'The Amazing Race 34's' Quinton Peron and Mattie Lynch Reveal an Unseen Moment of Getting Pulled Over

The former Rams cheerleaders talk about why navigation was so tough for them, and react to their edit on the show.

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Though Quinton Peron and Mattie Lynch are used to the fast beats, crisp moves, and high-energy action of the NFL, the cheerleaders and dancers had an attitude on The Amazing Race that was more of a "slow and steady" approach. While the friends were certainly no slouches, especially in the tasks, they tended to take the scenic route when it came to navigation. And after it gave them a couple of close calls with elimination, this time it did them in, as an eventful day in Toulouse shook them loose from the race.

Quinton and Mattie went from the top to the bottom of The Amazing Race period almost instantly. After a top three finish in the first leg, they made a crucial error in a bad set of directions to begin Leg 2. They got directed to a completely different country than their destination, putting them instantly in last place. Despite the setback, they remained "cool, calm, cute, and collected." And with that attitude (and some fortunate dance tasks thrown in), they were somehow able to do the impossible and survive the leg. 

Luckily for them, things were much less eventful after that. They continued to race solidly, even netting another top-three finish in Jordan. In France, navigational difficulties arose again, putting them in the last group to leave on this most recent leg. Trying to learn from their mistakes, they swore they would review all route options before taking the first one. But that was easier said than done. They once again chose the suboptimal route, and it turned out to be their last route. Despite the two blazing through the tasks, they kicked themselves harder than a rugby ball for their driving, which eliminated them in the end.

Now out of the race, Quinton and Mattie talk with Parade.com about how their elimination was closer than expected, how their brush with elimination changed their approach, and their reaction to their quiet edit on the show.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 34

I'm excited to get the chance to talk with you! I can't imagine what it's been like watching all the highs and lows back the past eight weeks.
Quinton Peron: You know...(Laughs.) We're good. Last night was a little rough, not gonna lie, even though we did it was coming. But it was hard to relive that.

Well, especially because I saw you post online, Quinton, that there was a moment we didn't see where you actually got pulled over last leg!
Quinton: I mean, everything that could have went wrong that day went wrong.
Mattie Lynch: Think Austria, but worse. (Laughs.)

Even worse than driving to the wrong country?!
Mattie: Yes! Because that was a Google Maps error that we learned from. Because we just didn't put in the country name, so we stayed in the same country. And that was a bad mistake, but an easy one to fix. This last one, it was just a disaster from start to finish. And right in the middle, Quinton gets pulled over.
Quinton: I think the cop said that I ran a red light. But I'm still to this day confused, because I was next to a white SUV. So I was like, "How did that happen?"
Mattie: The streets were very confusing. So Quinton figured, "As long as I'm moving the same with the person in the lane next to me, then I'm fine." And also the traffic lights are very, very small. They're not like in California. We're spoiled with big, very prominent signs. They're very small in the corner. There's only a red and green. And I guess he missed one of them. The French police gave us a lesson on what red means and what green means.
Quinton: The funniest part was when he was running our like passports and stuff Mattie goes, "Well while you're there, can you help us get to the Detour?" (Laughs.)
Mattie: Now that we sorted that out, we're not going to jail, can you help us get here? (Laughs.)

(Laughs.) Making lemonade out of lemons! Well let's go back to the traffic lights of California. Obviously you two had been in the spotlight before, Quinton in particular as the first male cheerleader to perform at a Super Bowl. Were you asked to go onto the race, or did you apply?
Quinton: The race had been reaching out for a couple of years, I think ever since I made the Rams. But I always thought it was spam, not gonna lie. I just got a random email every like every year and I was like, "That's not real, whatever." And it wasn't until I knew I was retiring this last season that I decided to respond back like, "Oh, if this is real. I would love to kind of chat about it." And here we are!

Did you always have Mattie in mind when picking a partner to race with?
Quinton: They wanted another boy. And I was like, "Well, I don't want to race with any of my male counterpart teammates. If I'm going to do this, I want to do with my best friend." So boom! And so they fought me on it for a little bit. And they had an interview with so many different people. And I was like, "Well, the best connection is going to be the one that I already told you about. And she's right here. I can't fake this."
Mattie: And really, the part that he doesn't say is he doesn't like to listen to others. He's not very good with authority. He knows that; it's fine. And I think part of it was because when he joined the Rams, I was his captain. He does listen to me, and maybe not all the time, but it's better than zero. He knows that he listens to me. And so that's how it played out.

Let's go back to France. Because from the edit it seemed like you just took the longer route once more and that's what eliminated you. But it sounds like a lot more happened behind the scenes. What ended up happening?
Mattie: So my job was the navigator. And if you saw on your screen, there was the most direct route from Dordogne to Toulouse. And you had to take the A20 which is the fastest highway. And we did get on the A20. And we were riding that for a while, like an hour or so. And then there was a split-off, I think it was the D820 or stay on the A20. And the D one looked like it was direct. So I was like, "Oh, I think you should go on that one."

Then we realize that was more side streets. And they don't have many stop signs; they just have a bunch of roundabouts. So it kind of slowed us down. It didn't put us back as much as we felt in the moment. But that definitely took a hit right out the gate and kind of set in a little bit of stress and panic for us. Because we were so diligent in learning as much as we could about the navigation and trying not to make navigational errors. And then right out the gate, we did, and I think that kind of set us up for the rest of this leg, unfortunately.

So you end up getting into the city, and Quinton, you ace the Roadblock. Then it seems like you get into more issues with navigating to the Detour. It seemed like you drove into some sort of city center and got stuck behind pylons. What happened there?
Mattie: If you would like my Google Maps recap of what happened, I am happy to give it to you. We took a small bend to the left when we should have been to the right. And if we went to the right, it'll eventually take us to where we needed to park for the detour. But that small left took us straight into what's called "Le Capital." It's like a mall, a big ol' mall that you shouldn't be driving through. And that took an extra 45 minutes, which was after we got pulled over.
Quinton: Even with all of this, we only lost by a couple of minutes.

Really? How do you know? Did you see David and Aubrey at the poetry Detour?
Quinton: No, but I think they really couldn't find it. Because what we didn't say is that when we were driving trying to find a stadium, we drove past the Pit Stop. And I was like, "Mattie, okay, now we know that that's where we have to get." I just remember he was on the water. After we finished the "Say Six" Detour, I was like, "Well, it's on the water. We know how far that is. Here we go. Strap up, we gotta run."

And I don't know if they knew exactly where it was. So I just remember we were running and we got to the canal. We saw them off the bat. And I was like, "Oh my gosh." Even after the getting pulled over, even after searching for the stadium ten times, even after the "Le Capital," situation, the fact that we only lost within minutes hurt more. I was like, "Make it a blowout! Let Phil come and get us at the Detour.
Mattie: No! Because the one thing we can take home is that we knew when it came to the challenges, we could thrive. And that was one thing that we didn't get caught up with. I think most of our race and most of our struggle happened in the car. Once we got there, we were great. I don't want Phil to come up to us at a challenge.
Quinton: The navigation was good if it was good. If it was bad, it was really bad. There was no in-between. If we're having a navigation date, it's gonna be great. But if not, it was like, "Oh, this is a struggle."

Well we saw that from you in the first two legs. You go from a top-three finish in the premiere to nearly getting eliminated due to that Google Maps error you mentioned before. How much did that brush with last place change the way you approached the race?
Mattie:  I think Austria, looking back on it, kind of really scarred. But at that time, we learned from it. And we're like, "Learn early. And then we're going to build off of that for the rest of the time." I think what took down our confidence a little bit in terms of winning is when we went to Jordan, and we didn't have to navigate. We still did really good in a challenge. And then we showed up at the next challenge pretty late. And that was that part wasn't us. And so we're like, "What do we need to do to get better?" 

It's hard to compartmentalize the legs when it happens more than once. And you try and say, "Oh, well, this one was different because we weren't driving" or "This one was different because we just took a slightly more scenic route than the direct one. "But those things add up and kind of took a toll. Can we really not get around? Do we really not know how to go anywhere?

It's interesting you talk about the things left unseen. Because to be candid, you were one of the more under-edited teams this season. What was your reaction to watching your story play out?
Quinton: I mean, it was fun watching it. But like you said, and all the blogs, we were so under-edited. And we're not boring people at all! Personality plus on Team Blue. So that was a bummer. But I mean, it did show the essence of our relationship. We are the fun team. The banter was always there. The laughs were always there. The challenges we're always good at. It was just like you said, the navigation. But it was really cool being able to race around the world with my best friend. And it was great.
Mattie: And this is the only season from start to finish that was chartered. Because even last season started off normal. So with the different format, a lot of transportation factors got taken out as a race. So I think along with the editing, it was more based on the tasks. So unfortunately for Quinton and I, we did the tasks very quickly. And when I say 70% of our race was in the car, it really was. That's where all of our conversations happen, all of our epiphanies and things like that. And I just generally throughout the season, there wasn't a lot from point A to point B. It was more task heavy.

One team we did see you make a connection with was Luis and Michelle, who you worked with on a couple of occasions. What made them stick out to you?
Mattie: We love them. We recognize their energy right out the gates, even with masks on before we could talk to each other. We just felt the high energy from each other without even speaking. And it just kind of naturally fell into place. It was nothing we ever talked about. It was not planned before a leg started. It just happened at the moment where we're like, "Okay, we're in the middle of the pack. We need to get to the end in Italy. Let's just do it together, because we're not battling for first."

Finally, what's one thing you each learned about the other person racing around the world together?
Quinton: When you don't have music, I realize that you are forced to find little things to talk about. I understood Maddie nonverbally more in the car because we didn't have music to groove out to. We weren't dancing all the time, because a lot of our lives together were dancing and being on the field together. I can tell when she's stressed or having a good day. I could see it in your eyebrow. I get you now on a deeper level.
Mattie: I was gonna say along the same lines. Especially in this last leg, because we're so big on energy. And the reason why we gravitate towards each other is because our energy is generally good and high. So being in a situation where those things are being tested and how you work together, I got to see a different side of Quinton that really nobody sees as far as our mutual friends or teammates. They see the high energy side of us.

I learned really little subtleties. Like in this last leg. I could feel that he was less than confident. And it was little things as simple as we had to pay a toll to go through the freeway. And Quinton starts trying to pay for it, and for some reason it wasn't taking it. And he starts like, "(Flails.) I don't know what to do. I don't know." And then I was like, "Oh my gosh, I haven't seen this side of him before. He is really going through it and he's really flustered." So seeing those sides and how to kind of balance each other and not heighten it was pretty cool. And it grew our friendship for sure.

Next, read our interview with Glenda and Lumumba Roberts, who were eliminated in The Amazing Race 34 Episode 7.