This week on The Amazing Race 21, Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale saw their time on the CBS reality series come to an end after getting lost in Indonesia.
Although Daniel and Amy, a double leg amputee with mechanical legs, gave it their all during the first two legs of The Amazing Race, the dating couple couldn’t make up ground after their cabs led them astray while looking for one of many Wijaya Motor businesses.
Despite a strong start in Indonesia this week, finishing second in the first Amazing Race challenge of the leg, Amy and Daniel hit the mat in last place in front of host Phil Keoghan.
How frustrating was it to be eliminated because of their unexpected cab experiences?
“It definitely was frustrating that we were unable to find the next clue as quickly as everyone else,” Daniel told The Deadbolt the next day. “Really, the cab drivers that we encountered were incredibly helpful, or as helpful as they could be. It definitely was frustrating that we were unable to find that location.”
For Amy, co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports with Daniel for people with physical disabilities, being eliminated so early was a disappointment.
“We’re athletes and we’re extremely competitive,” Amy added to The Deadbolt, “and that made it even harder knowing that we had exhausted all of our resources in trying to find that location. In that area, almost every business, hundreds of businesses, have Wijaya in the name. There were tons of Wijaya type motor businesses. We had pretty much gone to all of them. It was trial and error to find the right one, especially since our cab driver didn’t know the exact location.”
Upon meeting each other in 2002 while snowboarding in Colorado, Daniel didn’t know Amy had prosthetic legs. Although Amy lost her legs due at 19 due to Bacteria Meningitis, it hasn’t stopped her from doing all of the things she used to do beforehand.
Now that their time on The Amazing Race is over, how does Amy feel knowing that it wasn’t her prosthetic legs that slowed them down?
“I’m grateful for that,” said Purdy. “The fact is, I knew going into this race that no matter how athletic and skilled I may be, I was still running on mechanical legs and something could go wrong at any time. We were prepared for it. But it’s funny, the majority of stuff in our backpacks was bike equipment. We sacrificed a lot of comfort just to make sure we had what we needed in case there was a mechanical failure.”
Unfortunately for both Amy and Daniel, it was a lack of clear directions and multiple cabs that led to their elimination.
Still, Amy did have a few early concerns before starting The Amazing Race.
“Going in,” Amy continued, “my biggest fear was thinking, what if something happens with my legs? I’m not just representing myself but I’m representing an entire community of people who are so capable and so able. I wanted to be a strong representation of that, and I think that I was. I’m so grateful. My legs felt so good. And that’s part of where the tears were coming from, was realizing that my legs aren’t playing a big role in this. I’m running just like everyone else and I’m ready to keep going. Unfortunately it was cut short for us.”
What did you think of Amy and Daniel on The Amazing Race 21?