Matt and Michelle Patterson defended their competitive approach on The Amazing Race after their elimination sparked mixed reactions among viewers.
The married couple addressed criticism of their tactics during a Nov. 12 interview, following their elimination from The Amazing Race Season 39 the previous night.
Matt and Michelle Patterson fire back at critics
Michelle, 31, explained that she entered the competition with one priority: winning the $1 million prize.
According to Us Weekly, the mother of two said she had no interest in forming alliances simply to maintain friendly relationships with other contestants.
“I was just so head in the game, like, we are going to do whatever we can to win,” she told the outlet.
The couple was eliminated during Leg 8, when rival teams worked together to prevent them from catching up. Before their departure, Matt, 36, and Michelle had established themselves as strong competitors.
They won three consecutive legs and even secured third place during a leg in which other contestants voted to give them a U-turn disadvantage. However, their decisions throughout the competition also attracted criticism.
Some viewers accused the couple of behaving arrogantly and manipulating other teams. Others defended their approach, arguing that strategic competition made the show more entertaining.
Addressing the backlash, Michelle rejected suggestions that their gameplay had unfairly harmed their competitors.
She acknowledged that they had deliberately misled other teams about using their Express Pass. However, she maintained that the decision had not directly interfered with anyone else’s progress.
The Express Pass twist introduced in Season 39 had already raised questions about how teams might use the advantage to influence their competitors’ strategies.
“Like, yes, we lied about saying we used our express pass. Like, who does that hurt? Nobody,” she said.
Matt also defended their competitive mindset and questioned how far critics might go for the show’s prize money.
“Tell me what these internet people would do for $1 million, and then we could talk about what’s cutthroat,” he said.
Michelle further argued that their independent strategy involved less deception than the alliances other contestants formed.
She believed that avoiding partnerships helped them steer clear of situations in which teams might intentionally mislead one another. Matt shared similar concerns about the reliability of those alliances.
“Look how fake those alliances were between all these people of virtue, all these nice people. Fake. Their alliances didn’t hold a drop of water when it counted,” he said.
Despite their elimination, Matt and Michelle stood by their decisions and rejected criticism of their competitive approach.
The Amazing Race continues to air Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
