‘The Amazing Race’s’ Liam and Yeremi on rickshaw nightmares and their estrangement before the race: It ‘was definitely rooted in our parents’ divorce’ [WATCH]
Liam and Yeremi Hykel were the fifth team eliminated from “The Amazing Race 35” on Wednesday night. The brothers hit a streak of bad luck while navigating the streets of Jaipur on this leg of the race in India. “It was definitely an issue with our rickshaw,” Liam tells Gold Derby. “We were in that rickshaw probably at least four-and-a-half, five hours just driving around in circles. Going everywhere but the temples and everywhere but where we needed to go. We couldn’t get out of it and take a new one. We couldn’t get out of it and go on foot.” Watch their exclusive video interview above.
“You can only do so much with what you’re given in a circumstance like that,” Yeremi adds. “At one point it really just felt like we were trapped … you’re not showing up where you need to go. You’re not really moving. The traffic in Jaipur is already insane and then this rickshaw is creating more traffic because they’re going so slow. The best thing we could control is how we perform on those Roadblocks and our level of composure.”
The brothers were forthcoming about their estranged relationship prior to the race and why they decided to audition together. “What led to the increased strain on me and Liam’s relationship was definitely rooted in our parents’ divorce,” Yeremi explains. “When our parents initially got divorced Liam was six and I was seven. That divorce was pretty nasty, but it wasn’t quick. It was a six year period of tugging and pulling and hearing negative things about one of the parents or both of them. That left a lot of emotional scars on us as we continued to grow up. Ultimately, Liam and my older brother didn’t have a relationship with our dad. Those emotional scars that were left from that divorce caused a lack of emotional knowledge for all of us. Every single one of us took the time to come to terms with our emotions.”
Yeremi continues, “Ultimately, Liam and me were able to fix it by going through the casting process. It wasn’t done before the casting process. When we started casting we were still in this estranged spot. We had very little communication at that point. I reached out to Liam and I was like, ‘Hey, is this something that you would like to do? I think this is something that would be really great for us.’ He was open-hearted. He was down to do it. Just from that moment on I saw that Liam was willing to be vulnerable and put himself out there for me.”
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