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It was harder than they imagined. Maybe it was the 18-hour days, or schlepping the 30-pound backpacks — which included the make-up they brought.

Whatever the contributing factors, two women — Bowie resident Shawne Morgan and good friend Monique Pryor — were eventually done in by a large, cumbersome wood horse on the Feb. 28 episode of CBS's "The Amazing Race."

"We weren't panicking," Morgan said after being eliminated from the reality TV show contest. "What surprised me the most was it's an extremely rigorous experience."

Pryor had her own take.

"I have no regrets," Pryor said. "I just wish we didn't get eliminated."

The $1 million reward that the winning team takes home will go to another team, and Morgan and Pryor will have to find another way to strike it rich.

The two 39-year-old women tried long and hard at the mock polo competition in Argentina, in which the nine teams had to knock a polo ball across a goal line in nine strikes while sitting on wood horses. The women tried to score and failed several times, eventually opting out of the activity to do a treasure hunt instead. They had lost so much time in the process, however, that they were the last team to complete the adventure.

Elimination, and a few tears, followed, only three weeks into the race.

Now, Pryor is back at her job as a university fundraiser in New Jersey. Morgan has returned to her business selling hair and practicing part-time law. Their children are thrilled their moms are back home again, and even the husbands ended up passing their own test as temporary single parents, the women said.

"Hair was combed and the kids made it to school on time," Morgan marveled.

Morgan said her favorite part of the experience was traveling and meeting a variety of people along the way.

"Everyone was so helpful, they were just as excited as we were," Morgan said.

Pryor enjoyed pushing herself to her physical and mental limits. She said she didn't want to second-guess her team's strategy.

"We definitely know that in part of the race, the great equalizer is luck, and it's also mental and physical," Pryor said. "I don't want to could-have should-have."

And as for those reality TV show production secrets — are there ever scene retakes, or do the camera crews ever intervene?

"We really can't speak about the production element," CBS spokeswoman Mallory Mason chimed in. She was listening in to the interview.

A similar rule applies, of course, for questions on who will end up winning the show. In fact, the ladies won't even tell you which team they think is the best.

"Every team has a strong possibility to win the race," Morgan said.

But then, a possible clue: the woman set apart cowboys and animal-adept brothers Jet and Cord McCoy of Oklahoma. The brothers have excelled at many of the competitions, like putting a blanket and scarf on a llama. They've placed first in two out of the three episodes.

"We never underestimated anyone, except for those cowboys," Pryor said. "They came in first place. They were so unassuming."

Aside from the big hats, of course.

E-mail Sarah Richards at srichards@gazette.net.