‘The Amazing Race’: Katie & Charlotte Reveal Express Pass Strategy We Didn’t See

Alyssa Norwin October 2, 2026, 1:26 pm

What To Know

Katie Schultz and Charlotte Schultz were the second team eliminated from Season 39 of The Amazing Race.
The sisters opened up to TV Insider about taking the wrong train in Madrid and how they wanted to use their Express Pass.

The Amazing Race journey came to an end for Katie Schultz and Charlotte Schultz during the October 1 episode. The sisters were eliminated after getting on the wrong train in Madrid on the second leg of the race.

The mishap made it so they were the last to arrive to the Detour, but they didn’t give up. Charlotte and Katie chose to do the Taste of History task, which required them to match pictures of well-known figures from Spanish history to their names on a game board, after only getting a one-sentence clue about each person. Saran Dunmore and Dafina Dunmore struggled with the challenge, which gave Katie and Charlotte a chance to catch up, but it wasn’t enough for them to get to the Pit Stop first.

In fact, the race wasn’t even as close as the edit made it seam, Katie and Charlotte told TV Insider. “When we got to the Detour, we saw Dafina and Saran, and honestly, there was so much hope,” Katie admitted. “We were like, ‘Oh my God, there’s another team.’ We hadn’t seen anybody for hours. And then pretty much as soon as we got there, they had their final check and they left. So, I don’t know, by the time we got to the mat, we were probably about over 20 minutes behind.”

Sara Kempner/CBS

The ladies admitted to having some “false hope” that someone from the other Detour had possibly fallen even further behind, but at the end of the day, “I think we both knew it was our last leg,” Charlotte confirmed.

They didn’t give up, though. In fact, it was part of their strategy to choose the Taste of History task for the Detour, with hopes that they’d be able to use their Express Pass when they got there. “It was a memory challenge, and we knew a lot of teams were picking physical sides of the Detour, and so we were hoping that since less teams had gone that route, we would be able to play our Express Pass,” Charlotte explained. “It was literally just hoping for a chance to play the express pass because we thought less teams would pick that side, which it turns out they did.”

Unfortunately, they still got there too late, as Jody Rebhun and Jenn Naso had already played their Express Pass on the Taste of History challenge.

Looking back, Charlotte and Katie wish they had been more strategic about the Express Pass in general. This was the first season that all teams were given an Express Pass at the starting line, but it can only be played until Leg 6, and only one pass can be used for each task.

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“We thought we would hang onto it until Leg 6, the last leg it could be played,” Charlotte admitted. “And we really wanted to hang onto that as a safety net for if we were in last place. But the thing is, once you’re in last place, other teams have already played their pass, and you don’t have the option anymore. And so we just didn’t give that enough thought.”