"We would have survived": The Amazing Race star Mark Romain shares how one mistake in France ended their run

Mark Romain, who competed alongside his husband Brett Hamby on The Amazing Race season 37, explained what led to their elimination during the France leg of the competition. Addressing the outcome in a May 9, 2025, interview with Nerdtainment, Mark identified multiple errors throughout the day as the reason for their exit.

"It was like 10 things went wrong, and if only one less went wrong, we would have survived," he said.

Despite having run strong legs earlier in the race, their decisions in France diverged from their usual strategy, ultimately ending their journey on The Amazing Race.

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Mark and Brett reflect on the decisions that ended their The Amazing Race journey

Early missteps at the start of the leg

Mark shared that the beginning of the leg immediately set the team off balance. Both he and Brett were operating with little rest and minimal food.

"We had slept only 30 minutes in 24 hours...We shared a small bag of McDonald's French fries, and that's the only thing we had eaten in 24 hours," he said.

The Amazing Race star mentioned that these conditions impacted their ability to make sound decisions. From the start, the duo encountered challenges that deviated from their normal race rhythm. Mark emphasized that in their previous race legs, they had consistently made solid choices and adapted well when difficulties occurred.

"In nine legs of the race, we made good decisions, and if something poor happened, we figured it out," he said.

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Breaking from their usual race strategy

One of the most significant setbacks came when Mark and Brett ignored their own established racing rules. According to Mark, this was unusual compared to how they had performed up to that point.

"We just made some… we were so stressed this like for some reason, we broke all the rules that got us this far," he stated.

The Amazing Race star underlined that these internal rules had effectively guided them through the previous legs, but under stress and exhaustion, they abandoned them. Brett also reflected on how the day felt off from the beginning.

"When you wake up on a day and the things are just like… you're not in the pocket… that was just our whole day," he said.

Mark pointed out specific moments they would have approached differently in hindsight. He said that these decisions, which contradicted their strengths and preferences, directly impacted their ability to stay competitive.

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Critical errors at both ends of the leg

The timing of their mistakes also contributed to their downfall. Mark stated that errors occurred not only at the beginning but also at the end of the leg, which made recovery difficult.

"I think our biggest mistakes were at the beginning of the leg and the end of the leg and those were the two worst parts of the leg to make the mistakes," he said.

Brett described the entire leg as a series of misalignments that prevented them from finding their rhythm. He explained that they were either too early or too late in their actions and could not reach the "center," meaning they struggled to stay on track throughout the day.

Although The Amazing Race duo could reflect clearly on their elimination, the nature of their exit, on a leg where they did not follow their usual approach,added complexity to the loss. As Mark concluded:

"It's really hard to reconcile, like, why did we run the leg that way when that's not the way we ran any other leg?"

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Catch The Amazing Race season 37 every Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET on CBS.