Amazing Race Loses Its MoJo

They tried and tried, but last week Team Mojo lost its, um, mojo in Thailand when Monica collapsed under the pressure of racing for 28 days and dropped a few too many clay pots. Now, in tonight's season finale of The Amazing Race 9, three teams run for the border and the $1 million prize. Who'll crack next? "Frat Boys" Eric and Jeremy get the Arkansans' vote. "They're the best, most consistent team so fit and smart," Monica says. "They deserve to win."

TVGuide.com: Did you think you'd make it to the final four?
Monica: We thought we had a pretty good chance to make it to the final three!

TVGuide.com: And what happened?
Joseph: S----y cabdrivers happened!

TVGuide.com: True, a lot of The Race is out of your control, with cabdrivers and people who don't speak English. Where did you have the best cabbie?
Monica: In Italy, after Palermo which I know how to pronounce now, thank you we said to our cabdriver, "Would you stay with us and let us follow you to the Castle?" He led us there and when we got there, he spoke to all the locals.
Joseph: That guy was amazing. He not only drove really fast and knew right where we were going, but he was a huge help. We made up all that time on the Hippies and Eric and Jeremy. We arrived three hours behind them and were right behind them coming in [to the pit stop].

TVGuide.com: You also made up a lot of time after the Hippies yielded to you in Lake Bennet, Australia.
Joseph: The didgeridoo part was key you have to really read into those clues. It said, "Play one note." You could get that note in one minute... or in 10.
Monica: Right. We knew that wasn't going to be very hard. And being in a river [for a mile would have taken] longer.

TVGuide.com: What do you consider to be the biggest mistake you made?
Joseph: Probably when we didn't ask our cabdriver to stay when we did the pots [in Koh Kret, Thailand]. I wish we would have said, "Hey, man, will you stick around? We'll pay you!"
Monica: When we were done with the pots, we were pretty even with Ray and Yolanda. The [camera crew] was saying, "Don't give up." But finding a cab took 20 minutes. There's no question in my mind that we would have been in the top three if we'd had a cab.

TVGuide.com: Monica, have you ever cried so much in your life?
Monica: [Laughs] It's really tough. Sleep deprivation and being where you can't eat anything... it gets to you. In the fish market, my arms were bleeding and having allergic reactions, so I cried. But [on screen] it doesn't look like that's what happened. It just looks like I didn't like the fish.

TVGuide.com: Which was worse: carrying the swordfish or the clay pots?
Monica: Oh, carrying the clay pots!
Joseph: That was a longer walk around half a mile  and it was more tedious in the sense that you were carrying a 10-foot board, zigzagging in and out of these sidewalks in the Thai market. You could barely nick the end of your board and pots would fall off. It was a lot harder than it looked.

TVGuide.com: Monica, now that the race is over, do you still wish the Frat Boys hadn't given B.J. shoes? The dude was barefoot!
Monica: Yes, because you can't get on the plane if you don't have shoes. If he really needed shoes, he could have gone back for them, because he lost them.

TVGuide.com: Wow, no remorse!
Joseph: No remorse. You're on a race. Why would you help someone out? We couldn't understand that strategy with the other teams.

TVGuide.com: But didn't other teams help you out?
Joseph: Sure. But when someone comes in last place and gets noneliminated, twice... we're not going to give them any help.

TVGuide.com: Refresh our memory: When exactly did you and the Hippies become enemies?
Joseph: They started the war, actually, in Oman when they told Eric and Jeremy they wanted to yield us. That came out of left field. We didn't know what we had done to them to make them want to do that.
Monica: They also stooped to a new level by making up rumors about me and Eric, which we didn't appreciate.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of flirting and things going on, there are a lot of couples. Is there time for sex on the race?
Joseph: [Long pause] I don't know. You're very tired at the end of each leg. I don't know about the other teams.
Monica: According to Fran and Barry, it ruined their sex life.

TVGuide.com: Last question: If you had gone for the fast-forward in Thailand, do you think you would have been able to eat the crickets?
Joseph: I definitely think we would have given B.J. and Tyler a run for their money.
Monica: I've never eaten a cricket. But I'm not one of those people who are like, "Ew, a bug! I'm not eating that." I would make myself eat it.
Joseph: This isn't Fear Factor where you can't throw up. I definitely think we could have shoved in a handful and then thrown up and ate some more.

TVGuide.com: Joseph, in your final episode, you mentioned that Monica was the woman you wanted to marry. Have you officially asked her yet?
Joseph: I have not officially asked Monica yet. I'm a very surprising kind of guy.

TVGuide.com: So what's next for you two?
Joseph: Monica's graduating college this weekend.
Monica: I'm going to do real estate for a little bit. Joseph's a developer, so I'm going to sell his houses. Then hopefully I'll get into PR, maybe for a nonprofit. It's what I've always wanted to do.