While Bridget and Ernest Cato started the Japan leg of the Amazing Race in first place, an unfortunate setback landed them in last.
“It was crazy that we didn’t even realize that we were in first place,” Bridget, 28, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, March 13 following her and her dad’s Amazing Race elimination. “We were on the flight with Carson [McCalley] and Jack [Dodge] and Brett [Hamby] and Mark [Romain.] We just figured that they were ahead of us.”
Bridget and Ernest, 59, were one of the three teams who scored the first flight out of Hong Kong to Osaka. When the father daughter duo arrived at the starting challenge of the leg, they were surprised to get that first clue. However, the return of the Intersection twist — which hasn’t been seen since 2010 — had them waiting for the next duo. (The Intersection requires teams to pair up to complete a challenge.)
“So when we got to the intersection first, we were shocked, but then very, very happy to partner with Brett and Mark,” she explained. “And then absolutely we were on a high, and then it just slowly kind of [dissipated].”
Ernest stepped up to complete the challenge alongside Romain, 37, where they were tasked with performing a taiko drum routine. While Romain, who is a performer in Las Vegas, was able to pick up the task easily, Ernest struggled greatly and cost the two teams their leads.
“[I was] probably missing a note here and there. I guess I don’t have the biggest rhythm going on here, which I probably should,” Ernest told Us. “But we stayed with it and we were able to finish that part. We just got so behind.”
While Ernest, Bridget, Romain and Hamby left the Intersection last, they realized they weren’t that far behind the others. After leaving the drums, the group embarked on the Detour challenge, where they had a choice of making mochi or learning how to properly wrap a sumo wrestler’s mawashi uniform.
Both teams opted for the sumo wrestling task, where multiple teams were still working — much to their delight. Romain and Hamby were able to persevere and get ahead of the pack, but Ernest and Bridget weren’t as lucky.
“When we got to the next challenge, we still had time to make up,” he reflected. “But we were just there. If it was a foot race, I think it would’ve been all right.”
With the stress of being in last place, Ernest and Bridget “zoned in” on accomplishing the task at hand — which might have been their downfall.
“We got so caught up in trying to catch up and pass,” Ernest explained. “We didn’t stop and think about, well, maybe we should probably switch [tasks.]”
Bridget echoed similar sentiments, sharing that she wished that she and her dad picked up on the fact that the sumo task wasn’t as simple as they believed.
“Instead of being so excited that other teams were there, I wish we could have been like, ‘Holy moly, why are they still there?’” she reflected. “This must be a hard challenge and maybe [we should] have done the mochi instead.”
While in the middle of the race, it’s hard to tell if one Detour task seems better than the other. But after watching the episode back, Bridget thinks she and her dad could have done the mochi task “a little quicker.”
Despite their loss, Bridget remained positive throughout the experience as she got to spend quality time with her dad.
“At the end of the day, I am in another country. I mean, I’m in Osaka, Japan. It is, at the end of the day, a game that I’m having the opportunity to compete with my dad,” she shared. “Yes, it was stressful, but I just wanted to keep reminding myself and as emotional as it was coming in last, like, not a lot of people get the opportunity to do something like this.”
The Amazing Race airs on CBS Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Paramount+ the next day.
