'The Amazing Race 34's' Linton and Sharik Atkinson Walk Through Nearly Quitting the Race

The father/daughter duo talk through everything that came crashing down during the Megaleg, and how much of that lingered through their elimination in Jordan.

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Much like the sand dunes of Jordan, Linton and Sharik Atkinson had an up-and-down journey during their time on The Amazing Race 34. The father and daughter had traveled the world vicariously through the show and were looking to become those travelers themselves. And their fandom paid off initially, as they netted two finishes in the top four teams. What was notable, though, was that Linton had been doing all the Roadblocks, with Sharik laying in wait for her anxiety to quiet enough for her to step up for her team.

When she finally did, so, though it nearly spelled disaster. Sharik struggled at the tail end of the "Megaleg" in Italy, as her patience and good attitude began to chip away like loose plaster on a statue. By the time she finished the Roadblock, they had fallen to the back of the pack, and she was ready to quit right there. She expressed as much throughout the rest of the leg, but when prompted by Phil Keoghan, she decided to stay to continue her dad's dream. It's a good thing she did, because they got to experience an Amazing Race first and travel to Jordan. Unfortunately for them, a change of scenery did not provide them a renewed chance of life on the race. Linton finally hit his first (literal) Roadblock when he struggled in his desert search. That pretty much buried their chances of survival under heaps of sand, though, unlike the last leg, the two went out with their heads held high.

Now out of the race, Linton and Sharik talk with Parade.com about how much their time in the desert ended their race, how things escalated to Sharik nearly quitting, and the various mental struggles they went through by the time their race ended.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 34

So I want to start before the race begins. You mentioned you were big fans of the show. Have you applied multiple times before, or was there anything in particular that made you feel you wanted to become racers rather than viewers this time?
Linton Atkinson: We did decide that we were going to apply when Sharik became 21. Now she turned 21 during the pandemic. So it was the first opportunity after the pandemic to apply. So she took the lead on that, and then we got through; we had never applied before.

Sharik, what was this experience like for you? The show has been on for basically your entire life, and now you get the opportunity actually to go on and race.
Sharik Atkinson: So it was honestly incredibly surreal. Because I mean, as you said, literally since I was maybe eight or nine, we have been watching the show as a family always. I think it came on Sundays when I was younger. So every Sunday, we would be just ready for the new episode. As we mentioned on the season, we're immigrants. We couldn't really travel at the time; we didn't have money. So to actually be going through the process with literally one of my favorite people on the planet was incredibly surreal. I felt so blessed that people saw my and my dad's relationship and thought it was as special as I thought it was. So it was just fantastic.

Let's not move from where things began to where they ended. Linton, talk through your process as you were trying to search for those plates in the sand, especially as other teams were passing you by.
Linton: So I'm an out-of-the-box thinker. And so I think to a fault, I thought out of the box this time. (Laughs.)
Sharik: Literally.
Linton: Because everyone was actually within that certain area. And I thought, with the thinking that I always have, "Okay, well, there's gotta be something in the outlier here. It can't be that easy." But it was that easy.
Sharik: It was that easy!
Linton: It was just outside that circle, that circular area. And then I thought you had to dig deep. I did not take a look around to see that people were just boop, and then it's right there. (Laughs.) And then, by that time I got there, there were just less of those Petra things. And being the last one there, like I said on the show, I was looking for a needle in a haystack. But I didn't have a strategy. That was my downfall.

Last week, we saw that you were literally in frame of Rich and Dom as you were finishing the Detour. But this time around, did you see any other teams? Or did you know pretty much after the Roadblock you were done?
Sharik: We didn't see any other teams. The thing is, as my dad was saying, when you are the last one there, it is a statistics game. At this point, the chances of you actually finding that are so incredibly slim. And so, actually, we left about 30 minutes after Glend and Lumumba left. And the thing was, last night's leg was a straight shot. There was no room to make up time. There was no "Oh, maybe we can drive faster than this person" because all the drivers were driving at the same speed. There was no real room to catch up. So honestly, once we saw them leave, and honestly also when we got to the Camel Caravan, we were like, "Okay, there's no real chance to make anything up here. We're out, but we'll just finish what we started."

So now I have to talk about a moment where you nearly didn't finish what you started, in last week's episode, when you nearly quit the race after the sculpting Roadblock. Sharik, can you give us your perspective on everything that happened?
Sharik: So the first thing I will say is that context is incredibly important. And the thing with last week's episode is that context was not included. And so that's also kind of why people were like, "Oh, this is such an explosive reaction. Why is she acting like this?" I was triggered by something. Also, it was about a 16-hour day; I was triggered by something around hour 12. And it was right after I was done chiseling. Also, chiseling took me about two hours. So let me also throw that out. It wasn't just 45 minutes, and I was done. No, it took me about two hours.

And the thing that actually really triggered me is the fact that we got there fourth, and we left in eighth place. So this was the first time throughout the entire season that I had done a Roadblock. And this was my chance to show my dad, "Hey, Dad, I'm a good partner for you. I'm able to be there for you. I can show up for you in the way that you've been showing up for me with all the other Roadblocks that you have done." And I didn't do that. And so that is what kind of got me so in my head. I was like, "Oh my god, I just threw this entire game for my dad and me." And as soon as we were done, about five minutes later, Glenda and Lumumba were done. And so, to hear a team that came about an hour after me finish five minutes after me was just heartbreaking.

They also did not show that as soon I was done with the chiseling, I went up to my dad. I was bawling on camera. And I was like, "Dad, I'm so sorry. You trusted me. I wanted to make you proud. But I let you down. And I let us down. And now we're gonna be out of the race because of me. And I'm so sorry." Because I knew this is his dream as much as mine. So I was just a wreck. And at that point, I was like, "This is so painful."

And another thing that I also want to add, because I feel like it's stigmatized and shouldn't be stigmatized, is that I'm diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and a mood disorder. And so these are all mental illnesses that I struggle with. Knowing that I struggle with it, I still went on the show, because I knew this is my dream, my dad's dream. And I think that day, my mental illnesses just got the best of m. It was really hard to continue feeling like I failed this person that was relying on me so much. I just shut down. I got overwhelmed. I got overstimulated, and I shut down. And that happens to me sometimes. But most times, cameras aren't on me. So it was tough to watch.
Linton: It happens to more people than we know.

Linton, I want to get your perspective on things. On the one hand, it must be heartbreaking to see your daughter struggle so much, especially feeling like she failed you. On the other hand, you do want to finish the leg and continue in the race. How tough was it to find that balance?
Linton: It was not a question that we were going to continue. Because she knows I'm a firm believer in finishing what we started. And that's exactly what I said there; we've got to finish what we started. I also understood that at that point, when she checked out, having known Sharik and getting into positions like that with a mental illness, all I needed to do at that point was to say what I needed to say and do what I needed to do to keep us moving, and she would get along with it. And she did! Yes, you heard her complaining. You heard her saying, "I just don't want to do this anymore." But you also saw her getting it done. And so that really is what counts. We got it done. And lucky enough, we got there in time not to be the last team there.

Sharik, what was the transition like for you from that low point to the next leg? Were you able to switch gears once you changed countries, or were things still lingering from the Megaleg?
Sharik: So I feel like physically, I still was not healed because the Megaleg was an insane day. And honestly, I feel like mentally, I was going through a lot of impostor syndrome during the Jordan leg. I saw all these teams with a good attitude, and I felt a little isolated. Because of my various mental illnesses, I just felt like no one really understood except for my dad. But even my dad doesn't understand because he doesn't share the same diagnosis that I do. 

So going into Jordan, I was still a little bit checked out. I was like, "I don't know. I let my dad down. Now we're leaving in the last group." And then when we left the Roadblock last, I was like, "You know what? At the end of the day, I still feel like I was the one that cost us the race from the chiseling." But I think everything happens for a reason. And that day in Jordan, we tried our hardest. It was insanely hot, about 110 degrees. In the desert, dry heat, crazy. So yeah, we tried our hardest that day. And we tried to pull back what we started the race with, that morale. But the Megaleg really broke us. (Laughs.) It was it was hard. It was very difficult.

That being said, it seemed like you went out with your heads held high. You learned a lot about each other and yourselves and even gained a new appreciation for what you could do, even pushing through the bad times.
Linton: Like Aastha and Nina said, we didn't get the million dollars, but we're finding different ways to get the million dollars. Beyond that, we actually had a great time together. We got closer. I didn't know that was possible, but we got closer. And it's chronicled. And it will be there for my grandchildren and their children after that. I loved every moment of it.

Next, read our interview with Rich Kuo and Dom Jones, who were eliminated in The Amazing Race 34 Episode 4.