But it was Cormac and Nicole who made one simple decision that took them out. As noted in our exit interview, they did not read the Roadblock clue: Who has a steady hand? Because it was Cormac who is known for the steady in their family. But Nicole took on the task and it took her more than 20 attempts to finish. And strong team, a team that many thought could make it to the Final 3, was out. So here's what they had to say about that leg and their experiences on Amazing Race Canada.
G & W - What did you think of Mickey and Pete hitting on your mom in front of you?
Cormac - That was happening all through the race, that's just the first time the viewers see it. I had to fend off those guys quite a few times, it was pretty funny though, they are really great guys.
G & W - How did you feel going into the biathlon challenge?
Nicole - I believed I could do it, the biking was no problem for me but I believed I would get those targets. But I had no idea the targets would be so difficult to hit.
Cormac - I'm the one with the steady hand--
Nicole - —Yeah the joke in our house is that Cormac should be a surgeon because he's the one with steady hands, but we didn't read the question on the Roadblock.
Cormac - The question said 'Who has a steady hand?' and for some reason, I couldn't tell you why, we didn't answer the question.
G & W - Did you, and are you, second guessing yourself about that task, thinking Cormac should have done it?
Nicole - We have no idea what would have happened either way, if Cormac would have done it or not. We're proud of the way we ran the race, we just know that was a game changer for us. Who knows what would have happened if we made a different decision. We ran the race we wanted to, which was to be ourselves, run it with integrity and no matter what, finish what you start and run to the mat every time. And we did that.
G & W - How long were you at that Roadblock?
Nicole - Cormac is the better one to ask that because I had no concept of time.
Cormac - I was standing there, looking at my watch frequently, and we were there for two hours with the other teams. And then Mickey and Pete left and we were there for almost four hours after they left.
Nicole - All I know is that the camera on my bike stopped filming and at that point, I knew I had been there for a very long time if I outlasted the camera.
G & W - Where does that idea of never giving up come from within you?
Nicole - I was raised by a single mom myself and she demonstrated to me that you never quit, a very strong, independent woman and I have that as well. My whole life I have said you can do anything, don't give up, and I try to instil in Cormac that same thing. But the Biatholon challenge truly gave me a chance to demonstrate it. So as a parent you can say lots of things but to be able to show him that I was not going to quit, I thought this was a great opportunity, my actions would speak way louder than our words. We weren't going to take a penalty, we weren't on the race to take penalties and we were going to finish what we started and I was going to prove that to him. And though I wasn't going to quit, I did wonder what happens when it gets dark and Cormac said 'I guess they'll turn on some lights for you because we're not leaving till we're done'.
G & W - There were lots of shots of 'I love you' , 'I'm proud of you' but as a parent I know that happens but there are also other parts. So in race, maybe we didn't see, were you guys were butting heads or getting on each other's nerves?
Cormac- You know, we don't really fight or argue in that sense. And in the race it was the same way. The only time we were opposing each other's opinions was simple things like directions but we never fought.
Nicole - We have our own opinions, we are strongly opinionated, and we really don't fight. And going into the race, some people asked, 'Are you afraid of how they are going to depict you on the race?' and I alway said no because we are comfortable with who we are and comfortable with our relationship. So we actually don't fight, the race showed us who we really are. We actually hug, he does give me a kiss in front of his friends, we tell each other how proud we are of each other and how much we love each other so what you saw is true to our relationship. And we're hoping that can be an inspiration for other families out there, in parent/child relationship on how positive they can be.
G & W - Would you consider doing Amazing Race Canada All-Stars if it came up?
Cormac - In a heartbeat. If they called us tonight or tomorrow, we would say yes. I would drop school, anything.
Nicole - Even if they said the outcome would be the same, I would go tomorrow. It was the most fun experience of my life. We're both very competitive, we love travel, we were built for this show. Our experience was a little too short--
Cormac- —We were doing so well, just one decision, one challenge just cut that.
G & W - You were competing against some tough teams and with Cormac being the youngest competitor ever on Amazing Race Canada, did you feel intimidated or did you not worry about that?
Cormac - We didn't feel intimidated at all, we actually thought our youth was a benefit to us.
Nicole - Our story is our relationship but there is a lot that the other teams didn't know about me and my athletic career, I did track competitively, I played volleyball and what not. But we never discussed that but we both know how athletic we are and the strength that we have in the physicality department. So we weren't intimidated at all.
G & W - Cormac's at that age where he's looking to move with his life, so Nicole, did the race make it easier for you to let go and let him start his life.
Nicole _ I've been pretty confident about his ability to be on his own for some time, but I will say that this race has opened up my eyes to see just how strong he is. He is strong, not only physically but he has mental and emotional strength, and a supportive attitude that I don't know if I would have seen if we hadn't gone on the race. But yeah, I want him to spread his wings, I want him to travel, to go to school in different place and really explore what's out there. I'm so excited about what's in store for him.
G & W - Going into the race overall, what were you feeling?
Nicole - As I said earlier, we were built for this race and we knew that going in. We knew where each other's strength's would be, we knew when someone would have to step up. I felt very confident with Cormac, I knew whatever challenges he was going to take on, he was going to succeed at. We actually never thought we would hear Jon say 'You have been eliminated'.
Cormac - We expected we would be running to the final mat with the final three and that's what we expected.
Nicole - And I'm sure all teams do but we really, I mean in our heart of hearts, we never even had a conversation of Jon saying anything like 'You've been eliminated.'
G & W - While the episode was running and you were shooting, the hashtag #nevergiveupnicole was trending, what did you think about that?
Cormac - It was amazing to see how much me and my mom really inspired Canada and the support we have from Canadians.
Nicole - I didn't expect that at all. I didn't expect the outpouring of support from all of Canada, and actually the world because we got a message from Indonesia a moment ago. I mean, I just thought people would think we were cute, but I am so proud to be Canadians, so proud of Canadians and all the support they've given us. We want to be an inspiration to people and whatever we can do to spread some positivity and promote family and communication and positive relationship, we're all for.
G & W - You've done the race, you've had all the experiences, has that changed you live your life or are you just going to go back your regular lives.
Nicole - Life is not going to be the same at all. We're looking for the next adventure. I'm looking definitely pursue some passions I have, maybe media and television, I would love to get into any of that. I've wanted to pursue that but never been able to do that--
Cormac - —Working with tourism and Canada, anything like that.
Nicole - Anything to do with Canada and television, we're totally into that. We're hoping to being an inspiration and motivational for people around relationships and their families. And you know, I don't want to go back to the norm. We're trying to find all these different things to keep that going because we've realized life is way too short to be okay with life. We want to really have fun in life and explore the world and do that together.