'The Amazing Race 35's Jocelyn Chao and Victor Limary Talk Their Surprise Elimination and Unexpected Success

Jocelyn Chao (L) and Victor Limary (R)

Pack your bags, because The Amazing Race is back! Every week, Parade's Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the team most recently eliminated from the race.

Jocelyn Chao and Victor Limary were the biggest surprises of The Amazing Race 35. As the oldest team on the race, they knew they had to find a way to succeed despite not having age, speed, or strength on their side. What they did have, though, was experience and creativity garnered from decades of work co-owning their grocery store. Victor's quick thinking on the first Roadblock, and his tangential knowledge of Thai, helped him and Jocelyn immensely in the opening leg, giving them a first-place finish. And as the couple continued in Thailand, so did their win streak, as they netted another victory getting to compile a shopping list.

Just when we thought Jocelyn and Victor had become quick frontrunners to take the overall win, it all came crashing down in Vietnam. A flight snafu put them in the middle of the pack for the first time. But when they struggled to navigate the floating market and make rice paper, they quickly fell into having to avoid last place. They were able to do so last week, only to find out their day was not over. With exhaustion and stress mounting, Jocelyn and Victor were able to stave off last for most of the leg. But, though Victor proved the key to their success in the first Roadblock of the season, he was the source of their failure in the last one. He struggled to find a matching tile amongst hundreds, allowing the other teams to pass them by. Shockingly, the grocers were forced to check out of the race in eleventh place.

Now out of the race, Jocelyn and Victor talk with Parade.com about how their relationship changed racing together, the Detours that saved them and eliminated them, and how it felt to constantly be scrambling for survival.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 35

You spoke from the beginning about how you wanted to use The Amazing Race as an opportunity to re-explore your relationship and get away from seeing each other as just coworkers. That being said, there are many other venues where that could be done. So what made you feel The Amazing Race was right for you?
Victor Limory: Well, I think initially, that wasn't it. Our daughters were saying, "Hey, you guys talk so much crap at home. So let's see you put your money where your mouth is." So this was actually our second go around to apply for the race. The first time around, we were kind of bummed we didn't get on. But then once we we started going through this whole process, doing all the forms and everything that they want, we started to see, "Hey, you know what? We actually have a lot more in common than than we realize with all the answers that we were giving." [Laughs.] We were filling out all these things separately, but wow, they matched so much. So then it became like, "Wow, this is really going to be great." We will be forced to not have our phones. No text, email, nothing. And it was just going to be us.
Jocelyn Chao: I would say that if you're struggling with your marriage, Amazing Race is a perfect venue to go and have couples counseling. [Laughs.]
Victor: You can either strength it or you'll be divorced.
Jocelyn: But it's truly a wonderful experience. And I am so grateful to have the opportunity to experience it. Because we've been watching for so long, 34 seasons. But it's just it's such a surreal experience for us to be on it. I think it really helped with our relationship. Because there are moments where we're working every day. And of course, he's my "idiot coworker." [Laughs.] And there were moments we're like, "Why did you do this?" For us to sort of peel back everything and just work as a team. And to have that one task we need to do to succeed, to move on to the next level. It's just a very different experience overall. Everyday challenges are not the same as Amazing Race challenges.

True, though you got a lot of tasks on the race similar to working in a grocery store! So you also talked in the premiere about not being the tallest, strongest, or fastest team. What was the strategy you used to contribute to your initial success in the race?
Jocelyn: So I think the strategy going in is Victor will do all the puzzles, all the sort of smart challenges. I'll bring in the muscles. [Jokingly flexes bicep, then laughs.]
Victor: Look at those guns. [Laughs.]
Jocelyn: Since I didn't win Amazing Race, I'm demoted to a stocker at this moment. [Laughs.] Victor loves puzzles, he's really skilled at languages. Also any sort of this with directions.
Victor: And definitely heights.  mean, that first challenge, it was a heights challenge. So, unless she was forced to do it, I would be doing all of those bungee jumping, whatever they're gonna throw at us.
Jocelyn: I feel like we really have the experience and the endurance to sort of handle all the challenges that comes our way. I think what happened is, we might have gotten a little lost; my navigation didn't work that day. And so there were moments we're like, "Why are we going this way? It's not the right direction." [Laughs.]

Speaking of that, let's get into everything with Vietnam. You had been doing as well as you possibly could have going in, having finished in first place the first two legs. But there was a flight shake-up that put you in the middle of the pack. How did you feel going into your second country of the race?
Victor: Well, I was a little bit worried because the time that we were supposed to get it in was pretty late. So I was pretty sure we're not doing any challenges in the middle of the night. So we're all going to be bunched up, so that's the big equalizer. So we were just trying to keep as much of a lead as we could. After that second leg in in Thailand, I think we had almost a three hour lead over the last team. And so if we could only have kept that, we would have been able to keep going. But it's just so hard. I mean, it shows how strong all the other teams are. Once you're equalized, and then that boat challenge put us easily 30 minutes behind the first team. And then you throw in that rice paper on top of it, and it was kind of downhill from there. 

Let's talk about the rice paper, because there was definitely some tension as you tried to do that to avoid finishing in last. What was that experience like, especially under this intention of re-examining your relationship?
Victor: It's hard. But you actually saw, Mike, our more everyday dynamic in that case. It's just kind of like that little bickering back and forth. [Laughs.]
Jocelyn: It's that couples therapy moment where you're like, "Okay, it's happening."
Victor: "Let's not kill each other because it's gonna get even worse." So we just had to get out. It was hard, because that was the first time we were that far back.
Jocelyn: We didn't realize how far back we were until I think somebody asked, "Hey, can you look around and see where you are? Are there still other teams?" And then that's at that moment, I realized, "Oh, gosh, there's no one except for us." And I think the judge was definitely even harsher than the lotus challenge.
Victor: Well, because we never knew exactly what he was looking for. We didn't know if it was the size or shape or whatever it is.
Jocelyn: He started rejecting stuff that he previously approved. And then we just ultimately end up making more and more. And that's where I was like, "Oh, I'll be here tomorrow." [Laughs.] Then somehow, we end up being last. I was really surprised, because we moved and we kept doing it. But every time we get a check, the judge kept saying no to some of them and yes to some of them. It's just weird, because in those 10 seconds you see, there rice papers that he approved, and there are ones that he later on tossed out. 

You're thrown for even more of a loop when you're told that you had to keep racing. Were you thinking of this as a chance to get back in the hunt with the other teams, or another time where you have to survive elimination?
Jocelyn: I would definitely say it was more avoiding elimination. Because at first, in the cab ride, I knew that, as long as we get there, then the brothers are behind us. We're going to be okay. So I really, really, really, really was hoping like, "Okay, take a break. There's always tomorrow." [Laughs.] But unfortunately, we had to keep on going.
Victor: I think we were only maximum an hour behind the first team. But with how everybody quickly finished the Detour and the Roadblock there was no hope for us to catch up really, unless somebody else was even more unlucky than us. So that was really hard. That hour difference was probably the shortest difference between all the teams of any of the legs. And it was just too much for us to overcome.

To be fair, you were in the hunt with some other teams during that final Roadblock which ultimately did you in. Let's get into that. Victor, you said when you found your tile that there were paint splotches on it that you didn't notice before. Had you passed by this tile previously and mistakenly thought it wasn't your match?
Victor: I probably found it a few minutes after Lena had found her tile. But I'm gonna call them out on this because I don't think the tile they showed on TV was my actual tile. You heard me say about the paint splotches. Because it wasn't just the prongs on the head of these of these figures. The picture I had didn't feel like it exactly matched. So what ended up cluing me in were two tiny little dots in the corner of dirt. The actual tile had these paint splotches on them that the picture didn't. And so I don't know if I actually had passed it. But when I went through and looked at all the tiles again, that's when I actually found it. And it's like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe I missed this." If I had seen it initially, I would have been done in like five minutes, I think.

Jocelyn, what was it like from your perspective? We saw Morgan get very emotional at the prospect of their life in the race in someone else's hands. When you see them finish, were you trying to get that sense of closure as Victor kept looking for his tile?
Jocelyn: Oh, yeah, definitely. I think so. Because I mean, coming in, I thought this was be the perfect challenge for Victor. In The Amazing Race, there's always a task where you look for something. And then Victor always goes, "Oh, yeah, if he was just to do it very meticulously up and down the path, he would have gotten it. He wouldn't have missed it." And then so for sure, looking at it, I was like, "Victor, this is you, this is all you need." So I was really disappointed. And then Victor was very focused. He didn't want to hear anything I have to say. Because there were moments where I was like, "Why are you looking behind trash?" [Laughs.]
Victor: [Laughs.] She was making these comments. And I was thinking, "Oh, please don't let us incur a penalty because of what she was saying."
Jocelyn: [Laughs.] "We can incur a penalty at this point! Why are you looking behind a trashcan? It makes no sense!" And he's just like, "Don't talk to me, just let me be." And I was thinking, "We won't be here tomorrow. I'll let you be. Go ahead." I just thought that this was his challenge. because just watching Amazing Race over and over again, and how confident he was every single time we were watching the show.
Victor: I thought it was being meticulous. I seriously I had this route--
Jocelyn: I don't know what route he had. He was looking behind dumpsters. [Laughs.]

I think all teams come in with a sense that they're going to do well on The Amazing Race. But what was your reaction to coming in first place on the first two legs, especially considering the caliber of competition around you?
Victor: It was totally unexpected. I think it was when we got to the boats, it's like, "Oh, all the life jackets are still here. We might be first. Now let's just stay in first."
Jocelyn: I think for me, I really thought we would be talking in December [as the winners]. I was kind of confident because here's my secret weapon. [Gestures to Victor.] He was going to carry me through the finish line, so I was pretty confident. I mean, I was surprised that we got first place on the first and second legs. But I just thought for sure we were staying in, even if we're not finishing first, that we would continue on with the race. So I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get that far. But overall, the experience was wonderful. I would say if it there are couples out there who needs marriage counseling, forget a counselor, just come on.
Victor: Do you want to air all your dirty laundry on TV? [Laughs.]
Jocelyn: There are so many moments where I told Victor, "What are you thinking?" And luckily they didn't show that. [Laughs.]

I mean, Phil Keoghan is an underrated marriage counselor!
Jocelyn: To see Phil in action, he is just such a wonderful person. There are behind the scenes moments where you don't know how hard he's really working until you actually see him there. He's reciting his lines over and over again.
Victor: He was dusting off the mat and rolling it up.
Jocelyn: One of the camera crew, he was so hot. He was lying under a tree and passing out. Phil's over there fanning him like, "You're gonna be okay." And so it just those moments where you just think, "Oh, he's such a wonderful guy." Not only just a host of an amazing show, but just in person, in that little brief moment, you've seen a glimpse of him. And you're just like, "You're so cool. I love you."

Next, read our interview with Elizabeth and Iliana Rivera, who were eliminated in The Amazing Race 35 Leg 2.