Topic: TAR 17: Jill Haney and Thomas Wolfard -- Dating

[georgiapeach]

Jill and Thomas

Dating





Jill Haney

Age: 27

Hometown: Marina Del Rey, Calif.

Connection to your Teammate: Girlfriend

Current occupation: Hair Stylist

Favorite hobbies: Reading, running and work out classes

Achievements: Leaving my hometown to live in a big city like I had always dreamed of

Lifelong to do list: Have an Eat Pray Love experience in life

What scares you most about traveling? Nothing! I want to experience as much of the world as I can. I am uneasy when there is turbulence, though.

What excites you most about traveling? Relaxing, getting sun, doing activates and having no phone

Role model/hero: My sister – she's smart, driven and independent. I always look to her for guidance and inspiration.

What are you passionate about? Family, friends, my career, traveling and enjoying every moment of life

What would you do if you won the million dollars? I would take my family on vacation, buy a new car, purchase a great collection of handbags and finally invest the rest.

People would be surprised to learn: The amount of physical labor and construction work I've had to do. Thanks, Dad.

Favorite place you have ever visited: Madrid, Spain

Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: Communication and not being short tempered with one another.

What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other then winning one million bucks)? I hope we grow as a team and have an amazing experience together.

Pet peeve about your teammate: He never cleans up after himself.


Thomas Wolfard

Age: 30

Hometown: Marina Del Rey, Calif.

Connection to your Teammate: Boyfriend

Current occupation: Ad Sales Director

Favorite hobbies: Skiing, golfing and lounging

Achievements: Graduating from Notre Dame

Lifelong to do list: I would ultimately like to give more.

What scares you most about traveling? Being caught in a hostile environment is what I'm most fearful of when traveling.

What excites you most about traveling? Being completely and utterly immersed in a polar opposite cultural environment

If I could switch places with someone: Phil Mickelson – Something about making tens of millions of dollars playing golf on the most scenic courses in the world seems fairly intriguing.

Role model/hero: My dad. He's the smartest, hardest working and selfless person I know.

What are you passionate about? God, my family, sports and travel

What would you do if you won the million dollars? Put a down payment on a ski house in the Colorado Rockies.

People would be surprised to learn: Yo hablo espanol… como un gringo

Favorite place you have ever visited: San Sebastian, Spain

Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: Our biggest hurdle on the Race will be communicating effectively.

What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other then winning one million bucks)? I hope to experience other cultures. It would also be a great life experience Jill and I can share.

Pet peeve about your teammate: She always has spelling errors.

[georgiapeach]

Summary updated with Intro video!

[apskip]

some may question the wisdom of Jill and Thomas' decision to use their ExpressPass on the Kiruna part of the race. I cannot fault them. They were last by an unknown amount, but they could have guessed at least 15 minutes after the dog sled camp and they did not have any idea what DETOURs others chose or how much time might be required. As things turned out for Connor/Jonathan taking so much time doing Beds, they should have been OK without using the ExpressPass, but they could not have known this at the time they had to decide. They took the safe route to stay in the competition. Their goal of being a leading team was not met, but they were in the middle of the pack.

[kavin]

Thanks for this intro about the contestants. But I personally telling you, i don't like them. Definitely they very good contestants, but I don't like them. 

[Prophet]

Thanks for this intro about the contestants. But I personally telling you, i don't like them. Definitely they very good contestants, but I don't like them. 

JT definitely don't get a good edit, which is why no one likes them.

[Ruth]

I have a feeling if Jill and Thomas were cast on another season, say, the previous season, we might like them more. I think it's just that we all want an all-female team to win so much, and Nat and Kat and Brook and Claire certainly are potential candidates, that's why we're all rooting for the girls and don't want Jill and Thomas to win. I guess in comparison to these two girl teams, Jill and Thomas seem forgettable and boring.

[Prophet]

I have a feeling if Jill and Thomas were cast on another season, say, the previous season, we might like them more. I think it's just that we all want an all-female team to win so much, and Nat and Kat and Brook and Claire certainly are potential candidates, that's why we're all rooting for the girls and don't want Jill and Thomas to win. I guess in comparison to these two girl teams, Jill and Thomas seem forgettable and boring.

This is an excellent assessment, Ruth! JT are not bad people; it's all in the editing. The editors can paint a team however they want them and write whatever stories they want to write using the provided film.

[Belle Book]

I have a feeling if Jill and Thomas were cast on another season, say, the previous season, we might like them more. I think it's just that we all want an all-female team to win so much, and Nat and Kat and Brook and Claire certainly are potential candidates, that's why we're all rooting for the girls and don't want Jill and Thomas to win. I guess in comparison to these two girl teams, Jill and Thomas seem forgettable and boring.

Yeah.  Also, Thomas can be rather annoying.  I think the combination of Jill being forgettable and boring and Thomas being annoying when he isn't also forgettable and boring makes people root for them less, especially when compared to Brook & Claire who are definitely entertaining (especially Brook) and Nat & Kat, who are less forgettable than Jill and more likeable than Thomas.

Belle Book

[kadilahopper]

I am in the minority when I champion Jill and Thomas.  I like them both.  Where everyone sees boring, I see quiet intensity.  They are never lackadaisical about any task.  They are decisive.  When they are having difficulty with one detour they decide quickly to change.  This quick thinking and quick decisions have kept them in this race.  And my main reason is shallow.  The other two teams are well off financially, and Jill and Thomas are not.  To me they are the average Joes and they race like average Joes. They want the money.  Forget the glory.  Cash for those who don't have it is the greatest incentive.  But then, that is just my opinion. :<)

[Prophet]

I am in the minority when I champion Jill and Thomas.  I like them both.  Where everyone sees boring, I see quiet intensity.  They are never lackadaisical about any task.  They are decisive.  When they are having difficulty with one detour they decide quickly to change.  This quick thinking and quick decisions have kept them in this race.  And my main reason is shallow.  The other two teams are well off financially, and Jill and Thomas are not.  To me they are the average Joes and they race like average Joes. They want the money.  Forget the glory.  Cash for those who don't have it is the greatest incentive.  But then, that is just my opinion. :<)

They may not be lacadaisical, but, as indicated by the interviews before the final, they are extremely cocky.

[Mug Costanza]

I am in the minority when I champion Jill and Thomas.  I like them both.  Where everyone sees boring, I see quiet intensity.  They are never lackadaisical about any task.  They are decisive.  When they are having difficulty with one detour they decide quickly to change.  This quick thinking and quick decisions have kept them in this race.  And my main reason is shallow.  The other two teams are well off financially, and Jill and Thomas are not.  To me they are the average Joes and they race like average Joes. They want the money.  Forget the glory.  Cash for those who don't have it is the greatest incentive.  But then, that is just my opinion. :<)

They may not be lacadaisical, but, as indicated by the interviews before the final, they are extremely cocky.

You know, I don't think it's a problem that they're being cocky in the pre-final leg interview. If you go on The Amazing Race to just have a good time and not care about winning, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. If you're going to win the race, you've got to want it.

For an all-girl team to win, that means Jill & Thomas must lose. If an interviewer is asking them about an all-girl team winning, that means they're pretty much counting Jill & Thomas out of it. If a reporter asked me what it's like to know that Race history will be made if my team loses, I sure wouldn't be too happy about it either. I can completely understand his "cockiness" but in this case I consider it to be more like self-confidence.

[north09]

I am in the minority when I champion Jill and Thomas.  I like them both.  Where everyone sees boring, I see quiet intensity.  They are never lackadaisical about any task.  They are decisive.  When they are having difficulty with one detour they decide quickly to change.  This quick thinking and quick decisions have kept them in this race.  And my main reason is shallow.  The other two teams are well off financially, and Jill and Thomas are not.  To me they are the average Joes and they race like average Joes. They want the money.  Forget the glory.  Cash for those who don't have it is the greatest incentive.  But then, that is just my opinion. :<)

  At least theres still someone here that hasn't joined the all-girl team bandwagon. I picked Jill & Thomas pre-race and I'm sticking by my choice, even if that does mean both female teams have to loose. I completly agree with your assessment of them. It's why they've been finishing on top. That as well as their drive is what in my opinion makes a winning team.

[AmazingRace]

I like Jill & Thomas as well. They deserve to win as much as the other two teams. 

[allie303]

I like this team a lot. Love their intensity.

That said, Thomas can be pretty douchey from time to time. 

[Mug Costanza]

He can be, but I feel like they always end the day with a smile on their faces, unlike Nick & Vicki or in some cases Chad & Stephanie.

[Dånooky]

at least they have more personality than Charlie and Rachel :/

[Rogue]

And my main reason is shallow.  The other two teams are well off financially, and Jill and Thomas are not.  To me they are the average Joes and they race like average Joes. They want the money.  Forget the glory.  Cash for those who don't have it is the greatest incentive.  But then, that is just my opinion. :<)

Nat and Kat may be doctors but they have not been practicing long enough to be well off financially. They are talking about paying student loans off, high, med school student loans. Also did you read what Thomas does for a living? Do you honestly think Thomas is not making money in that position? Look up the salary for that job and see how much he is struggling. And Jill has been a cosmetologist for seven years. Unless she is unemployed or just switched jobs, my guess is she is not doing that bad either. Everyone wants the money but the experience you take away should be just as important. But this is just my opinion. I like Thomas and Jill but I've liked Nat and Kat and Brook and Claire before this whole first female team winning mess got as big as it has.

[AmazingRace]

  Travel by taxi to Greystone Mansion, and follow the marked path and run to the Finish Line. This is it! Go, Go, Go! 

[Belle Book]

at least they have more personality than Charlie and Rachel :/

Who are Charlie & Rachel?  Are they from TARA?

Belle Book

[Prophet]

Travel by taxi to Greystone Mansion, and follow the marked path and run to the Finish Line. This is it! Go, Go, Go!  

Huh?

[AmazingRace]

Travel by taxi to Greystone Mansion, and follow the marked path and run to the Finish Line. This is it! Go, Go, Go!  

Huh?

Spreading the excitement.   

[Dånooky]

at least they have more personality than Charlie and Rachel :/

Who are Charlie & Rachel?  Are they from TARA?

Belle Book

China Rush. But back to JT, I feel bad they made that huge mistake after running an almost perfect race. I just knew cabs would be their downfall.

[KitKat]

I really liked Jill and Thomas. They ran a good race and were gracious at the finish line.

[AmazingRace]

Congratulations to Jill & Thomas!  Now they can enjoy the trips that they won, together! 

[Belle Book]

I really liked Jill and Thomas. They ran a good race and were gracious at the finish line.

I respected Jill & Thomas more than liked them, but I'm glad they were very gracious at the finish line.

Belle Book

[Prophet]

I think that more people would have liked Jill and Thomas if they had been cast in another season and given a different edit. It seems like TAR 17 was all about having a FF team win.

[Ruth]

^ Yep, I agree on that, as I've mentioned earlier. Somehow, this team kinda reminds me of Colin and Christie, whom I actually rooted for on their season. But yeah, this season is all about strong, dominant all-female teams and we all wanted history to be broken so bad. I believe if Jill and Thomas had been cast on the previous season, it could be a different story altogether.

But they are a very strong, consistent team and would have deserved to win all the same. Too bad for a bad cab.

[georgiapeach]

3rd Place Cab Nightmares with Jill and Thomas The Amazing Race
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Reg Seeton


After running hard throughout The Amazing Race 17 to stay in the thick of competition, Jill Haney and Thomas Wolfard fell victim to the random numbers game of life in Los Angeles when they chose the wrong cab in the recent finale of The Amazing Race.

Stuck in the back of a cab during The Amazing Race finale at the moment when they needed to find information to their next task, Jill and Thomas lost precious time and couldn't make ground on both Brook and Claire and eventual Amazing Race winners, Nat and Kat. As a result of their bad cab experience, Jill and Thomas placed third on The Amazing Race after overcoming their own communication obstacles and many global hurdles.

Following their third place finish on The Amazing Race 17, TheDeadbolt caught up with Jill and Thomas to find out what went wrong, what we didn't see, how they felt about watching The Amazing Race finale, and how Jill and Thomas are different now because of their Amazing Race experience.

THE DEADBOLT: Did you guys ever find out who Sancho Panza's master was?

THOMAS WOLFARD: You know, it's funny. My second major was Spanish. I was really literature focused and I read Don Quixote in Spanish. I certainly knew of Don Quixote and I knew about Sancho Panza, but it was just the way it was written out. You needed confirmation. It said, "blank" studios. I never heard of Don Quixote Studios and it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But once we found a place and looked up Quixote Studios, then we saw it was an actual place and it made a lot more sense.

THE DEADBOLT: How painful was it to watch the finale?

THOMAS: It was awful. We were obviously dreading it for awhile. It felt like we really got it down to a groove towards the end and we really finished the race strong, obviously losing it in the last leg.

JILL HANEY: Yeah. We walked away with some fabulous prizes and traveled aound the world, so you can't be too disappointed.

THE DEADBOLT: The back of the cab must have felt like a prison. Was that the toughest part of the race?

THOMAS: It was awful. Basically, we get on the road in the cab and we get in feeling strong after all of the communication problems. We were in the process and I called information and they were looking all of this stuff up for us. They were conveying the information to the guy and we didn't have a phone. Then the phone went dead. We were more so in a prison because we had no way to communicate with anybody and we had to pull off on the side of the road and that's when they showed us their computer. I was trying to use that person's computer and ultimately found someone with an iPhone to get the information.

THE DEADBOLT: How far behind were you guys in the end?

JILL: I'm not really sure. I mean, when we got to the finish line, both of them were there and we didn't want to know how close or far we were.

THE DEADBOLT: Jill, it looked like you were really nervous before you got to the bungee jump. How hard was that for you when you were up there?

JILL: I'm really uncomfortable with heights. Even when I repelled off of the mountain I was freaking out. I'm extremely uncomfortable, but it would never stop me from doing it. But especially just because you're waiting, you're sitting there hanging, going, "Okay, when are they going to let us drop?" You're just waiting and anticipating this free fall.

THE DEADBOLT: So, Thomas, do you have a new appreciation for float decorating?

THOMAS: We got to the final leg and to have an arts and crafts challenge was a little disappointing. I thought it would be something a little more mentally challenging or physically challenging and we were just sitting there putting flowers on a float.

THE DEADBOLT: Now that it's all said and done, how are you guys different because of the race?

JILL: Just having this experience and sharing it and going through it together aligned us even more. We've been together for awhile, so it brought us even closer.

THOMAS: We got to see the world and it was exciting to see how much people are willing to help you out and go out of their way to help you and talk to you. I just really have an appreciation that people are generally good all around the world. You can give people the benefit of the doubt.

THE DEADBOLT: After watching the season, is there anything you wish we saw that wasn't aired?

THOMAS: There was one time. I don't know if I can even mention this, but we were stopped in the airport for security and we were going to Sweden ...

JILL: On that first flight that was early.

THOMAS: ... we had tickets on that earlier flight when half of the people got there earlier and half got there later.

JILL: We got on that first flight and got stopped from competing by the German police.

THOMAS: We got stopped because they were filming in a secure area.

JILL: Yeah, the passport area and they we didn't realize it as we were running through the door. So we actually missed that flight we had seats on because the German police had to look through our footage to make sure there wasn't anything on it.

http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/109484/jill_thomas_amazing_race_17_interview.php

[Prophet]

Nat and Kat set the example: it's possible to leave a bad taxi driver behind and find another. It's also much more advantageous. This is was the moment when I believed for the first time that Nat and Kat were a winning team.

[ovalorange]

Here's a nice article on Jill. And apparently she styled Kim Kardashian’s hair for her wedding 

http://cheekychicago.com/reality-star-jill-haney-gets-cheeky/

[Jobby]

THE DEADBOLT: After watching the season, is there anything you wish we saw that wasn't aired?

THOMAS: There was one time. I don't know if I can even mention this, but we were stopped in the airport for security and we were going to Sweden ...

JILL: On that first flight that was early.

THOMAS: ... we had tickets on that earlier flight when half of the people got there earlier and half got there later.

JILL: We got on that first flight and got stopped from competing by the German police.

THOMAS: We got stopped because they were filming in a secure area.

JILL: Yeah, the passport area and they we didn't realize it as we were running through the door. So we actually missed that flight we had seats on because the German police had to look through our footage to make sure there wasn't anything on it.

Which eventually lead to them using the EP. Now that's something I didn't know!

[apskip]

Although you did not know it, one has to question what difference it made. The Express Pass had to be used in Sweden, St. Petersburg, or Oman before its 8 leg use limit ran out. Since Thomas and Jill made it to the finale anyway, I will argue that it did not matter that they had to use the Express Pass in Sweden (actually, they didn't but they wanted to be super-safe and not take the slightest risk).

[Jobby]

Although you did not know it, one has to question what difference it made. The Express Pass had to be used in Sweden, St. Petersburg, or Oman before its 8 leg use limit ran out. Since Thomas and Jill made it to the finale anyway, I will argue that it did not matter that they had to use the Express Pass in Sweden (actually, they didn't but they wanted to be super-safe and not take the slightest risk).

I am not questioning about the difference it made. I think it is just interesting that it ultimately led to them being in the back pack and using the Express Pass. I know it would not have made a difference as they will make the F3 anyway, but the only difference it will make is whether or not they will use it to secure a win in a leg (like Ernie and Cindy tried to do). Thanks.