‘The Amazing Race’: Glenda and Lumumba on Their Car Crash and Strengthening Their Marriage

Anything can happen when the stakes are high on The Amazing Race. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Glenda and Lumumba Roberts over Zoom on Nov. 3. The couple explained their shocking accident that hurt their race.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from The Amazing Race 34 Episode 7, “It’s Simply Medieval.”]

Glenda and Lumumba’s plan after getting a late start

Q: You came in last in Jordan, meaning you had to leave 45 minutes later for the next leg. Did you try to strategize on how to make up that time?

Glenda: Yeah, we didn’t expect to go home. You definitely. We were from the beginning. We are fighting for first because in The Amazing Race, you never know. Like people literally have lost their passports and been out, have gotten lost. Been in another country like we saw in the season, got into arguments that slow you down. So we–it’s like anything could happen. So we were pushing, trying to stay as focused as we could.

Lumumba: And every leg we, you know, we’d gain on people, you know. So we knew that there are so many different variables. If we just stay focused and keep moving, then, you know, just consistency, not making big mistakes and doing our best at what we had in front of us that we would be fine.

So we focused a lot on getting good directions, and you know, outside of the car turning, I mean, literally, you know, we didn’t really have any directional issues. That was maybe like, you know, that was just a little turn that we shouldn’t have made. And we were backtracking on that, but that we ended up being the difference between and a 45-minute, you know, difference and over an hour and after that hour, we stayed focused again. But it was just it was too much for us to overcome. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times, you know?

The couple explains their car accident on ‘The Amazing Race’

Q: So since you brought it up, talking about the car accident. First of all, what were those people doing in the road?

Lumumba: This was not a road. This was a mile. This is the reason why I say the roads in France and Italy are totally different. This was not a road. This was a mile-and-a-half-long driveway, and we had been driving for a mile. And then we start to see the road narrow, and we start to see mailboxes.

And at that point, I’m like, ‘Babe, this is the wrong way. We have to back up and get out of here.’ There were people standing in their driveway, which happened to be farmland, you know, and so, yeah, they were looking at us strange, like ‘Who the heck are you?’

Glenda: They were speaking French, and we don’t speak French. They’re like, ‘Oh, my God, we got to get out of here.’ I’m trying to, like, back up out of there. And, of course, I don’t see this drop-off and I don’t see the grass covering it and go right into a ditch. We’re just so happy that no one got hurt that we didn’t damage the car, and shout out to the grandma with the tractor that came and pulled us out of the ditch.

Lumumba: Yes, tractor granny! Thank you, tractor granny, because at this point, not only were we concerned about our safety first and foremost. But we didn’t think that we would be able to continue racing. And then when she showed up, and everything was cleared, we said, ‘Wow, we’re actually going to be able to finish.’ And that made me feel so great because I wanted us to be able to finish what we started, you know, and we were going to continue to run strong.

Q: The two men who were also with you guys, were they in the car when it happened?

Lumumba: No, no, no. Those were people, you know, they have safety, you know, people for safety. The company has, you know, medics and things placed in different locations. So calls were made. They showed up. Sometimes they’ll be in the vicinity, and so that’s who they were, you know, they were there for safety purposes.

Q: So the neighbor got you out, you said in five minutes. So pretty quick. How long do you think that whole ordeal took?

Glenda: It was longer than five minutes [laughs].

Lumumba: It was 25 to 35 minutes.

Glenda: It was, which is relatively quick because we honestly thought we were going to be there for hours. We’re out in the middle of like what we think is pretty much nowhere. So to be able to get out and get back on track to race, you know, that was huge.

Q: What were your nerves like getting back on the road? Because you guys actually looked really calm, like you guys were more frantic in Italy than after a car accident.

Glenda: Right? [Laughs] That’s a good observation.

Lumumba: The reason why and you’ll get this, only you, is because we were on such a high after coming in second, twice that we kind of were like, ‘OK, yeah, we got this.’ And then to go from second place to dead last in during the mega leg, that, like, really got us shaking because we had never been in the last position before.

You know, this is the third and fourth leg. So now we’re like, ‘Oh, my God, how do we, like, fight to get out of this bad situation?’ So a lot of those nerves came because we didn’t know, you know, how far people were ahead of us, how much time we needed to make up during the mega leg.

Glenda: So we’re used to being behind, I guess, by that point [laughs.]

How ‘The Amazing Race’ helped their marriage

Q: Glenda, at the end, you said you were going back home as a better partner. How so? And did it stick?

Glenda: I definitely feel like I’m a better partner because I came in. I’m open to learn my spouse open to learn Lumumba. He definitely has strengths that I don’t have, like the map reading. Like, you know how he approaches challenges, right? Very methodical. I’m very, ‘Go, go, go. Let’s go. We’re on a race.’ And so but I can appreciate those chat those differences.

Now, before I’m like, you know, when you when someone does something differently from you, you kind of look at it sometimes as like a liability, or a deficiency. But you know, I learned like, wait, different doesn’t mean bad. It means different.

And it’s to our advantage because there’s no way we could have gotten to the challenges. And he was so dope and so quick at all of the roadblocks that he did. And like, I don’t have the skills that he has. So it made me appreciate my husband more. It helped me trust him more. I’m 42. I was 41 when I first got like when I walked down the aisle for the first time. So used to making decisions and doing everything on my own. So it helped me trust my husband more.

And I think for me it helped me take the pressure off myself to be like 100%, to be perfect, to be like, you know, doing everything like, well. It’s OK to just enjoy the experience. And even if you give your all and you get it doesn’t work out the way you planned, it’s still a win, you know. So at that learning, that was a huge lesson for me

Lumumba: And it did stick. I benefited from all of that. We both came back different people. Marriage, two people become one. But it’s actually a process, you know, and the process like brought us closer together, I would say, you know, probably gave us, you know, about a year two’s worth of insight into our partner during that race. It was that intense. Oh, yeah. So, you know, we came out a different, you know, a different couple, you know, knowing each other better.

This interview has been condensed for this article.

Other Exit Interviews:

‘The Amazing Race’: Abby and Will Dream for Round Two After Shocking Ending to Their Race

‘The Amazing Race 34’: Sharik Addresses Sabotage Accusations, ‘I Was Dying, so I Needed to Finish’

‘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

‘The Amazing Race 34’: Aastha and Nina on Their Slow Start and Double Dates With Claire and Derek