Michelle and Sean Clark Say 'The Amazing Race 36' Got Them to Conquer Their Fears

Michelle Clark (L) and Sean Clark (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.

Double Dutch experts Michelle and Sean Clark are used to doing things in a hop, skip, and a jump. As people who work together professionally and romantically, and a level of fitness from being aerobics instructors would lend them well to The Amazing Race. Unfortunately, the race proper got them tripped up. After finishing in the top half of teams in the first leg, they hit a major snag when they accidentally started doing the Roadblock before the Detour. That sent them hopping mad to the back of the pack. And though they were able to catch back up, navigational difficulties had them leaving the next leg in last place.

Unfortunately for Michelle and Sean, that was a position they rarely had a chance to climb out of. A change of scenery in Colombia didn't help, as a Detour swap combined with Sean freezing over facing his fear of heights put them in second-to-last once more. But Sean was able to conquer that fear while paragliding over the Andes Mountains to start the next leg, which cleared their mind to mount a comeback. And while a comeback was certainly mounted, it would be at their expense. Michelle and Sean came into the Roadblock comfortably, doing well in the breakdancing Detour and with Sunny Pulver and Bizzy Smith far behind them. But Michelle failed to orient herself to the task, leaving their team as stuck as a bronze statue. Sunny and Bizzy passed them as they continued to struggle, ultimately eliminating them. But the couple went out with their heads held high, a new appreciation for each other, and a Double Dutch lesson for Phil Keoghan.

Now, out of the race, Michelle and Sean talk with Parade.com about their difficulties in the back of the pack, how the race helped them conquer their fears, and how the Double Dutch lesson ended up happening.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 36

To start, I'd love to hear your history with The Amazing Race, and what made you decide to take the jump off the couch and onto the screen.
Sean Clark: I like what you did with that, Mike. So, they actually reached out to us. So my wife and I, we have a podcast online, it's called "In Less Than a Minute," where we teach random people--
Michelle Clark: --in random places.
Sean: How to jump Double Dutch in less than one minute. So we'll just walk up to you and be like, "Hey, Mike, you know how to jump? You don't? We'll teach you." So it was that kind of thing. And they loved our personalities. And they were like, "You guys will be great for The Amazing Race." And  I've watched a few episodes. And I saw how challenging that is. I was like, "You guys really think we could do this?" [Laughs.] But then we binge-watched. We watched every season.
Michelle: And we were watching it like, [Tilts head.] "Okay."
Sean: But we were also taking notes. We're like, "Okay, yeah, here's what we got to do. If we're in this situation, we got this."
Michelle: But we decided to do it because, as entrepreneurs—and even during the show—we're always asking people to be uncomfortable. People are scared. They've never jumped Double Dutch. They're really genuinely scared. We've had people cry on us when they've learned.
Sean: Shaking on the ropes.
Michelle: And so we always put people in a position. We need to start putting ourselves in those positions so that we can grow too, but also we could feel the way that our audience feels. And so I was like, "Yeah, I'm down for an adventure, especially with this one here."
Sean: That's what I was gonna say. I think that something new, something like this, will be amazing. Because we are entrepreneurs together and we're parents. That's an adventure within itself. But also, it was like, "Oh, wow, let's do this." Because this is a situation where we're really both challenged. And we don't know what's coming.
Michelle: And I've been asking, "Oh, I want to travel the world with my husband." And so then when this phone call came in, I was like, "Oh, wow, God, you really listen to me." And so I took it as a sign. When does this fall in your life? When does this come? You have to do it.
Sean: Because that's the biggest thing we wanted to do is travel around the world.
Michelle: And the only reason we weren't going to is because our son Maverick had just turned one. And also, this is our third kid in four years. I was a little "thicker" than I expect myself to be.
Sean: I almost said no. Because he just started walking. And I was scared that he wouldn't recognize us when we came back. And I was just like, "There's no way I'm gonna leave my son. He's too young."

The good news is, if he didn't recognize you, he could just watch you on TV in a couple of years! So, let's go to where things ended. I couldn't help but notice that the sun was in a very different position in the sky when you finally checked in. Michelle, how long did it take for you to finish that Roadblock?
Michelle: I think it was about maybe a year later. [Laughs.] I can't think of time. But it wasn't a little bit after. It genuinely got darker. It was a long time out there.
Sean: I can tell you we were there for hours.
Michelle: My legs were on fire running back and forth. I lost eight pounds running back and forth.
Sean: The task is around the corner from each other. So you have to run around a long New York block, go around the corner, look at the statues, then run back around. I swear she must have did it 100 times. It had to be. I was sitting there like, "Oh my God, how is she still going?" She just kept going. And it didn't work out for us. But it did.

So you two start the season pretty strong, finishing in fifth in the first leg. But then you fall to second-to-last in the next two legs before finally getting eliminated. Why did you end up consistently on the bottom for so much of the race?
Michelle: Well, I don't know if y'all saw. But we actually jumped up to fifth again, right before the Roadblock. So when we got to the artsy thing, there were a lot of clues in the box. So we had jumped up to at least maybe sixth. And then...
Sean: One, we got caught in traffic. A lot of traffic on the way there.
Michelle: And then that Roadblock. They didn't show the numbers. But we did jump back up. It's not like we came in last at the Roadblock. It just took me [a while].
Sean: You know what it is, too? I think because of the other three legs, this particular [leg], the night before, Michelle and I were like, "We're gonna get focused. What are we doing wrong? Let's fix this. We got to fix A, B, C, and D. Bet." So when we got there, that's why, the first half of the leg, we were in our stride. And I felt good. I was like, "Michelle, this is how we're supposed to be moving." And then we hit that Roadblock. And it was like, "Oh, no."
Michelle: And the worst was that the night before, we were last. We were muddy. So I stayed up all night cleaning. I didn't sleep the night before. So the thing was [Starts babbling.]. That's exactly what it was for me.

[Laughs.] Well, let's talk about something that got you those muddy clothes in the first place. You spoke about encouraging your clients to embrace being uncomfortable. And Sean, you were certainly doing that as you crawled down that hill last week. Talk to me about that.
Sean: The hill was rough. The thing is, it was so high. It was so slippery. And to me, it felt unsafe. So, it was more about feeling. It wasn't, but because I'm so terrified of heights, it felt like it was unsafe. I felt like I was going to slip off. Because it felt like, if I was to slide, there was nothing to hold on to. There was no trees. There was nothing to hold on to. And so that's what made me nervous. The first time I was on the hill, that's the part that you guys probably couldn't see. Because it was pouring outside. 

So then, how did that lead to what happened when you paraglided over the Andes at the beginning of this leg?
Sean: I made the decision, even before I went on The Amazing Race. I've been working on myself. Because you gotta be intentional. So I'm like, "I gotta push past my fears, because I don't like anything holding me back." And everybody knows at this point that I'm terrified of heights. And so, for me, it was actually an opportunity. When I found that we were going to jump, I was like, "I'm going for it. That's it. I'm going for it."
Michelle: And I will say this: since then, after the race, he went skydiving for his birthday this year. So when I say we face our fears, we got to push through. And before the race, he wouldn't have gone. So, the race really helped us to realize how much we don't grow anymore. As an adult, sometimes we don't put ourselves in position to fail. We get used to our comforts. So, the race really allowed us to explore. And we want to continue to explore, and that was inspired from the race.
Sean: And it's just like I always say. "On the other side of fear is freedom."

Yeah, I love that quote. Racing with a significant other can be difficult, as we saw a bit from Amber and Vinny last night. You see your partner struggling, like Sean with the heights and Michelle with the Roadblock, and you want to help them. But also, you have one eye on the clock and know that every second counts. How difficult was it for you to manage that in your relationship?
Sean: It was actually just the opposite. We didn't do that at all. It was because we work together all the time. The first two episodes was crazy. I never ran so much in my entire life. So we were running through the streets. And, as you saw on television, Michelle was like, "Sean, I can't breathe." And I said, "No, Michelle. It's because you're not breathing." I just taught her how to breathe. I was like, "You got to breathe. We got to breathe on a rhythm. Let's go." To me, screaming at her or saying, "Oh my God, we don't have enough time" takes too much time. For me, it's just like, "Alright, let's get focused. Here's what you do to fix it. You tired? Here's how you fix it so that we can keep going." It's a waste of time to be like, "Come on, you gotta keep up with me."
Michelle: I didn't want him to quit. I want to win the million dollars. But you can't win if you quit. [Laughs.] So my thing to him when we was on the hill, it was my biggest thing. My son, Sean Jr., will watch [us], and he copies everything his dad does. So I was like, "Oh my God. If Sean Jr. sees you quit, we are in trouble". And even then, my son saw the commercials. We had to show it to him because it was too late for him to stay up that night. But we had to show him the next day when he faced it, he watched [and understood]. All the things we tell them, we're doing it. And so that was playing in my mind when he was on the Hill. I was like, "Babe, for real?"
Sean: I mean, that's a big deal for us. Our children are everything. They come with us to work. They watch us build our business. They watch us as entrepreneurs. They watch us work hard. They watch us fight. They watch us when we lose. And all of that is important for us. So my children and everything. That was the biggest part. 
Michelle: I was like, "We can't quit no matter what."
Sean: Yeah, there's no doubt.

Going back to your claim to fame, tell me how you ended up teaching Phil to Double Dutch. Did it really take less than a minute?
Michelle: So when we were going to find Phil, I was like, "Listen, we might as well go out with a bang." We always had the ropes with us. Even now, here. We have the ropes with us, period.
Sean: We said before the race that we're going to try to get Phil on these ropes. That was literally one of the missions.
Michelle: We say we can teach them in less than a minute. And they're like, "Oh, not me." And it's like, no, you don't get it. We can literally teach anybody in less than a minute. So when we got to the mat, it was great, because it was concrete. If we would have got out the first Colombia day, [it would have been tough]. So when it was concrete, I said, "Alright, Jesus!" [Laughs.]
Sean: And Phil was like, "Yes!" He almost kind of reminded us! And we were like, "Okay, Phil, let's go!"
Michelle: Because we were like, "We can teach anybody here. Anybody willing, we are ready to teach you." So we asked him on the mat, and he said yes.
Sean: And by the way, we have Phil going. The rope hit the camera. That's the only reason why we stopped him. He'd have been jumping until the next leg.

Did you end up teaching any other teams? I know there probably wasn't a lot of downtime. But I hear you can teach someone in less than a minute!
Sean: That might be a surprise. I don't know, Mike. Maybe, maybe not.

There you go, leave it up in the air. Lastly, you two wanted to come onto the race to "focus on each other" with your day-to-day all about the family and your business. So, what did you learn the most about each other racing around the world?
Michelle: In our dynamic, I've suffered from infertility. I'm the one that actually gave birth. So Sean has been in a position a lot of times in our relationship to push me up. Because I've always been kind of going through things. So, this time, what I realized in our relationship is that we can switch dynamics, and I could do that for him as well. So it's not one-sided. It's just like when I'm up and he's down, we know how to do that for each other. So that was a big thing during the race. Also, when you're entrepreneurs, you don't have co-workers. You live amongst your world. And so this world that we're trying to build of positivity, of keep going. When you're put in circumstances like the race, you can't fake. Whoever you are really comes out.
Sean: That's right—100%.
Michelle: And so to watch ourselves be there. It's like, "Oh, all the work works." All the work that you try to do on yourself works. So even seeing him face his fears, even seeing him being positive. Because we live in our bubble. Watching outside yourself, it's just like, "You know what? I like the person I see also outside of me and the person I'm with."
Sean: I mean, I think Michelle summed it up. Because I'm always the one encouraging, pulling us through, it did feel good to know that I felt safe. I feel safe to know that she can do the same thing if I needed to. I mean, I know that already, even in our relationship. But in the most challenging situation, I know that if I needed it, she would be there to pick me up. 

Well, I know you didn't get the million dollars. But conquering your fear of heights must be a good consolation prize.
Sean: Like I said on the show the other day, we're all going for the million dollars. Let's be very clear: We're going for the million dollars. But as soon as Phil says, "Go," you really realize that the experience is the prize. Period. It really is. So that's why we lost the race, but we gained so much so much. It's really hard to say that we lost. We didn't even feel bad. It was just like, "Wow, we gained so much jumping off a mountain." 
Michelle: And that helps the business! As entrepreneurs, you have fears in your natural life. And so I think what it also does is doing stuff like skydiving and The Amazing Race, you're less scared during that proposal. You're less scared to pitch that idea. You could do anything. It kind of pushes you. It reflects in other areas of your life. 
Sean: I jumped out of a plane 15,000 feet in the air for my birthday after The Amazing Race.
Michelle: And I pet ten dogs! I had a bad fear. In Colombia, Mexico, nobody fears dogs. Dogs walk around the street like they're birds! And they didn't show it, but we were running. There was a pit bull. Oh my god. And Sean said--
Sean: "Michelle, come on, come on. We gotta go, baby! We're okay! Look, I'll block you. You come around me. Let's go."
Michelle: And I had been petting dogs. I had been less scared of being around dogs.
Sean: That's a big deal.
Michelle: Yeah, because those countries don't fear dogs.

Next, check out our interview with Anthony and Bailey Smith, who were eliminated in The Amazing Race 3 Episode 3.