On Monday night, teams travelled from Uzbekistan and traded the chilly weather for the warm embrace of Sri Lanka. Battling through the seventh leg of the race, Balinese princess Lindy Klim and daughter Stella Klim were trying to claw their way from the back of the pack.
But during a detour where teams had to take four barrels of fish that had been soaking in brine and lay them out in the sweltering sun, Stella began to feel unwell.
Ultimately, the medical team had to step in, and the mother-daughter team were told they couldn't continue racing for what was, at the time, assumed to be a case of heatstroke, but what was later revealed to be far more serious.
"It was quite frustrating because I only figured out from going on the show that I'm actually quite competitive," Stella told 10. "After trying so hard and doing so well, to be told it's not safe anymore, I was really bummed.
"I felt really annoyed with myself that I couldn't keep going, but I'm really glad that the medic decided that was the right thing to do, as obviously there was a longer day ahead and we didn't know. If I were to have kept on going, it would have gotten worse," Stella continued.
"I think we were so miffed because they were saying at the time that she had heatstroke," Lindy added. "We were thinking, how could that be? We've lived in the tropics for forever. How has she gotten heatstroke?
"To find out Stella was actually quite unwell, and there was an underlying medical condition, it was a bit of a shock, but also a blessing in disguise that we didn't continue."
Since leaving the race, Stella has been diagnosed with epilepsy, and doctors also discovered a cyst on the right side of her brain. In a video posted to her TikTok, Stella revealed that she suffered her first seizure on a call with producers a few weeks after they had returned home from Sri Lanka.
"We're trying to figure it all out at the moment, working out the best direction and the right meds to keep me on, but it was a blessing in disguise that it happened on the show because, otherwise, I don't think we would have figured it out, and I could have been in an unsafe situation," Stella said.
Despite the way their time on the show ended, Lindy and Stella agreed that their time on the race was an amazing experience. "I'm missing my time on it now that it's done and dusted for us, but we had the best time," Lindy added.
"I hadn't really seen it before because we lived in Indonesia for so long, so we didn't really have free-to-air TV, but the idea of us travelling together and having this experience appealed to us," she added.
"I had watched a couple of episodes from the previous season before, and it just looked like so much fun, so I was really keen to go," Stella said. "It was such a cool experience, and we got to meet all the other teams which we have some really good friendships with."
"It was kind of difficult at times," Lindy added, "because even when we were in situations where we might have been beating a team, it was like we didn't want to! We wanted to cross the line together. It was cute!"
Looking back at their experience, Stella said that her advice for anyone considering tackling a challenge like The Amazing Race Australia is to, "Go into it with no expectations and just try to have as much fun as possible".
"Take in as much as you can, because you're so focused on the challenges, you sometimes don't have a moment to stop and look around. I wish we had focused a bit more on where we were, and taken it in for a second longer, but obviously that's really difficult to do when you're racing," she laughed.
Lindy and Stella were competing on behalf of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, a not-for-profit that provides support for those facing family violence, financial abuse, and housing insecurity and helps women, girls and families with financial assistance, coaching, counselling, and access to essential services.
"It was a charity close to our hearts," Lindy said. "We were happy that we were doing it for them and to shine some light on that charity. Unfortunately, we didn't win the money for them, but hopefully we can do some work with them in the future," she added.
The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition continues Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 7.30pm. Watch and Stream Free On 10.
