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Key Points Kristine and Rubina raced to honor their late mother and strengthen their sisterhood. They survived a U-Turn but were ultimately eliminated after falling far behind in Croatia. “Bonded by trauma, and doing it for our mama,” their experience brought lasting personal growth. Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back! Every week, Parade’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team of Big Brother alumni and their loved ones most recently eliminated from the race. While Kristine and Rubina Bernabe are small in stature, their love of The Amazing Race looms large. The sisters developed a relationship in the wake of a downturn in their mother’s health, who they watched the show with growing up. And so, when they were given the opportunity to race themselves, they were filled with vigor. As they put in song, they were “bonded by trauma, and doing it for our mama.” 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 And so, when Kristine and Rubina started the race, they had the wind at their backs. Not only did they have the love of their late mother serving as inspiration, Rubina also had the love of Tucker Des Lauriers, her then-beau from Big Brother 26, and his brother Eric Des Lauriers. The two teams did not move in lock step, though, as many would have assumed. Between travel drama and task performance, the couple led relatively separate lives on the race, falling into different places in the pack. While they started in a strong fourth place, the sisters began to fall behind as the race went along. But despite the mounting pressures, they kept calm under Rubina’s credo: “Cry and rally.” The trip into Croatia served as the first real bunching point of the season, and Kristine and Rubina were hopeful for the opportunity to surge back to the front of the pack. That all fell apart though like a Croatian cart when they arrived at the U-Turn board. Joseph and Adam Abdin, in an effort to help save Izzy Gleicher and Paige Seber, had targeted them. Their parade was rained on in the rainy streets of Dubrovnik, as they were suddenly thrust into last place. But the two kept calm and carried nets, and they were able to nudge out an eighth-place finish to become one of the rare teams to survive a U-Turn. Unfortunately, that survival would not be for long. Starting the leg nearly an hour behind Izzy and Paige, the two spent the rest of their time in Croatia never seeing another team. But it allowed them to instead focus on each other, and how much The Amazing Race had given them the opportunity to change their relationship for good. Now, out of the race, Rubina and Kristine talk about their reaction to getting U-Turned, why they didn’t work with Tucker and Eric more, and what the two sisters learned most about each other on the race. Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 38 The Amazing Race is clearly a show that has meant a lot to your family. Rubina, what was your reaction when you found out you’d be getting the opportunity to race? And were you always going to pick Kristine as a partner? Rubina Bernabe: Well, yes, thank you for bringing this up. Because my reaction was immediately yes. I don’t even think they finished the sentence before I said, “Yeah, of course!” I called my sister immediately, 2 minutes after. I remember the call specifically. I was like, “Obviously, we’re doing this. There was no question.” And honestly, it was like maybe 10 days after I got out of the house, so I had zero recovery time or rest time. I was gagged that I was asked. But I will say in the house I kind of dropped a little hints like, “Hey, would love to do Amazing Race, wanna do Amazing Race, Amazing Race is the dream.” And honestly it really was always a dream. We grew up watching this show with our mom, who is no longer with us. So to be able to actually do it and live out this dream and be the first all-Filipino female team to be on the US Amazing Race is a dream come true. Kristine Bernabe: Yeah, super bucket list item. Rubina: And there was no other person I could have done it with. My dad was a little bit butthurt that it was not him. But we would have been cut before Jack and Enzo if it was him. It was always going to be my sister. It was always going to be Kristine. Kristine, you experienced Rubina being on reality TV months before filming, and all the pros and cons that came with it. So, what was your headspace when you decided to become part of a reality show? Was there any anxiety there? Kristine: Yes, oh my gosh. I had so many anxieties about that. Because we got a very gracious edit, for sure. Because we are sisters, we bickered. I was very anxious about what moments they were going to show, or low points. But luckily, those were barely shown. But also, Rubina was like, “Well, that’s showing real sisterhood anyway. So what are you even worried about?” But other than that, to be honest, when it came to the actual race time, I forgot about the cameras most of the time because I was so concerned beforehand. Rubina: When I saw the cameras there, I was like, “You’re not even gonna notice, girl!” Kristine: So after seeing her on Big Brother, and there’s all these cameras on her, but even that experience for her, she didn’t have camera people on her face. So that’s something that I was glad I realized throughout. I didn’t even think about them. I was so focused on what we had to do. And my competitiveness just came into play. Rubina: She’s the competitive one! For lack of a better term, it seemed like the two of you had a day to yourselves in Croatia before your elimination. Did you see any other teams? And what was the up and down line, feeling like you would stay in last place, only to be hit with a “may be eliminated” in the final clue? Rubina: We had a little bit of hope, of course, once we read the clue that said “may be eliminated.” Like everybody, we clocked that it said “may,” so we were like, “Oh, maybe!” But we did not see a single soul out there. Kristine: Not even regular Croatian people. Rubina: It was very desolate, much less people from the race. So once we were getting to each part of the leg, and realizing, “Well, it is literally just us,” our only hope was we may be eliminated. We did everything. I mean, we didn’t make any really, really big errors. Kristine: Yeah, I’m really proud of how we ran that leg. We were efficient, other than her glasses falling into the ocean. So, I mean, I do believe that we ran a strong leg, but there was just no opportunity unless somebody royally messed up. I mean, we were just so far behind. It was just a poorly planned leg, especially after our U-Turn. Rubina: We wish it was an equalizer. I feel like that would have made sense. But, you know, at the end of the day, it is what it is. We’re just grateful we survived the. U-Turn. How iconic! How many times did both teams survive the U-Turn? And for it to be the first time two female-female teams were U-Turned as well, and we both survived. I mean, how could we be mad at anything after that? Let’s talk about that U-Turn. What was your reaction to it in the moment? Have you been able to talk with Joseph and Adam in the intervening months about why they did it? Kristine: They are groveling to us constantly. [Laughs.] Rubina: We get “sorry” messages all the time. “We’re so sorry, we’re so sorry, we’re so sorry. Jag and Jas pressured us.” Kristine: Now they’ve seen what had to happen after that. Rubina: I have a voice note from them last night, actually, saying, “We’re so sorry.” Literally from last night. Kristine: No, but even when we were running along that leg of the race, there is a clip of me saying, “It’s not going to be us.” So we literally had no idea that we were even going to be an option, right? We look at all these strong teams. There’s two people with an Express Pass. Rubina: Logically, why would it be us at the back of the pack with no Express Pass and half the legs you have? So we truly did not expect to see our faces. It was utter shock. And in that moment, we were like, “Listen, we have to just do this. We don’t care.” Kristine: We didn’t have time to process. Rubina: We didn’t have time to be mad. Watching it back, we were mad! Oh, we let it out. [Screams and makes claws.] I have the tiger hat on right now. But we were like, “What the heck?! Why? Why us? We’re so little! There’s all these other people. There’s an Express Pass.” So yeah, we let the anger out now. But in that moment, we had to stay focused. And I’m glad we did, because obviously it worked in our favor. Kristine: We didn’t let it get to us. Obviously, Rubina, you were still with Tucker when this season was filming. And so a lot of people expected there to be an ironclad alliance between you two and him and Eric. But it seemed like, whether due to circumstance or otherwise, that didn’t really come to pass. Did you come into the race wth the plan to work independently from them? Rubina: Was that the case?! Would you say that that’s true, given that we were mostly at the back?! I mean, okay, we started off the race really strong in fourth, right? And then “train wreck” happened! And then it was really hard to move to the front. But I would say, listen, we’re all running our own races. However, given the U-Turn situation, if the shoes were on the other foot, would I maybe have considered [using it]? I don’t know, maybe! Maybe! But we’re all different people. We think differently. Maybe men and women also, in general, think differently. That’s fine! However, yeah, I felt a little bit salty. There were two other teams within Express Pass that maybe you could have just at least flushed those out. And at the end date, if you had to meet up with them again, be like, “Look, it’s all game. I needed to get one of those Express passes out to help our game.” Who would be mad about that? Also, compared to the Big Brother style that you played, kind of confusing to me. [Shrugs.] Kristine: I mean, it’s just not even from her personal standpoint about what their relations were at that time. But just the Amazing Race game, why didn’t they do it? Rubina: And I get it because you think you know we’re gonna have a target on their backs. But I feel like you inevitably would have a target anyway. So why would you not do something that helps your game?! Again, different people, respect. You thought that was better for you in that moment, and I wish you well. [Pause, then laughs.] Rubina, you at one point brought up the “cry and rally” approach to difficult moments. How tough was that to execute, especially as the race went along and emotions continued to mount? Rubina: Oh my gosh. I love that you brought up the “cry and rally,” because I really think this needs to be implemented in every household. I think that is a great strategy. Look, you’re gonna do whatever you need to do. But it’s okay that you need to cry about it first, then you need to attack it. The reason I was able to do it in the race is because it’s so stressful. I usually don’t even cry about those situations. But the reason I was able to do this is because, in regular life, girl, I’m crying and rallying all day, every day, for the last 36 years of my life! It is something that has helped me, especially with losing our mom. And a lot of situations where those are deeper and more real-world situations where I’ve had to just let myself feel what I need to feel, and then still get my head in the game of life. And in the race, that is something that I knew. Look, I know I’m gonna cry at some point. I know I’m gonna do it, but is that gonna get us eliminated? Absolutely not gonna. Am I gonna cry and be like, “Well, I guess I’m done here”? No. I’m gonna cry about it first, and then I’m gonna get it done. I’m so glad that became an episode title. Years ago, I made a “cry and rally” sticker. I feel like crying is not a weakness. I think that we need to reverse the idea that crying means you’re weak. Maybe it’s strong to feel what you need to feel and still do the thing. Couldn’t agree more! Finally, what did you learn most about the other person racing around the world together, considering how much your sisterhood had only developed in recent years? Kristine: I don’t know if this is like a learned thing. But it strengthened our sisterhood together. Because here’s the thing. Yes, we’ve been in an awful, traumatic experience together. But we also have never worked in a stressful environment like that together with a common goal, which is different. So just learning how to communicate and learning to work together, and seeing how she reacts in those situations. And she was just so supportive and never really lost her patience with me too hard and got us to focus on the common goal together. That’s really what I feel like made us strong throughout the race, and made me really overcome a lot of my anxieties. And that was really a memorable thing for me, and something that I learned from Rubina, because we really have never worked together in a stressful environment for a common goal, and how she was and how she just lifted us up when we were down, and just didn’t make anything too big of a deal. And I’m on the complete opposite. That was something that I’m going to take from the race for sure. Rubina: This is so great, because the thing about me is I am the one who loves to put myself, unfortunately and fortunately, in challenging situations. Whether it’s intentional or not, I love making myself rise to an occasion, and I put myself in those situations on purpose sometimes. And my sister, she does not! She’s the responsible one. She’s one who graduated four years of college. She had the 9-to-5. She’s like the child that you would imagine you would want to raise. And I am the black sheep; I’ve always been the black sheep. So I am so proud about the way that I saw her rise to the occasion in situations where she usually is the one who needs answers. “I need to know when, where, why, how.” And in this situation, you don’t know anything! You only know each other. All you have is each other. The only thing you know is to do this. So I am so incredibly proud of seeing you put all those anxieties and fears and worries to the side and get things done specifically.
