'The Amazing Race 34's' Emily Bushnell and Molly Sinert Say The Race and Their Relationship Made Them "The Most Successful Versions" of Themselves

The long-lost twins also get into the extent of Emily's injury, and how they felt it took their head out of the race in the back half of the season.

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.

Emily Bushnell and Molly Sinert take the cake for the wildest Amazing Race team story ever. The twin sisters had no idea of each other's existence prior to a year and put a relationship that was barely there to the test by racing around the world together. As they stated multiple times over the season, their goal was not simply to win, but get as much time as they can together to make up for 36 years of lost time. And they were able to maximize that, making it through the entire race, and even had a shot at the million before the long-lost twins getting lost cost them the win.

Understandably, the start of Emily and Molly's journey was a bit rocky for two people who shared only chromosomes. They admitted their "twin telepathy" was off in Leg 1, but they were able to survive the "Scramble" and get to the middle of the pack. That was the M.O. of the twins throughout the race. Though they would sometimes falter, they always handily avoided elimination, due mostly to the clinical precision that allowed them to take down the hardest tasks with ease. The highlight of their race came in the Italian "Megaleg," where, despite a day of navigation that had Emily in tears, they powered through and finished in first. And having more time together allowed their dynamic to bear out, as they realized both how much they had in common and how they could balance each other out.

Things became a bit dicier for Emily and Molly, though, in the back half of the season. The large focus was on an injury Emily got in Italy, as the knee malady kneecapped their running ability and shifted the Roadblock divying. On top of that, they began to struggle more with directions, getting lost on a consistent basis and missing major landmarks. But no matter how long it took for them to get there, they still prevailed on the tasks, which got them to the final leg. Unfortunately, their racing demons followed them to the end. Neck-and-neck with the other teams coming out of the Roadblock, Emily and Molly crucially drove in the wrong direction for miles. And though the two made good time on the final memory challenge, even passing one team, it was enough to put them out of the running for the win. But again, it was more about the experience for them. And at the finish line, they tearfully embraced, saying they'll be in each other's lives forever.

Now out of the race, Emily and Molly talk with Parade.com about the extent of Emily's injury, when they hit their groove, and how much the race showed them how much they need each other.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 34

Let's start where things finished. When you're at the memory challenge and you see Derek and Claire leave, are you thinking that it's game over? Or are you still thinking there's a chance you can win?
Emily Bushnell: You never know what can happen on the race. There was no giving up at that point. We still we were so close to getting it. I never faltered for a second. I mean, I thought we could still catch them. It was totally within reason
Molly Sinert: A race to the finish. And especially when we saw the clue. And it wasn't like, "Go to the store, and Phil's gonna be there." It was like, "Figure out this cryptic code about country music trivia." And running through Nashville, I mean, if you've been there, it's crowded and crazy. And so who knows? We could have definitely crossed that line. I should have been carrying you on my back like I said, I don't know why I didn't do that. (Laughs.)
Emily: Just cracking that whip. Run faster!

Emily, we heard throughout the season about your injury that definitely slowed you down at points. How much did that contribute to you not winning the final leg, in your opinion?
Emily: If you stripped away the injury, we made a lot of very minor errors that added up, and it took away from time. So I don't think the injury had much to do with our second-place finish in that leg.

Can I ask some clarification on what exactly your injury was? You said you had hurt your quad, and then we see you in a knee brace at what point. What was happening?
Emily: So in the beginning of the race in Jordan, I had actually torn some muscle fibers in my quad. So the medic teams were taking care of me. They wrapped me up. They were giving me topical treatments. And I was just doing my very best not to reinjure that and let it heal. As a result of that, I overcompensated on my left leg which started the knee issues.
Molly: She ended up with bilateral tibial fractures. So she had the fracture in her left knee. I thought, "If she can still walk on it, maybe it's just fluid on her knee. We just need anti-inflammatories. We'll be fine." But I think when she started overcompensating then for that pain on her right leg, she ended up with another fracture in her right knee. We didn't know this until after the race. She's like such a trooper like that. I mean, the medic team and myself, we didn't think it would be that serious.
Emily: I had around the clock care between the medic team and Molly. They had me on a strict regimen of anti-inflammatories.
Molly: Ice and rest. I was like her little waiter. (Laughs.)
Emily: I was 100% off my feet between legs. (Laughs.) There was no walking as soon as we got back from the Pit Stop.

You seemed to have navigational issues in the last few legs, such as missing the Cube in Malaga, getting stuck in a roundabout in Ronda, and culminating in going the wrong way on the bridge in Nashville, something that arguably cost you the race. Was there a commonality that was causing you to make these mistakes so frequently?
Molly: I mean, I think we were so in our heads with the leg injury, sadly. Starting the leg in Malaga, climbing down that hill, we just were like, "Oh gosh, we're fighting to just stay in this." Our heads were not clear. The Cube we only really biked 300 feet past it. We turned around pretty quickly. But yeah, I think our race brain was only functioning at 50% capacity. And so every time we would get instructions from Google Maps or something, we just weren't interpreting them correctly for some odd reason.
Emily: Oddly enough, all of the other legs where teams were trouble navigating, we happen to do really well on that navigation. Everyone complained about the Bologna and Florence navigating. That was easy. We didn't make any mistakes.
Molly: It was really when we were getting navigation from phones that we really screwed up. (Laughs.)

Damn technology gets you every time! I need to go back to the beginning. You obviously have this incredible story of finding each other only a year ago. How on earth did you end up competing on The Amazing Race together?
Molly: They saw our story, on either GMA or the Ellen show. And the casting director DMs through Instagram and suggested that we apply. And at that moment, we didn't really consider it. We're like, "That's not going to happen. We're not gonna get chosen. Our jobs are not going to let us have the time off." But I think after I talked to my boss, and he was like, "Absolutely, you need to do this," we were like, "Well, let's give it a shot to try this." The interview process was humbling. (Laughs.) We realized we weren't very good at interviews.
Emily: We did not think that we were going to make it through, up until the moment they told us. (Laughs.) We could not believe it.

In the first leg, you said your "twin telepathy" was off. Talk through the experience of not only having to figure out The Amazing Race as you go, but also learning very quickly about this person you didn't know existed for so long.
Emily: Oh, God. Well, I'd like to think that Molly and I being identical twins are very similar at our core. So it didn't take too long for us to kind of figure out how to tend to one another's needs. I don't want to say communication because we had some trouble with communication.
Molly: I realized I'm just a bad communicator. I think my husband even told me that. He's like, "No, you need to be more explicit." So as a navigator, I think I wasn't communicating my thoughts very well. I think we were nurturing each other a little too much, because this is such a new relationship. We didn't really push each otherin navigation. In Nashville, I said, "This is music related, we should go downtown." And, Emily was like, "No, I'm pretty sure that we have to go this way across the bridge." And I was just like, "Okay, you're probably right." I didn't want to start an argument, but I should have. (Laughs.)

Was there a specific moment, either around a task or conversation, where you felt your dynamic just clicked?
Molly: I honestly think that we started to get one another right before the race. I, unfortunately, lost my mom,a week before we did our final interview. And that's when I needed her the most. And I knew I could rely on her, even though she was sort of a complete stranger. That was it, at least for me.
Emily: I'm trying to think specifically on the race. When we were working on tasks together, like in Florence, when we were doing the memory challenge with the models, we very easily figured out who was going to do what. Even at the keyboard in Nashville, we knew right away how you to tackle that. So I think it started kind of early on. I would say that Detour in Florence was probably where we really clicked from a challenge perspective. But unfortunately, I think the injury just kind of messed with our mental game, and everything just kind of wavered from there.

You kept talking about how you wanted to keep going in the race so you can get more one-on-one time, since you lead such separate lives. From a mental perspective, did that ever get in the way of the competitive aspect of the race?
Emily: (Shakes head.) We're both pretty competitive. (Laughs.)
Molly: Yeah. I mean, it may not have made the edit, but we wanted to win. We really wanted to win. We felt like we could win. We were really good at the challenges. And had we been 100%, I feel like it was well within our reach. We were in survival mode. But we still wanted to be at the front of the pack.

I want to talk about Michael and Marcus. Marcus told me in my interview with him that you had a "loose alliance" of working together at points. How valid is the claim of that agreement formed in literal blood?
Molly: I think so, definitely. But also proximity-wise, we just always ended up together. I don't know if that was a result of the pseudo-alliance. But we always seemed to be with them at challenges and the starting line.
Emily: I mean, we knew we were both strong navigators. So when we were in the back of the pack, we knew, "Okay, we can make up time." And once we get with the group, we're on our own. We wanted to help each other, ideally, make it to the final three. I feel like that would have been really cool. And they we kind of shared a similar story in that they don't spend much time together. The brothers are eight years apart, and they see each other maybe once or twice a year. So we really had a bond with them. Part of the motivation for being here on the race was also to see one another. So I think it was just a natural fit to have that sort of loose alliance with them.

So I'm not sure if you know this. But you are the first set of twins to make an Amazing Race U.S. finale, as well as the highest placing twin team.
Molly: Really appreciate that perspective. That is very cool. That is so cool.
Emily: I never would have imagined. I mean, we went into the race day. "Okay, we just can't get out first. I promised my daughter we won't get out first.

On that note, Emily, you talked a lot about wanting to show your daughter the meaning of perseverence by pushing through your injury. What has her reaction been watching you?
Emily: So she's 13. So she's too cool for school right now. But she has grown closer and has shown a little bit more love and affection towards me. And I know that she's proud. She's opened up in that regard for the last couple of weeks. She's a great kid.
Molly: But she's a teenager too. So it's a little embarrassing that mom's on TV crying and laughing.
Emily: She's probably gonna hate that I'm talking about her.

At the finish line, you talked about how much you supported each other on the race, and how you'll need that for the rest of your lives. Talk to me about taking this quality time from the race into starting your next chapter together.
Molly: Honestly, I didn't even hear that part. Because we hit the mat and she started talking, and I just fell into her arms last night at the party. I've had such a tough year without her. I don't know how I would have gotten through it. So to me, this experience is everything for us.
Emily: It was an opportunity for us to grow our relationships. But it was also an opportunity for us to grow personally. The amount of growth just being with Molly and having Molly in my life is insurmountable. I think I speak for the both of us when I say that having one another in our lives has given us the confidence that we really struggled to find up until this point. I mentioned it on the mat. I am the most successful version of myself that I never thought could be. And it definitely would not have happened had she not been here by my side. And the way she took care of me and, held me up, and pushed me through the race, she showed me that I am better than what I think in my mind, and that we can accomplish great things.
Molly: Better together.
Emily: Better together.

Next, check out our interview with The Amazing Race 34 winners Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss.