Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller Photo by: Tony Esparza / CBS
Jonathan Baker & Victoria Fuller
Notorious for their bickering and seemingly hostile relationship, the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Baker and Victoria Fuller ended their Amazing Race journey on a quiet, peaceful note, bringing a group of Ethiopian children with them to the pit stop at Lalibela Lookout. Although pop artist Fuller, 32, seemed to take the brunt of the punishment during the race – from the physical anguish of vomiting up soup in Budapest to the mental torture of Baker's tirades – she and Baker, 43, a filmmaker and spa owner, insist there were many nice memories from their experience. The Los Angeles-based couple spoke to PEOPLE about the lessons learned from the Race and their lives today.

Was The Amazing Race experience worth it considering you aired a lot of your personal life on TV?
Victoria: It was a great experience despite how negative it looked.
Jonathan: There was a lot of the good, a lot of the bad and a lot of the ugly. All they showed was the ugly. I think we were picked because they knew we weren't going to hold back, and I guess that's what got us in a little bit of trouble.
Victoria: We took it way over the top. We took it really serious and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win and I think that was ultimately our downfall.

Teams like Gus and Hera say you were the most pleasant group on the Race. Do you wish more people could have seen that?
Victoria: We are glad they had nice things to say about us. Coming from them, then maybe other people will be like, "Oh, maybe they're not so bad."
Jonathan: I played this game fair and direct and ruthless at the same time. I was very honest with everybody and if they would pull something, I would call them on it right away.

What did you think of your portrayal on the show?
Jonathan: I didn't like the person who was up on the screen. I think I am a better person than that. I don't want to make excuses for being the villain – I have to take responsibility for it. Going into the race, I tried to be a heightened version of myself and that was the fun part of it. It was a license to be bad if I could get away with it, but I didn't.
Victoria: You took it too far.