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The Amazing Race => The Racers => Topic started by: georgiapeach on January 21, 2010, 12:19:48 PM

Title: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on January 21, 2010, 12:19:48 PM

Joe and Heidi

Married


(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/cast/TAR16castJoeandHeidi.jpg)(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/cast/TAR16castJoeandHeidi2.jpg)

­

Joe Wang­
Age: 42­
Hometown: El Segundo, Calif.
Connection to your Teammate: Married
Current Occupation: Software Sales Executive
Favorite Hobbies: Coaching youth sports, poker and golf
Achievements: My biggest achievement is my family.
Lifelong to do List: Travel around the world.
If I could switch places with someone: My son Jameson who has unlimited potential.
Role Model/Hero: My parents. They immigrated here to USA to provide a better life for me.
What are you passionate about? Raising my kids to be the best they can be.
What would you do if you won the million dollars? Pay for my kids' college education.
People would be surprised to learn:  I was born in Taiwan and speak fluent Mandarin Chinese
Favorite place you have ever visited: Fiji
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together: Getting a task that we both can’t do and being away from our kids for an extended period of time.
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other then winning one million bucks)? Create a closer bond with Heidi
Pet peeve about your teammate: She can’t multi-task.


Heidi Wang
Age: 37
Hometown: El Segundo, Calif.
Connection to your Teammate: Wife
Current Occupation: Homemaker
Favorite Hobbies: Traveling, gourmet cooking, shopping, golfing and reading
Achievements: Giving birth to my two beautiful and intelligent kids, having a successful finance career prior to choosing to stay home to raise my children.
Lifelong to do List: Run a marathon, improve my golf game and to never stop learning new things 
If I could switch places with someone:  It would have to be with my daughter, Herason. The opportunities and potential for a young girl today are endless.
Role Model/Hero: My parents, Richard and Yohko Leeser. They sacrificed everything for their children to give them a better life.  I have the utmost respect and admiration for both of them.
What are you passionate about? My family. There are no words for the love and devotion I have for my husband and children.
What would you do if you won the million dollars? Invest it towards my children's college education fund
People would be surprised to learn: In high school, I was voted Senior Class President, Most Likely to Succeed, Most Likely to win a Nobel Peace Prize and Most Likely to Total Their Car
Favorite place you have ever visited:  My home. Although I’ve traveled extensively and visited many wonderful places, there really is "no place like home."
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on the Race together:  Being away from our children for so long and not being able to eat sushi.
What do you hope to accomplish by running the Race (other then winning one million bucks)?  Spending quality one-on-one time with my husband.  We both could use some extra, uninterrupted time and attention from the other.  Additionally, I plan to re-enter the professional workplace soon and I hope this experience makes me a better job candidate.
Pet peeve about your teammate: Joe is a very intense and short tempered individual who thinks he’s right all the time! 
­­


Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on January 21, 2010, 03:17:29 PM
These two remind me of Garrett & Jessica. He is usually very calm and collected, but when it comes to competition, he will do whatever it takes. And she is fun and friendly. I'm excited to watch their dynamic! :wohoo:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: David on January 24, 2010, 09:48:52 AM
These two remind me of Garrett & Jessica. He is usually very calm and collected, but when it comes to competition, he will do whatever it takes. And she is fun and friendly. I'm excited to watch their dynamic! :wohoo:

They remind me of Anthony and Stephany... They can be absent throughout the race, finishing in a bad place with no kind of fun moments shown... I don't expect muxh of these two.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on January 25, 2010, 03:13:09 AM
Heidi and Joe have started a fan page on Facebook, and are letting us have the link!

So for you FB members, here is the link, although I am not a 100% sure you can see it without an invite? But we'll try it out, please let me know!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=290203899275

Thank you Joe and Heidi!! :hearts:


Edited to add: It works!! But please remember everyone, that the FB rule still applies here: No pictures or personal info are ever brought here from any of the racers' pages unless they give written permission. If you are ever in doubt, please check with puddin or me before posting. :tup:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Sailing on January 25, 2010, 03:17:17 AM
Heidi and Joe have started a fan page on Facebook, and are letting us have the link!

So for you FB members, here is the link, although I am not a 100% sure you can see it without an invite? But we'll try it out, please let me know!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=290203899275




They are all friends with the teams from this season. How neat is that. Pretty Cool. Thanks for sharing this Peach.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on January 25, 2010, 03:21:33 AM
Enjoy! Just remember that the rule about taking no pics  from FB still applies here. :waves:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on January 25, 2010, 01:35:16 PM
Thanks for the Facebook link, peach! I joined.

It's nice to see it when the teams are still in touch with each other after the race. Especially when teams that were once rivals are together. :lol:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: RealityFanWA on January 29, 2010, 03:50:48 PM
These two remind me of Garrett & Jessica. He is usually very calm and collected, but when it comes to competition, he will do whatever it takes. And she is fun and friendly. I'm excited to watch their dynamic! :wohoo:

They remind me of Anthony and Stephany... They can be absent throughout the race, finishing in a bad place with no kind of fun moments shown... I don't expect muxh of these two.

That's kind of where I am with these teams. I wonder what type of personalities they will bring to the show!
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on January 29, 2010, 05:59:51 PM
These two remind me of Garrett & Jessica. He is usually very calm and collected, but when it comes to competition, he will do whatever it takes. And she is fun and friendly. I'm excited to watch their dynamic! :wohoo:

They remind me of Anthony and Stephany... They can be absent throughout the race, finishing in a bad place with no kind of fun moments shown... I don't expect muxh of these two.

That's kind of where I am with these teams. I wonder what type of personalities they will bring to the show!

Yes, exactly. I really hope they don't suffer the same fate (poor editing and lousy luck) as Garrett & Jessica and Anthony & Stephanie. Hard to tell where they will finish in terms of skill, but in terms of hype it seems like they are headed down the road of anonymity. :(

On the other hand, if they can avoid the pitfalls that seem to plague teams of their type early in the race, they could become a really strong team. Time will tell.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: RealityFanWA on February 04, 2010, 03:40:05 PM
These two remind me of Garrett & Jessica. He is usually very calm and collected, but when it comes to competition, he will do whatever it takes. And she is fun and friendly. I'm excited to watch their dynamic! :wohoo:

They remind me of Anthony and Stephany... They can be absent throughout the race, finishing in a bad place with no kind of fun moments shown... I don't expect muxh of these two.

That's kind of where I am with these teams. I wonder what type of personalities they will bring to the show!

Yes, exactly. I really hope they don't suffer the same fate (poor editing and lousy luck) as Garrett & Jessica and Anthony & Stephanie. Hard to tell where they will finish in terms of skill, but in terms of hype it seems like they are headed down the road of anonymity. :(

On the other hand, if they can avoid the pitfalls that seem to plague teams of their type early in the race, they could become a really strong team. Time will tell.

Ditto. I don't see them being fan favorites but that's just me lol...
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on February 08, 2010, 11:54:01 PM
Based solely on the fact that they have an image in the press releases I have more hope that they won't be team anonymous. :wohoo:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Sailing on February 09, 2010, 12:18:53 AM
El Segundo couple gets `Amazing' offer

El Segundo residents Joe and Heidi Wang vanished for a while recently and couldn't tell anyone why.
They still can't say much, at least until their disappearance plays out on television beginning next week.
The married couple is among 11 teams competing for the $1 million prize on the 16th installment of "The Amazing Race," a reality travel competition that takes its contestants all over the world.
The competition is over, but the couple must stay mum about where they went and how they did. The award-winning show airs on CBS beginning next Sunday.
"The experience was extraordinary and it was very thrilling," said Joe Wang, a 42-year-old software sales executive for Microsoft. "You never expect what was going to happen next."
The couple, who have a son and daughter, had watched the show and considered what it would be like to compete.
"I never imagined being on the show," Joe Wang said. "They contacted us."
A casting director thought they might make great contestants after seeing a family holiday photograph they had sent out to friends.
It showed the couple and their two children standing on the Great Wall of China. Each was wearing tight performance shirts.
"It was completely flattering," said Heidi Wang, a 37-year-old stay-at-home mother who formerly worked for Mattel's Barbie division. "It's like the shock factor, the wow factor. `Is this something we can do?' We were completely surprised."
At first they turned down the offer because they figured they could not put their lives on hold. They had too many responsibilities, including their children.
They changed their minds when producers gave them a video of a full season of shows to watch.
The Wangs decided they would not miss out on the opportunity.
"We got very hooked," Joe Wang said. "We applied like `We are going to win the game."'
The competition, which has won seven Emmys, takes its contestants to countries across the globe. At each stop, they follow clues to picturesque locales and buildings where they must complete tasks that sometimes involve jumping off tall buildings.
"It's not for the faint-hearted," Joe Wang said. "You face very difficult situations and you have to make decisions very quickly."
This year's competitors include a gay couple, dating couples, detectives and brothers. One half of the model team is Caite Upton, who made headlines at the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant when she was asked why a fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a world map and gave an answer that included "some people out there in our nation don't have maps."
The last-place finisher in each hourlong episode goes home. Three teams wind up battling in the final episode for the $1 million prize.
The Wangs, who have been together for 13 years - married 11 - have lived in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo.
Joe, who was born in Taiwan and speaks Mandarin, immigrated with his family to New York, and was raised there. He attended State University of New York and moved to California for work after college.
Heidi, originally from Medford, Ore., attended Pepperdine University in Malibu and formerly worked in accounting and finance at Mattel in El Segundo.
"One of the reasons we picked the South Bay to live is the beach," Joe Wang said. "We love the beach and just fell in love with Hermosa, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo."
Heidi Wang is involved in PTA and Joe Wang runs South Bay Youth Sports. Together, they raise Jameson, 8, and Herason, 6.
Their relationship will soon be on a national broadcast for millions to see. Besides the actual race and tasks, the show focuses on the teammates' interactions.
And many often fight and bicker as they race.
"I know for our team, the problem child is going to be me," Joe Wang said in a video posted on the CBS Web site. "I am going to be just going off. I speak very loudly to begin with."
On the Web site, he describes himself as the team's leader. In their private life, he sets the agenda with his wife's input, he said.
"Absolutely I am going to be the leader and follow my instincts," he said in an interview. "I think the other teams are going to view us as someone to reckon with."
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com


http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_14349034
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on February 12, 2010, 08:17:06 PM
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/TAR%2016%20Trading%20Card%20Photos/TAR16PlayingCardJoeandHeidi.jpg)
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on February 15, 2010, 07:33:29 PM
Missed this one before:

An Amazing Journey


by Michael Hixon
(Updated: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 5:04 PM PST)
 
 
Joe and Heidi Wang will compete in ‘The Amazing Race’ against 10 other pairs.
 
 

Joe and Heidi Wang of El Segundo attended the Olympics last year in China, and they sent out a holiday photo of themselves on the Great Wall. By some twist of fate, someone at “The Amazing Race” on CBS saw the photo and contacted them to be potential contestants on the hit reality show.

To say the least, they were surprised at the offer.

“We started talking about the show and originally we said, ‘You know, I think the commitment is going to be really tough,’” Joe said. “I work and Heidi is taking care of the kids. We said it’s probably going to be really difficult. They came back and said, ‘I think you’re a great fit. Here’s a season to watch and let me know what you think.’ We got completely hooked from that. We applied just like everybody did after that.”

Heidi added, “A lot of people who do the race, they’re either right out of school or maybe they don’t have a job at the moment. We have so many other responsibilities with raising our family, our kids. We turned them down originally but they kind of kept pushing. We were finally convinced.”

Because of the secrecy behind the upcoming season of “The Amazing Race,” which debuts Sunday, Feb. 14, they were unable to speak specifically about details of the show where couples compete for $1 million prize. But they could talk, in general, about the intense application process to get on the show.

“Just to make it to the final selection phase, there was a five-day interview process, which included everything from IQ tests to psych evaluations to major physicals that were conducted,” Heidi said. “There were interviews with ‘The Amazing Race’ people, the production staff and it went into studio executives. Every day there were eliminations and just to make it each day to the very end was just a fantastic experience.”

“We had our game face on,” Joe said. “We did not want to get eliminated at the end of the day … let’s say in the semifinal rounds there were 100 teams. Each day we see people leaving and we’re like since we made the investment and made the commitment, we’re going to continue to go. We had our ‘A’ game on the whole time.”

Before taping even started, the Wangs had to step up their physical training, especially for Heidi who had “not worked out much for five years.” She got up at 5:30 a.m. three days a week to do some running before her two children, Jameson and Herason, started their day.

“Starting with two months prior to the race, I was getting up early and running three times a week. The last month of training I was running with my backpack on The Strand three times a week,” she said.

Joe added, “If you want to lose weight, this is the perfect training mechanism. I lost 20 pounds from the training. I’ve kept it off. All my close friends and family have been impressed I was able to drop that much weight.”

Born in Taiwan, Joe’s family immigrated to America in 1972. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he was raised in New York but relocated to California following a good job offer in transportation and logistics. He currently works at Microsoft.

Originally from Medford, Ore., Heidi moved to California to attend Pepperdine. She had a successful finance career - her last job was in Mattel’s Barbie division managing the business development group - before having their first child. After putting her career on hold, she plans to jump back into the job market this year.
After being together for so many years, Joe said one of his concerns was how participating on “The Amazing Race,” even though it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, might affect their relationship.

“I think people forget it’s a relationship show,” he said. “It’s how close you can be with your partner or your teammate. Heidi and I, we’ve been together for 13 years. We think because of the show our relationship was enhanced and improved dramatically. We kind of figured out how to work well together and because the show puts you in certain situations that we were able to deal with it. So we felt pretty good that our relationship is very strong and continues to be strong. We were fearful of getting on the show … that our relationship would go to the other end. What happens if we embarrass each other or have difficult situations with each other on the show and we ended up not forgiving each other? We thought we handled that very well.”

Heidi said competing on “The Amazing Race” was a great experience.

“Although we think we came in there the most competitive, the best team, after meeting all the other teams, they are all just great and just magnificent people themselves. Not only did we have a great time participating in the race, it enhanced our lives by meeting such wonderful people as well. That goes for the contestants and everyone that works at ‘The Amazing Race.’ It’s a fantastic show.”
 
http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2010/02/04/stepping_out/step2.txt
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on February 22, 2010, 11:36:03 PM
This team is getting such a lousy edit. Is it really such a "bad" or "abnormal" thing to save a spot in line for an alliance member? Just because the "oh-so-important" detectives and the brothers say they are villains doesn't make it so. Things like this have happened before, but I've never seen such an average, normal, and non-villainous team get a more villainous edit. They seem to be nice, competitive people. They haven't done anything yet to warrant a "villain" label. It's all editing.

In addition, at least two of the F3 teams last season did worse things (possibly all three), but they weren't portrayed this badly. :P
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: AmazingDT on February 23, 2010, 10:37:21 PM
They sorta remind of Michael and Kathy from TAR3.  They start of strong, but one single mistake gets them eliminated.  I really like this team. Competitive, strong, calm, and don't care all that much about what other teams think of them
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Caelestor on February 23, 2010, 11:54:04 PM
I don't get why some people don't like this team. They're nice and competitive imo.

The lesbians, police detectives, and frat brothers bug me much more.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on February 24, 2010, 12:26:08 AM
I don't get why some people don't like this team. They're nice and competitive imo.

The lesbians, police detectives, and frat brothers bug me much more.

Ditto. The lesbians can stay a while longer as a reward for their awesome one-liners in Ep. 1, but the other two are getting on my nerves.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Dånooky on February 24, 2010, 08:56:30 PM
This team is getting such a lousy edit. Is it really such a "bad" or "abnormal" thing to save a spot in line for an alliance member?

In the race it is unfair to save spots, I thought there was a rule against it...
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on February 24, 2010, 09:00:11 PM
Never heard of that rule.... I think it is fine, they often buy tickets for each other.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Kiwi Jay on February 24, 2010, 09:21:21 PM
Its fair but sneaky all the same
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Sailing on February 24, 2010, 09:30:08 PM
I think that it is a smart move if you do it without the other teams seeing you work together. If they had teamed up with a team not as vocal as Carol and Brandy I think they would have gotton away with it. All the team were there to witness them saving spots at the bus terminal. So it didn't work.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Dånooky on February 25, 2010, 10:53:45 PM
Never heard of that rule.... I think it is fine, they often buy tickets for each other.
wait, I remember it now. There is no rule against saving spots, but teams cannot buy tickets for other teams (I think this rule goes back to TAR 4-5, I'll have to re-check)
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: AmazingDT on February 25, 2010, 10:56:00 PM
The Amazing Race: New season includes a Microsoft employee

Microsoft employees will be rooting for one of their own in the new season of "The Amazing Race," which debuts Sunday night on CBS. The competitors include Microsoft enterprise sales specialist Joe Wang, 42, based in Southern California, who teams with his wife, Heidi, in the show's 16th season.

They may not get as much attention at the outset as fellow competitor Caite Upton, the former Miss South Carolina Teen USA, who will be making a highly ironic appearance in the race-around-the-world in an attempt to disprove the reputation she earned with a famously incoherent answer to a geography question. However, one entertainment blog has already predicted that Joe Wang could turn out to be this season's villain.

We asked Wang about that prediction and other topics -- including his thoughts on how Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer would do if they were on the show -- in a phone interview last week. (Although the season has already been taped, he was careful not to spoil anything.) Continue reading for highlights from our conversation.

How did you decide to try out for the show with your wife, and how did you get on? My wife and I saw a full season, season 14, the winners were Victor and Tammy. I'm a Chinese immigrant here in the United States, and we just got really proud to see that. We got really excited and said, let's go apply to be on the show and see what happens. The process is a very long one. It's not for the fainthearted, but we made it through all these rounds and finally got selected.

In what ways has your time at Microsoft prepared you for the Amazing Race? Absolutely, being a salesperson definitely prepares you to be on top of your game. We compete every day with competitors like Oracle, like SAP, like Apple. All those big vendors, IBM. Being on the race, basically, you're in that mode.

This is a very practical question, but how do you get the time off to do something like the Amazing Race? I just requested vacation time. Me being there for eight years, I had accrued a lot of vacation. ... I took four weeks.

I was reading some of the blogs that follow the Amazing Race, and one of them, out of Birmingham, has pegged you as the villian. Really? You know, there was a video out on CBS.com when we first announced, and I got a lot of comments about being "that guy" on the show. At the end of the day, however they portray me, it's for entertainment purposes. People that know me know I am a very intense person. There's no question I am very intense, and you'll see that from the show. If that makes me a villian, I'll take it as a positive more than a negative.

How are you going to be watching the show this season? Are you going to tune in every week, or are you going to specifically avoid it? No, no, you can't avoid it. This is probably our favorite season. We love the cast. No, we'll definitely have a premier viewing event with our friends. We actually have a lot of friends who will be with us in Santa Monica, cheering us on. There will be Microsoft people there, and then every weekend, we have been invited to other peoples' houses to view with them.

Knowing what you do about Microsoft, and the Amazing Race, how do you think Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer would do on the show? You know, Steve Ballmer would do great. He's high energy, a motivational kind of guy, and the race is all about that. I think Bill being reserved, I mean, I'm sure he would do well, but he wouldn't be as dynamic as Steve would.

But in that way, wouldn't they balance themselves out well? Oh you mean Bill and Steve together. Yeah, then absolutely.

Right, Bill would have the cool head to find the best tickets, and Steve would be urging them on, I bet. You know, I heard that this is one of Steve's favorite shows. At Microsoft, people have mentioned that to me, once they found out I was on the show.

Was that on your mind, as you were going through the Amazing Race, as in 'My real boss is watching, my ultimate boss'? Were you thinking about that? No, I never had that in my mind, because this was about Joe and Heidi. ... One thing I do want to say is that I think this represents well for Microsoft, to have an individual like myself in the public eye. ... The experience is about reaching the highest level, pushing the envelope, and I really feel like the show has opened that up. There's a lot of things out there in life that you can look at. Just have an open mind.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on February 25, 2010, 11:00:48 PM
I know I have seen teams buying (or holding) even plane tickets for another team.... :duno:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Dånooky on February 25, 2010, 11:02:44 PM
I know I have seen teams buying (or holding) even plane tickets for another team.... :duno:
It has happened but it became banned at one time (it happened in a specially alliance-heavy early season), I'm pretty certain
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on February 25, 2010, 11:07:47 PM
I know I have seen teams buying (or holding) even plane tickets for another team.... :duno:
It has happened but it became banned at one time (it happened in a specially alliance-heavy early season), I'm pretty certain

I would guess Season 4, but I've only watched those episodes once, so it's kind of dim in my memory.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Sailing on March 15, 2010, 05:13:33 PM
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Amazing-Races-Joe-1016277.aspx

Amazing Race's Joe and Heidi: Morse Code Challenge Was "an Impossible Task"

A Morse code task spelled doom for Joe and Heidi Wang on The Amazing Race after the pair was U-Turned by detectives Louie and Michael, forcing them to the code-deciphering challenge in the World War I-inspired Detour. "No other team did it, so that was the end of us because we had to do two," Joe, 42, tells TVGuide.com. "That was an impossible task for us — not to say that no one can do it. I'm sure military-trained individuals would be able to do it." Find out how long Joe and Heidi, 37, toiled with the recording's endless beeps, what may have affected their guesses and more.

TVGuide.com: What went through your head when you saw you were U-Turned? Did you think anyone would U-Turn you?
Heidi: It was definitely unexpected, but at the time, we were in the lead, in the top 3, and my mission was to just go tackle it, finish it and move on and maintain that lead. Unfortunately, that task was something you couldn't mentally prepare for, couldn't physically prepare for. It was just a surprise that came out of nowhere.


TVGuide.com: How much time did you spend doing the Morse code?
Joe: It was between, I would say, five to six hours. ... Mentally, you're breaking down. The crawl itself [in the first Detour] was a physical endurance thing. My knee hurt, but I sucked it up. Just hitting the U-Turn, all we could say was, "Let's just deal with it."
Heidi: Doing it, you just put yourself into that position of people who actually fought in World War I, knowing that that was their only means of communication. If you didn't know how to transmit or decipher at that point, your fate was determined. It was very emotional to watch it on TV and to relive that time in history.

TVGuide.com: How difficult was it trying to decipher it with bombs exploding next to you?
Heidi: With the bombs exploding and the planes overheard, you just lost your focus so many times. It was a combination of dots and dashes and spaces. It was on this recording that would just keep on going. It was so fast, like, literally the dots, the dashes and the spaces all sounded the same. We listened to that recording a couple hundred of times. I could probably listen to it another thousand times and I wouldn't get it. And we couldn't even tell when the recording started or when it ended because it kept repeating.


TVGuide.com: You did the crawling Detour and the message there was "The war is over. Vive le liberte." Did knowing the answer to that affect your guesses for the Morse code?
Joe: It could've. We actually went through "Vive le France" and many versions of that. And we did "The war is over." When Phil came in and said it was "We will prevail. Vive le France," we were like, "OK, we weren't even close." That shows you that no matter how many times we listened to it, it wasn't helping because we didn't even get close to it.
Heidi: Just imagine those two sentences in dots and dashes. It was a long, long message.

TVGuide.com: At what point did you decide to stop?
Joe: We stopped listening to the beeps because it was not helping the situation. But we were always guessing what the message could be. ... We were always pushing it, even when we went for shelter. It started to rain and got really cold and Heidi was shivering, but we were still talking through it.


TVGuide.com: You had a good attitude about being U-Turned and getting eliminated, unless you were angry and it wasn't shown.
Joe: That's the funny part. I've been labeled as a villain, but I think it's just my competitiveness. I never disrespected any other teams. I never even talked bad about any other teams if you look at other interviews. ... We always looked at every team as being competitive. We never even thought about U-Turning anyone because we were in the top 3 at that point.

TVGuide.com: What did you think of Louie and Michael's reason behind U-Turning you? They made it personal, saying they wanted to knock you down a few pegs.
Heidi: People say that, but in all honesty, we consistently placed in the top 3 and I think they also saw us as a strong, competitive team. It was their opportunity to take anybody down and they decided it would be us. Joe and I have been married for 13 years. We've known each other for so long. We're good communicators. We never had a communication issue on the race. These are all strengths that could be intimidating.


TVGuide.com: Had you stayed, how do you think your knee would've held up, Joe?
Joe: My knee would've been giving me problems the whole time. There's no question. It was already swollen. I iced it every night. I was taking a lot of Advil and codeine, but I would've fought through it. I'm a football coach for my kids' teams, so I push hard. I think most teams probably saw that. ... In a foot race, there was no way I could beat anybody, but I would've done the tasks. I actually just had knee surgery. It's on its way to recovery.

TVGuide.com: What are you up to now?
Joe: I recently left my job. I'm going to make my $1 million pursuing other areas with my key strengths. [Laughs] I'm a strong salesperson. There are some opportunities that came around, so I'm just investigating them to get the next multimillion dollars.
Heidi: The great thing about the race is that it just opens up so many doors. My background has always been in finance and accounting. When my daughter, who's my youngest child, is back in school in the fall in the first grade, I had always planned on going back to work then. But a lot of new opportunities have opened up, whether it's guest-speaking or light acting on the side. There are a lot of things out there that we're definitely evaluating and exploring.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on March 15, 2010, 05:37:32 PM
U-turn. Louie & Michael. Morse Code. (:;)
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: chill_sd on March 15, 2010, 05:43:25 PM
Even if they got it, they probably wouldn't have gotten it, because they thought it was Vive le France.  It should have been Vive la France.  So that one little letter could have been the hang-up.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: DrRox on March 15, 2010, 05:57:05 PM
5-6 hours spent on a 25 character Morse code message........thats worse than J/J getting lost driving.....especially one that repeated over and over and they knew it was repeating.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 15, 2010, 08:21:45 PM
I think that racers not having control over playback of the recording makes a difference.

Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on March 15, 2010, 09:45:46 PM
I admire Joe's competitiveness, his continuing to run with an injury, and his obvious love for his family. I admire Heidi's upbeat spirit, her love and appreciation of the opportunity, and her obvious love for her family. I think they ran a very good race, despite some misunderstandings with other teams.

I 'm going to miss them, I would have liked to see how they would have done without having what appears to be a horrendous Detour.

awwww....





(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/ep%205%20France/TAR16ep5JoeandHeidielim.jpg)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/ep%205%20France/TAR16ep5HeidiJoe.jpg)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/ep%205%20France/TAr16ep5JoeandHeidielim2.jpg)
(http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb140/ga--peach/TAR%2016/ep%205%20France/TAR16ep5JoeandHeidielim3.jpg)
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: DrRox on March 15, 2010, 11:42:27 PM
Ditto Peach!!!!!!
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: b4us on March 16, 2010, 01:27:34 AM
Morse code goes on the switchback list  :snicker:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on March 16, 2010, 01:55:54 AM
Morse code goes on the switchback list  :snicker:

No way. It shall be banned instead. :neener:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on March 16, 2010, 03:55:17 AM
They will be on the Bonnie Hunt Show today!!

http://www.bonniehunt.com/about/whenitson.php
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: redskevin88 on March 16, 2010, 05:51:22 AM
I hated Joe at the beginning of the episode because of his arrogance at the start of the leg like Rob & Amber, but the way they when out was very  :'(. I do not wish such elimination on anybody...
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 16, 2010, 05:55:42 PM
Quote
Amazing Race’s Joe and Heidi on Facing U-Turn
March 16, 2010
Joe and Heidi Wang, a married couple from El Segundo, Calif., were left for dead on a World War I battle site in France after the cops u-turned them and they failed to decode the secret message. The 42-year-old software salesman and his homemaker wife, 37, spoke with PEOPLE about confusing codes, bum knees and using The Amazing Race as a prolonged date night. –Carrie Bell

Was it hard to relive the Morse code moment on TV?
Heidi: Every week we’ve had big viewing parties with all our friends, but we made it a small private affair last night because we knew it was going to be hard for the kids when we got eliminated. The kids [son Jameson, 8, and daughter Harrison, 6] look at us as their heroes and thought we were going to be final three. To see the sadness and disappointment in their faces made it that much more emotional.
Joe: They were shocked because for the few legs prior we were in the top three or four. Even when we finished the grueling crawl they were like, “You’re on your way.” Then they saw the U-Turn and they were like, “What is that? How come they picked you? How come you had to do two tasks when everyone else had to do one?” They didn’t understand.

Does it sting less or more after hearing the cops u-turned you because they saw you as competition that needed to be humbled?
Heidi: The sting is there regardless. I personally never thought of the detectives as being a threat. I thought they were nice guys. To see them say those things took me aback.
Joe: One bad flight allowed the cops to get ahead of us and that stings the most. We always talked highly of every team and viewed them all as competitive. It was strange to hear a lot of the negative things they said about me. They labeled me the villain. I’m fine, but I certainly haven’t seen who the hero is either.

Was it fair to call you cocky?
Joe: It was just competitive race talk. Maybe they looked at confidence as cockiness.
Heidi: And the stuff that he said was never directed at any one team. Anybody who takes it personally is stretching it.

Unfortunately, you just couldn’t crack that code.
Heidi: The Morse code task was not something you could prepare for mentally or physically. We’d never done it before and we were already exhausted. It played over and over. You didn’t know when it started or stopped. It was fast and hard to decipher between dots and dashes. Some of the message was in another language. We’re smart people and we couldn’t figure it out. I guarantee that nine out of 10 people could not do it under those conditions.

To your credit, you handled the situation well.
Heidi: We promised each other that regardless of how hard things got, we wouldn’t take it out on our relationship. As long as we left the show with dignity and grace on a task we couldn’t complete, we’d be proud of ourselves.

How badly was your knee hurting? Would it have ended your race eventually?
Joe: My knee was going to get worse but I was going to persevere. That’s the kind of person I am and the other teams knew I would push through, so any opportunity they had to deter me, I think someone would have taken it … After that leg, they took me to the hospital and had x-rays done. I had arthroscopic surgery when I got back and I’m about 90 percent recovered.

You two wanted to bond on the Race. Did your dreams come true?
Joe: Absolutely. Especially after we got eliminated and went to Sequesterville as we called it. We had a tremendous time together. We just don’t have time for that in daily life when raising the kids and pursuing career opportunities.
Heidi: The long bus and plane rides allowed for a lot of quality time where we could just be together without being in race mode. We look back on it as a great time.

Favorite moment? Least favorite?
Heidi: Obviously the least favorite is the whole U-Turn event.
Joe: My favorite moment was in Hamburg. We were supposed to be on a flight that came in an hour ahead and it ended up coming in two hours behind. We pulled together and pushed ahead of the cowboys. And it was a great city. Beautiful scenery, beautiful people.

http://tvwatch.people.com/2010/03/16/amazing-races-joe-and-heidi-on-facing-u-turn/
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: chill_sd on March 16, 2010, 06:08:48 PM
Clip from The Bonnie Hunt show.


Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 16, 2010, 06:16:07 PM
Quote
Exclusive: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang talk about 'The Amazing Race'

By Reality TV World staff, 03/16/2010

After finishing in fourth place or better during The Amazing Race's three previous legs, things appeared to be going very well for "Married Couple" racers Joe Wang and Heidi Wang.
 
However things quickly derailed when "Detectives" Louis Stravato and Michael Naylor opted to use the fifth leg's U-Turn twist to force Joe and Heidi to do an additional Detour task they were unable to complete, resulting in the couple becoming the fourth team eliminated from The Amazing Race's sixteenth season during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition.

On Monday, Joe and Heidi (but mostly Joe) talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including whether Joe was aware how Louis and Michael seemed to interpret some of his comments, what happened when they were "saving spots" in line during the Race's second leg, how bad Joe's knee really was, and whether they had really never imagined someone would U-Turn them.

Reality TV World: Joe, were you aware how your comments were coming across as trash-talking to some of the other teams or had you just not realized it?

Joe Wang: So that question, I was trash-talking?

Reality TV World: Yeah, the comments you were making.  Were you not aware that was how some of the other teams were taking them?

Joe Wang: No, no, I never took it as -- I can only see what I saw on the video, and I don't think it had anything to do with trash-talking.  It had a lot to do with me being very overly confident and me being a competitor, and being a threat.  I didn't hear anything about trash-talking, You'll have to elaborate a little bit more on that.

Reality TV World: When you were talking about how you weren't worried about any of the other teams.  It seemed like that's how it came across to at least Louie and Michael.

Joe Wang:  I didn't see a video about that, me saying that.  I remember them asking me and I said all the teams are competitive and that my knee is giving me a lot of problems but we're still going to push this through, when we were on the bus.

Reality TV World: I think you're misunderstanding me.  I'm not saying you were trash-talking, I'm saying that seemed to be how Louis and Michael took it.

Joe Wang: Right.  On watching some of these "Secret Scene" videos [on cbs.com], all of the teams were, you know, kind of strategizing against us.  For whatever reason they chose.

We always ran the Race as Joe and Heidi running and we treated all the teams with great respect.  And if you looked at any of our videos, we never talked about any other teams in a negative manner.

Reality TV World: So what happened during that ticket line incident, where you were holding spots in line?

Joe Wang: Oh yeah, no, no.  That was not "holding a spot," if you want to call it that.  We were at the bus station and Brandy and Carol went with us.  And then they ended up going to another station to make sure we had the best bus route.  So for us we had to stick together as a team, and so I was in the front of the line and then Brandy and Carol ended up coming back and said "This is the best bus route."

So because they were researching information for us, and we'd agreed prior to getting into line, that's what ended up happening.  So the cops were not understanding the situation.  We weren't holding any spots, they were already in line with us but they had to go and research for us too.

Reality TV World: You just weren't able to explain that to them?  It seemed like it was more than just "the cops" that had an issue, I remember it looking like some other teams also made some comments.

Joe Wang: Yeah, I mean I think those things appear because that's also probably, possibly some editing.  But everybody's in line, the same line, and we were just ahead of the line. 

Of course people in the back of the line are always going to be upset with people in the front of the front of the line.  Because we were all on the same bus, they had the same opportunity to be in the front of the line just like I did. 

They followed me into the line, because I was in the front of the line.  We were all on the bus all together at the same time, there was no advantage in there.

Reality TV World: After the U-Turn, you said that had "never imagined" that anybody would use it on you.  So you're saying despite these squabbles and things, it had really never entered your mind that someone might be upset with you guys?

Joe Wang: Well you know what's interesting is you mention these "squabbles."

Reality TV World: Well, are you saying you didn't hear Louis and Michael shouting from their seats on the bus when you were making your comments or anything like that?

Joe Wang: Yeah, [but] it was all in good fun.  Entertainment.  So being U-Turned, I don't think I ever said I was surprised.  I was surprised that they used it that early, because typically if you're in the front of the Race you're going to continue to go and why burn bridges?

Reality TV World: The direct quote I have -- and I'm not certain if it was actually yourself or Heidi that said it -- but one of you said you "never even imagined" somebody would use it on you.

Joe Wang: Oh no, then that was just out of context.  I mean of course, anyone can get U-Turned.  That's what the game is about.

Reality TV World: I believe it was Heidi that was also shown saying that you guys thought you had a "good rapport" with [Louis and Michael].  Was that your actual belief then, or was that out of context as well?

Heidi Wang: You know what's interesting is there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that obviously doesn't make the show, so when we were in the long mandatory rest period after the Argentinean leg at that sheep ranch, we all spent a good 30 hours together   And that was the only time we were not in a sequester mode where we could actually have meals together and have some conversations with the other teams.

And yeah, we were all in very good spirits and we were trying to make the best of the situation, camping in Argentina and not having showers and things like that.  It was a good time.  So, yeah, like I said it did come out of left field.

Reality TV World: When you first found out you had been U-Turn'd, did you think the "In the Trenches" Detour task was just going to be a minor inconvenience of sorts or were you immediately concerned that it had the potential to cost you the entire Race?

Joe Wang: Well, when we first had the choice initially, if you remember what they showed -- we looked at the Morse Code and my knee was bad and I still said "Hey, I want to go crawl" because I told my wife, "We never had training in Morse Code."  We knew it was going to be difficult because some of those "mind" tasks typically are. 

And if you looked at all the teams, no matter who they were they picked the crawl.  Because sometimes you think the more physical challenge is going to be something you can do.

Reality TV World: So you were immediately concerned that it had the potential to cost you the entire Race?

Joe Wang: Absolutely.  Immediately concerned with the Morse Code.

Reality TV World: Do you guys think Louis and Michael thought it was actually going to eliminate you or do you think they just thought it was going to slow you down?

Joe Wang: You know at that point I think it was whatever the U-Turn could have done.  I mean I think the U-Turn typically slows teams down dramatically -- puts them in the "back of the bus," if you want to call it that.  And I think there's also opportunities where, you know, it got us eliminated at this point.

I mean we felt like it was our destiny.  If we were able to finish the Morse Code, then that was on us.  And if we didn't finish it, it was on us too.

Reality TV World: Did you take any solace out of hearing them say you guys were "good competition and this is a competition" on last night's episode?

Joe Wang: Well in their interview, they talked about how we were strong competitors and we were a threat.  I think a lot of teams said that, even some of the other interviews I saw with Steve and Allie that was published [on cbs.com].

You know, they used it and we had to deal with the consequences.

Reality TV World: Exactly what was your knee issue? We'd seen you talking about it before the bungee jump, but it hadn't stopped you from initially picking the soccer task in Hamburg after that and then last night's episode suddenly showed you keeping it elevated and iced-up during the bus trip.  Was it a [minor issue] that just progressively got worse as the Race went or was the bungee jump the main cause of the problem?

Heidi Wang: Actually, Joe's knee basically bothered him from Day 1 and it just amplified as the Race progressed.  It was actually the size of a grapefruit, he had to see the medics every day.  And that was actually the first thing we did after we were eliminated, is we went to the emergency room in France and he had to get X-rays and have it looked it.

He can talk more, but basically every leg of the Race we were challenged by the knee.

Reality TV World: Right from the start?

Joe Wang: Yeah, one of the parts of the Race that I think most people don't know is all of the running and the pounding your body gets.  I thought I was prepared for it, I did a lot of training, but the running kind of beat me up a little bit more than I thought it would.

Reality TV World: So was that a pre-existing injury that you re-aggravated?

Joe Wang: No, I played a lot of sports so I trained prior to it not knowing it was going to give me this many problems.

Reality TV World: When you finished the "Under Fire" Detour task, it looked like you were actually using the rifle as a cane.

Joe Wang: You are absolutely correct (laughs)

If you saw me, I was hustling through the crawl and I felt very good because it was some physical task that I was able to make some ground on.  And of course, running off-balance and on non-level land, I was using it as a cane, of course.

Reality TV World: So if you hadn't been eliminated, how big an issue do you think your knee would have been going forward?

Joe Wang: Absolutely, the knee wasn't going to get better and actually probably would have gotten worse.  But with my competitiveness and nature, I would have pushed it through and most teams looked at that, I think, as something that would have happened anyways.

They said, "I know the knee is bothering Joe, but I think his determination is going to push through that."

Heidi Wang: Yeah, we even said we think it would have been a hindrance but I still think we would have placed in the Top 3.  If it was [just] a footrace, I give it to any other team, they probably would have beat us. 

But if you take into consideration everything else, like our history together, our good communication -- we never had a fight on the Race -- then I think those are issues that would have propelled us to have been frontrunners.

Reality TV World: At the end of the Detour, they cut to a brief shot where they showed you in the trench consoling each other and kind of lamenting why you were U-Turn'd and then the next thing we saw was [The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan] coming out after sunset to see you guys.  What happened in between there, were you still trying to get the code all that time?

Joe Wang: We were trying our very best.  I mean we were there for close to six hours and then it got dark and the weather changed dramatically, it started to rain.  So I was giving Heidi a lot of shelter, her whole body was shivering.  And if you remember, when we left we didn't have anything to eat or drink since 8:30AM.  That was close to almost 12 hours.

Reality TV World: After Phil told you guys the correct code message, Heidi, I believe it was you that said you would never have gotten "Vive France."  How close did you actually come, was "Vive La Liberate" the closest?

Heidi Wang: No, it didn't show it but we obviously knew what the message was on the first Detour task, so we used that as our first message, and it was wrong.   We knew it would be some variation, something to do with the war. 

So although we couldn't decipher the Morse Code -- because if you were in that position with the bombs exploding, the airplanes flying overhead.  It was freezing and it was so fast, the tape of the Morse Code was so quick, and you could not decipher between a dot, a dash and a space.  You could only imagine.

But anyways, when we knew we couldn't actually decipher it, we just went and we kind of put our heads together and we went back with like 20 different messages, like what could it possibly be.  And obviously we were so close but we just obviously did not get it.

Joe Wang: At one point [the Morse Code message] almost sounded like rambling to us, it was just noise.

Reality TV World: How realistic was that battlefield reenactment? It seemed pretty realistic on TV.

Joe Wang: Yeah, absolutely.  They were the real trenches, I mean you could see how they were reinforced with barricades and stuff.  I know they weren't real bombs, but they were throwing something that created a lot of sulfur and had dirt flying in the air.  I was constantly in tears because of the smoke and the dust and the dirt.

Heidi Wang: And obviously you saw it last night, it was an emotional episode to begin with, being eliminated.  But when you throw in the emotions of World War I and the soldiers -- I mean the whole show just embraced so much emotional aspects to it.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race?  Was it your first time applying?

Heidi Wang: (to Joe) Um, how do you want to put this?

Joe Wang: You mean how were we cast?

Reality TV World: How did you end up on the Race -- was it something one of you wanted to do and asked the other?  Had it been your first time trying to get on the show?  What's the backstory?

Joe Wang: One time.  We applied just like some of the other teams.

Reality TV World: Was there one of you that wanted to be on it more than the other that had suggested it first?

Joe Wang: Originally we were brought -- we had an opportunity to get on the Race.  So we both said that's something interesting and we both agreed to go on it together.  And it was a challenge for us because I like the competitive fun in team sports and we liked the show itself.  So we pursued it together.


http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-joe-wang-and-heidi-wang-talk-about-the-amazing-race-10595.php
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 16, 2010, 06:23:31 PM
Quote
In the Amazing Trenches with Joe and Heidi of The Amazing Race
by Reg Seeton
 
This week on The Amazing Race the new crop of teams jetted off to France to wage Amazing Race war on the old battlefields of France in the best Amazing Race tasks in the show's sixteen season history. As the Amazing Race teams hit the road this past week, Joe and Heidi Wang were on the minds of some of the teams, namely police detectives Louie and Michael, after Joe vocalized his confidence after hurting his knee. When the teams encountered this week's Detour, they all found themselves in the muddy World War I trenches of a former battlefield in France while bi-planes buzzed overhead, dropping fake bombs near The Amazing Race competitors as they crawled their way through barbed wire.

After making it through the heat of Amazing Race battle, Joe and Heidi were forced to do a second tour of Amazing Race duty when Louie and Michael gave them a U-Turn, which forced Joe and Heidi into the trenches to decipher a message in Morse Code. Although Joe and Heidi did their best with the Morse Code, the married couple were eliminated from the race when host Phil Keoghan met them in the trench to hand them their Amazing Race walking papers.

The next day we caught up with Joe and Heidi to learn more about their time on The Amazing Race, how they endured the battlefield, and what Joe and Heidi thought of being handed a U-Turn.

THE DEADBOLT: So, would you guys rather do the interview in Morse Code?

JOE WANG: [laughs] No, we care not to, as you can imagine. And we haven't done any studying after that either.

THE DEADBOLT: Although you guys were eliminated, how amazing was the task with the planes overhead and the action going on beside you?

HEIDI WANG: You know, it was absolutely amazing. I mean, that has got to be the Emmy winning show of the season. The sound effects and what was going on, the war reenactment, you really did feel like you were in that time and place.

THE DEADBOLT: Joe, how much do you think your knee played a factor in that leg?

JOE: You know, actually, on that leg my knee was not the problem. We did crawl through there. Even before we knew about the difficulties with Morse Code, as you guys can remember, I said, "No way. With a bad knee, I'm going to go do this crawl because the Morse code is more difficult." When we went through, I was so relieved. I'm like, "All right, great! We finished that task, let's get on to the next one." Just seeing our photo on that U-Turn was just devastating.

THE DEADBOLT: Well, how do you think Louie and Michael should've played the U-Turn?

JOE: That I don't know, other than the U-Turn is definitely one of the game aspects and they decided to use it very early on.

THE DEADBOLT: Who would you guys have U-Turned?

JOE: You know, Phil actually asked us the same question and basically Heidi and I had a strategy: If we're ever in second-to-last place is when we would use the U-Turn. Then, at that point, our goal was just running to the U-Turn spot and then we weren't going to U-Turn anybody. We were already in the front, so we weren't going to use that.

THE DEADBOLT: Looking back, is there anything you should or could've done differently with the Morse Code?

JOE: I think we did the best we can. I mean, just going through the process of listening to the Morse Code and hoping you heard it, it was almost an impossible task. I'm assuming that someone who has been trained and taught [Morse Code], it would come easy. But for us, definitely, it was something that was impossible.

HEIDI: Yeah. I mean, the Morse Code, the reel that you were listening to was so quick that you could not decipher between a dot and a dash and a space. I mean, we listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times over. With the planes flying overhead and the bombs exploding, it was just a really hard task.

THE DEADBOLT: In what ways do you think the race tested you as a couple for the better or worse?

HEIDI: You know what? First of all, when people are watching the show at home - I mean the race is challenging but until you're actually on the race as a contestant, it is a lot more difficult and challenging than it appears on TV. I don't think people realize how long the travel legs are. Joe and I, we're seasoned travelers and we fly extensively and my ankles were constantly swollen by how much travel we did in such a short amount of time. So that was definitely a challenging aspect of it.

Also, we were sleep deprived. That leg where we were in France, we had no sleep in twenty-four hours. Actually, that baguette in France was the first thing that we had to eat and I actually didn't drink anything for twelve hours. So you're sleep deprived, you're hungry, you're water deprived, and you're just exhausted.

THE DEADBOLT: Was there anything from your time on the race you wish was aired, something that we didn't see?

JOE: The Hamburg leg was a crucial leg where the cops [Louie and Michael] were actually at the end of the pack and their flight, low and behold, got them there earlier even though we were supposed to arrive an hour ahead. That was a turning point. Those are the chances that happen on the race.

THE DEADBOLT: Heidi, did you eventually get your silver after you were looking for it in Mexico when you went to the Elimination Station?

HEIDI: [laughs] You know, I did. We actually got it through another vendor. We got it for a great price. It was actually a steal. So I'm very happy and I wear that ring all of the time.

-- Reg Seeton
http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/107250/joe_heidi_amazing_race_16_interview.php
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: chill_sd on March 16, 2010, 06:26:04 PM
Quote
so when we were in the long mandatory rest period after the Argentinean leg at that sheep ranch, we all spent a good 30 hours together

Good verification of the extended pitstop the TAR Detectives had surmised.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on March 17, 2010, 06:44:50 AM
Here is the full clip of the Bonnie Hunt Show...what will we do without her??  :'(


Sorry though ...the audio is a bit off.



Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 04:37:43 PM
Quote
“We Must Have Listened to that Message Hundreds and Hundreds and Hundreds of Times” – RealityNewsOnline’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 16's Joe & Heidi
by Teeuwynn Woodruff -- 03/17/2010

 
Joe & Heidi (right) were a tough team who hovered near the top of the pack for much of the race – and this leg looked to continue the trend until the married couple was U-Turned by Michael & Louie. Why was the Morse code challenge so hard? Have Joe & Heidi forgiven Michael & Louie for U-Turning them? Look inside for the answers to these and other questions!

RealityNewsOnline: Hi, Joe & Heidi! Thanks for talking to RealityNewsOnline today!

Heidi: Of course!

RNO: What made you decide to apply for The Amazing Race?

Heidi: You know, we were approached with an opportunity to be on the show. We obviously went through the same strenuous audition process that everybody else did. Then we were finally selected. We knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime, and we could not pass it up.

RNO: This week the U-Turn did you in. Have you forgiven Michael & Louie for using it on you?

Joe: Well, I’ll put it this way. It’s part of the race. There’re certain tactics you can use. They definitely leveraged that piece of it.

Heidi: I think we’re at peace with the whole thing.

RNO: Having seen the episode, do you better understand why Michael & Louie used the U-Turn on you?

Joe: Yeah. The only thing we thought from the interviews that led up to it is they thought we were a threat. They had a choice between Steve & Allie and us – but they also had a choice with all the other teams behind us too… And they chose us.

RNO: When you made the comment on the bus that seemed to get under Michael & Louie’s skin, did you think anything of it at the time or was it just an off-the-cuff remark?

Joe: Well, no, I think it had a lot to do with how people receive comments. When I was being interviewed, I was being interviewed where they were asking me what I thought about the other teams. I said all the teams are competitive. I have to push stronger because, with my knee… You know, overcome that. So, however they overheard that, and what they took out of it, is up to them.

RNO: Did you ever think that not making friends with the other teams might result in taking you out of the race? Do you think if you had done so, they might not have chosen you?

Joe: You know what’s interesting? When we were in Argentina, one of the longest Pit Stops, they [Michael & Louie] were actually behind us in most of the legs. We didn’t really get a chance to meet them, to be honest with you.

That leg, we sat around and we talked and laughed. We talked about their kids and our kids. So, it was a very pleasant time together.

Heidi: For me, the U-Turn actually came out of left field – it was really unexpected. I was really surprised. Again, watching on TV, we revisited that whole experience all over again.

Joe: You know, we’re trying not to be in denial or anything. I mean, we knew we were a competitive team. I know how I sometimes am portrayed. Just, within the race, people say I’m very strong and so forth.

I had some knee problems, and surely that was a hindrance to me. But, at the end of the day, we ran the race like we wanted to go win the race.

RNO: What made the Morse code Detour challenge so difficult for you?

Heidi: Well, we had just gotten done doing the physical challenge of crawling through the barbed wire – all the explosions – I mean, just so you know, it was a lot longer than it looked. You had to go all the way there, get the message, and come all the way back. I believe it was almost the length of a football field.

So, then when we got to the Morse code Detour, it was so quick. If you were to listen to that reel of the beeps – it was just so quick. You could not decipher whether it was a dot or a dash or a space. We must have listened to that message hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.

Again, you’ve got planes flying over, you have explosions, you’re constantly distracted. And we hadn’t eaten in so long. We hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before, on the moving Pit Stop. So, all we had to eat and drink was that baguette – in probably close to 24 hours. Your concentration level was at its lowest.

RNO: How long were you working on the Morse code?

Heidi: If you could see… We were probably there nearly six hours.

RNO: Did you ever come close to getting the message correct?

Heidi: We got half of it but, like I said, it was so hard to decipher the message. We knew what part of it could have been, because we got the message from the crawling Detour. When we knew we couldn’t decipher it we put our heads together and came up with maybe 20 other options of what it could be based on the war situation. Unfortunately, we just never got it.

RNO: How long did it take for you to complete the first part of the Detour?

Heidi: Maybe half an hour?

Joe: Yeah… Less than an hour.

RNO: Joe, your knee was obviously giving you a lot of trouble during the race. Was it injured before the race began?

Joe: Yeah, it was through all the running during the race… It was bothering me a little when I was doing the training, but it got aggravated throughout the race. The show cuts out a lot of the running through different terrain and the complexity of doing that with your backpack and stuff. I never liked to run to begin with.

RNO: Is your knee alright now?

Joe: You know, I recently had knee surgery. I’m in recovery and it feels a lot better. I’m back in coaching youth sports for my kids.

RNO: Did your children watch the race with you?

Joe: They’re big fans of the show, of course. We’ve had viewing parties at a friend’s house every week… until last night. Our kids were at home and we wanted to savor this for a moment. It was tough, because watching the reaction of our kid – they didn’t know what was happening.

Even at the start of the show they said, “I bet you Jeff & Jordan will get eliminated.” Once they saw us on the U-Turn they were like, “I don’t understand why that happened. Every team only has to do one. You had to do two.” Then we had to go through that explanation.

RNO: How hard was that for you?

Heidi: Our kids – in their eyes, we’re heroes. So, the whole time, they thought we were going to be in the top three. To see the disappointment in them… Very emotional. They went to bed last night crying. We have gotten so many emails and text messages – everybody was crying! So, it was just an emotional episode.

People fail to realize that The Amazing Race really is a family show. People of all ages watch it, from two-year-olds on up. I just think good core values are exemplified in the show. So many young viewers definitely were disappointed Sunday night.

Joe: Our kids felt like we exited very gracefully, I mean, unexpectedly. Because no one would expect that we were gone when we were in the top three. Then having to do the second challenge is where they said, “I don’t see that being fair.” So, they supported us in what we did.

RNO: What was the smartest thing you did during the race?

Joe: There are probably a lot of factors, but the smartest thing we did was signing up for the race. That was a challenge on its own, to get on the race. We feel pretty fortunate to have been part of it.

RNO: What most surprised you about the race?

Joe: It’s actually more challenging than it really looks. I guess they only have 45 minutes to show one leg. It makes it look like you just landed and everything is fine. The ride that gets you there, the situations you’re put in… It’s more difficult than it looks.

Heidi: I just want to add that they make it look like those airplane trips are, like, a minute. I believe that I heard that one of the legs on this season was the longest leg in the show’s history in terms of travel time. There’s so much travel.

Joe and I are seasoned travelers and my ankles were swollen from that much air travel in such a short amount of time. So, the travel in and of itself was very, very difficult.

RNO: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experiences on The Amazing Race?

Heidi: I just want to say that it’s actually kind of funny now that Joe has been dubbed the villain of the season. We’re running with it. We’re very almost flattered by the comments. Really, Joe is not a villain. He doesn’t have those villainous qualities. It’s just funny how, through editing, some of the things that he has said kind of come out that way.

Joe: I think the race shows that you can get out of your comfort zone and aspire to bigger things. I recently left my job to go pursue opportunities. We didn’t get a chance to win this million, but the race opened our minds to the possibility of higher goals for ourselves. The race teaches you not to settle for staying in your comfort zone.

RNO: Thank you for talking to us today, Joe & Heidi.

Heidi: Thank you!

http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article11121.art&page=1
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 04:39:33 PM
Quote
The Amazing Race 16: Exclusive Interview with Joe and Heidi Wang
Posted on 03/15/2010 by Gina in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews

by Gina Scarpa

On last night's episode of The Amazing Race, the teams were given the opportunity to U-Turn somebody else. That means that the team that receives the U-Turn must complete both Detours before moving on. Louie and Michael, who were in first place, targeted Joe and Heidi, who were close behind them. Joe and Heidi were faced with a morse code challenge that proved too difficult and were eliminated from the race. Today, the couple spoke to RealityWanted about how seriously they took the race, their alliance with Steve and Allie, and their feelings about the way they went out.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race and how did you end up becoming a part of the show this season?
A. Joe: We were approached with the opportunity to go on the race. We applied like everyone else did competing with all these teams. We're honored that the race selected us

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel leaving your family behind to go on the race?
A. Joe: That was one of the biggest challenges. We have close family. My mom was helping us with the kids.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do a lot of preparation before the show?
A. Joe: We did a lot of endurance things like jet skiing, parasailing, rock climbing.
A. Heidi: Joe and I took this really seriously. We trained, we went running 3 times a week before the kids woke up for school. I got lasic eye surgery. I studied maps and atlases every night before I went to bed and we actually bought the entire series of The Amazing Race on Ebay and watched it every night. We used it as game time review. We learned so many things from previous contestants

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Any favorite past contestants?
A. Joe: We liked season 5's Chip and Kim. They were very jolly and competitive by nature.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You worked with a few different teams, mainly Steve and Allie. Were you planning to stick with them or were you going to cut them loose when the time was right?
A. Joe: Steve and I are both competitors. He's a professional baseball coach. I played a lot of sports. We said, right now, we're working together but it's a very complex race. We knew at any given point that we would race on our own.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Joe, do you think that the comment you made on the bus is the reason they U-Turned you or do you think they had already planned to do it if the opportunity arose?
A. Joe: They said that we were a threat and even with my knee, I was going to push through it. There were a lot of things said on camera and off camera but it's how people portray it.
A. Heidi: In every interview that we did, we never said anything bad about any of the other teams. It's really unfortunate that the U-Turn came and we weren't able to complete the task.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How difficult was it to watch last night's episode?
A. Heidi: It was really hard with our family. This was the first time that we just had a private viewing with out immediate family. Our kids think of us as our heroes. They thought for sure we would make it to the final three. There were teardrops everywhere.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What are you up to now? What has life been like since you've been home?
A. Heidi: It is just crazy! Joe recently resigned from his steady job and we're just evaluating and reviewing so many different opportunities that have come our way.
http://www.realitywanted.com/newsitem/3029-the-amazing-race-16-exclusive-interview-with-joe-and-heidi-wang
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: 2old4tech on March 17, 2010, 05:25:36 PM

Quote
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do a lot of preparation before the show?
A. Joe: We did a lot of endurance things like jet skiing, parasailing, rock climbing.
A. Heidi: Joe and I took this really seriously. We trained, we went running 3 times a week before the kids woke up for school. I got lasic eye surgery. I studied maps and atlases every night before I went to bed and we actually bought the entire series of The Amazing Race on Ebay and watched it every night. We used it as game time review. We learned so many things from previous contestants

???
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 06:46:20 PM
Quote

Joe & Heidi ('The Amazing Race')
Monday, March 15 2010, 2:42pm EDT

By Lara Martin, News Editor

Married couple Joe and Heidi Wang had a solid start on last night's episode of The Amazing Race, completing the detour challenge in third place. However, their hopes of making it another week were left in the balance when detectives Louie and Michael targeted them with a Blind U-Turn, meaning the duo had to go back and complete a second detour task. After several unsuccessful attempts to crack the Morse Code challenge, they became the fourth team to exit the race. We gave them a call to chat about the experience.

How does it feel to be eliminated at this stage?
Heidi: "Very sad, very, very sad. We had viewing parties in the past every weekend, but last night we made it a private affair to be with our family. The kids were crying and very emotional."
Joe: "And of course they had no clue. They were looking at the race and thinking we were in the lead, having finished the crawl ahead of everybody else. My son said, 'How come you have to do another one? I don't get it'. We had to explain to him what a U-Turn means and what it means in the game."

Did you know immediately who had set the U-Turn?
Joe: "Absolutely because we were already in the top three and had just finished about 10 or 15 minutes behind the detectives, and Steve and Allie where right in front of us. For it being blind, it wasn't really blind! I think they wanted us to know!"

What was your initial reaction?
Joe: "The initial reaction was, 'Oh my God'. We had just accomplished this physical endurance task..."
Heidi: "That crawl was not easy! The gun was very heavy, and you had all this gear on as you crawled under the barbed wire, and to and from the station was a long way."
Joe: "We're determined individuals so we looked at it and said, 'Let's just go after this and get this done'. We knew it would be a difficult task, and when we first saw the clue I had mentioned to Heidi that we didn't have any training in Morse Code."

Why do you think Louie and Michael chose you?
Joe: "Based on some of the interviews we've seen, they thought we were a threat."
Heidi: "I think honestly, deep down they thought we were a strong, competitive team, which in itself is a compliment and we're privileged to have that as our legacy. I think it's because Joe and I have strong communication, a good history, and we didn't really fight or have those emotional, dramatic episodes that maybe some other teams had."

How long were you out there?
Joe: "We were there for close to six hours trying to figure it out. You could see that because it got darker, the temperature dropped dramatically and it started raining. We hadn't had anything to eat since we left the pitstart except for that baguette."
Heidi: "It was winter time in Europe so it was freezing, and then it started to rain and we were just wearing those war outfits they gave us. It was really cold."
Joe: "We were trying to crack the code by thinking creatively. I was holding Heidi because her whole body was shivering and we were coming up with random statements that we thought might fit, but none of them did."

Was it a mutual decision to call it quits?
Joe: "We were constantly thinking and writing down what the statement could be. One of the things about the race is you never know when a non-elimination piece is going to come. We didn't throw up any white flags or anything."

Obviously we thought you might have a chance with Brent and Caite having to go back and Jordan and Jeff struggling - were you aware of what was happening with the other teams?
Joe: "We were aware of Jordan and Jeff because they had to come through to do their speedbump, but we didn't know about Brent and Caite. It was a light for us when we saw Jordan and Jeff, and we continued to push along. I remember when we saw them we gave about ten more statements, but then we saw them crawling out and thought we might be in big trouble."

Do you think you would have eventually got the message if you kept trying?
Joe: "When Phil came over and told us we were looking for, 'We will prevail. Viva la France', we both looked at each other and said there's no way! The code itself rambled on and we didn't know where the breakage was."
Heidi: "It was a running message with no stop or start - it just kept going over and over. We must have listened to it hundreds of times with the airplanes flying overhead and the bombs exploding and the shooting. You would lose your train of thought and couldn't hear it. It was a challenge that there was no preparation for."

Is there anything you would change about the whole experience?
Joe: "I felt like we tried to run the race very fairly. We always talked great things about all the other teams."
Heidi: "We always spoke very highly of the other competitors, and if we knew they were strong in certain aspects we would say that in our interviews. We never said anything bad-spirited or negative. I think we played it fair, and some of the things that Joe said that were maybe confident came out like he was offending other people. It's funny though, we came out of this and it's almost like he got the villain role! I think it's funny and very humorous and we're just running with it and enjoying it!"

http://www.digitalspy.com/ustv/s66/the-amazing-race/interviews/a208698/joe--heidi-the-amazing-race.html
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: DeafRacer on March 17, 2010, 06:49:54 PM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 07:01:47 PM
Luke, in fairness they prefaced it with the word "typically."

You & Margie and Tammy & Victor were atypical.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 07:04:34 PM
Quote
'Amazing Race' Exit Interview: Joe and Heidi
Early favorites suffered a surprise defeat
Posted by MSN TV on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 2:43 PM

Phil-iminated in a field following a failure to crack a Morse code challenge, early favorites Joe and Heidi Wang suffered a surprise defeat in this weeks "Amazing Race."  (Blame their loss on the leading cop duo, who U Turned the team to their tragic end.) We talked to the married Californians about Joe's villain edit, their kids' take on the season-ending loss, and their million-dollar plans for the future.



MSN TV: It must have been murder to relive the Morse code challenge on last night's episode.

Joe: It was tough knowing we were going to be eliminated - our kids and my mom watched it with us, and we kept trying to give them little clues.

Heidi: Our kids were saying, "We know you're going to the top three."


Did they have ideas for how you could have done better?

Joe: My son made the point of how come every other team had to do one task, and we had to do two.

Heidi: My daughter was, like, "Why didn't you just rip your picture off [the U Turn notice] and put someone else there?"



Were you just devastated when you saw you'd been U Turned?

Joe: We were on such a high after the trenches, and the crawling -- it was supposed to be such a relief, getting the route info, but it was a real downer when we saw the Morse code. I was, like, "Have you ever studied Morse code?"



Did you have a favorite moment we didn't see on the show?

Joe: Our best memories would be Hamburg -- our flight getting in was supposed to be an hour earlier than everyone else. We ended up two hours behind, but we caught up to the cowboys.

Heidi: It's interesting actually -- Joe has been portrayed as the villain. We were having fun with the character development. Maybe he was being very confident and [editors] turned it into something that wasn't there.

Joe: I was interviewed [on the show] about hurting my knee -- the other teams heard I was more worried about my knee and less worried about the competition. But I respected all the teams we competed against.



What's next for you?

Joe: I actually left Microsoft and now I'm pursuing other opportunities. I didn't win the million dollars here -- but I'll win the several-million-dollar-prize elsewhere.


http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/tv-buzz-blogpost.aspx?post=1708210&_blg=1,1708854
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 07:06:08 PM

Quote
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did you do a lot of preparation before the show?
A. Joe: We did a lot of endurance things like jet skiing, parasailing, rock climbing.
A. Heidi: Joe and I took this really seriously. We trained, we went running 3 times a week before the kids woke up for school. I got lasic eye surgery. I studied maps and atlases every night before I went to bed and we actually bought the entire series of The Amazing Race on Ebay and watched it every night. We used it as game time review. We learned so many things from previous contestants

???

They probably got it from bootleggers that lurk on ebay.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 17, 2010, 07:17:26 PM
I think the story editors are just mailing it in this season because I think Joe & Heidi got the exact same storyline that Maria & Tiffany got.


Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: apskip on March 18, 2010, 05:10:07 AM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:

Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on March 18, 2010, 12:06:32 PM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:

Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.

That's funny. I seem to recall Amanda & Kris stating in interviews later that they flew through the stacking option of the Detour after being U-turned. I don't think that task is what eliminated them - it seems pretty obvious that it was the U-turn. I think they would have caught up if they hadn't been U-turned.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: DeafRacer on March 18, 2010, 12:17:11 PM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:

Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.

That's funny. I seem to recall Amanda & Kris stating in interviews later that they flew through the stacking option of the Detour after being U-turned. I don't think that task is what eliminated them - it seems pretty obvious that it was the U-turn. I think they would have caught up if they hadn't been U-turned.

Actually, it was the stack task that did Amanda & Kris in. If they haven't abandoned wood stack detour in first place and re-building it then they would have been able to beat Mark & Michael to the pit stop. So, that was their biggest downfall for giving up on the first detour task. I used that to my advantage when I saw they gave up on the wood stack so I knew by U-Turning them would forced them to go back to wood stack. That was pretty brutal of me!

Honestly, I think Morse Code should have been the Speed Bump task, not the detour task...
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on March 18, 2010, 12:24:22 PM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:

Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.

That's funny. I seem to recall Amanda & Kris stating in interviews later that they flew through the stacking option of the Detour after being U-turned. I don't think that task is what eliminated them - it seems pretty obvious that it was the U-turn. I think they would have caught up if they hadn't been U-turned.

Actually, it was the stack task that did Amanda & Kris in. If they haven't abandoned wood stack detour in first place and re-building it then they would have been able to beat Mark & Michael to the pit stop. So, that was their biggest downfall for giving up on the first detour task. I used that to my advantage when I saw they gave up on the wood stack so I knew by U-Turning them would forced them to go back to wood stack. That was pretty brutal of me!

Honestly, I think Morse Code should have been the Speed Bump task, not the detour task...

Well, it did do them in that way, but I though apskip was saying they had difficulty with it after being U-turned. I guess the bottom line is that switching Detours was what put them in last place, and the U-turn cemented them there.

The Morse Code would have been a hard Speed Bump, but I wouldn't complain (since in this case Jeff & Jordan would have had to complete it). :snicker:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: apskip on March 18, 2010, 05:51:52 PM
Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you surprised that Louie and Michael U-Turned you as opposed to Steve or Allie?
A. Joe: I think being U-Turned is definitely a surprise. We were running ahead and typically, when I've seen U-Turns, it's the second to last team. They don't want that team behind them to catch up to them. If you're in the front of the pack, you usually just keep going because you don't wanna create negative vibes.
A. Heidi: They had the opportunity to u-turn anybody. They didn't have to choose between us or Steve and Allie.

Margie & Luke didn't do that!  :lol3:  We were the third team to be at the U-Turn mat when we u-turned Amanda & Kris. I guess we created a new strategy that it doesn't have to be for a second to last team to u-turn a last team.  :lol:

Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.

That's funny. I seem to recall Amanda & Kris stating in interviews later that they flew through the stacking option of the Detour after being U-turned. I don't think that task is what eliminated them - it seems pretty obvious that it was the U-turn. I think they would have caught up if they hadn't been U-turned.

Actually, it was the stack task that did Amanda & Kris in. If they haven't abandoned wood stack detour in first place and re-building it then they would have been able to beat Mark & Michael to the pit stop. So, that was their biggest downfall for giving up on the first detour task. I used that to my advantage when I saw they gave up on the wood stack so I knew by U-Turning them would forced them to go back to wood stack. That was pretty brutal of me!

Honestly, I think Morse Code should have been the Speed Bump task, not the detour task...

DeafRacer, although you were in the general vicinity and familiar with Stack, I don't think you are considering the transportation time back to and from the Stack DETOUR near the Church of Innokenty in Osvyanka. I believe Amanda and Kris had to do it on foot and the distance was enough to kill their dreams. To quote the new book Circumnavigating the Globe..., "they did it reasonably quickly but just going back took time and they were maybe 10 minutes behind when they finish."
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Jobby on March 20, 2010, 09:26:35 AM
Why are we talking about Amanda and Kris in Joe and Heidi's topic... am i in the wrong topic?? :(
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: apskip on March 20, 2010, 04:35:21 PM
Yes indeed, and it proved to be devastatingly effective. However, in both the cases of Joe/Heidi and Amanda/Kris those teams had severe difficulties in doing the second DETOUR (which in Amanda/Kris' case they had already failed at. If there had been "normal DETOURS" then neither U-turn attempt would have succeeded.

Ask and ye shall receive, Joab.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Jobby on March 21, 2010, 04:39:04 AM
But

Quote
DeafRacer, although you were in the general vicinity and familiar with Stack, I don't think you are considering the transportation time back to and from the Stack DETOUR near the Church of Innokenty in Osvyanka. I believe Amanda and Kris had to do it on foot and the distance was enough to kill their dreams. To quote the new book Circumnavigating the Globe..., "they did it reasonably quickly but just going back took time and they were maybe 10 minutes behind when they finish."

Joe and Heidi was done in by the Stack Detour? I thought that was 2 seasons ago????
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: redskevin88 on March 21, 2010, 06:23:42 AM
But

Quote
DeafRacer, although you were in the general vicinity and familiar with Stack, I don't think you are considering the transportation time back to and from the Stack DETOUR near the Church of Innokenty in Osvyanka. I believe Amanda and Kris had to do it on foot and the distance was enough to kill their dreams. To quote the new book Circumnavigating the Globe..., "they did it reasonably quickly but just going back took time and they were maybe 10 minutes behind when they finish."

Joe and Heidi was done in by the Stack Detour? I thought that was 2 seasons ago????

They were talking about Amanda and Kris  :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: slayton on March 27, 2010, 05:50:50 PM
I found this one last week. but hadn't posted it yet.
Quote

Exclusive Interview: Joe and Heidi from 'The Amazing Race 16'
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Henrik Batallones
Staff Writer, BuddyTV

I may not have always been fond of Joe and Heidi from this season of The Amazing Race--from the first week I joined the "they're too confident" side of the fence--but later weeks made me realize that what they don't have in popularity, they make up with their intensity in running the race. After all, they were in second place at one point. But they were eliminated in France after being U-turned by detectives Louie and Michael--they figured they needed the humble pie, and it seems they did.

I got to talk to Joe and Heidi early today, and I think we covered everything--the U-turn, the Morse code task, and the knee. Oh, and gastronomic delights in Germany, too.

First off, Joe, how's your knee doing?

Much better. I had arthroscopic knee surgery after we returned from the race. Still recovering from the surgery.

How did you two meet?

We met at a wine tasting event in LA, making eye contact across a smoky cigar lounge. That was over 13 years ago.

Before the French leg, you were poised to become one of the race's frontrunners. What did you do that you think the other teams didn't?

We have a very strong history together, so we know each other very well. We communicate well, and above all, trust and respect one another.

Joe, some viewers think you're very driven, but some also think you're too confident. It also seems that you've rubbed the other teams the wrong way. What's your reaction to this?

I'm a sports guy--I'm a very confident and driven individual which may intimidate other people. People who know me, get me, and understands my intensity and good intentions.

Tell me about your partnership of sorts with Steve and Allie. What struck me in your last two legs was your belief that good people should stick with good people, never mind the competitive nature of the race.

Good people attract good people. We're not saying there weren't other good people in the cast, but Steve and Allie shared similar backgrounds with us and we ended up working well with them. Joe and Steve shared a sports background and Heidi and Allie had the Pepperdine connection. We believed four heads were better than two racing around the world. There was always an underlying understanding, that at any given time, either team could break free when it really counted.

Looking back, do you think you deserve being U-turned in France?

"Deserve"--absolutely not! A U-turn is used on strong teams or to prevent a team from elimination. Based on their placement, obviously, they viewed us as their biggest threat, even with Joe's bad knee.

What was going through your heads when you both decided not to finish the Morse code task? I thought it was out of character, especially for you, Joe.

You have to realize we were there for many hours, listening to the same Morse code reel, over and over again. It played very fast, and with all the war effects going on and the change of elements--pouring rain, night time, drop in temperature--we came to the realization that regardless of how many more times we listened to the message, we weren't able to decipher it.

Have you since talked to Louie and Michael about the U-turn?

We spoke briefly.

What was the most memorable experience you've had on the race?

The entire race was a memorable experience. If we had to select a race highlight, though, it would have to be the entire Hamburg leg--so fun! Although our flight was originally scheduled to arrive first, we actually arrived on the last flight, but we quickly made up for lost time: a bungee jump, sauerkraut, beer, Beatles, and placing in the top three after doing two detours. The entire city was decorated for the Christmas holiday, so beautiful and magical at night.

What have you been up to after the race?

Joe recently resigned from Microsoft and is pursuing other exciting business opportunities. We're both happily exploring new ways to make our own millions!
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/the-amazing-race/exclusive-interview-joe-and-he-35311.aspx
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: David on April 06, 2010, 10:30:08 AM
I think I would have liked this team IF Joe had had something in mind not being "why the detectives U-Turned us?" and enjoyed a paid fortnight in the villa... He is just thinking and thinking.

I have to say that, had I known he would be so stubborn that way, I would also have U-Turned him... Elimination Stations have a boring point every week because of him!

Also, because he is always thinking he is the master of TAR, he knows everything that can be done in there... I really really really can't stand him.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: redskevin88 on April 06, 2010, 07:30:26 PM
I think I would have liked this team IF Joe hadn't had something in mind not being "why the detectives U-Turned us?" and not enjoy a paid fortnight in the villa... He is just thinking and thinking.

I have to say that, had I known he would be so stubborn that way, I would also have U-Turned him... Elimination Stations have a boring point every week because of him!

Also, because he is always thinking he is the master of TAR, he knows everything that can be done in there... I really really really can't stand him.

Agreed. Come on Joe, you get about US$3,500 plus an all-expenses trip to some five-star villa in Mexico, plus they give u a chance to visit the town, a little bit, but probably better than some tour group. I would be bitter about being eliminated, but also enjoy the villa.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: Hooky on September 15, 2010, 08:55:47 AM
It seems that Joe has written a book!

http://www.amazon.com/Wangs-Code-Unleashing-Inner-Coach/dp/1453622144/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279636460&sr=1-5 (http://www.amazon.com/Wangs-Code-Unleashing-Inner-Coach/dp/1453622144/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279636460&sr=1-5)

Joe Wang's Code to Unleashing Your Inner Coach

Product Description
What is your code? How do you live your life? How do you approach everyday obstacles? Whether you are stepping on to a football field to play or coach, or attending a parent teacher conference or striking a multi-million dollar business transaction, codes abound. The Code to Unleashing Your Inner Coach examines the use of codes in a manner that allows you to identify and ultimately tap into your inner code. Your inner code provides the framework to reaching a new level of success and satisfaction. Each of us have a unique inner code. Identifying your unique inner code provides the basis for unleashing your inner coach.

About the Author
Author, Motivational Speaker, Avid Traveler, Sales Executive, Philanthropist, Competitor, Husband and Father. Born in Taiwan and raised in upstate New York, Joe Wang has traveled the world participating in one of TV?s most popular reality competitions, succeeded in sales for a fortune 500 company, started a family, and still found time to start a youth sports nonprofit organization. Joe is now a California family man, with an intense, yet inspiring, New York state of mind.
Title: Re: TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married
Post by: georgiapeach on October 22, 2011, 08:41:22 AM
Joe takes Football to China!!

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/673644/Football-American-style.aspx