Reality Fan Forum - The Amazing Race Spoilers - Big Brother Live Feed Updates - Survivor Spoilers - Reality TV Spoilers - Big Brother Spoilers

The Amazing Race => The Racers => Topic started by: Kogs on October 24, 2007, 09:50:30 AM

Title: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: Kogs on October 24, 2007, 09:50:30 AM
(http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race12/images/bio/fullsize/team_10.jpg)
Rachel & TK
Dating for almost one year
Rachel: Huntington Beach, CA
23, Florist/Store Owner

TK: Huntington Beach, CA
22, Substitute Teacher

Rachel & TK have only been dating for close to a year. Both of their moms were friends while they were growing up in Huntington Beach, California, yet they had never really spent anytime together until only recently. This fun-loving couple is always laughing and is eager to see if their relationship can stand up to the rigors of the Race.

Rachel owns her own high-style flower shop. She describes herself as bright and ambitious and claims that the biggest difference between she and TK are the lives they’ve led. He was a collegiate athlete at UC Santa Barbara while she stayed home and bought a business and started working straight out of high school.

TK currently makes his living as a substitute teacher. He describes himself as dedicated, witty and intelligent. TK swam in college and was voted team captain of the swim team. He also held the all-time record in the 200-meter backstroke at UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara).

This free-spirited Team is looking to share the adventure of a lifetime together and maybe win $ 1 million prize in the process.
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: puddin on October 24, 2007, 10:39:08 AM
Oh I love them  :jumpy:
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Hi-Fi on October 24, 2007, 11:00:26 AM
This is my early pick to win! LOVED them!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: georgiapeach on October 24, 2007, 01:38:35 PM
GHB for the distance!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: patlini on October 24, 2007, 02:20:09 PM
team green head band - right?
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: michael on October 24, 2007, 02:35:57 PM
I like them :D
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: puddin on October 24, 2007, 04:05:37 PM
 :hearts:

Rachel
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=114543666

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b105/rawalsh/TAR12/realityfanforumteam/96226_D0477.jpg)
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Kogs on October 24, 2007, 04:28:51 PM
nice tatoo rachel
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Kiwi Jay on October 25, 2007, 12:56:01 AM
Nice tatt Rach, but T.K looks like a nephew of B.J, He is a gorilla, but they are my pick to win!!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Texan on October 26, 2007, 01:32:54 PM
Look like a fun loving couple.  Must be a swimming comp that she does that they put in about him being on swim team
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Kiwi Jay on October 26, 2007, 04:19:45 PM
lol they do!!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: RudyRules on October 28, 2007, 04:36:44 AM
This couple Rocks!  I can see them winning!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: michael on November 04, 2007, 08:11:45 PM
 :hearts: :hearts:

I love them.
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: Hi-Fi on November 19, 2007, 08:25:37 PM
Still loving these two!
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: RudyRules on November 26, 2007, 01:51:06 AM
Still loving these two!
me too!  They are really sweet & work together as a team.

If there are any water tasks, it'll be a piece o' cake for him...with his impressive swimming background.  :jumpy:
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: OC Watcher on January 08, 2008, 01:19:23 PM
Greetings RFFers. I write/blog about TV for the Orange County Register. Though the SoCal folks might like to know that Nate/Jen and TK/Rachel are hosting a viewing party Sunday (1/13) at Smooth's Sports Grille in Downtown Long Beach. Starting time is 6:30.
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: TARAsia Fan on January 08, 2008, 01:49:49 PM
Thanks for letting us know. Much appreciated.

Just a quick asides, aren't viewing parties kind of the kiss of death for teams?  :lol: :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: OC Watcher on January 08, 2008, 02:59:53 PM
Kiss of death? May be, but they can't BOTH get booted Sunday. (Or can they?)
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: TARAsia Fan on January 08, 2008, 03:02:45 PM
There was a double elimination in TAR10.  :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: georgiapeach on January 08, 2008, 03:05:43 PM
 Hi OC Watcher! Glad to see you here! :welcome2:

But my invitation actually says hosted by Jennifer and Hendekea.....
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: north09 on January 20, 2008, 08:10:53 PM
Congratulations to them! So what IS his real name? I wanna see if they print that on the check, it's probably something embarassing like Thadeous Kensington Erwin.
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: michael on January 20, 2008, 08:11:30 PM
I remember something like "Thomas Kyle" or something like that
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: puddin on January 20, 2008, 08:37:25 PM
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b105/rawalsh/ththcongrats.gif)(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b105/rawalsh/ththcongrats.gif)(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b105/rawalsh/ththcongrats.gif)(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b105/rawalsh/ththcongrats.gif)
Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: michael on January 20, 2008, 08:38:53 PM
weren't they the first team spoiled?!

Title: Re: Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin - TAR12
Post by: puddin on January 20, 2008, 08:46:27 PM
I think so but the Goths were the first team we spoiled then Jen & Nate next as far as names go .. Rachel & TK were known as team GHB=green head band.
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: michael on January 21, 2008, 07:08:26 PM
TK only four years older than me, he seems so much older :|
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on January 21, 2008, 08:17:58 PM
They say Ron & Christina were 20 minutes behind them, it wasn't even close Zzzzzzzzzzz
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: TARAsia Fan on January 21, 2008, 08:28:01 PM
So much for that three way photo finish.
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: michael on January 21, 2008, 08:31:56 PM
photo finish my almost adult ass.
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: Mrs Shrek on January 21, 2008, 08:38:48 PM
They say Ron & Christina were 20 minutes behind them, it wasn't even close Zzzzzzzzzzz
They must have got really lost after the fish statue then, cos couldn't Ron & Chris see TK & Rach on the street ahead of them? Or was that just editing?
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on January 21, 2008, 09:28:08 PM
On one of the insider clips Ron accuses TK & Rachel of telling people to give them bad directions or something --I haven't sat through all the clips yet Mrs Shrek.
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on January 22, 2008, 02:29:36 PM
Exclusive: Rachel Rosales, TK Erwin dish on 'The Amazing Race' win

 
By Christopher Rocchio, 01/21/2008

Rachel Rosales and TK Erwin remained cool and calm when presented with a challenge, a strategy that paid-off to the tune of $1 million as the dating couple from Huntington Beach, CA was revealed to be The Amazing Race's twelfth-season winners during last night's finale broadcast of the CBS reality

Rachel, a 23-year-old florist and business owner, and TK, a 22-year-old substitute teacher, were the first team to reach the race's Finish Line in Anchorage, AK, beating "Father/Daughter" team Ronald and Christina Hsu, who finished second, and"Grandfather/Grandson" team Donald Jerousek and Nicolas Fulks, who finished third.

On Monday, TK and Rachel talked to Reality TV World about why they don't plan on getting hitched in the immediate future but would if they strictly went on pure emotions; how their forgetfulness with a clue could have cost them the race; what allowed them to remain calm in stressful situations; and why overcoming a Speed Bump penalty and catching up to their competition gave them the adrenaline rush they needed for the final push.


Reality TV World:  So, how did it feel to win The Amazing Race?

TK:  It felt...
Rachel:  Gratifying!
TK: ... Unbelievable.  It didn't feel real by any means.  It still doesn't.  It's one of those situations where you just can't believe you're in that situation and you're actually there and that it actually happened.

Reality TV World:  TK, following your win, you commented how running the race with Rachel helped your relationship grow.  Can you explain how you think The Amazing Race helped strengthen your relationship?

TK:  We were a fairly fresh [couple] when we tried out for the race, and at the time I had already had all these feelings about Rachel but we had only been together for a short time.  So having gone through the race and traveled so far for so long with her and getting into situations where we're tired and hungry and having to do these tedious things -- and her still holding it together and us being successful in that way -- I feel it kind of legitimized the way I felt before the race.

Reality TV World:  How about you Rachel?  Do you think the race helped strengthened your relationship with TK?

Rachel:  Yeah, definitely.  Very similar to what TK said, the fact that we accomplished our goal together and that we accomplished the goal of being nice to each other the whole time really... TK gained even more respect for me.

Reality TV World:  So based on what we saw on The Early Show this morning, you two are still together and "completely committed to each other" but we shouldn't expect to see an engagement announcement anytime soon, right?

TK:  I think that's right... I think that if we went just straight -- pure on emotions -- a marriage might be something that would be coming up.  But we're both young and traveling and it's just not something that's going to be happening right away.  But I see it at some point.

Reality TV World:  How about something simpler like a haircut and a shave?  There seemed to be quite a bit of talk about your appearance during the race.

Rachel:  He got a haircut (laughing)!
TK:  Hey, hey!  I cut 12-inches of dreadlocks off my head this week.  I'm trying to bring it down a little bit (laughing)...

Reality TV World:  During the final Roadblock task, Rachel you approached it with calmness and were able to complete it before either of the other two teams.  You two did your best to stay mellow and calm throughout the race.  Was that part of your strategy heading in?  Was it difficult to do at times?

Rachel:  It was a strategy, but it also is who we are.  So we knew that just reminding each other that's what we're trying to do was going to help us anytime that there was a difficulty.  Of course, we're humans and we are dating.  It's such stressful conditions with the "not eating" and the "not sleeping."  There were definitely a couple times where we had to put in a little bit more energy to remain calm.

Reality TV World:  Would you say that Roadblock task was pretty much the deciding factor on who won the race?

TK:  Definitely. Ron and Chris were out in-front the whole leg, and then me, Don and Ron were sitting there for over an hour while that Roadblock was going on, and it really was anyone's game at that point.  All three of them  -- Rachel, Nick and Chris -- had said that they were done with it...
Rachel:  A bunch of times.
TK: ... A bunch of times.  So we were all standing there and one of them would go, "I'm done!" We'd all sit there and wait a minute... anticipation, anticipation... and then they'd go, "No!"  We'd be like, "Oh no!" (laughing)  It was cool.

Reality TV World:  At the "Grab the Crab" Detour task, it sounded like you two had changed your mind and were going to switch tasks right before TK found the correct crab.  Is that what happened or was it just editing?

Rachel:  What we had done a bunch of times, I had my watch, and we would tell ourselves, "Okay, let's give ourselves... We've been doing this for however many minutes, let's give ourselves 10 more minutes, if we don't find it, we need to change."  So I kept checking my watch, checking my watch, and it was literally down to the last minute where we made the decision that we're going to change.  We're using up our last minute, and he found it.  It was amazing!

Reality TV World:  Do you think you still would have won had you switched tasks?

Rachel:  You never know...
TK:  Yeah.

Reality TV World:  What was your initial reaction when you reached that first U-Turn in Africa and realized Shana Wall and Jennifer McCall had used it on Jason Widener and Lorena Segura instead of you?

TK:  We were happy that they didn't use it on us, of course.  We were running up, and saw that [Shana and Jennifer] were running towards the U-Turn, so we actually slowed down so they didn't see us and didn't know.  We basically did opposite Detours, so they had no idea that we were behind them at that point.  Yeah, you know, they did what they had to do.

I think it came across on the [episode] that I was like somehow morally opposed to using the U-Turn, but that couldn't be further from the truth.  I actually just... In that position, I didn't want to use it just because Jason and Lorena were so far behind, I just wanted to save mine for later for a better situation.  That's all it was.  So that's what I said, and it basically came across like I had some sort of moral opposition to that part of race, which isn't the case.  I was just thinking more or less, "Why waste it here when we already have such a huge lead?"

Reality TV World:  So given you guys may have finished that leg last had Shana and Jennifer used the U-Turn on you, do you think you owe a little bit of that $1 million to them?

TK:  Well it came across that way on the show, but it's hard to speculate.  Jason and Lorena were pretty far behind and I'm not sure even if they hadn't been U-Turned... That's something, who knows what would have happened?

Reality TV World:  When you were in Ancona, how did you forget your clue on the table at that restaurant?

TK:  The most unbelievable ever...
Rachel:  We should have rested on the cruise is what we should have done, but we didn't [instead we went swimming], so by the time it was challenge time, we were already tired.  That's actually something about mer -- it's like a joke in my family -- like I lose things and stuff like that.  So it was just unbelievable that I did that.

Reality TV World:  Did you think it would impact your race more than it did?

Rachel:  Yeah, we got so lucky.  We could have very easily been done at that point.
TK:  Yeah, we would have been done.  Period.  We got so unbelievably lucky.  We had been driving for like 30 or 40 minutes before we realized that the clue was gone.  We had to go alllllll the way back, and then the lady that had the clue wasn't at the table there, and then we just spotted her.  Like, "Hey!  We left this clue!" And she kind of messed with us, saying she didn't really know what we were talking about and all this other nonsense.  Then she reached into her purse and pulled it out.  Oh... My gosh.  I can't even explain it.  She ran up and gave us both a big hug and kiss and then we were on our way.  But yeah, we would have been screwed completely.

Reality TV World:  TK, why did you have such a hard time seeing "Vinci" from the air during the subsequent Roadblock task?

TK:  (laughing) Good question!  I didn't have a hard time seeing "Vinci" from the air -- I didn't think that was what we were looking for.  The clue said, "Take a ride in the glider and search for a clue of your next destination."  Absolutely no excuses, but I was in a state of mind where I hadn't slept in over 30 hours or eaten anything, and I'm up in this plane looking for big orange and yellow flags or something.  You drive through Southern California -- drive through the desert -- and there's white rocks up on every road writing all different things, it was just something that seemed perfectly normal to me.
Rachel:  He didn't think it was out of the ordinary.
TK:  It didn't seem out of the ordinary.  I'm like, "Oh, we're in Florence.  Some dude wrote Vinci on the ground." (laughing) It just didn't click, and that's all I guess.

Reality TV World:  You two went to the same high school in Fountain Valley, CA as fellow twelfth-season racers Nathan Hagstrom and Staella Gianakakos. Did you all know each other in high school?

Rachel:  We didn't like know each other real personally at all, but I actually went to elementary school also with Staella.  We knew of each other, that kind of thing.  We'd see each other around definitely -- recognize each other -- but never had a friendship or anything like that.

Reality TV World:  When did the other teams learn about it?  Who revealed the information?

Rachel:  I think it was towards the beginning... the introductions.
TK:  The first day in LAX, Staella came up to us and was like...
Rachel:  "Hey!"
TK: ... "Hey!  This is weird!" (laughing)
Rachel:  We weren't allowed to talk or anything whatsoever until the race started, but of course we recognized each other when we were in the same room and preparing.

Reality TV World:  At any point during the race do you think the pre-existing relationship with them either helped or hindered your team?

TK:  No...
Rachel:  I don't think it had an impact.
TK:  Not at all.  I had never talked to Nate before in my whole life.

Reality TV World:  So even though you two went to the same high school, you two only really got to know each other about a year ago, via your mothers?

TK and Rachel:  Yeah...

Reality TV World:  And although show had billed you two as the "newly dating couple," that's about how long you'd already been dating -- about a year --  right?

TK:  Yeah... Like 10 or 11 months.
Rachel:  When the race ended, it was about a year.
TK:  When it was casting we had been dating for four months, but by the time the race actually started it had been like 10 months.

Reality TV World:  Why did you decide against using that U-Turn in India?

TK:  We felt like we were out in front and we didn't know who was behind or how far they were behind us at that point.  But we didn't put a name up -- I guess -- because we didn't know which one to [put up] and we didn't feel like we needed to.  We didn't need to do it.  We got first on that leg and it felt like we were running good on that leg, so it was a situation where it's like, "Alright, we're gonna get first.  Why piss anybody off?"

Reality TV World:  Since they didn't show any of it during the episode, what delayed your flight from India to Osaka, Japan?

Rachel:  (laughing)  We just chose... We did a bad job at buying the tickets basically.
TK:  We got bad information.  We went to a travel agent and did everything we could...
Rachel:  Asked him 100 times, "Are you sure?  Can you double check?  Triple check?"  It just wasn't right.
TK:  It was just one of those times where I think we did everything right and just got bad information.  Because we left first -- we started the leg first -- we were off on our own and then got on a plane and took off and the other teams, we never saw any of the other teams.

Reality TV World:  Did you assume that would be the end of your race or were you confident that it would be a non-elimination leg?

TK:  I think once we got into Japan, we got a feeling like, "Alright, we're pretty far behind."  We definitely got that foreboding feeling, but we tried to stay positive, it was one of those things.  We were like, "Well, we got so far behind.  It could happen to someone else too."
Rachel:  You never know what happens.
TK:  There were so many, so many times where we thought we were out of it and we'd show up [at the Pit Stop] and be in like second.  So I think we just kind of tried to take it one step at a time -- and we knew that if we were last -- there was a good chance it was going to be a non-elimination.
Rachel:  Yeah...

Reality TV World:  When we talked to Nathan and Jennifer Parker last week, they said you guys got to Taipei, Taiwan via the same flight from Osaka, Japan as them, Nick and Don... 

TK:  That's incorrect.
Rachel:  Yeah.

Reality TV World:  Okay, so could you explain what happened?

TK:  The "floating gardens" building [in Osaka] didn't open until 10AM and...
Rachel:  We started our leg around 10AM... 10:15AM.  We got to the "floating gardens" around 15 minutes after it opened...
TK:  No.  Maybe... I don't know, basically a big chunk of [our three-hour deficit] got eaten up because they had wait outside the "floating gardens" for it to open.  Then from Japan to Taipei, there's a flight out like every half hour.  So Ron and Chris got on the 1PM flight, then Nick and Don and Jen and Nate got on the 1:15PM flight, and then we got on the 1:35PM flight.  But Nate and Jen and Nick and Don's flight got delayed about 20 minutes, so we got there about 10 minutes earlier.  There was a huge line there at immigration in Taiwan (laughing)... We walked up and everyone was there.  It was a really cool moment.

Reality TV World:  At that point, were you confident you'd be able to complete the Speed Bump penalty and finish the leg before one of the other three teams?

TK:  I think we were just fired up.
Rachel:  Yeah, we knew it was possible.  We knew it was going to be important for us to hustle every second because we had to make up as much time to compensate for our Speed Bump.  So we put all our effort into making sure that we got to the Roadblock and could finish that before at least another team so we would have that time...
TK:  I think that even though we had another task [the Speed Bump] that no one else had to do, at that point  -- when we were leaving the Taiwan airport -- I think as far as morale is concerned, we were on an all-time high because we didn't expect to catch-up to them that quickly.  So we did catch up to them, (laughing) and they were all really disappointed that we caught up and we were all fired up that we did.  So I think that definitely helped.

Reality TV World:  About how long did the Speed Bump task take you to complete?

TK:  Right around a half hour.

Reality TV World:  How were you cast for The Amazing Race 12?  Was it your first time applying for the show? 

Rachel:  Yeah it was our first time and I had watched a bunch of the seasons, but never thought of any person in my life that I could go one with.  Then I'd been with TK for a few months and the commercial came on TV and it just kind of seemed right.  He was willing to go along and do it with me, and we actually went to an open casting and stood in line with everyone else and did our two-minute on-camera interview and then it just kept going from there.

Reality TV World:  Rachel you just mentioned you had watched a bunch of seasons, what about you TK?  Were you as big a fan as Rachel?

TK:  I was a fan of it, but hadn't watched very much of it at all.  At the time, I wasn't watching very much TV in general, but I knew what it was, just hadn't seen it recently.

Reality TV World:  How did you prepare yourselves both physically and mentally for the competition?

TK:  I think we both live active lifestyles -- so as far as the physical part -- [so] we were pretty confident going into it.  I guess mentally, we watched a lot.  We basically saturated ourselves with past episodes and tried to figure out what teams were successful when and for what reason and how we could apply that to our game.

Reality TV World:  Had either of you previously done a lot of international traveling? Do you know any foreign languages?

Rachel:  I really had not done that much international traveling, really just Mexico and the Midwest and things like that.  I just kind of speak a little bit of conversational Spanish... just enough to get me around.  But TK had done a little bit more traveling than I had.
TK:  I was fortunate to... I did a lot of traveling actually.  I spent some time in Central America.  I spent a month in New Zealand and Fiji.  I've kind of been a little bit all over the place.  I had never been to Europe though.  That was great.

Reality TV World:  Did you form alliances with any of the other teams? Were there any teams that you didn't get along with?

Rachel:  I think as far as the word "alliance," nothing was ever specifically said.  It was just really... I think we made genuine friendships with a bunch of the people so we just kind of helped people and they helped us.  It was give and take, that kind of thing.
TK:  Yeah, I don't think we specifically aligned ourselves with any one team, but if we were in the front of the pack, then we were helping out the other teams in the front.  If we were in the back of the pack, we were just helping out each other than.  It was kind of a power of numbers type thing.  When you're in a foreign country and you don't speak the language and you have to get somewhere, there were a lot of time when there were other teams -- like [Kynt Cothron and Vyxsin Fiala] or early on in the race Jason and Lorena -- where we kind of collaborated to make sure we got there.

Reality TV World:  What was the toughest part about competing on The Amazing Race? What was your favorite part?

Rachel:  My toughest part was the going without eating.  That was pretty hard on me because it just affects your mind so much.  So that was really hard for me.
TK:  I feel like the biggest strain of the race is just the lack of sleep and lack of food, because that just makes even the littlest things really intense.  (laughing)  There's just a lot of situations where people are blowing up and going crazy or were having difficulty with it or whatever and it's just probably because of a lack of food or sleep.

Reality TV World:  So what was your favorite part of the race?

TK:  In Croatia, we got to spend the day swimming in the Adriatic Sea with Nate and Jen.  It was just a really good experience because our ferry didn't leave until the evening, and we basically just had a whole day of just hanging out on a Croatian beach.  It was really, really cool.
Rachel: Also we liked just doing the challenges and competing.  The whole excitement of all of that was enjoyable.

Reality TV World:  Assuming you guys couldn't have won, would you have rather seen Nick and Don or Ron and Christina win?  Why?

TK:  Well, we became really good friends with Nick and Don toward the end of the race.  I really love both of them, they're absolutely hilarious.  Don proved a lot of people wrong.  For a 68-year-old guy to be doing that, it blew everybody away.  I think we kind of had the consensus -- nothing against Ron and Chris -- but had I been watching it at home, I would have been rooting for Nick and Don.

Reality TV World:  So what's next for you two? What are your plans for the $1 million prize?

Rachel:  Well what's next is basically I'm not going to be working, but it truthfully doesn't have anything to do with winning, it just kind of coincided with the same time.  But now that I do have money, I'm going to be able to take some time off, give myself a break, do some traveling with TK that I've been putting off because I never leave work.  Just maybe some repairs on my house, maybe some new outfits.  The rest will be for the future.
TK:  Rachel's always been a bit of a workaholic, so I'm excited to have a good reason for her not to have to go to work for a little bit.  Hopefully get some good traveling done.  I don't think either one of us wants to blow through this money really quick, so I think we're going to try to put it away for the future and hopefully get some good traveling done in the meantime.

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-rachel-rosales-tk-erwin-dish-on-the-amazing-race-win-6426.php
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on January 22, 2008, 02:35:45 PM
We Were Fortunate and Prepared” – An Interview with The Amazing Race 12 Winners, TK & Rachel
by Teeuwynn Woodruff -- 01/22/2008

 
TK & Rachel (right) had only been going out for four months when they applied for The Amazing Race, but that didn’t stop them from winning the whole shebang! Are they still together? How close did they come to being eliminated in Taiwan? Did their Alaskan cabbies really almost lose the race for them? And just how hard do those crabs pinch anyway? All this and more inside!

RealityNewsOnline: Hello TK & Rachel! Thank you for talking to RealityNewsOnline today!

TK: Thank you for having us!

RNO: First off, congratulations on your win!

TK & Rachel: Thank you very much.

RNO: How long had you been dating before the race started?

TK: Just shy of a year before it actually started, but when we tried out to be on it we had only been dating for about four months.

RNO: What’s the status of your relationship now?

TK: Better than ever, I guess.

RNO: Still together?

TK: Yeah.

RNO: What would you say was your team’s biggest strength on the race?

Rachel: I think our main strength was just, you know, the abundance of calmness we had. We really worked well together. We just have a really good connection and a lot of things in common, so we were really able to just feed off each other and work well together.

TK: I think we did a good job of looking at the race as a race – something we wanted to do well at – and we didn’t want to compromise that. We didn’t want to compromise our success in the race and we didn’t want to compromise our relationship for the race, so I think those two things ended up just working hand in hand for us.

RNO: Would you guys say you had a biggest weakness?

TK: Definitely. I think our biggest weakness was travel arrangements.

RNO: That’s key on the show.

TK: It’s the main way we fell really far behind was simply on travel arrangements. I think as far as the actual challenges are concerned, we had a few mishaps, but the majority of them went really well. Our main struggle was with getting from A to B.

RNO: You guys ran a strong race, overall, but you struggled for much of the last third of the race. Did you think you were out as you ran to the Pit Stop in Japan?

Rachel: Well, we knew that it was a good possibility, but we kind of felt that a non-elimination was coming up, so we tried to remain positive. You never know what’s going to happen. Another team easily could have done something crazy and fell behind us. So, you never know. We didn’t really go into it completely thinking that we were out.

TK: There were a lot of incidents, especially towards the beginning of the race – and I know we aren’t alone as far as a team in thinking this – where you think, “We are so far behind! There’s no way we’re still in it!” and then you show up and you’re like in second place, you know? It’s a situation where you just try to stay as positive as you can and hope that someone else messed up too, you know?

RNO: When you were flying from India to Japan, why didn’t you find out about the flight that got into Japan earlier that the other teams all got on?

TK: You know what?

Rachel: It’s a mystery.

TK: Yeah, I really think that’s a situation where we did everything right and everything we could and just kind of got some bad information. We really checked and re-checked and over-checked with this travel agent regarding the quickest possible flights. Then on our connection we checked and re-checked other possibilities. We basically spent all our time that leg trying to make sure we were on the right flight and, you know, there was a travel agent with good intentions and the wrong information.

RNO: Did you double check at the airport too?

TK: Yeah. What messed us up was we connected through New Delhi, so our flight from Mumbai to New Delhi – we flew out of the domestic terminal. All the other teams were in the international terminal. So, that’s how that happened.

RNO: You did manage to catch up to the other teams at the high speed train in Taipei. It looked like you barely made that train. How many minutes did you have to spare?

TK: I remember looking at the clock on the taxi as we parked outside the train station and it was 7:54 – which meant the train left in six minutes. So, that whole cab ride there we were thinking that it was our last chance. If the [other] teams missed the 7:35 train and we made the 8:00 train we were still in business. When we found that out, that was the most fired up we were, for sure, on the race.

RNO: And what did you think of Jen’s comments about you guys “not trying” on the race?

TK: I think sometimes – well – yeah. I think sometimes being relaxed in the face of difficulty can come across as being lackadaisical or not caring. But I don’t think that can be further from the truth. I think we cared so much that we weren’t willing to sacrifice our success on the race by arguing with each other.

RNO: Did you realize while running the race just how much Jen & Nate were fighting?

TK: No.

Rachel: Not really because when the leg is actually going, you’re barely crossing paths with teams, especially past the halfway point. So, everybody knew, but we didn’t really see a lot of it and whenever it was Pit Stop time or down time, they’re great. We had a blast with them.

TK: Right. It was a situation where we would have some down time at Pit Stops to talk with the rest of the teams and they would tell these stories about how they yelled at each other and did this or did that and how horrible and blah, blah, blah… I think it really is a case of 95% of the time they’re not arguing, but if you don’t let them eat or sleep – and they’re both very competitive and passionate, so… I guess some things happen like that.

RNO: You had to do a Speed Bump in Taiwan. How long did that slow you down for?

TK: At least a half an hour. What you don’t see is the prep that goes into it. When we first showed up we had to have a safety evaluation where they told us the dangers of it all and then we had to get dressed. The actual task didn’t take that long, but all the prep going into it, putting all the gear on, and then taking all the gear off is what took so much time.

RNO: And then you barely made the train.

Rachel: Right.

TK: That was the climax of our race. Making that train was do or die at that point.

RNO: You probably would have been out if you hadn’t made that train?

TK: Unless… I know Nate & Jen had a little trouble with the subway on that leg, but most likely we would have been out if we hadn’t made that train.

RNO: That’s a big difference.

TK: Yeah, it’s crazy.

RNO: Moving on to the final leg… While you were waiting for the plane to Alaska, Ron & Christina used the internet to research your destination. Did you guys do the same?

TK: Yes, we did.

Rachel: They don’t show that. Most teams did that before every leg. There was just an overboard of research. Sometimes it would help, sometimes it wouldn’t. At least it made you feel better.

TK: Yeah. I mean we had a few hours in that airport before the plane took off where Nick & Don and Rachel and I hung out, had lunch, went and got the internet together and researched it all – played cards. We had a great time hanging out in that airport, but then we started getting antsy because we hadn’t seen Ron & Chris. We’re going, “This was the only flight to Alaska today…” So, there was a good half an hour there where we started to doubt it all.

RNO: You started to wonder if there was an earlier flight.

TK: Exactly, exactly.

RNO: Okay, what was with your bad luck with taxi drivers in Alaska? Was your luck as bad as it looked?

TK: It might have been worse! You know what? It was just bad luck. It was absolutely hilarious because we had just gotten done on the plane talking about how excited we were to finally be able to communicate with our taxi drivers and all that stuff and we just happened upon the taxi driver who had just started and didn’t really speak English. We spent most of the time on the taxi driver’s cell phone with his boss, getting directions and telling the taxi driver where to go.

RNO: How much time do you think that wasted for you?

TK: Um… I think because we were able to problem solve quickly and get his boss on the phone, who was able to get us proper directions, maybe ten or fifteen minutes at the most. It was just getting out of the airport – Ron & Chris got a big lead getting out of the airport and they were done the Detour before we got there.

RNO: They finished that very quickly. You guys did the crab Detour –

TK: Which I have no idea why we did that!

Rachel: Oh, man! We were like, “Yeah! Crabs!” It was a little extreme.

RNO: How painful was that?

TK: Believe it or not, it was actually pretty painful. They were chomping right on you. I had cuts all over my hands.

Rachel: They give you these plastic gloves which get torn to shreds in a minute. They’re pulling our shoes off, they’re climbing up our legs, I kept screaming and jumping out –

TK: Yeah, you really couldn’t tell, but when you jumped into those tubs you’re basically – I’m a tall guy, but I was almost waist-deep in crabs. It was crabs ALL the way up.

Rachel: All you’d do was stick your hand down into the water and a crab would attach itself and you would just pull it up, throw it, and put your hand back in again. That was about it. That’s all it was.

RNO: Wonderful. On the show it looked like you almost stopped that Detour to switch to the other Detour option. Did that really almost happen?

Rachel: Yeah.

TK: We were really close because we had been there the entire time when Nick & Don went back to the sporting goods store and back to the Detour again. We had been in there fishing for crabs and it was getting to the point where we –

Rachel: We gave ourselves a time limit.

TK: We were definitely at that point where we had to find the crab or switch. And we got lucky and that’s awesome. The way they showed it was really how it happened. Rachel said, “It’s time to stop. We need to switch now.” And then the next crab I pulled up had the tag on it. Some luck helps our sometimes.

RNO: When it came to the final Roadblock, had you worked your other Roadblocks so you each could have done it?

TK: Yes. We had it figured out so either one of us could have done it. But Rachel had kept a journal throughout the entire race and our entire flight from Taipei to Alaska we spent reading over her journal and studying what we did in each country and the order of the countries and what the Detours were. Before the race, we saturated ourselves with past episodes and kind of saw that a lot of times there’s a challenge on the last leg that has something to do with the race – all-encompassing, you know? So, we were fortunate and prepared for it. So, it said, “Who’s ready to relive the race?” We knew right away that Rachel was ready to do it and she was going to do it.

RNO: Rachel, you did really well at that final Roadblock. How long did it take you to complete?

Rachel: It ended up taking me about an hour.

RNO: How many times did you get it wrong before you got it right? Was it a lot?

Rachel: Well, okay, I started off being very methodical and doing it, but once I got a couple of no answers, then there got a point where I was just trying every combination I could think of, then it finally clicked in my head that the cleaner from Japan was an “animal.” And then it all clicked. But I had done it at least ten times before that.

RNO: TK, how hard was it waiting for Rachel?

TK: You know, for me the stress was off! All the stress was on her. I was just kicking back with Ron and Don, cracking jokes and trying to keep it as lighthearted as possible. Those two guys were pretty serious there at the end and I’m not one to really lament and worry about things. I was confident that Rachel was as prepared as she could be for that type of challenge. I know how intelligent she is. I already knew she was really good at puzzles and things like that, so I was actually pretty confident. I was kind of giving Don and Ron a hard time, and we were hanging out and it was really fun.

RNO: TK, you looked really stressed in the taxi heading to the last Pit Stop.

TK: Oh, I was!

Rachel: It was definitely the most stressed he had been the whole time.

TK: That was finally – I just finally let it go. We – what they don’t specifically show is that from the Roadblock to the finish line we got really turned around a few times in our taxi. We made a couple wrong turns and definitely got a little lost a couple of times. We knew we left the Roadblock first and we didn’t know how long it would be until Ron & Chris left the Roadblock, and we knew that anything could happen. We knew that if they had gone straight from the Roadblock and finished right after us that we may not have won. So, all the way up to the finish line I felt like I was going to throw up the entire time.

RNO: And, according to Ron & Chris, she completed the Roadblock only minutes after Rachel. But their taxi got lost as well.

TK: Yeah, see? So, that’s probably what saved us.

RNO: When you were running to the finish line, did you think you were first?

TK: Once we rounded the corner – the finish line was at the Girdwood Airport. We basically had an entire runway to run to the finish line. As we were getting close, we could see people cheering. On the show they showed me turn to Rachel and jump up and down and keep running. That’s probably the moment when I looked and saw that there weren’t any other teams there yet and everyone was going crazy and… It was just one of those moments where, even now, it doesn’t seem real.

RNO: What do you plan on doing with the money?

Rachel: Well, nothing too interesting. Just pay off a couple of bills and I probably want to get a few new outfits and update my wardrobe – fix up the house to make me feel better. It’s just going to really allow me to take time off of work, because I’ve always been stuck to work. Now I can be free and go off and do more adventurous things.

TK: Yeah, Rachel and I aren’t particularly – we kind of live modest lifestyles to begin with and aren’t particularly big money spenders. I’m really, really looking forward to Rachel being able to take some time off and for us to get some good travelling in together in ’08.

RNO: Not done with travelling yet, huh?

TK: No way! We got the bug!

RNO: Did you have a favorite moment on the race?

TK: I think my favorite moment was making that train in Taiwan. We knew we had made the 8:00 train, but we didn’t know if Nate & Jen or Don & Nick were still there or if they had made the 7:35 train. So, we got up to the platform and there was like three minutes before the train was leaving and we didn’t see anyone there. So we had this whole sad moment where we were like, “That’s okay… Who knows what’s going to happen in the rest of the leg?” But we kind of had the feeling that we had to make that train and we didn’t. And then, from far in the distance, I saw Nick & Don walking up the stairs. Aw, man! I was hooting and hollering and dancing! We were so excited.

RNO: Did you have a least favorite moment?

Rachel: My least favorite moment, just because it was the most difficult emotionally for me, I was afraid I was letting TK down, was when I took the bike into the market in Burkina Faso. I had to find my way out and I got all turned around and kind of got into panic mode, which was abnormal and really got freaked out—that was hard on me.

TK: For me, it was in Italy in the ultra glide. I really blew it. I didn’t know what I was looking for, you know? We had gone from being in first place to being dead last, and it was all my fault. So, if there was a low point both emotionally and physically, it was then. We hadn’t slept or eaten anything in like 30 hours.

RNO: That seemed like a brutal leg. Did you just fly past the Vinci word and just missed it? What happened?

TK: No. You know what? The clue said to go up in the plane and look for a clue to your next destination. So, for some reason, I was looking for red and yellow flags. We were flying all around looking seeing swimming pools and horse tracks and train stations and all these different possible places we could be going to next and I was looking for a big flag. I’m from Southern California and if you go out in the desert you see white rocks all over the place saying all sorts of different things. So, every time I went up I saw “Vinci” written with the white rocks, but I just figured it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for me. I didn’t really see it as the clue. I just thought some Italian guy had written “Vinci” there. I don’t know.

RNO: You saw it every time, but you just thought it was something that was always there?

TK: Exactly. Until, at the end, I just started pointing at everything. I had gone up in that thing I don’t know how many times, so I had a lot of time to think and open my mind to the possibilities. I had flown all over the place and now knew I was not looking for a red and yellow flag. So, we went up and saw the “Vinci” on the ground, and for some reason it clicked that time and it didn’t the times before.

RNO: Then it looked like you did a pretty good job putting the invention Detour together after that Roadblock to move you ahead of Kynt & Vyxsin.

TK: Yeah! I’m glad you brought that up. We were both really proud of that because we knew we were in last place and we knew Kynt & Vyxsin had a ten or fifteen minute lead on us, so when we got to that Detour – Invention or Tradition – and the Invention was right at the clue box. “Tradition” was down the road in town. So, we knew Kynt & Vyxsin hadn’t chosen “Invention” because they weren’t there. So, originally, we wanted to do the “Tradition,” but strategically we thought that if we had any chance at all we had to do the opposite Detour from Kynt & Vyxsin. So, that’s why we chose “Invention.” I was really proud of the fact that we kept a cool head and put that thing together.

RNO: Anything else you’d like to tell us about the race?

Rachel: Just that they don’t show as much of the down time or the full grasp of how well the teams are getting to know each other or just the time everything takes on the race.

RNO: Once again, congratulations and thank you for talking to RealityNewsOnline today!

TK & Rachel: Thank you!

http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=4&article=article7637.art&page=1
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on January 25, 2008, 03:54:59 PM
Amazing Race Winners Interview: TK & Rachel
We talk to the laid-back, mellow pair about their $1 million win.
by Brian Zoromski

http://tv.ign.com/articles/847/847193p1.html
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: Slowhatch on February 10, 2008, 09:30:38 PM
Someone, presumably Rachel, is moving on (http://russian-author.livejournal.com/85812.html) from the flower business.  :roses:
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on February 10, 2008, 10:30:04 PM
I miss you Slowhatch  :hugs:
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: TARAsia Fan on February 11, 2008, 11:26:48 AM
Wow. That must be recent because Rach was drinking at TARCon last month.
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: georgiapeach on February 11, 2008, 05:34:59 PM
Manager does not = Boss.

Boss= Rachel  but does not = expecting.

This is apparently a family business and I heard/read somewhere that she wanted some time off and then perhaps back to school....

Nice find Slowhatch! And I miss you too!
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: puddin on May 10, 2008, 10:03:18 PM
I've been meaning to post this interview that I came across, Posted by Julie on May 7, 2008 :waves:


 http://thebiz.fancast.com/2008/05/fancast_interview_amazing_race.html
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: TARAsia Fan on May 14, 2008, 08:27:23 PM
Great interview!
Title: Re: Rachel & TK *WINNERS of TAR12*
Post by: redskevin88 on November 29, 2021, 09:12:23 PM
I found this while I was on Reddit yesterday.  :'(

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAmazingRace/comments/r4hfab/the_first_update_ive_seen_from_tk_and_rachel/
https://unicourt.com/case/ca-ven-rachel-renee-rosales-vs-thomas-kyle-erwin-522999