May Hatuel, 32, says the exposure she gained on the latest season of "The Amazing Race" has brought her new career opportunities, but also intense criticism and personal fallout. In an interview on Lilach Markovich’s "Spill It" podcast, published June 25, 2026 and updated the same day, she discussed her relationship with her husband, her close bond with fellow contestant Itai On, and why she is not in a rush to start a family.
Hatuel said the period after filming and before broadcast, about eight months, was quiet, but the on-air attention changed everything. She came out of the show with nearly 70,000 followers and now works on content, editing videos, and brand work after years as a career military officer and reserve soldier in a male-dominated unit. "I’m very happy to explore this world," she said, adding that it is a hard profession. She also described the online abuse she received, especially over facial pigmentation, and said the experience showed her that the internet can be "a very bad place."
Much of the public reaction focused on her friendship with On, which viewers saw as unusually close. Hatuel said she had to apologize to her husband because the editing made some moments look worse than they were. She stressed that On is not her only close male friend and said her husband knew that about her life before the show. Still, she admitted the backlash was painful and that the physical closeness, especially hand-holding and hugs under pressure, was the main thing she would handle differently if she filmed again.
She said she and On’s wife, Jordan Blumenfeld, are not close and did not have a serious post-show conversation about boundaries. The distance between the couples, she said, was one of her only regrets from the race. Even so, she said she would do the show again without hesitation. On children, Hatuel was clear: she thinks about it a lot, but feels she is still in her own post-army, pre-family phase. "I’m not there right now," she said. "I don’t see how it fits into my life right now."
