Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle didn’t want to leave “The Amazing Race” on a “cow pie-filled field in Farmer John underwear,” but that’s exactly what happened when the professional poker players decided they couldn’t complete the Detour challenge and were eliminated.  

“We kind of looked back and laughed, saying, ‘Oh wow that’s going to be our walk away shot, out there in that field in these ugly clothes, the butts hanging down to our knees … (but) it was comical to end it right there and I think we’ll have very fond memories of the cow fields of Amsterdam from now on,” says Tiffany with a laugh.

Starting the leg in second place, the two best friends soared through the challenge of counting the number of bells at the tallest church tower in Groningen, the Netherlands, after getting the answers from Sam, a member of a competing team they had made an alliance with. But the poker players ran into problems once they got to the Detour challenge.

They first tried the Farmer’s Dance challenge but couldn’t get past the first part where they had to ring a bell on top of a high striker with a hammer. They next tried the Farmer’s Creek challenge, where they stripped down to their underwear, swam across a river and had to play three rounds of golf using a club with a giant wooden shoe attached on the end. It proved to be much more challenging than it looked.

After trying each Detour task unsuccessfully – twice – and repeatedly hugging each other and shedding some tears, they finally decided while attempting the golf component for the second time they just couldn’t continue.

“It was over a period of three hours when we were out there, between just the elements of going to the golf thing and the weather being as incredibly windy as it was and it was freezing because we were soaking wet in our long johns and also when we were at the high striker we attempted that over 70 times,” says Maria.

“I think there just came a point where between all of the factors of the weather and our ability as far as our strength was deteriorating every time we kept trying, we just kind of realized that this might be something that we’re not going to be able to do.”

Tiffany says she was the one who first said she didn’t think she could go on.

“At one point the (Emergency Medical Technicians) had to come out to make sure that both of us weren’t getting hypothermia because we were shaking and freezing, so even from a physical and health point of view, I was a little bit worried towards the end of the day that it could have serious implications so that’s when I turned to Maria and said … I wasn’t going to be able to give anything more,” says Tiffany.

Maria said she would’ve kept going until they completed the challenge. 

“As far as the EMTs coming out, they assessed that (Tiffany) was suffering more from being in the cold than I was so I think that I was also just at the moment physically in a better place than she was in terms of dealing with the cold and everything so I would’ve kept going and I really wanted to, just for the sense of being able to say we completed it.”

That said, Maria adds she completely supported Tiffany’s decision, especially considering how hard her teammate had pushed herself physically throughout the entire race.

Host Phil Keoghan then met the team on the field and after they confirmed they couldn’t continue, told them they had been eliminated. 

The girls weren’t aware that competing team Brian and Ericka had also struggled a great deal during the race and were at risk of being eliminated until they watched the episode back on TV.

“We had never seen them and we definitely didn’t realize that Ericka and Brian had walked that entire two to three miles that everybody else biked in their clogs,” says Maria.

Even though some teams didn’t think much of the girls after they chose not to disclose that they were professional poker players, Tiffany still stands by their decision.

“We just decided from a strategic and game theory point of view, especially after seeing Rob and Amber in Season 7 with all the animosity teams had towards them because they had already won a million dollars and been on TV, teams don’t want to help you if they don’t think you need the million dollars,” says Tiffany, who adds they instead focused on the charity work they both do in Los Angeles.

Now that they’ve had some time to recover from the race, Maria and Tiffany will soon be back on the poker circuit, with a stop in Vancouver at the B.C. Poker Championships later this month.

Even though poker is typically an individual sport, the two have played together on a team of three people in the past and would be happy to pair up again for another challenge – whether it’s at a poker table or racing around the world.

“Any chance that Tiffany and I can put all of our strengths together and compete together, we’re always looking forward to those opportunities,” says Maria.

For more on the eliminated team, check out www.tiffanymichelle.com or www.mariaho.com.