Amazing Race's Steve and Allie: Elimination "Hard to Swallow"

After a winning leg in the Seychelles (at the expense of losing their bags), the father-daughter duo Steve and Allie Smith ran a muddled leg in Malaysia and were eliminated on Sunday's Amazing Race. "Being in sports, that's what happens sometimes. You have a great day one day and a horrible one the next," Steve, the Cleveland Indians third base coach, tells TVGuide.com. "I'm not saying we were the best team, but we were good and we felt like we were on a roll and had a good opportunity to win. One little thing knocks you out." In this case, it was multiple, direction-challenged cab drivers. Find out how much time they bled shuffling between Detours, what Allie, 23, blames herself for, and what Steve, 57 — who won a World Series ring with the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies — wishes he had in Malaysia.
TVGuide.com: You started the leg well, but things unraveled after you got out of the cab to run to the temple. Do you regret doing that?
Steve: No, because we were in front of Jordan and Dan, and we met up with our cab halfway, so we had an advantage over them since they had to walk the rest of the way. The problem, of course, was that we all went to the wrong temple. I wish [Dan and Jordan] had stolen our cab because basically the guy had no idea how to get anywhere! Running took about 15 to 20 minutes. We saw Mike and Louie in their cab go by. They actually went to the same [incorrect] temple we went to. We felt we were OK because it was a nice little run and it would get our adrenaline going.

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TVGuide.com: You switched Detours to do the flags, which you couldn't do. They didn't show much of you there, but did you spend a long time trying to do it before switching back?
Allie: We definitely spent more time there than they showed. We tried, and it was challenging. The wind was picking up, and the demonstrator had trouble doing it, so it's like, "How am I going to do it?" I mean, the cowboys, they're bull-riders. This is right up their alley. They made it look so easy. It was, like, a 32- or 40-foot-long — I don't know how long it was — flagpole on my head. I couldn't imagine running with that thing! TVGuide.com: How heavy was it?Steve: It weighed enough that I don't think your neck could hold it. When it was on my head, I was like, "Wow! I don't think Allie can do it because it's way too hard." ... Allie kind of blames herself, but honestly, I don't even know if I could've done it. When we watch the show and see people switch Detours ... we felt like we should never do that, but we had to. And we originally wanted to go there because we thought anything athletic we'd do, but our first driver didn't know where that was ... When we finally saw the flags, though, it was like, "Whoops!"

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TVGuide.com: And then your new cab left you high and dry there.
Steve: [Laughs] Yeah! Some detours are close together, but unfortunately, these two were so far apart. So we had to get a new cab, which took awhile. Even if we found a cab right away, it was 20 minutes to the other place. It was a combination of things. It was strange how we went out. It wasn't because of something we couldn't understand; that was always my fear. ... And you know, Allie and I weren't going to get mad and yell at the drivers because we were guests in their country, and they were trying to do their job.TVGuide.com: How glad were you to see Dan and Jordan still at the temple when you arrived?
Allie: I was shocked because we went across town, tried the flag, had trouble finding a cab, and they were still there. I guess they had tons of trouble getting there as well. We made up some time on them, but no one made a huge mistake this week. It just shows how luck-based it is when the week before, [teams] one through six were in the exact reverse order. The cowboys could've been out last week and then they had an amazing leg this week.Steve: Watching the show, some of the other teams struggled with the incense. We did it pretty fast. I think we did it faster than anyone else. When we came out, what a disappointment — we didn't have a cab again! So we lost another 20, 30 minutes. I don't know how far behind we were, timewise.

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TVGuide.com: Did you ever get back your bags that you left in the Seychelles?
Allie: Yeah, after we were eliminated in Malaysia, they gave them back. They were always going to give them back [after our run on the show]. We didn't even know they had them. We were just like, "Oh, we lost our bags."TVGuide.com: Some viewers think maybe it was a good thing you were eliminated since you weren't going to have your bags the rest of the way.
Steve: We were fine because we had less to carry. We had everything we needed. Malaysia was warm. We had our passports, money. If [we were going to be in] cold weather, we had clothes. Louie [offered] his underwear. I was like, "Yeah, thanks. Like I could fit in your underwear anyway!" We bought a few things. We were going to be OK.TVGuide.com: Did you have duct tape?
Allie: [Laughs] We did not have our duct tape anymore! But after the car incident [in France], we used it all up anyway, so it was gone. It wasn't a huge roll; it was just a small little one.

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TVGuide.com: What happened with the car? What did you hit?
Steve: We parked in a busy street to ask for directions. I knew there was a tree with bricks outlaying it, but I couldn't see it. When I backed out, we were in a hurry and I hit it. It was, like, my first accident ever, and it was actually the first car I was ever in that had a beeper. I thought the beeper was my Allie's alarm. I'll tell you what — I wish I had that car in Malaysia! I wish we were allowed to drive there. To lose because of yourself, I can handle it. But to lose because of some guy in Malaysia, that's hard to swallow.