"It was just really hard": The Amazing Race star Tucker opens up about struggling to complete the Roadblock in Leg 9

The Amazing Race season 38 stars Tucker and Eric Des Lauriers were eliminated from the competition in episode 9, which aired on November 19, 2025. 

In an interview with Parade, published on November 21, the brothers reflected on their journey, with Tucker explaining what went wrong at the Roadblock that ultimately led to their departure.

“It’s intense when you’re having that much pressure on you. So, I could obviously have remembered wrong, too. But I don’t know. It was just hard. It was just really hard,” Tucker said. 

In leg nine, the remaining teams had to race across Athens, Greece, and reach the Pit Stop before the last team in order to advance in the competition. 

Tucker and Eric, who had finished four legs as the top team consecutively, struggled at the Roadblock in episode 9, where they had to memorize 24 lowercase Greek letters and retell them correctly to pass the test. 

Tucker, who was completing the task, had difficulty memorizing the letters, which ultimately led to their elimination. 

While speaking with Parade, Tucked looked back on the leg, admitting he was unsure what went wrong during the Roadblock task.

Although he believed he was correct in his pronunciation, co-star Paige thought it was his accent that made things amiss. 

The Amazing Race contestants Tucker and Eric reflect on the Double U-Turn vote and their elimination

During leg nine, The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan surprised the contestants with a live Double U-Turn vote.

Tucker and Eric were one of the teams voted to have the disadvantage, which meant that they had to complete both Detour challenges before moving ahead in the race. 

While speaking with Parade, Eric mentioned that the other teams lost their cool and were “reacting hard” to the surprise.

Despite getting the disadvantage, Eric said that he and Tucker were “locked in, ready to go,” feeling confident, having finished four consecutive legs in the top spot. 

“We’re like, ‘We’re getting U-Turned. This is a badge of honor. Bring it on. Just go run with this,” he added. 

Tucker chimed in, saying he was “fired up about it,” introducing the rest of the players to the “fun” side of reality TV.

However, as viewers saw, it was not the U-Turn that thwarted Eric and Tucker’s plans, but the Roadblock that threw them off their tracks. Looking back on the challenge, Tucker said:

“I don’t really know. I was talking with Paige, I think it was the psi and chi. But she was saying, ‘I think it’s your accent.’ She ran by me and she was like, ‘Something happened with my accent. You gotta be careful about your accent.’”

The Big Brother star added that in his last four or five attempts, he said the same thing, but was not getting approved. According to him, he was “getting it right the whole time.”

However, he admitted he could have been wrong under pressure. Moreover, since the letters were jumbled, it increased the difficulty of the task.

“There were a number of times where the guy seemed like he was going to give it to me, and then he didn’t, that was at least three or four times. So, I was bummed,” Tucked said.

Tucker’s struggle at the Roadblock ended in his and his brother’s elimination from The Amazing Race season 38. 

Looking back on their journey and their performance, Eric said that it was their background in wrestling that made them better competitors than the rest.

He explained that wrestling taught them “mental discipline,” which helped them stay focused during the races and test their own limits. 

Stay tuned for more updates.