‘The Amazing Race’: Emily and Molly Answer if They Gained Twin Telepathy From Working Together
The Amazing Race 34 had a team of long-lost twins working together. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Emily Bushnell and Molly Sinert over Zoom on Dec. 8 about their journey of getting to know each other and making it to the finale.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from The Amazing Race 34 Episode 12, “The Only Leg That Matters.”]
Molly pranked Emilly at the beginning of ‘The Amazing Race 34’
Q: What is something that you learned about each other from this experience that would surprise viewers?
Molly: I guess, like, everyone thought like, ‘My gosh, two strangers basically coming together like this could be very disastrous and not successful.’ But we really did click almost immediately. Like our identicalness is like very identical.
I knew, like, how to nurture her, like when she was struggling in the car in Bologna. Like, I was thinking, like, ‘Oh, God, if this was me, I would not want someone trying to, like, direct me or tell me or, you know, I don’t know, fix the problem.’
I just sat back, and I said, you know, I’m here for you, whatever you need, and just let her cry it out. So it was interesting to see the techniques that how I would want to be treated is actually how she wanted to be treated. Is there anything like fun?
Emily: I learned I wish this was aired. I learned that my sister is a little bit of a prankster. She gave me a good scare during the first leg, so we were struggling getting to the saw challenge. And she had been dropping everything all morning.
I mean, that’s fanny pack the money, the clue, the keys. I mean, like, everything was spilled all over all morning in Germany. So we’re driving to saw, we’re getting lost. It’s a little bit you know, the tension’s there, it’s definitely high. And Molly says from the backseat, ‘Oh, my God. I lost the money.’
Molly: We needed money to park the car.
Emily: And here you are, totally stressed out. I promised my daughter we wouldn’t get out of the first leg. I’m just like, immediately like we’re done. We’re toast. She even had the camera guy and the sound guy in the car fooled like they were both like, ‘What?!’
Molly: I just needed to bring some levity to the whole moment.
Molly tried to set up Emily and Michael
Q: Are you surprised that Marcus said he was trying to encourage Michael to flirt with Emily since you both were single at the time?
Emily: I’m not surprised because this one was also trying to do that. [Points to Emily.] They were like in cahoots together. Michael, I adore you. I love him. He’s sweet but a little bit young for me [laughs.]
Molly: It would’ve been fun.
Q: You guys worked with the brothers at times with navigation. What went through your mind when they were eliminated?
Molly: We were so sad to see them go.
Emily: We were so disappointed. Oh, we wanted to be in the final three with them.
Molly: Yeah, they, I mean, they were really such a strong team. So to see Marcus sort of just kind of fall apart, I mean, watching that back to knowing he only had that back panel wrong, and he kept putting everything in the same way. I mean, you just hope that a moment like that doesn’t happen for your team. And it was really unfortunate. That set them back like 45 minutes.
Emily: Yeah. I think also being at that roadblock to the other in Malaga at that point, we knew it was going to be between the two of us and that just hurt our hearts.
Molly: We had a special bond with them. Just because of the nature of their relationship was that they don’t see each other that often. They’re siblings.
So they were also sort of having very similar discovery experiences as us on the race, and I would have loved to see them take it all the way to the finale. Not win it. We would have won it. [Laughs]
Emily fractured her tibias on ‘The Amazing Race’
Q: Emily, were you able to figure out how you injured your leg in Italy?
Emily: So I think what happened this is, and this is just a guess. You know, I’m not an athlete, so I don’t know much about sports medicine. But I think what happened was we did a lot of running in Italy. I think they said it was like nine miles.
So I think I was, you know, worn out. I know for sure I wasn’t hydrating enough. And then we got to Jordan, and that was when it was the start of the leg in the lobby run desert that I actually tore my muscle.
Molly: I, I speculate that because the train steps that we had to come down off of were very high off the ground in the sand. So when and also when you step down, your foot sinks.
So I feel like it was like you almost overstretched probably when you dropped off the train. She [wasn’t] complaining about anything until we started running in the sand, and she was like, ‘Oh my God, I just did something to my leg.’
Emily: It felt like a snap. So yeah, I mean, I think it was probably a combination of just worn-out muscle, probably didn’t stretch enough, probably wasn’t hydrated enough. All lessons to learn.
So the core muscle in my quad is what caused me to overcompensate on my left leg. And, you know, I was just trying to nurse that muscle, and it was too much for my left knee. And so I ended up coming home with two plateau fractures in my tibias.
Q: So what’s the recommended, like, recovery for that?
Emily: I had eight weeks of taking it easy and letting my bones heal. And then, I started physical therapy. So I was supposed to actually start my running regimen just recently. But I haven’t done it yet. I’m a little bit nervous, but, you know, I’ll continue the physical therapy, and I’ll start to work on my running again and just get back out there.
Molly and Emily’s birthday plan for their prize
Q: You won Expedia award points for Australia in Italy. You said it’ll be your birthday trip. When is that, and are you sticking to that?
Molly: Not going to happen, unfortunately, for a birthday. Our birthday’s March 29th.
Emily: And we still haven’t figured out how we claim this prize, but it will definitely plan a trip, hopefully for 2023.
Q: You said at the beginning that you guys didn’t have twin telepathy because you didn’t grow up together, but you found out you had a lot of weird similarities growing up. Do you think you developed any telepathy after getting to know each other for a bit?
Emily: I don’t know about developed telepathy. [Laughs]
Molly: I think we definitely learned more about each other and probably had a better inkling of what the other was thinking in those specific moments of decision-making.
But, you know, like watching, like Lulu and Lala, I feel like they are like real twins. We have quite a long way to go to be on that level of twin ship. But yeah, definitely learn more, you know? And I think physically our telepathy manifests like through how we sit and speak and I don’t know–
Emily: just react in certain situations, respond, reply.
Molly: I don’t know if I could communicate just looking at your eyes.
Emily: Our communication is a little lacking. We’re gonna work on that for the all-stars season.
This interview has been condensed for this article.
More ‘Amazing Race’ exit interviews from Showbiz Cheat Sheet
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Aubrey and David’s Advice to Future Alternates
‘The Amazing Race’: Marcus Says It Wasn’t ‘a Surprise’ to See Claire and Derek Helping Another Team
‘The Amazing Race’: Quinton and Mattie Reveal They Were Pulled Over, Rules in the Race, and More
‘The Amazing Race’: Glenda and Lumumba on Their Car Crash and Strengthening Their Marriage
‘The Amazing Race’: Abby and Will Dream for Round Two After Shocking Ending to Their Race
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Sharik Addresses Sabotage Accusations, ‘I Was Dying, so I Needed to Finish’
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Rich and Dom React to Sharik Almost Quitting and Their Own Stress
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Rex and Tim Reveal Their Routine to Drop 50 Pounds
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Aastha and Nina on Their Slow Start and Double Dates With Claire and Derek
