The Amazing Race season 36 contestants Melissa Main and Yvonne Chavez had to be adaptable when expanding their family.
After the pair’s elimination during the Wednesday, May 8, episode of the CBS reality series, an update revealed that Yvonne, 40, and Melissa, 38, have become parents since filming the show.
“I had no intention of being the one to carry,” Melissa, who gave birth to her and Yvonne’s daughter eight weeks ago, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, May 9. “Just like the race, you never know what to expect.”
Yvonne explained that before the duo left for The Amazing Race, they’d “already started the IVF process” using her eggs.
“I started the fertility journey and before the race had everything ready to go, all frozen in the freezer,” she said. “And when we came back, we started the process of the implantation with IVF, and I learned I had some fertility challenges. [I had] fibroids and had to take them out through a surgery.”
Melissa joked about the moment she realized she was going to have to step up to the plate.
“So, here I am at an appointment and they both look at me — [Yvonne] and the doctor — and they say, ‘You?’ And I said, ‘I guess!’” she recalled with a laugh.
Melissa, who noted that she and Yvonne are “loving every minute” of parenthood thus far, was candid on the show about feeling ready to move in with Yvonne. However, the pair didn’t take that next step until Melissa was eight months pregnant with their daughter.
“I held on tight to my solo apartment,” Yvonne admitted.
“We love our space. We spent every night of the week together leading up to [moving in], but we loved our one night a week [alone],” Melissa shared. “And we lived down the street from each other. So, while we didn’t live together, it was very close to it.”
Melissa added that she thinks delaying the move was “for the best,” as it made adjusting to living with a baby easier.
“Now we’re in the routine with her, with the baby. So, there was no reason to get used to our own routine and then throw a baby in the mix,” she said. “There really was no hesitation on either of our parts other than we just wanted to keep taking it slowly and enjoy the one night a week [in] our own space.”
Yvonne and Melissa said on The Amazing Race that they thought the experience could serve as a bootcamp to prepare them for the challenges of raising a child. Melissa shared one lesson from the show that’s helped her as a mom.
“We’re usually the one in control of the situations in my job,” said Melissa, who works as an investigator for U.S. Navy special operations. “The race was completely relinquishing control, and that is very similar to parenthood.”
Yvonne, meanwhile, joked that while season 36 contestants had “one of the shortest legs” in the show’s history, “the baby is a very long leg. A very, very, very, very — many long legs.”
Melissa chimed in, “[With] numerous roadblocks and detours.”
The Amazing Race airs on CBS Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET.
