useless. Can you not read maps?
Shelley: We didn't have a map. Stopping at the local gas station to get a map, that works in the states. There's no place to stop and get a map there. If we had a map, it would've been a different ball game because, as you saw in Copenhagen, we got through barely asking for directions. I think we asked one or two people. We had a map and she was navigating.Let's talk about your spat with Keith and Whitney. What's your side of the story?
Shelley: Poor sportsmanship on their part. We know the race rules: Both members need to be on the mat to receive the next clue. When Nici and I went to the mat, he came up next to us. He put his arm out to block Nici from giving the piece of paper to the clue-giver so we could get the clue. I was like, "You can't do that. Your partner's not even here." I pushed his arm out of the way, hence his pushing comment. I was like, "What are you gonna do? You're cheating!" That's when [Whitney] finally ran up behind us. It was just like, get your clue and go. But instead of them taking the high road at the time, saying, "OK, we probably shouldn't have done that," it was, "We're gonna get those bitches" as they're running. I was like, "Really? You're gonna get me when you're in the wrong?"They did say afterward that they shouldn't have done that and should've let you guys go first because they knew that was why you U-Turned them. Would you have U-Turned them if you hadn't fought?
Shelley: Yes, but they didn't get U-Turned because of that. This is where karma came into play. We knew we needed to U-Turn someone because we didn't have our bags and we had to pay our cab. We didn't know we'd be in the square all day long. ... We found probably the only Moroccan person who spoke fluent Spanish. Nici speaks Spanish and you saw she negotiated our day rate with him. ... We wouldn't let him go and left our bags in the cab. So we needed to get our bags after the Detour and we needed time. In the race, minutes were important. If we didn't U-Turn someone, in the time it took for us to leave the square, go all the way out where the taxis were, anything could've happened. So it was like, whoever's still down there twirling, we're U-Turning them. Keith is, like, six-foot-three, six-foot-four, wearing bright yellow. How hard do you think it was for me to see him? It's Big Bird! There he is! That's why we say it's karma because it turned out that Maya and Amy were down there too. I could've spotted them first ... but it was a 30-second decision. There he is, U-Turning. But a part of you was happy you saw Keith and Whitney first because of what happened, right?
Shelley: Yes. I will not lie. We like Maya and Amy. I wouldn't have wanted to U-Turn Maya and Amy. I would've because only one of us could win the $1 million. It turns out I made friends on the race, but that wasn't the intent when I went. We can all be nice to each other, but I have to beat you!You both have really fiery personalities, but did it surprise you guys how much you fought?
Shelley: The Pit Stop fight was a little over-the-top. We figured we would fight. Our friends were like, "I can't wait to see you go at each other!" Before the race, we said, "We are not fighting. We are not the team that fights. No one likes a team that fights all the time." You can say something, but once you're in the thick of things, it happens. We are fiery personalities. It's funny because I was trying to coordinate something with her this morning and she wasn't listening to me. She was like, "Oh, my God! It's like being on the race all over again!" Since she's not here to defend herself, did Nici pee during any other tasks? You can reveal all.
Shelley: [Laughs] Oh, my God! Here's the backstory to that. A previous team, Jen and Kisha, lost because they had to go to the bathroom. We promised we would not do that. If you have to go, you go right there. We're not stopping, we're not running around looking for a bathroom. In the heat of the moment, that's what was on her mind. She was like, "We pinky-sweared!" I was like, "I understand, but you didn't have to tell the world you were doing it!" Just go in the water and go.

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That was the perfect task for it. You were on the water.
 Shelley: Exactly! I was like, "Trust me, when I went on the side of the boat, I took care of business too, but I didn't tell anyone!" [Laughs] No one would've known. She was like, "Oh." I was like, "Lord, you're killing me child. You know that's going to be your claim to fame for the rest of your life. You're the girl who peed on The Amazing Race." "Yeah, I know." She might've peed again, but we don't know. She didn't tell me. That day, she wanted to hydrate. She drank so much water. She was like, "I don't wanna be dehydrated. Remember when that team fainted?" We had all these things in our head of mistakes other teams had made.Yeah, but you were in London. London's not hot. It rains.
Shelley: That's what I said to her! I was like, "We are in London! It's not hot here. You're not gonna be dehydrated!" There were a lot of shaking-my-head moments.But we got that moment, so it was worth it.
Shelley: Totally!The Amazing Race airs Fridays at 8/7c on CBS. Check out our behind-the-scenes footage from the start line:(Full disclosure: TVGuide.com is owned by CBS.)