‘The Amazing Race 34’: Sharik Addresses Sabotage Accusations, ‘I Was Dying, so I Needed to Finish’
The Amazing Race fans had a lot say about the racer who almost quit in season 34. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Sharik and Linton Atkinson over Zoom on Oct. 20. This is what she had to say about her mental and physical health struggles while completing her race.
Sharik explains her anxiety with roadblocks on ‘The Amazing Race 34’
Q: You said you were nervous and anxious to do any roadblock. Why was that?
Sharik: I was nervous and anxious to do any roadblock because I was diagnosed a few years ago with depression, anxiety, and a mood disorder. So knowing myself, I get very frazzled, and very it’s very hard to think critically whenever I’m feeling anxious. I just kind of shut down. And so, yeah. So that’s honestly why I didn’t even want to jump in.
I was like, ‘Dad, you got this. I’m going to cheer you on from the sidelines.’ But honest–and you also do think about the fact that, like, you have a camera in your face. You are–the entire fate of your team rests on you. And so these are all like very big thoughts that were so overwhelming to me that I literally was like, you know what? I’m not going to do that. I’m going to wait until there’s one that. And I kind of felt, you know, pressure doing the megaleg to do a roadblock because I know my dad did bugatti and it took a long time for him. So I was like, You know what? Let me just give it a try.
Q: Was there agreed upon strategy around the roadblocks going into the game?
Linton: Yes, there was. We decided that I was going to do the more physical challenges and Sharik was going to do more creative and critical thinking challenges because those are our strengths. And so when we went to do the challenges, a lot of that went through the window.
For example, the yodeling. When we read the read card, it says, ‘Who wants to call in the cows?’ So I thought, ‘OK, this is going to be me physically calling in cows,’ which I’ve done when I was I did when I was a kid in Jamaica. So wanted to go up on the hill to see that they’re were actually yodeling. And I was thinking wrong choice, because this should have been Sharik. And then when we read that, unlike in episode four, I read it says, ‘Who wants a chiseled body?’ So we thought, OK, this is going to be more artsy but not physical. So this is Sharik. It turned out to be very physical. And that should have been me.
Sharik says she and Dom weren’t the only ones who struggled with the sculptures
Q: You weren’t the only person who struggled with the sculpture challenge, Dom did. She almost immediately quit and took a penalty because she did not understand the rules, then continued. And there were tears. But she got through it. What was it like for you guys to watch that?
Sharik: I think it’s very interesting the way that the show was edited because there were many other teams that also struggled. But I think me and Dom were highlighted. There were a lot of other teams who were near me who I know for a fact had multiple checks and had to keep going, keep going, keep going. So it’s, it was interesting watching because I was like, that’s interesting because there are also like I remember specific teams that also had to, you know, get checked five or six times.
I got checked maybe seven or eight times. I know Derek [Xiao] got checked maybe five or six times as well. But I think it’s interesting that, you know, just me and her were shown struggling. But there were other teams that were also struggling.
Sharik cried and apologized to her dad after the challenge
Q: You said that you felt like crying after finishing the roadblock. Why was that?
Sharik: After finishing the roadblock, the first. The things that were actually going on in my head was, OK, we got here fourth and we’re leaving an eighth. That’s my fault. This is my first time to show my dad that I’m a valuable asset to this team. And I let him down. I let us lose four places, and it’s completely my fault. So that’s why I felt like crying.
What you did not see on TV is that I actually did start crying, and I was bawling. I went up to my dad, I gave him a hug. I said, ‘I’m so sorry I let you down. I know on you you were rooting for me. And, you know, this was my turn to actually be your equal and to show you that it’s not just you pulling weight. And I couldn’t do it. And I felt like I failed in that instance.’ So that that is why I said that. And I actually did start crying after. And then that’s also kind of when my–I just shut down. And, you know, that’s just what happens when you have mental illnesses and when you’re going through an anxiety attack.
Q: You talked about having strong boundaries for yourself. And when you feel like you’re going over, that’s where the overwhelming–can you explain what that boundary is?
Sharik: So the boundary was basically the fact that it was a 16-hour day, and we were operating. We were just go, go, go for literally 16 hours straight with minimal food or water. And it’s not necessarily the race’s fault. It’s just the the the way that a mega leg is operated. And so you do one half. You do one leg. You have a short break, then you do the next leg.
And for context and I said each leg is about 8 hours. And that’s honestly where my boundaries felt crossed, is because I was hungry, I needed water. And I just felt like there weren’t enough resources for someone like me to recharge and especially someone like me having the mental illnesses that I do have. I was a little frustrated because I was like, this does not feel like my needs were actually taken into account, even though, yes, I signed up for this show, but I’m still a person at the end of the day. And that that’s kind of where my boundaries felt crossed, not necessarily from anything I did, but just, I think operational.
Sharik addresses any accusations that she sabotaged the race
Q: What would you say to those, though, who think maybe you were dragging a little bit more to get out of the race, out of what happened in the last leg. Specifically walking instead of running at points? And then I think one kind of funny point at the end of it was when you guys were getting the feed for the camels. Sharik, you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s three.’ And then Linton, you’re like, ‘I’m going to get four just in case.’ And then later on, you’re like, ‘Oh, I guess it was four.’ For me. I thought it was funny, but there’s some fans who are like, she’s trying to sabotage this.
Sharik: It doesn’t make any sense. Let me give you extra context. Let me give the fans extra context. It was a 110-degree weather. Now, why on God’s green earth would I want to sabotage, to just do it again, to stay longer in the sun? Doesn’t make any sense.
Does not make any sense because I genuinely thought it was three. But my dad was smart enough to be like, you know, let me just get two. Very smart. Let me tell you something. I did not want to stay out there any longer than I needed to. So I was done. I was like, ‘You know what? OK, you’re right. It is four whoa, I didn’t even see that.’ But that was never me trying to sabotage.
The walking instead of running is because it was 110-degree weather and also not shown directly after the pit stop. I had to be rushed back to the hospital in an emergency vehicle because I had a heat stroke. So there are many things that are not shown on camera, a lot of context not given. And so in this entire time when I was walking, instead of running, I was trying not to die. I was actively trying to stay alive because it was so insanely hot in the desert of Jordan, and it was just overall a very hot day.
People can say what they want, but at the end of the day, we did, we went, we executed. We finish what we started. And I’m so proud of the fact that we did the race in general so they can say what they want. I know I was dying, so I needed to finish.
Q: I mean, yeah, people can say what they want, but when, Linton, when you were going for the hug and you were like, ‘It’s hot.’ I was like, I believe her. I believe her so much. It looks hot.
Sharik: That was the moment of the heat stroke. That was when I saw. And it also not showed at the pit stop, when we were talking to Phil [Keoghan], there was one point where I literally fell down like I had to go on my knees because I could not stand anymore.
And then the second, that’s why I told him, ‘Please don’t hug me like I am hot to the touch.’ And then after we left, like when we were done filming and like the medics came up to us, they were like, ‘Hey, are you good?’ And I couldn’t open my eyes. My eyes were like, it was just, it was insane.
And so they, like, took my temperature, like, through my hand just to see, like my body temperature. And it was like at the highest setting possible. And they’re like, she needs to go. She literally needs to go. So they packed me full of electrolytes. They got me in the car and they got me back to the hotel. They almost had to put an I.V. in me. They gave me medicine. So I was like actively, like, overheating at the pit stop.
Q: How long did it take for you to feel OK after all of that?
Linton: About two hours.
Sharik: Yeah, to two to three hours to, like, just come down from being overheated. So it was yeah, it was rough. It was very rough. I felt so sick. I felt like I could not open my eyes, like I was physically hot. If you touch my body, it was. It was. Yeah, it was terrible. I would never want to have heat like that was actually terrible.
Q: At the end of it, Linton you did say that you learned more about Sharik by doing the race with her. What did you learn?
Linton: I mean, I’ve always known that she was resilient, but I’ve just gotten a newfound appreciation for her resilience. I think that looking from, like for I mean, episodes 4 to 5, you can see how resilient she was. You can see that she was with it. She has what I call comeback ability, right? I make up words. So she, she, she just came back and she executed.
This interview has been edited and condensed for this article.
Other Exit Interviews:
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Rich and Dom React to Sharik Almost Quitting and Their Own Stress
‘The Amazing Race 34’: Rex and Tim Reveal Their Routine to Drop 50 Pounds
