Topic: Amazing Race 7 on-line / Articles/ Library

[tanbuns]

Here is an article I found about TAR7 contestant Kelly McCorkle, who is teaming with former Iraqi War POW Ron Young.

Staffer out to prove ‘beauty queen’ is not ‘shallow’
By Emily Horne
 
You think life on the Hill is competitive? At least you don’t have to pose in a bathing suit and high heels for your keep.

Kelly McCorkle, who joined the staff of Rep. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in January, came to Capitol Hill fresh from her reign as Miss South Carolina 2002. McCorkle, who won the title of Miss South Carolina on her third entry into the pageant, placed in the top 15 of the Miss America competition and made over 450 public appearances during her reign — a schedule that would exhaust most lawmakers.
   
“Being Miss South Carolina was such an honor,” McCorkle reflected. “For kids to come up to you and say you’re an inspiration to them … I will carry that with me for the rest of my life.”

McCorkle, a native of Greenville, S.C., is one of De-Mint’s two legislative correspondents. Her policy areas include veterans affairs, defense, Social Security and education, which is dear to her heart.

“I was diagnosed with dyslexia and auditory processing deficits when I was 5,” says the 25-year-old staffer. “Teachers told my parents I would likely not graduate from high school and certainly not from college. Even my dance teachers said training me was a waste of time and money.”

McCorkle would later make learning disabilities and education her pageant platform. “It’s a part of who I am,” she says. “I’m not embarrassed about having [dyslexia].”

McCorkle credits her religious faith and the support of her family for helping her find her passion for dance and graduate from high school a year early. “I hated school and was just miserable there, though my grades were OK,” McCorkle said.

After graduation, McCorkle headed to New York to study with the Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey dance company. While in New York, McCorkle heard about an opportunity to dance in the Miss South Carolina pageant back home. “I had never thought of entering a pageant, but I thought ‘Hey, it’ll be on TV,’” she said, laughing. The gig led to competing in the pageant the following year, which won McCorkle scholarship money to study at North Greenville College.

“I identify with Sandra Bullock in ‘Miss Congeniality,’” McCorkle says, “because before I got involved with pageants I assumed all the girls were stuck-up and snotty.”

Well, isn’t there some truth to most stereotypes? “I was pretty shocked when I got to Miss America and some of the other girls had really filthy language and bad morals. I kept thinking ‘And you want to be a national role model?’ But most of the girls were awesome.”

Another beauty-pageant myth revealed: Contestants do use glue on their bottoms to keep suits from riding up. But McCorkle said she was not aware of any alternative uses of Preparation H (which some say is used to smooth a puffy or lined face).

McCorkle got involved with politics in the same accidental way she came into pageants. “I had actually hated politics until a friend, Rita Allison, ran for lieutenant governor of South Carolina in 2001,” McCorkle said. “I did some campaign events for her and really fell in love with the energy of the crowd and the people I met. I don’t know how I ever thought politics were boring or irrelevant.”

While traveling as Miss South Carolina, McCorkle often encountered DeMint and his staff. When the lawmaker suggested she work for him after her reign, McCorkle interviewed for a position on his Senate campaign. The job she was offered, however, was in Washington.

“It’s very strange for me to come to a place where everyone is your age, single and enjoying it,” she said. “Everyone at home is getting married and starting families, and in Washington, it’s OK to be focused on your career.”

Fellow staffers seem to enjoy having a beauty queen in their midst. “I’m pretty modest about the title because I know a lot of people equate ‘beauty queen’ with ‘no brains’ or ‘shallow,’” said McCorkle. “My staff all knows, though, and they seem to like to tell people. Most people just ask a lot of questions, though other women have been known to get a little catty.”

McCorkle has attracted media attention for her yearlong relationship with former POW Ron Young, whose Apache helicopter was shot down near Karbala, Iraq, last March. Young, a member of the 1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment, and McCorkle were first set up when he escorted her as she passed on her title last April. The two have been together ever since.

McCorkle and Young recently had dinner with Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), who is encouraging Young to pursue a political career.

And McCorkle herself? “I want to keep working for Congressman— hopefully soon Senator— DeMint as long as he’ll have me. But I can see myself running for Congress someday.”
 

[tanbuns]

Here is an article on TAR7 contestant Ron Young Jr........

http://premierespeakers.com/3134/index.cfm


Ron Young
POW During Operation: Iraqi Freedom

Growing up in Lithia Springs, Georgia, Ron Young, Jr. had dreamed of flying jets since he was a young child of five. When he learned he could fly Apache helicopters if he joined the Army, he enlisted. On March 23, 2003, during his first combat mission in the Iraqi war, he and his copilot, Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, went down with their Apache Longbow helicopter amidst fierce gunfire about 50 miles southwest of Baghdad. In desperation, the two warrant officers eluded the pursuant Iraqi soldiers who were close on their heels and shooting at them for more than an hour before they were finally taken captive and held as prisoners of war for 22 days. Two attempts were made to rescue the pilots, but the fire was so heavy – “like a hornet’s nest” – that those first efforts were unsuccessful. Finally, Young, Williams and the other five POWs were rescued by the Marines. “That was awesome… beyond words. I was ecstatic… greatest day of my life,” Young said. “I felt as if I had won the lottery of life." Ron is currently working as a cable news special contributor for coverage 

[tanbuns]

Another article on Ex POW Ron Young


Ex-POW speaks at local banquet

Atlanta man supports war and president

By James L. Rosica
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER


Being a POW for 23 days hasn't changed Ron Young's opinion of the American presence in Iraq.

"We're doing the right thing for the right reasons," he said in an interview. Young, an Eagle Scout, was in Tallahassee on Wednesday to speak at the local Boy Scouts' Golden Eagle fund-raising banquet.

The former Army helicopter pilot was shot down near Karbala in a firefight on March 24, 2003. He was in an Apache with fellow soldier David Williams, helping clear the way for ground troops.

The men were captured and held for almost a month. At one point, Young said, they didn't know whether they would be killed by their Iraqi captors or by American bombs when they were moved to Baghdad.

At one point, "I prayed for 12 straight hours," he said. "I kept thinking, 'Are we going to live through this? Just give me a sign.'"

In the capital, they were held with another group of American prisoners, including Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson. Finally, the Marines got a tip to their location and freed them.

Freedom began Young's transformation into a war hero, wanted speaker - and possible political candidate.

"Zell Miller has become a friend," Young said, referring to the U.S. senator from Georgia, Young's home state. "He's ... I'd say, 'encouraged' me to think about running for office some day."

In the meantime, Young is out of the Army and a salesman for a company producing hazard gear for chemical and biological weapons. Not that he mas much time to sell - he said he now spends half his month on the road on the lecture circuit.

In the coming weeks, Young, who now lives in Atlanta, is scheduled to speak in Michigan, Washington state and to walk in an Armed Forces Day parade in South Carolina.

He's also long-distance dating Miss South Carolina 2002 Kelly McCorkle. She asked him to be her date last year at the pageant when she passed on the crown.

"He's the most amazing man I've ever met," said McCorkle, who now works in constituent relations for U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., in Washington.

"He strongly believes in supporting his country and his president," she said of Young. "And he's just so funny. He makes me smile nonstop."

His remarks to the Scout supporters will be serious, however.

"I'll be talking about making a difference, developing a strategy for changing people's lives," he said. And about his 23 days in captivity.

"Even as a POW, you could tell some of them were happy we were there," he said. "There's definitely a bunch of Iraqis who hated Saddam and wanted him gone.

"Of course, now they want us gone," he added. "They don't want to be occupied indefinitely."

But some Army families were told this week to expect a 120-day extension after U.S. commanders asked for at least 10,000 more troops in Iraq.

"We have to stay the course," Young said. "There's no way we can pull out now without destabilizing (the provisional) government."

[puddin]

Wow ..I'm impressed thank you for the articles Tanny  :<(  I remember this now..wowowow
 His partner Kelly sounds like a real sweetheart ..YAY a Beauty Pagaent Queen with morals  {l{

[puddin]

  Local team competes in next ‘Amazing Race’/2-10
By Richard O Jones

By Richard O Jones


JournalNews

HAMILTON — Somebody in town is keeping a big secret.

Somebody in Hamilton knows who the winners are in the seventh installment of “The Amazing Race” reality television series on CBS.

Following the completion of the sixth “The Amazing Race” Tuesday night, CBS announced the competitors for the next event, and Susan Vaughn of Hamilton and her son Patrick are among the 11 teams.

But they’re not talking about it, because according to their agreement with CBS television, they could forfeit the $1 million prize — if they are, indeed, the winners.

The Emmy Award-winning reality adventure series pits teams against one another in a race around the world for a $1 million prize. “The Amazing Race” will begin with a special two-hour premiere, 9 p.m. March 1.

Patrick, 26, is a graduate of Hamilton High School now living and working in Los Angeles as a writer. Susan, 54, is a Hamilton resident who works as the director of the Office for Judicial Affairs for Miami University.

Although she is currently out of town on university business and unavailable for comment, she left specific instructions with her husband John Vaughn, who also works for Miami University in the Information Technology Services.

“I have a note here that she left me,” he said. “It says, ‘Please remember not to talk to any press.’”

But Holly Wissing, spokeswoman for Miami University, said that she believes Susan and Patrick will do quite well in the competition.

“I’m not at all surprised that she and her son were chosen,” Wissing said. “She’s a very polished and savvy professional.

“I imagine Susan will be a real tough contestant because she thinks well on her feet and can maintain her calm. I don’t know how the race will turn out, but she’s a winner in my book.”

The competitors for the upcoming “The Amazing Race” include Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, the runner-up and winner of the CBS series “Survivor: All-Stars.” They are now engaged.

The Vaughns also competed against a stockbroker and his girlfriend from Youngstown, Ohio; two 20-something female friends from Woodbridge, Va.; a gay couple from West Hollywood, Calif.; a married couple from Houston; a motivational speaker who was also an Iraq War prisoner of war from Georgia and his girlfriend; two 30-something male best friends from South Carolina; a retired couple from Easton, Maryland; female roommates from Oak Park, Calif.; and two brothers from Santa Monica, Calif., one a bartender, the other a bouncer.

“The Amazing Race” sent these 11 teams on a trek around the world for approximately 30 days, according to CBS spokesperson Kim Sartori. At every destination, each couple had to compete in a series of challenges — some mental and some physical — and only when the tasks were completed did they learn their next destination.

Couples who are farthest behind are gradually eliminated as the contest progresses, with the first team to arrive at the final destination winning $1 million.


Contact Richard O Jones at (513) 820-2188, or e-mail him at rjones@coxohio.com.


source~


 http://www.journal-news.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/02/09/

 
   

[Hi-Fi]

official site with pics of the teams! (^.#

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race7/

[Hi-Fi]

I'm so stupid! I just saw the thread about the site. Sorry, puddin.

[Hi-Fi]

I didn't like the teams at all...but i aways hate them at first {l{

Since i know and like Amber from Survivor, i'm kinda rooting for her. But i think the mother in the mother/son team seens nice.

Let's see.

[puddin]

Don't be so hard on yourself Hi-Fi  ]**] ..its OK

[puddin]

 |#' YAY Hi-Fi ..would you please show your Amber/Rob support in our I Love Ron & Amber thread ?

[tanbuns]

DELETED!  8-)'

[puddin]

 ^&#


Ronald Young Jr.
Ronald Young Jr.
Rank/Branch: CWO/Army
 Unit: Aviation Battalion, 1/227th Company C, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Lithia Springs, Georgia
Date of Loss: 23 March 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates: Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad
Status: POW/Iraq
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: AH-64D Apache Longbow
Personnel in Incident: Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams and Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr
Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated: 29 March 2003

REMARKS:
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Ronald Young Jr.'s mother said she wrestled with a foreboding feeling Sunday evening and feared something horrible had happened to her son.
"I just had a mother's feeling. I just felt like Ron was there with me, I felt like he put his arms around me," said Kaye Young.
That Sunday March 23, the 26-year-old Apache helicopter flyer from Lithia Springs, Georgia, became a prisoner of war.
Under heavy fire, his chopper went down in Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad. Captured along with Young was CWO David S. Williams, 30, of Florida.
Both are with the Aviation Battalion, 1/227th Company C, 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas. Williams is a 12-year veteran.
Young enlisted about 31/2 years ago, after two years of college, because he wanted to learn how to fly, said Kelly Lively, one of four siblings.
"He's always wanted to fly. That's why he went into the military -- to learn to fly. He's very proud to be serving his country," she said.
"He's an outstanding guy. We love him and support him. We're hoping and praying that he comes home," Lively said.
Kaye Young said she started worrying earlier in the day when she saw televised video of a fallen Apache helicopter that had the bat-wing insignia of her son's unit, the "Vampires" -- so called because they usually fly at night.
Later, an Army chaplain and officer from Fort McPherson came to her home. "They said, 'We're here on behalf of the U.S. government and are here to tell you that your son Ronald is listed as missing in action.'"
"I started screaming, 'I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!'," Y oung said.
Young told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her son called her a week after leaving Texas in mid-February to head to the Persian Gulf.
"He called to tell me he was safe and to tell me some things he needed," Kaye Young said. "He wanted an MP3 player and electric shaver. I started to cry as he hung up, and he said, 'Don't do that. I'll be fine,' " she told the newspaper.
Ronald Young Jr., a graduate of Douglas County High School in Douglasville, Georgia, studied mechanical engineering at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia, before joining the Army.
He'd almost experienced battle in 2001, receiving deployment orders for the war against terror in Afghanistan just after September 11, 2001. But the orders were canceled before he had to go.
Kaye Young said the family had a very open discussion back then about the possibility Young might not come home.
"He had told me if he was ever asked to give his life for his country, he hoped that he'd be able to do that honorably -- and he seemed very glad to do that, if that was needed," she said.
Ronald Young Sr. said his son was living out his dream of being a pilot. 

[puddin]

Feb 11, 2005
By Aaron Earls
TIGERVILLE, S.C. (BP)--Kelly McCorkle, 2002's Miss South Carolina, will be part of the seventh season of CBS' reality show "The Amazing Race."

McCorkle, a 2001 North Greenville College graduate, will be teamed with her boyfriend Ron Young, a former Iraq War POW.

McCorkle currently works as a legislative correspondent for U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Young is a student at the University of Georgia and a motivational speaker.

After growing up with a learning disability, McCorkle graduated cum laude from North Greenville College, which is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. After winning the Miss South Carolina pageant, she was a top 15 finalist in the Miss America contest.

The race proved to be a life-altering experience for McCorkle. "God taught me so much about myself through the whole experience," McCorkle said. "I am really excited about the show."

In a pre-race interview with CBS, McCorkle and Young discussed their life experiences, their relationship and their thoughts on the upcoming race. "I think our strength as a team is that Ron and I are both very competitive. We hate to lose," McCorkle said. "So I think we are going to have the right attitude, the drive to not give up and go all the way to the end and be the first to arrive at the last stop."

McCorkle also talked about another factor that will help them in the competition. "Our life experiences will bring a lot to the table," McCorkle said. "There won't be anybody in this race that has been through what we've been through."

The Army helicopter flown by Young and fellow Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams was shot down during heavy fighting in central Iraq in the early days of the war.

The men and several other American military personnel were rescued by a group of Marines after three weeks of captivity, when the Iraqis guarding them abandoned their positions.

The Amazing Race will follow McCorkle and Young and other couples as they compete in different challenges around the globe. The last team to arrive at the various pre-determined stopping points may be eliminated from the race. Eliminations continue until only three teams remain. In the last stage of the race, the first team to arrive at the final destination wins $1 million dollars.

The Amazing Race season will begin March 1 at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS.
--30--
Aaron Earls is a writer in North Greenville College's public relations office.

source~
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=20129

[puddin]

Posted on Sun, Feb. 13, 2005
 

Ohio lovebirds, family join `Amazing Race'

Two teams from state among former `Survivor' competitors March 1

By R. D. Heldenfels

Beacon Journal television writer


Although the big national attraction for the next Amazing Race will be the return to prime time of some Survivor lovebirds, the series will also have a strong Ohio flavor.

Two teams on the show -- which begins March 1 -- are from Ohio, including Ray Housteau, 44, of Canfield and Deana Shane, 27, of Youngstown, who are described as ``dating on and off.''

Here's CBS' summary of them:

``Ray is a stockbroker and Deana is a marketing and promotions executive. Their primary motivation for participating in this Race is to put their on-again/off-again relationship to the test and see how they fare.

``Ray, who is 17 years older than Deana, has worked as a stockbroker for 18 years. A former college and semi-professional football player, Ray describes himself as cocky and admits that he's never wrong about anything. He enjoys weightlifting, singing and karate.

``Deana is admittedly just as determined and competitive as her teammate. She grew up camping in the backwoods of Ohio and has never traveled outside the United States. Deana's favorite hobbies include lifting weights, karate, hunting and fishing. Both admit they are looking for some answers to what the future holds for their relationship and are hoping the Race will provide some.''

Then there's Susan and Patrick Vaughn, from Hamilton (although Patrick now lives in Hollywood), the first mother-son team on Amazing Race. Here's what CBS had to say about them:

``Susan is the Director for Judicial Affairs for Miami University in Ohio and Patrick is a writer. Their primary motivation for participating in this Race is to see the world with each other and have stories to share for the rest of their lives.

``Susan has been married to Patrick's father for 34 years and also has a daughter, Elizabeth. She earned her college degree as a nontraditional student, since she was a mother at the time. She enjoys shopping, gardening and traveling and describes herself as stylish, demanding and prepared.

``Patrick says he is extremely close with his family, and they've always been very supportive of him, including when he told them he was gay. However, his mother disagreed with his decision to drop out of college (Miami U) 30 credits shy of his degree. Patrick describes himself as Machiavellian and strategic. Both are avid fans of the show and watch it religiously.''

As for those lovebirds, it's ``Boston Rob'' Mariano and Amber ``I'm With Rob'' Brkich from Survivor: All Stars. That's not only their claim to fame, it's their living. CBS lists Mariano's occupation as ``Runner-up, Survivor: All Stars,'' and Brkich's as ``Winner, Survivor: All-Stars.''
 
source~
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/10889771.htm

[puddin]

thanks Banzai..good for clothing clues too )

[tanbuns]

February 19, 2005

Former UO Cheerleader's Life Takes 'Amazing' Turn
By Mark Baker
The Register-Guard

If you're a Duck or Beaver fan and lived in these parts back in 1987, you probably remember him best as the guy who took a howitzer-of-a-gum-wad-shot to the face from Oregon State's Gary Payton during a Civil War basketball game in Corvallis.

Well, Uchenna Agu, a former University of Oregon cheerleader and one of the best horizontal jumpers in the school's illustrious track-and-field history, is back in the news. This time, it has nothing to do with track and field or a four-stick wad of Doublemint.

Agu and his wife, Joyce, will make their debuts March 1 on the hit CBS reality-TV program "The Amazing Race," the Emmy Award-winning show in which two-person teams race around the world for a $1 million cash prize. The Agus, who now live in Houston, will compete in the seventh edition of the "Race," a year after Eugene twins Karli and Kami French finished fifth out of 11 teams in the fifth edition of the show.


Uchenna Agu and his teammate, Joyce, make their way to the next destination at the Playa Hermosa in Ancon in Lima, Peru, on the two-hour season premiere of "The Amazing Race."
 
Uchenna Agu said he couldn't yet talk about his experience on the show, which already has been taped. All contestants sign a contract that precludes them from speaking with the media before their elimination from the show has been televised or all the episodes have aired, said Mitch Graham, a spokesman with CBS.

"They sent in their application like everybody else and were chosen," Graham said.

Uchenna, 40, and Joyce, 44, have been through some tough times in recent years, according to a Web site promoting the show. He worked for Enron and she worked for WorldCom, now-bankrupt companies that suffered highly publicized accounting scandals. Uchenna is now an energy broker and Joyce is a sales manager.

As is typical of the show's dramatic promos, the couple are painted as having a strained relationship. The program mentions their failed attempts to have children and that claiming the $1 million prize could pay for additional in-vitro fertilization procedures.

Graham would say nothing else about the show, other than that the first leg takes the competitors to Peru. A promotional video for the show at www.cbs.com shows Uchenna Agu racing in a car and screaming about going to Peru as he utters, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

John Gillespie, the former South Eugene High School and assistant UO track coach, isn't surprised that the 1986 Pac-10 triple-jump champion was selected for the show.

"He's competitive. He's got a great attitude about doing things. He's more than an athlete," said Gillespie, who was Agu's jumping coach at the UO. Agu, initially a nonscholarship "walk-on" at the UO, worked to become one of the school's most successful jumpers. Gillespie also said Agu has great "people skills" and is a good strategist.

His favorite memory of Agu was when Gillespie told him that he would shave his mustache if he cleared 26 feet in the long jump, a mark he had never topped, at the Texas Relays in 1986. Agu jumped 26- 3/4 , still the fourth-best mark in UO history. Although Gillespie couldn't be there, he picked Agu up at the Eugene Airport holding his mustache in a plastic bag.

After using up his track and field eligibility in 1986, Agu decided to give UO cheerleading a chance and used his great athletic skills to excel. He apparently still has some of those skills, as evidenced by a clip of him doing a back flip on the CBS video.

But probably nothing prepared him for the "gum incident" of Jan. 10, 1987, an episode that gained some national coverage - including a blurb in "Sports Illustrated" - and launched an acrimonious relationship between UO fans and Payton.

Payton claimed that one of the UO's male cheerleaders called him a "hookhead" during the game in Corvallis. He thought it was Agu because he was the one holding the bullhorn. Agu was quoted in a later Register-Guard story saying he didn't even know what a "hookhead" is.

"None of the cheerleaders do," Agu had said. "I didn't call him a hookhead. There was no name-calling. He just threw the gum at me and hit me in the face."

What would Payton, now with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, think about all of this? It's unclear. He was unavailable for comment because he's on a break during the NBA's All-Star Game weekend.

When asked about the incident Friday, Agu said, "Oh, we don't have to mention that. Gary's a good guy. That's all in the past."

So, did he really call Payton a "hookhead" 18 years ago? Agu laughed and said, "I refuse to confirm or deny."

Graham, the CBS spokesman, assured that there would be no "gum-throwing" competition on this latest edition of "The Amazing Race."

[puddin]

RACE NEWS: "The Amazing Race" starts again on March 1, and many fans are aghast that "Survivor All-Stars" participants Rob and Amber will be participating.

Sure, it's stunt casting, but Rob and Amber have proven proved to be a pretty watchable pair of reality veterans in the past, and as "TAR" contestants go, they can't be any worse than "Big Brother" veteran Alison, one half of a whiny, annoying couple who appeared on an earlier edition of "The Amazing Race."

Let's hope that the next "TAR" is not filled with the kind of bone-headed "model/actor/whatevers" that packed the most recent race. I couldn't have been less thrilled that Freddy and Kendra, aspiring models with the personalities of wilted lettuce, won the race. Kendra's comments about "ghetto Africa" where people "keep breeding and breeding in this poverty" sure didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy about her.

All the "normal" people were eliminated early in the most recent race, and the show got less and less interesting as it was dominated by would-be models, actors and people with too much plastic surgery. Let's hope the next race has more people such as like previous "TAR" winners Chip and Kim, a married couple who really struggled during the race but showed class and grace along the way.

By the way, CBS is now accepting applications for the eighth, yet-to-be-filmed "TAR," which will allow families to race instead of duos. "Teams will be expanded to four members from two, and all teams will be comprised exclusively of family members.

"Examples of `family edition' teams could be traditional families (mom, dad and two kids), blended families (newly married with stepsiblings), four sisters, four brothers, multi-generational (grandparents and grandchildren) or engaged couples with in-laws-to-be, etc.," according to CBS' press release.

Racing with your in-laws? Now that ought to be interesting.

source~

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-tribtv,1,3096468.story?coll=chi-news-hed

[puddin]

Keoghan: Seventh 'Amazing Race' the best
Saturday, February 26 2005, 16:53 GMT -- by Daniel Kilkelly


The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan has told viewers to expect a fantastic seventh season of the show.

The new season will see former Survivor contestants Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich competing as a team. The pair met during the Survivor All-Stars competition, which Brkich went on to win, and have since become engaged.

However, Keoghan has warned viewers not to automatically assume that they will win the show's $1 million prize.

Keoghan told Zap2it, "A lot of time on Survivor is spent sitting down and working out what you are going to do. There's no time to contemplate like that in The Amazing Race, where you have to make decisions in the moment, on the fly, very, very quickly.

"To me, this is actually the very antithesis of their experience on Survivor, so viewers will see them reacting to a completely different experience here."

He added, "I know I said this before about race five, but I honestly believe number seven is the best race that we have ever had.

"That has a lot to do with the teams we have, and I can assure you that the show has moved back to its roots in terms of the things that made people fall in love with this show in the first place."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19522.html

[puddin]

Keoghan to criss cross US for CBS' 'The Amazing Race' 
 
Indiantelevision.com Team
 
(26 February 2005 2:00 pm)
   
MUMBAI: The host of CBS' popular reality show The Amazing Race Phil Keoghan will embark on a 10-city, cross-country Tour in the US from 2 March. In India the show airs on Axn.
 
 
He will drive in a car to promote the upcoming The Amazing Race 7 and casting for The Amazing Race 8. The tour begins in New York City and culminates in Los Angeles on 14 March. During his journey across the US, Keoghan will encourage families who are seeking the ultimate family adventure to apply for The Amazing Race 8, which will be the shows first-ever all family edition.

Keoghan will appear on CBS' The Early Show on 2 March. He will finish his tour with an appearance on CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
 
Keoghan will also appear at book stores in several cities along the way to sign copies of his new book N.O.W. - No Opportunity Wasted. Mercedes-Benz will provide the transportation for the cross-country trip. Phil will be traveling in the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which is the flagship Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle.


http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k5/feb/feb252.htm

[puddin]

TELEVISION
'Amazing Race' mom, son battle 'Survivor' winners


JOHN KIESEWETTER

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Susan and Patrick Vaughn of Hamilton, Ohio, are the first mother-son team on "The Amazing Race" because Susan's husband refused to go on the adventure.

 "We have traveled 14 times to Europe, but when we travel, we fight over maps and everything," John Vaughn says.
"So my son said, 'I'll do it!' "

On the seventh season premiere, airing from 9 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, CBS will show Susan, 54, and Patrick, 26, embarking from Long Beach, Calif., to Peru on their globe-trotting journey. They're competing for $1 million against 10 other teams, including Amber Brkich and "Boston Rob" Mariano, who won $1 million last May on "Survivor: All-Stars."

But the popular reality series won't show the drama leading up to that point -- how Susan, the judicial affairs director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and her family kept the secret during the taping Nov. 15 to Dec. 20.

When Susan went to buy a backpack, she couldn't tell the salespeople where she was going, for how long, or whether she expected hot or cold weather. "They gave her a lot of strange looks," says John.

When she missed library and civic theater board meetings in Hamilton, about 25 miles north of Cincinnati, people would ask John when he would next see or hear from his wife.

"We had a wide range of friends who asked a lot of questions. We finally had to make up this story about her being in Mexico with a friend at a training program, and that she'd be out of touch," says John, who also works at the university.

"It never occurred to them to guess that she was doing 'The Amazing Race.' They had no idea," John says. "Now everyone is really excited about it. They feel like it's happening to their family."

Viewers might see some tension between Susan and Patrick, who is trying to establish a career as a writer in Hollywood. Patrick tried to tell his mother that a portable hair dryer and curling iron were not needed for the trip.

"And she told him, 'They're essential if millions of people are going to see me on television,' " John recalls.

CBS' publicity also makes it clear that Patrick is openly gay, and Dad is fine with that.

"He's my son, and I'm very proud of him. He is who he is. The fact that he's gay is just an element of his life that we accept."

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20050226/living/95479.shtml

[puddin]

 banzai they edited out alot such as Aaron & Haydon did not quit or give up during the lock task , they were told that the Mt was closing and had to leave and could not finish the roadblock  ,so they had no choice and were forced to take the 4 hr penalty  *8

[puddin]

 {l{  lol banzai

[puddin]

Megan Baker and Heidi Heidel

Occupations:
Fashion designer; stay-at-home mother

Hometown(s):
Oak Park, Calif.

Who they are:
Blond best friends

How you'll know them:
They fret that their California Girl good looks may prompt some to label them "the Barbie Twins," but they aren't above using them to win the race. "We're more respectful than giggly, smiling girls trying to get something," says Heidel. "But we will flirt if we have to." Adds Baker: "We're going to use everything we have. If we have to butter somebody up, we will."

Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano

Occupations:
Former administrative assistant; former construction foreman

Hometown(s):
Canton, Mass., and Beaver, Penn.

Who they are:
The engaged couple who already won $1 million on Survivor All-Stars

How you'll know them:
Since they've already copped some reality-show cash, running this Race makes them seem greedy, and they don't care. "I'm not too concerned about the other teams hating us," says Mariano. "I know the only reason they feel that way is because we have been to the ballpark before. But maybe if they get to know us, they'll feel better."

Uchenna and Joyce Agu

Occupations:
Energy broker;
sales manager

Hometown(s):
Houston, Tex.

Who they are:
Married but hoping to get closer

How you'll know them:
They are a real hard-luck couple. He lost his job with Enron; she lost hers with WorldCom. Plus, their attempts at in-vitro fertilization have so far failed. "You don't expect those sort of challenges," says Uchenna. "It puts jumping out of an airplane or bungee jumping down the largest canyon in the world into perspective."

Brian and Greg Smith

Occupations:
Actor/bartender;
bouncer

Hometown(s):
Santa Monica, Calif.

Who they are:
Big (as in tall) brothers

How you'll know them:
They've got the size and strength to come out on top, but since they've never traveled internationally before, they may run into problems very quickly. "My mom said, 'I'm afraid you guys don't know much about geography. Are you sure you'll be OK?'" says Greg. Brian isn't worried. "We'll figure it out," he assures. "I just can't wait to get out there with my best friend, my brother."

Debbie Cloyed and Bianca Smith

Occupations:
Photographer/writer;
high school English teacher

Hometown(s):
Los Angeles and Woodbridge, Va.

Who they are:
Best friends since childhood

How you'll know them:
How you'll know them: Every day is like Christmas for this duo. "Our backpacks have little surprises to give to each other along the race," says Cloyed. "I can't tell you what they are, though, because I don't want to spoil it."

Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle

Occupations:
Motivational speaker/army vet;
legislative correspondent for a U.S. senator

Hometown(s):
Villa Rica, Ga., and Greenville, S.C.

Who they are:
A former Iraq War POW dating the 2002 Miss South Carolina

How you'll know them:
"When the stress level goes up, I become military," admits Young. Adds McCorkle: "When we get stressed, picture him being the drill sergeant saying, 'Come on! Do this!' And I can see myself saying, 'Don't talk to me like that!'"

Alex Ali and Lynn Warren

Occupations:
Executive assistants in the TV industry

Hometown(s):
West Hollywood, Calif.

Who they are:
The gay couple

How you'll know them:
They might be the most fun-loving couple the Race has ever known. "Our biggest strategy: just have a good time and enjoy ourselves. Experience the experience," explains an enthusiastic Warren. "You see people on this show who aren't enjoying it, but you have to remember that the race is like a bonus. You've already won just by getting picked."

 
 
Susan Vaughn and Patrick Vaughn

Occupations:
Director of judicial affairs at Miami University in Ohio;
writer/lyricist

Hometown(s):
Hamilton, Ohio, and Hollywood, Calif.

Who they are:
Mother and son

How you'll know them:
They may seem like a sweet Red State family, but don't be fooled. "This is our plan," says Patrick. "We'll come off as the most unsuspecting pair of Midwestern rubes, but we're going to be all about the smiles and making friends with everybody and then screwing them over. I told my mom that's what it takes to win, and we want to win." 
 
Ryan Phillips and Chuck Horton

Occupations:
Boiler tube replacement salesman and landscaper

Hometown(s):
Landrum, S.C., and Inman, S.C.

Who they are:
Good ol' boys and best friends

How you'll know them:
These guys will be the Race's working-class heroes. Says Horton, "We still get out there and work the tractors and backhoes. We're not models or froufrou types. We're meat-and-potato guys."

Meredith and Gretchen Smith

Occupations:
Retired corporate executive;
retired flight attendant

Hometown(s):
Easton, Md.

Who they are:
The spunky sixtysomethings

How you'll know them:
Every Race seems to have one senior-citizen team that loses out, but this married pair of 60-plus-year-olds think they can break that trend if they stick with their strategy. "At our age, you can do everything everyone else can do, except you run out of gas a little sooner," says Meredith. "Sleep deprivation, strange foods, odd hours... the different locations are going to take their toll. We're going to have to learn how to handle ourselves in situations we haven't experienced before."

Ray Housteau and Deana Shane
Occupations:
Stockbroker;
marketing and promotions executive

Hometown(s):
Canfield, Ohio, and Youngstown, Ohio

Who they are:
On-again, off-again daters

How you'll know them:
"I don't consider [the other teams] anything but an obstacle to my winning a million dollars," says Housteau. "To me, they're not really even people in the context of the race." These two may become "Colin and Christie: The Sequel."

[tanbuns]

The Amazing Race 7 - A Preview
by Phil Kural -- 02/28/2005
 
Only three weeks after Freddy & Kendra won The Amazing Race 6, it's time for 11 more teams to race around the world for a million dollars. Click right here if you're ready to meet the teams and find out what Phil has to say about each of them.

Wow, I feel like Freddy & Kendra just crossed the mat. Wait a second - they did! CBS sure didn't waste any time between seasons of The Amazing Race, did they? I mean, I'm not mad at all - in fact, I'm pretty excited. I think this season has some of the most diverse teams we have seen so far, and it looks like they cast some pretty fun personalities this time. Let's get to meeting the teams, shall we?

Brian & Greg (Brothers) - Brian is a 27-year-old actor/bartender. Oh God, here we go already with the actors and models. Greg is 24 and is a bouncer. Both hail from Santa Monica, CA. I know what you are thinking right now - these three are destined to be in the final three. I disagree right from the get-go. First, they have never traveled out of the country before. That is going to hinder them big time. Second, they are both very competitive. That's not always a good thing. There always has to be someone who is competitive, and someone that is cool under pressure. I don't see that with these guys. They will last pretty long, but not a final three team in my eyes.

Debbie & Bianca (Lifelong Friends) - Okay, I need to say this right away - they are going to win the race. They will break my curse, I can feel it! I love these two, and I'm making them automatic Sentimental Favorites. Why do I love them so much? They come across as friendly and loving, but competitive and driven as well. Debbie is 25 and a photographer, while Bianca is 26 and a high school teacher. They have done extensive traveling both alone and together. Debbie is very competitive and Bianca is cool and laid back. They are doing the race so that they can travel the world and put their combined traveling experience to the test. Oh yeah, they are going to win!

Lynn & Alex (Boyfriends) - Both are executive assistants from West Hollywood, CA. Lynn is 30 and Alex is 22. While they have been together for four years now, Alex has yet to "come out" to his parents, although they have met Lynn before. Well, if they don't know yet, they do now! Lynn has lived abroad for some time, and thinks that will help him run the race. He wants to run the race to see if he and Alex are compatible enough and to put their relationship to the test. Lynn's other motive is to hopefully get married in Amsterdam. What the hell does that have to do with The Amazing Race? These two don't seem very interesting. I'm going to peg them as one of the first three teams eliminated. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I think I'm right on this one.

Megan & Heidi (Roommates) - Megan is a 26-year-old fashion designer, while Heidi is a 31-year-old stay at home mom. What's up with those bandanas around their heads? They look like they were extras in the Olivia Newton John video for "Physical." Megan has an extreme phobia of flying, and is hoping to conquer that. Umm, I don't think this was the show for her. They are doing the race simply for the challenge and the experience, and although I think that's a good reason to do the race, I don't think it's going to get them far. In fact, I think they are another team that will fall by the wayside early. Definitely in the bottom three. Beauty can only get you so far!

Meredith & Gretchen (Retired Couple) - Aww, how can you not love the resident old couple? I think these two are going to stand up to the test! Both are retired and big fans of the show, who are also doing it because of the challenge and experience. Hmm, they picked greedy people for last season, but for this one, it's more people that want the experience over the money. This should be interesting. Anyway, Gretchen is 66 and a retired flight attendant. Meredith is 69 and a retired executive. I think they are going to do rather well. They look pretty tough for old folks, and this show has taught me never to underestimate anyone. Look how far Teri & Ian did on the third season! Will they be in the top three? I don't think so - but don't think they are going down without a fight!

Ray & Deana (Dating Off and On) - Okay, this team is a train wreck waiting to happen. Ray is 44 and Deana is 27. He's a stockbroker, and she's in marketing and promotions. They are hoping that their on again/off again relationship can get a little steadier because of the race. I don't see that happening. Ray is very competitive and admits that he is never wrong. Is anyone else thinking "Jonathan" right now? Deana says that she is competitive as well, but has never traveled outside of the United States. I'm worried about this team - VERY worried. There is no doubt in my mind that they are going to be around for awhile, but I think they are another team that might end up with a not-so-positive outlook after this is all said and done.

Rob & Amber (Engaged) - Do I even have to introduce these two? Unlike Alison and Donny from the fifth season, I actually don't mind watching these two! Rob & Amber are both former Survivors and became engaged during the finale of Survivor: All-Stars in May of 2004. He is 29 and she is 26. Before their reality TV blitz, Rob was a construction worker and Amber was an administrative assistant. I think they are going to be around for a good while. They will definitely be a final three team. They won't win, but they will get very far. We know how competitive and manipulative Rob can be, and don't sell Amber short - she's just as competitive. These two will be fun to watch. I'm actually rooting for them!

Ron & Kelly (Dating) - Ron is a 28-year-old former Iraq POW that hails from Villa Rica, GA. How could they list that as his occupation? That's terrible! Kelly is a 26-year-old legislative correspondent from Greenville, SC. She is also a former Miss South Carolina 2002. Another team that is doing the race strictly for the adventure, these two have had a rollercoaster of a ride for the past few years now, and have no plans on slowing down, at least, that's what their CBS profile says. I don't see what's so wonderful about them. Yeah, they have a great story, but I'm not in love with them, which is what I'm thinking the editors want us to be. I could go either way. Another team that I'm not so sure about. Not a final three team, but not a team that will go early.

Ryan & Chuck (Best Friends) - Both from South Carolina, Ryan is a general contractor and 31. His lifelong friend, Chuck, is 32 and in sales. I love when people are in "sales." What exactly does he sell? That's so shady! These two are doing the race so that they can travel the world together. Ryan is married with one child, while Chuck is still singe, to the dismay of Ryan. Why? If he wants to be single, let him! Chuck is very religious and works with the youth at his church. He's fluent in Portuguese. That's always a good thing! I don't really have any problems with this team, and I also have no problems naming them a final three team. They definitely have what it takes, and my premonition is that they are going to get very far.

Susan & Patrick (Mother/Son) - Wow, we finally have a mother/son team! Both are from Hamilton, OH, but Patrick now resides in California. She's 54 and a director for judicial affairs, and he is 26 and a writer. Okay, I love this team. Automatic Sentimental Favorites! They are doing the race to travel the world together and have some stories for many years to come. They look so cute together as a mother/son team. I think I like them so much because I would love to do the race with my mom. You don't know funny until you meet Mama Kural. Susan describes herself as stylish, demanding and prepared, while Patrick says he is strategic and Machiavellian. I'm hoping that this team defies the odds and gets very far. I'm not going to place them in the bottom three because I think they can really do this. I hope they make it to the end, but I'm not going to place them there. Like I said though - Sentimental Favorites!

Uchenna & Joyce (Married) - These two sure do have a story! Both worked for companies that went bankrupt in a very embarrassing way. He worked for Enron and she worked for WorldCom. Uchenna is an energy broker and is 40-years-old. Joyce is 44 and a sales manager. They are doing the race so that they can regain some of the closeness they lost during their rough times. Also, they have had some trying times with their relationship because they have been unable to get pregnant. Well, not so much Uchenna, but Joyce. They have hinted that if they win the money, they will use some of it for in-vitro fertilization procedures. I have no idea what that is, but I'm assuming it will let them have a baby! Why not just adopt? Anyway, I don't think any of that matters since I'm pegging them as a team to be one of the first three gone. I just don't think they have what it takes, and I'm willing to be they both freak out before they go. They both look like they are on edge!

Now that you know the teams, and how I feel about them, I'm sure you can't wait to read my recaps! As I said before, Rob & Amber, Ryan & Chuck and Debbie & Bianca will be the final three teams. Debbie & Bianca and Susan & Patrick are already Sentimental Favorites because I said so. Uchenna & Joyce, Megan & Heidi and Lynn & Alex will be the first three teams eliminated. I predicted Debbie & Bianca as the winners, so let's hope I didn't just curse them into second place. I guess we'll find out when The Amazing Race 7 premiers - Tuesday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Phil Kural is a recent graduate from Temple University, with a degree in journalism. You can reach him at pkural@gmail.com with any feedback that you may have.

[tanbuns]

Posted by: Simonsdrum on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 04:26 AM PST
   
It's time to travel around the world, get really peeved at non-speaking cab drivers, eat food cockroaches won't eat, perform crazy stunts and lose it with your team mate on national television. Yes, it's time for another season of the Amazing Race.

By Simonsdrum
www.tvspaz.com


Brian & Greg are brothers from Santa Monica, California. Brian is an actor/bartender and Greg is a bouncer. Their primary motivation for participating in the Race is to travel the world with each other, meet new people and hopefully land more acting auditions because they are tired of serving drunk celebrities. Brian, the older of the two is a competitor at heart whose greatest accomplishment in life was starting every basketball game his high school varsity season after being cut the prior two seasons. Poor Brian, he just labeled himself the jock from high school that comes back to the 10 year reunion still trying to relive the glory days because he hasn't done much with his life since then. Greg graduated from Auburn University and also spent time as a walk-on football player. In other words, water boy. Recently, Auburn University contacted Greg demanding his degree back. These two brothers are confident and ready to compete. Despite their limited traveling experience and knowledge of the Race, they figure that this will be easier than ducking their landlord when he comes looking for the rent.



Debbie & Bianca are best friends from Los Angeles, California and Woodbridge, Virginia, respectively. Bianca is a high school teacher and Debbie works as a photographer. Yawn. Bianca graduated from James Madison University with a B.A. in International Affairs and Spanish Art History. She currently works as a high school teacher because what the hell else is she going to do with a International Affairs and Spanish Art History degree? Because Bianca hasn't learned her lesson yet, she is working on finishing her master's degree in Education with a concentration in multicultural studies. Bianca's favorite hobbies are traveling, reading and making homemade outfits for her 5 cats. Debbie graduated summa ***** laude in under three years and is currently a freelance photographer in LA. In other words, paparazzi. A wild child at heart, she enjoys doing wild and crazy stuff like going to art museums, and reading classic literature. Side note: I had two former roommates that had similar backgrounds as these two ladies. Both graduated with 5 useless degrees magna ***** laude. Both like to do crazy stuff like knit and read Harry Potter novels. One roommate is now a Target cashier and the other gained 120 pounds and moved out to live with her drug dealing boyfriend who lives off her parent's money and her hospital secretary income. Those magna ***** laude degrees really paid off!! Debbie and Bianca's primary motivation for participating in the Race is to travel the world with each other because no one else will.



Lynn & Alex are a gay couple from West Hollywood, California. What makes them unique is that they....actually, nothing is unique about a gay couple from Hollywood. (Lynn & Alex both work as executive assistants which means neither of them are attractive enough to give hummers to their boss for promotions. With their four-year anniversary on the horizon, they signed up for the Race as a means to test the strength of their relationship and to meet and date gay Europeans.

Lynn is well traveled and well-laid as he lived abroad in Germany before settling down in Los Angeles. He and Alex met at a club four years ago and after extensive medical testing, have been together ever since.

Alex has not informed his father about his sexual orientation and thought this might be a better way of telling his father instead of going on Maury Povich.


Megan & Heidi are roommates from Oak Park, California. Megan works as a fashion designer and Heidi is a full-time mother. Both are extremely competitive and like to wear 80's style head bands. These California beauties decided to sign up for the Race for the challenge, competition and to learn how to spell challenge and competition. Megan has an extreme fear of flying and hopes to conquer her fear by being on the Race. If that doesn't work, she hopes to become a member of the Mile High Club as an alternative.



Meredith & Gretchen are a husband/wife team from Easton, Maryland. Meredith is a retired executive and Gretchen is a retired nurse/flight attendant. Both found love late in their lives. Finally, there's still hope for me!! Meredith is a retired executive who spends his time fishing, biking, playing golf, teaching swimming and beating up anybody that makes fun of his girlie name. Gretchen is a retired flight attendant and registered nurse who spends her time cooking, biking, gardening and golfing. She apparently does everything under the sun to avoid the stigma of having a man in her life named Meredith. She admits she can be quite loud when upset. Amazing Race producers hope that means she turns into a raging *****.



Ray & Deana are a dating (on and off) couple from Ohio. Both are fearful of commitment so their primary motivation for participating in the Race is to put their relationship to the test or to see if there is anybody else in the world better than the one they are with now. Ray describes himself as cocky and admits that he's never wrong. Ooo Goody - Potential raging lunatic. Deana is admittedly just as loony as her partner and hopes that they become the most dysfunctional team on the show.



Rob & Amber are an engaged couple from Canton, Massachusetts and Beaver, Pennsylvania, respectively. Tee Hee - she's from Beaver. Boston Rob and Amber might be familiar to reality TV - they competed with each other on Survivor: All Stars. Amber won while Boston Rob rode her coattails. Then he asked the money (I mean Amber) to marry him. Prior to their Survivor experiences, they had boring jobs and boring lives. But after winning Survivor they want to compete in every single reality show on TV. Their primary motivation is to not get beat up by the other teams in the first episode.



Ron & Kelly are a dating couple from Villa Rica, Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina, respectively. Ron is a former Iraq War POW after his Apache helicopter was shot down in Iraq. He was interrogated, held captive and later rescued by the US Marines. I remember the rescue well, Ron was the hunk who was in his pajamas. Which proves that even under severe crisis, he still looks mighty fine. He returned to the States and met Miss South Carolina in 2002. They have been inseparable ever since. Their primary motivation for participating in the Race is strictly for the adventure while women everywhere hope the Race breaks this couple up and Ron is single again. Okay, maybe it's just me who's wishing that. Kelly, Miss SC has always had determination being that she grew up with a learning disability. Crap, Now I can't say anything bad. This couple hope to go far in the race. Their first method of strategy, sabotaging their biggest competition - Boston Rob and Winner.



Ryan & Chuck are lifelong friends from South Carolina. Ryan is a general contractor and Chuck works in boiler tube replacement sales. Ryan's motivation is to travel the world, Chuck's is to become the first boiler tube replacement salesman on television. No worries there. Ryan is married, Chuck is not. Both are very religious although Ryan harbors a secret hatred for Chuck since he lives a sex-crazed single bachelor life. Oh wait, that's me. No, I wish that was me.

Although their southern drawls sometimes fool people, (Hey, that happens to me too!) make no mistake: They are very smart and ready to play.



Susan & Patrick are the first mother/son Team in the history of THE AMAZING RACE. Susan is from Hamilton, Ohio and Patrick lives in Hollywood, California. Susan is the Director for Judicial Affairs for Miami University in Ohio and Patrick is a struggling writer with mommy issues. Their primary motivation for participating in this Race is to see the world with each other and because Mom Susan said she cut her son off financially if he didn't do it.

Susan has been married to Patrick’s father for 34 years and also has a daughter, Elizabeth, who she secretly thinks is a disappointment. She describes herself as stylish, demanding (DUH!) and prepared for making her son feel as guilty as possible if he disagrees with her. Patrick says he is extremely close with his family especially his mother. Although supportive of his gay lifestyle, the family was upset when he drop out of college to become a gay go go dancer. Failing that, he listed himself a writer on his resume and began writing recaps of reality shows. Uh Oh! Patrick describes himself as Machiavellian and strategic. Others describes him as flaming and conniving.



Uchenna & Joyce are the only married Team from Houston, Texas. The token black team, They are suffering some hard times since both worked for now-bankrupt companies that experienced highly publicized accounting scandals: Enron and Worldcom. Both want to regain some closeness that they lost during the layoffs. They hope to win so Joyce can have more in-vitro fertilization treatments since they desperately want children. I wonder if they tried while in the backseat of a car in the woods with a six pack and a broken condom. I hear that always work.


Let the race begin! On Tuesday, March 1, 2005. At 8 - PM

Simonsdrum
 
 

[tanbuns]

Television News: The Amazing Race 7: Don't You Be Listening To Miss Cleo Now, Darlin'


So by now, if you doubt the power of the cards, you’d probably best be reconsidering, as they are three for four in picking winners for reality TV shows. They’ve correctly picked Lisa of Big Brother 3, Jun of Big Brother 4 and Freddy and Kendra of The Amazing Race 6, and in The Amazing Race 5, they picked Colin and Christie, the second-place finishers and by far the strongest team in that season. So now I’ve brushed off the dust and whipped them out again. I will perform another three card reading for each team. As in past readings for TAR, the first card will determine how they start off in the race, the second will determine how well they work together as a team and the last will determine when and if they are eliminated. I’ll take the teams alphabetically, starting with Brian and Greg.


Brian and Greg:

First card: Nine of Wands. The Nine of Wands shows a bruised man leaning on a wand and glaring at a series of wands in a fence shape. He has clearly attempted and failed at something, but is wiser for his experience, even if he isn’t happy that he failed. This probably means that Brian and Greg start out cocky, thinking that as the only alpha male team they’ve got the game sewn up, only to learn that they’ve missed a crucial flight or charter. They’ll limp through the first leg, but survive it and come out wiser and stronger.

Second card: Ace of Swords. This is the strongest Ace in the tarot deck, which means that Brian and Greg probably get along better than most of the other teams. They work together well and manage to be a force. There is the possibility of too much of a good thing, however, and they may think that they don’t need to interact with the other teams at all.

Third card: The Star. Ohhhh-kay. That ain’t good. The Star, while usually a positive sign, seems to represent bad, bad things a-happening in the readings I do. The team that got the Star in the TAR5 reading was Dennis and Erika, who went out first, and the team that got it in the TAR6 reading was Jonathan and Victoria, who were the fightiest fighters that ever fought. So either Brian and Greg are out early or they fight non-stop. Since the Ace of Swords contradicts the latter, it has to mean that they have an early exit.

Summary: Taking these three cards together, it appears that Brian and Greg start off the race thinking they’re already the winners and are surprised to find out how competitive the other teams are. After a rough first leg, they emerge and work together, only to get tripped up and eliminated a few legs down the line.

The tarot cards have spoken. Brian and Greg come in eighth.



Debbie and Bianca:

First card: Queen of Pentacles. This Queen is not one who revels in otherworldly pleasure, but one who is down to earth and trustworthy. She is resourceful and not afraid to do what needs to be done. Getting her as a first card probably means that Debbie and Bianca start off quite strong, getting along with the other teams and more or less kicking ass on the tasks. They may have trouble with one or two things, but with a positive attitude, they will be able to overcome them.

Second card: Knight of Pentacles. Ooh, a Pentacles court match. A court match is almost always a good sign, and the Pentacles are the earth suit, which is an exceptionally good sign, meaning that the earth energy of the reading is doubled. Onto the Knight- this Knight is hardworking, unwavering and thorough. He constantly keeps his eye on the goal and will not stop until it is achieved. Having him as a card describing their relationship on the race is a tricky one to interpret, but I think he serves mostly as a counterpoint to the queen: showing that as one member of the team works hard and gets overstressed, the other will step in to let her cool down and vice versa, somewhat of a tag-team effect. We’ve seen this be very effective over the course of the race, so this should bode well for Debbie and Bianca.

Third card: The Magician. Well, that’s a very positive reading. The Magician is one of the strongest cards in the tarot deck and to get him as a final card is a very good sign, indeed. He represents power, concentration and perfect action, just when it is needed most. The last all-girl team to pull him was Linda and Karen, who set the record for female teams on the race. Does this mean Debbie and Bianca break it?

Summary: It’s good. It’s very good. It’s just about on par with the readings I got for Colin and Christie and Freddy and Kendra. Taking the cards together, we see that Debbie and Bianca start strong, having a good understanding of what the race is like. They work well together, sharing the responsibility and continuously surge through the rounds. They make it to the final round and, surprising everybody, land on the mat first. That’s right, folks- Debbie and Bianca will be the winners of The Amazing Race 7.

The tarot cards have spoken. Debbie and Bianca come in first.




Lynn and Alex:

First card: Ten of Wands. The Ten is not a promising card for the start of a journey. It represents overburdening oneself and struggling. Now, while this may be as simple as Lynn and Alex just packing too much in their backpacks, it could also mean that they take the race a little TOO seriously and end up panicking and falling behind because of it. If they are to succeed, they will need to relax and learn that they can’t control everything.

Second card: Page of Cups. The page represents a connection with the emotional and intuitive side of our personality. As a relationship-based card, it represents deep connections between two people and a strong mutual understanding. Lynn and Alex will get along extremely well if this is any indication.

Third card: The Emperor. The Emperor is a card of authority and regulation. He is strict and completely by-the-book. What this means with regards to the race, I have no earthly idea. The closest thing I can think of is that they either don’t listen to the rules correctly and are knocked out due to a time penalty or are able to use another team’s rule infraction to their benefit. Flip a coin- it could be either one.

Summary: Taking these three cards together, it seems that Lynn and Alex start out panicking and flustered, unsure of what to do, when or how. They manage to chill out and last a few legs, successfully working together and determining that their relationship is a success. Towards the end, they are either tripped up by a rules infraction or squeak out due to someone else’s mistake. The finish is not strong enough to show a top three, but they do seem to make it some ways in the race.

The tarot cards have spoken. Lynn and Alex come in fifth.




Megan and Heidi:

First card: Seven of Swords. The Seven is a card of dishonor and oversight. The man on the card is so busy stealing five swords, he doesn’t notice he has left two behind. This could mean that Megan and Heidi try something that backfires spectacularly (like, say, trying to lead another team astray and getting lost themselves) or it just might mean that they’re trying to strike out on their own without help from another team. Whichever, it’s not a promising start.

Second card: Two of Swords. The Two represents a stalemate, which, again, is not promising. It can mean that they disagree strongly on a course of action to take, it can mean that they are split on which Detour option to take, or it can mean that they realize they really don’t get along after all. Whichever, there are sure to be some awkward moments between them.

Third card: The Tower. Oh, ook. The Tower is never a positive card. It represents upheaval, disaster and destruction. The last team to get the Tower was Jim and Marsha, who experienced a potentially game-ending injury less than thirty seconds after the race began. Now, I’m not saying that one of them loses all her headbands in a freak ceremonial fire accident, but something happens on the first leg that could put them completely out of the race, and given the negative overtone of the entire reading, I’m willing to bet it does.

Summary: Bad. Baaaaaad. Megan and Heidi start out up to no good and find out they’ve outfoxed themselves. After they experience this setback, they start to become standoffish towards one another and are desperate for the leg to end. By the time they limp onto the mat- last- they are more than ready for loser lodge.

The tarot cards have spoken. Megan and Heidi come in eleventh.




Meredith and Gretchen:

First card: Eight of Cups. The Eight is an interesting card to get when determining the start of a journey, as it symbolizes reaching a turning point during a journey, and thus would make much more sense as the second or third card. As it is, it most likely represents the weariness aspect of the card, showing that Meredith and Gretchen have no idea how hard the race was. They will struggle, but will make it through at least the first couple of legs.

Second card: Three of Pentacles. Well, that’s about the best card to get. The Three represents teamwork at its most efficient and competence. This can explain how Meredith and Gretchen get past the physically stronger teams- by outthinking them and working together well as a pair. They probably won’t make it to the end on teamwork alone, but may last longer than couples that are bickering or outright fighting.

Third card: Wheel of Fortune. The Wheel of Fortune is always a card I find personally hard to interpret. I feel that it can represent almost anything, but seems more certainly to represent some sort of turning point or destiny. As it is, it means that Meredith and Gretchen do not win, but make it further than people expect them to. They may not make it halfway, but they do make it a comfortable way in the race before elimination.

Summary: Taking the cards together, we see that Meredith and Gretchen start off weakly, but manage to pull together with strong teamwork. Experience and smarts pay off for them as they bypass some of the dumber, less cohesive teams. They make it a few elimination rounds before getting knocked out.

The tarot cards have spoken. Meredith and Gretchen come in seventh.




Ray and Deana:

First card: Eight of Swords. Ohhh, don’t fence me in, whoa-whoa-whoa- sorry. Okay, so the eight shows a blindfolded, tied-up woman attempting to make her way out of a maze of swords. She has no idea where she’s going, if she makes a wrong move she’ll be cut and if she panics and runs for it, she’s done for. This card shows us how taking a deep breath and just thinking for a minute instead of rushing willy-nilly into whatever the problem du jour is is much more effective an approach. As the leader card, it means one of two things for Ray and Deana- either they are able to successfully work while everybody around them is totally losing it or they end up freaking out and not being able to work together at all.

Second card: King of Wands (upside-down). An upside-down king is never a good sign. The King cards by nature are all bold and strong. This translates into the upside-down card as well. However, all the positive associations are now reversed into negative ones- meaning that this king is not creative, charismatic and inspirational, but rather stuck in one frame of mind, screaming all the time and a complete downer. Hmm... does that sound like anyone from last season to you? As the relationship card, it’s not a good sign for Ray and Deana- the fact that it’s a masculine card means that Ray is probably dominant and not in a good way, choosing to yell at and berate Deana rather than encourage her along.

Third card: The Devil. Oh, joy! This really is just a bundle of love, in’t it? The Devil represents hopelessness, ignorance and a loss of freedom, none of which signify any kind of success on the race. As a final card, it likely means that after making it through the first couple of legs, Ray and Deana are on the verge of a breakdown. They just can’t work well together and end up imploding and limping into the Pit Stop just to get Phil-iminated.

Summary: Outlook not so good. Taking these cards together, it appears that Ray and Deana get off to a rocky start, panicking and wigging out. They refuse to work together well and one of them likely ends up screaming at the other at more than one point on the race. After a couple of miserable legs, they are unable to make it any further and collapse in disgust and defeat.

The tarot cards have spoken. Ray and Deana come in ninth.




Rob and Amber:

First card: Six of Pentacles. The Six is an interesting card to get as a starter. As it is, it can represent either having or not having what is necessary to succeed. It can mean finding a unexpected help along the way to give a large advantage, or it can mean that what is needed is juuuuuuust out of reach. As it is, it means that Rob and Amber probably start out not expecting how hard the race will be and getting kicked in the teeth at least once before the first day is out. However, once they get their groove going on, a surprise assist will let them make it to the top of the pack, where they will dance and sing and totally make out.

Second card: Four of Swords. Ooookay. Hmm. Most of the cards in the Sword suit are about aggression and going for the gold, which would seem to fit Rob and Amber’s mentality. However the Four is the one exception- it represents quiet contemplation and preparation. As their relationship card, it likely means that once they get started racing, they know exactly how to succeed and prosper, working every angle and jumping through every loophole. They will likely be one of the more effective teams over the course of the race.

Third card: The Moon. And just when everything looked perfect, the Moon rears her head. The Moon is a card of fear, bewilderment and losing direction. She comes up just when everything seems to be looking great and her attack is unexpected. What it means for Romber is after dominating the early parts of the game, they find themselves at a sudden disadvantage that, try as they might, they just can’t recover from. It might be a mistake in an airport that just puts them too far behind like Mary and Peach or it might be a day from Hell like Hayden and Aaron. Whatever it is, it does them in, knocking a very strong team out of the running.

Summary: Taking the cards together, we see that Rob and Amber start out cocky, but after a humbling beginning regroup and assess the race with a new perspective. They race strongly through the first half of the race, winning at least a couple of legs in the process. However, just about halfway through, something happens that is so horrible and devastating that they just cannot recover from it, much to the other teams’ relief.

The tarot cards have spoken. Rob and Amber come in sixth.




Ron and Kelly:

First card: Four of Cups. The Four is a card of reflection. We see a man sitting under a tree being tempted by a gold cup (looking very similar to Buddha’s period of meditation, it might be noted.) He neither notices nor seems to care about the cup, so deep into thought is he. This card also represents selfishness, which might mean that Ron and Kelly refuse to help any other team out at the beginning of the race, thinking that they are strong enough to get through it without any help from others.

Second card: Page of Wands. The Page of Wands is the human equivalent of the yappy little terrier that will grip onto the end of a rope and you can swing the whole thing, dog and all, over your head at a thousand miles an hour and the dog will not let go. The Page is always energetic, rushing to get things done and having a hell of a time doing it. As their relationship card, it means that Ron and Kelly work together and do it quickly as they push steadily through the race.

Third card: The Hanged Man. Oh, dear. The Hanged Man represents a paradox that I have explained before- that we can succeed only by surrendering and going with the flow. The fact that this card is so contradictory to the first two means that Ron and Kelly not only don’t choose this possibility, it means they don’t even consider it. They just bulldoze through everything when a subtle touch is just what is needed. This will probably result in them ignoring something crucial or being so caught up in what they’re doing that they don’t realize it’s the exact wrong thing to do. Whatever the case, it spells an early exit.

Summary: Taking the cards together, it seems that Ron and Kelly start out and go through most of the race running separate from the other teams. They don’t care about any other teams, they are simply looking out for themselves. Ironically, when they make a critical mistake early in the game, it is likely that another team could have helped them out. They will be a surprise early exit and a reminder that an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.

The tarot cards have spoken. Ron and Kelly come in tenth.




Ryan and Chuck:

First card: Knight of Cups. This is the Knight most people picture when thinking of the code of chivalry- he is a gentleman, a romantic and a lover. He knows what must be done and he does it, even when times look very grim indeed. Getting him for a first card means that Ryan and Chuck start out the game as the guys everybody likes. They are the comic relief, the team everybody hopes sticks around so that the mood is more jovial. It doesn’t say much for their actual racing ability, but their charm will clearly be their strongest weapon in the race.

Second card: Four of Wands. The Four represents excitement and celebration. It usually is a sense of relief after a hard day’s work. It doesn’t make much sense as the second card, but if we switch this for the first card and the Knight of Cups for the second, it paints a clearer picture: showing that Ryan and Chuck get along with the other teams well, but aren’t exactly the strongest team at the beginning. After a rocky start, they will build in strength until they are at the top of the pack.

Third card: Temperance (upside down). Temperance is a card normally about balance. In an upside-down position, it means extremes. As a final signifier, it means that Ryan and Chuck are one of the earliest teams out, or they’re still in it at the finale. Judging from the overall ‘rough start, good finish’ theme to the reading, I’m going to guess that it is the latter of the two.

Summary: Ryan and Chuck don’t have an easy beginning to the game. They are out of shape and they have a hard time competing with the other teams. However, once the stress begins to wear on some of the more high-strung teams, they are able to use their wits and southern charm to breeze right past the harried teams. They make it close to the very end, only to lose in a heartbreaker.

The tarot cards have spoken. Ryan and Chuck come in fourth.




Susan and Patrick:

First card: Queen of Wands. The Queen is a lover of life, one who takes every moment and appreciates it. She also leads a very busy, active life and is a natural athlete. As the beginning card, she probably symbolizes a very good opening leg for Susan and Patrick. They may not be as strong as some of the other teams, but they are able to use their brains and social skills to leap to the head of the pack. They will probably ally with at least one other team before the first leg is done.

Second card: Three of Cups. The Three is an card of exuberance and friendship, showing three young women dancing and toasting excitedly. As the relationship card, it can only mean that Susan and Patrick get along like gangbusters on this trip and find a new level of friendship in their relationship. As the Three can also refer to joining together and working well, it bodes rather well for their chances in the race.

Third card: The Chariot. The Chariot is a victorious card, one that symbolizes a personal victory. While this may seem to point to a win, I need to point out that the Chariot does not refer to winning a competition, but more to winning a personal battle. As the final card, it likely means that Susan and Patrick remain in the running on the final leg of the race and cross the finish line to the cheers of the other teams. It is not as strong a winning indicator as we might think, but it does signify a strong run.

Summary: Taking the cards together, we see that Susan and Patrick start off strong and never let that grip go for their entire run of the race. Their social graces and smarts will save them and result in the other teams frequently helping them out. Although I don’t believe they win (Debbie and Bianca’s reading is just too powerful to overcome) they are likely very close behind landing on the mat.

The tarot cards have spoken. Susan and Patrick come in second.




Uchenna and Joyce:

First card: Two of Wands. The Two of Wands is a card that signifies boldness and the willingness to take a risk. It can also represent originality and a sense of success. For the first card in the reading, it means that Uchenna and Joyce likely start out the race intending to run it by following the pack. Once this proves to be less than successful, they take a risk by branching out on their own, deciding to run the remainder of the race without worrying about other teams. How successful this is depends on the last two cards.

Second card: Page of Pentacles. And all becomes clear. The Page represents success, prospering and making plans work. That it comes up as Uchenna and Joyce’s relationship card likely means that the better they do in the race, the better their relationship gets until they are kicking ass and smiling the whole way through.

Third card: The Sun. The Sun is a very positive card, representing a revelation, a renewed burst of vitality or becoming assured of your own power and success. As the final card, it means that Uchenna and Joyce make it quite far in the race. The lack of a victorious affiliation with the card probably means that they don’t win, but it would not be surprising at all to see them be one of the three teams crossing the finish line.

Summary: It’s pretty darn good. Uchenna and Joyce start out unsure of themselves, but after choosing to ignore the other teams and worry only about themselves, they become extremely successful and a major force in the game. Their personal success will outweigh their success in the game, as Debbie and Bianca and Susan and Patrick will edge them out at the finish line, but they will finish the race much happier people than when they started.

The tarot cards have spoken. Uchenna and Joyce come in third.




And there you have it. According to the cards, the first three teams out, in order, will be Megan and Heidi, Ron and Kelly and Ray and Deana. The teams in the middle will be Brian and Greg, Meredith and Gretchen, Rob and Amber, Lynn and Alex and Ryan and Chuck. Uchenna and Joyce will come in third, Susan and Patrick will come in second and Debbie and Bianca will win it all. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!


Written by Jonathan; TVRules.net

[puddin]

'Amazing Race 7' kicks off

By PATRICIA OCAMPO and MARTIN KUEBLER
For JAM! TV
   


 

Engaged teammates Rob and Amber.
Just three weeks after the finale to a less-than-stellar season, "The Amazing Race" gears up for another frantic dash around the world tonight (9 p.m. ET on CTV/CBS.)

The reality show survivor is finally attracting more viewers and leaving behind the low ratings that initially threatened to stop this race in its tracks.

Encouraged by a fiercely loyal fan base and two back-to-back Emmy nods for Best Reality Show (beating out the popular "American Idol," "The Apprentice" and "Survivor") CBS held on to the show. It was recently renewed it for an eight and ninth instalment, to air in 2005-06.

"The Amazing Race" is hoping to continue the sprint up the ratings charts with tonight's two-hour premiere, hosted by Phil Keoghan. Producers have enlisted "Survivor: All-Stars" winner Amber Brkich and her controversial castmate-turned-fiance "Boston" Rob Mariano to the Race. With any luck, some of the legions of "Survivor" fans will follow them over.

Eleven teams of two will race around the world for a million bucks. We'll be the 12th team on this race, tracking every emotional breakdown, navigational mix-up, and taxi-driver spat along the way.

A brief look at the 11 teams toeing the start line:

Meredith and Gretchen are a husband/wife team who were encouraged by their children to apply. He's a retired executive with a passion for swimming; she's a former flight attendant and registered nurse who loves to cook, bike and garden. True fans of the show, they've watched every season and have often imagined themselves as contestants. They seem like a like a very pleasant couple - a team that would enjoy the Race and be fun to watch. Therefore, they will probably be eliminated first.

Brian and Greg are brothers - one's a bartender, the other's a bouncer. So obviously, they work well together. Aside from a few road trips, they haven't travelled much. They list international travel as a weakness, and boast language skills consisting of "English, English, English and English." Still, they're confident about their chances. Sure -- what are the odds of encountering international travel and foreign languages on a race around the world?

Best friends Debbie and Bianca, on the other hand, are experienced travellers. Both have spent years living and backpacking abroad. Spain, Ireland, Thailand and London are just a few of the places they've visited. Bianca has experience with language barriers as an ESL teacher. They have the potential to become the first female team to win the Race, but admit suffering one weakness: a tendency to get cranky when they go without food. That probably won't be a problem on this show, as long as they like pounding back a barrel full of live sea urchins.

Susan and Patrick are the first mother-son team on "The Amazing Race." She obtained her degree while raising two kids, and now she works at Miami University in Ohio. He's a writer in Hollywood who left college 30 credits shy of his degree. In your face and all that you stand for, Mom! Who wants to bet that when they get booted off (and they so will -- blood relatives have never won... it's something about traveling with family) she says that she's proud of her son and he says that he thinks his mom is cool and they both say they can now be friends and not just family? Who wants to bet that at that moment, across the country, countless shoes will be thrown at countless television sets?

Lynn and Alex are a gay couple hoping to test the strength of their four-year relationship on the Race. Good thing they happened to stumble into a reality show. They work together as executive assistants and think that living together 24/7 will give them an edge over the other teams. Lynn is looking forward to the possibility of getting married in Amsterdam (that would be quite a detour) but Alex hasn't yet told his father about his sexual orientation. Any bets on how long it'll take Dad to figure it out?

Rob and Amber are this season's engaged couple (you can recognize them by the giant red targets on their backs.) The Survivor: All Stars winner and runner-up have apparently become professional reality stars; their upcoming wedding will be broadcast on TV later this year. Self-professed fans of The Amazing Race, they signed on for the fun and adventure and plan to go far in the Race. Gee, isn't it nice to know that if you win a million dollars on one reality show, you can always pull strings to try for another million bucks on another reality show? Wow, and who said life wasn't fair?

Ron and Kelly are dating. He can teach Rob and Amber a thing or two about surviving. Ron was a prisoner of war in Iraq. A video of him in captivity was widely circulated on the news networks, so you could say that he's a reality television veteran. He's sure cleaned up well. And he has the beauty-pageant-calibre girlfriend to prove it. Kelly was Miss South Carolina 2002 and graduated cum laude, despite having a learning disability. Let's hope the disability isn't connected with map reading. Or taxi-fare negotiating. Or, you know, adapting to stressful situations. Because that would be a huge disadvantage. But since she's a peppy pageant alum, she'll no doubt doggedly prance her way through any adversity. In a swimsuit and heels, if need be.

Megan and Heidi are roommates, and while not actually sisters, have still managed to become identical twins. Incredible! Heidi is a full-time mother and Megan is a fashion designer (that must be where they got those nifty headbands.) Interestingly, Megan also has an extreme phobia of flying. So apparently, they plan to get around the world in a taxi.

Ray and Deana are another dating couple hoping to use the Race to test the viability of their on-again/off-again relationship. They have also done everything humanly possible to prepare for the Race. They've charged up stairs loaded with backpacks! They've lifted weights! They've practiced karate! They've painstakingly analysed tapes of past episodes, hoping to glean wisdom from the racers of seasons past! Oh, and Ray promises that their inevitable bickering will be "creative and funny." Creative bickering on a reality show! How refreshing!

Ryan and Chuck are lifelong friends. You might as well call them Joe and Joe. Average, that is. Ryan's a contractor and Chuck is a boiler tube salesman. Ryan's married and Chuck is single. They're white, religious, slightly overweight, and in their early thirties. And they both raise prize-fighting emus in their spare time. Just kidding -- had to spice their bio up somehow.

Uchenna and Joyce are this year's token minority couple on the Race. Their marriage was strained after he was laid off from Enron and she was laid off from WorldCom. They each worked for corrupt companies? Well, if they still have that kind of bad luck, then they sure won't go very far in this race, which often comes down to finding needles in haystacks and dealing with weather-related flight delays. Oh, and if they win, they would like to use the prize money for in-vitro fertilization. After witnessing first-hand the greed and callousness of corporate America, they want to bring a baby into this world. Well, if they still have that kind of optimism after all that, then they sure won't go very far in this race. Just kidding. Great attitudes help on this race. Generally. Well, not last season. Oh, never mind.
 
http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2005/03/01/946185.html

[puddin]

 
 


On the road again: Emmy-winning 'Amazing Race' opens its 7th installment


Bianca, Debbie, Susan, Ryan, and Chuck (from left) pause to read a clue in the Plaza de Armas in Lima, Peru, on the special two-hour season premiere of The Amazing Race 7 at 9 tonight.




By MIKE KELLY
BLADE STAFF WRITER


For the past two television seasons, it has topped the category of Best Reality Competition in the Primetime Emmy Awards, beating out such high-profile series as Survivor and American Idol, as well as Donald Trump's unintentionally hilarious boardroom knife fight and ego-fest, The Apprentice.
It's The Amazing Race, and the seventh and newest installment of the show premieres with a two-hour episode at 9 tonight on CBS.

For those who aren't familiar with TAR's format, it pits two-member teams against each other in a race around the world, with instructions and clues given at several checkpoints along the way. Unlike some "reality" programs, nobody gets voted off this show; elimination is the booby prize given to teams that finish last in various segments of the race. The winning team picks up a $1 million prize.

Though earlier installments of The Amazing Race have featured their fair share of pretty faces, buff bods, and empty heads, not to mention the requisite scheming and plotting, they've generally been entertaining in a more wholesome way than most of their reality TV counterparts.

That's primarily because there's not as much scheming and back-stabbing. It's tough to be Machiavellian when you're sprinting to catch a rickshaw.

This time out, the 11 teams begin their race around the world in Long Beach, Calif., with the first destination being Lima, Peru. Teams include the series' first-ever mother-son duo, as well as the oldest combo ever to participate. But in the best example of stunt casting, one team consists of a pair of reality-show veterans, Rob and Amber of Survivor All-Stars fame.

Amber Brkich, 26, won the top prize of $1 million on CBS's Survivor All-Stars last year, and Rob Mariano, 29, took the runner-up prize of $250,000. Now the two are engaged and back on TV looking to fatten their bank accounts even more.

Some of their competitors aren't thrilled that this wealthy young couple has been given another shot at riches, but both of them - particularly Rob - are worthy opponents who react well under pressure and don't waste time dithering or arguing over strategy. More important, they've already shown that they're fun to watch, which doesn't do anything to hurt the show's potential ratings.

As Rob says early on in TAR's premiere show, "We've experienced the sleep deprivation, the malnutrition [on Survivor] … any problem that's going to arise is not going to be a physical problem for us."

Other pairs who look as if they might be interesting:

● Lifelong friends Debbie and Bianca: "Debbie and I are both fearless, we're tough, we're intelligent, we're strong, and we CAN win this thing," says Bianca.

● Mother and son Susan and Patrick, from Hamilton, Ohio: "Patrick and I certainly have a devious side to us, and yes, we are willing to lie to get ahead," says the somewhat frightening Susan, who works at Miami University.

● Chuck and Ryan, buddies from South Carolina: "Everybody's goin' to think we're just two plain ol' hillbillies 'til we open up and show 'em what we're made of," says Ryan, who sounds just like, well, a hillbilly.

● Gay male couple Lynn and Alex: "We have pretty sharp claws," says Lynn. "But we only use them if you tick us off," adds Alex.

● Retired couple Meredith and Gretchen, both in their late 60s: "Our key strategy from the beginning is that old age and treachery can outperform youth and experience," says Meredith.

● "On-again, off-again couple" Ray and Deanna, from Youngstown, Ohio: "If it's not Ray's way, it's the highway, and that's where we butt heads," says Deanna, whose testy relationship with Ray seems destined to implode by episode 3, if not before.

Based on tonight's premiere episode, it's going to take a combination of brains, brawn, teamwork, and plain dumb luck to win the race. It doesn't take long to see which teams appear best equipped for the grueling journey - or at least which ones are destined to be left in the dust.

A hint: Bluster and bravado count for little in the overall strategy of a competition like this.

OK, so the challenges faced by competitors on The Amazing Race are not much more "realistic" than those encountered on a tropical island or a set made up to look like Donald Trump's office. But watching people deal with unexpected setbacks - or turn on each other like vipers in the middle of nowhere - can be entertaining, and even kind of inspiring, in a way.

And if it inspires you enough, here's a bit of interesting information for you:

CBS is already accepting applications for the next installment of The Amazing Race, which for the first time will feature four-member "family teams" instead of duos. The teams could consist of parents and kids, in-laws, extended family members, or lots of other combinations. Details can be seen online at www.cbs.com.

Contact Mike Kelly at:
mkelly@theblade
or 419-724-6131.
 

[puddin]

Bad LANGuage: AP's Pop Culture Blog

Tue Mar 1, 1:02 PM ET   Television - AP
 

By DERRIK J. LANG, Associated Press Writer

Phil Keoghan, the eliminate-'em-with-kindess host from CBS' "The Amazing Race," called up Bad Language to discuss the seventh edition of the reality TV race around the world, which premieres Tuesday night. Even though this New Zealander is a softy, BL noticed some underlying animosity toward "Survivor" host Jeff Probst, who lent Keoghan two of his most famous castaways. Here's what the Kiwi said:

   

BL: Hi, Phil. So everyone is talking about Rob and Amber from "Survivor" being on "Amazing Race" this time around. What do you think about it?


Keoghan: It's getting a lot of attention and that means the show gets a lot of attention. If we want to stay on, if we want to be a show that people are going to tune into to see, then we have got to be dynamic and we've got to be fresh and exciting every season and they have allowed that to happen.


BL: Wow. Sounds like Rob and Amber hold a lot of power.


Keoghan: They certainly hold a lot of power in terms of getting media attention. I mean, we're talking about it right now.


BL: OK. I'll change the subject then. Where has "Race" not been that you'd like to go?


Keoghan: I couldn't even begin to think of the places we haven't been to yet. Japan. Mongolia. Nepal. Indonesian. Papa New Guinea. All through the Pacific Cook Islands. Vanuatu. There's so many places left in the world. We've hardly tapped the Caribbean. The cool thing about "Amazing Race" is we could continue for a hundred series.


BL: What about space? Ever thought of having the finish line in space?


Keoghan: I don't think that's ever been discussed. It's certainly on my list of things to do before I die. I once signed up for a media trip to space with NASA (news - web sites). They were taking applications. I'm ready to go. I'd love to be out there awarding someone a million dollars up in space. You've got me thinking.


BL: OK. Well, it was my idea. I get to go, too. Before you put your jetpack on just yet, I hear you're doing a road trip across the United States to promote the show and your book "No Opportunity Wasted." You're starting your trip on CBS' "The Early Show" in New York and ending it on CBS' "The Late, Late Show" in Los Angeles. Will you be stopping by one the "CSI" shows along the way?


Keoghan: I'd love to be a guest on that show. I haven't been asked, but I'd love to.


BL: Yeah, they'll probably ask Jeff Probst first.


Keoghan: Oh, thank you.


BL: What teams should viewers look out for on the seventh edition of "Amazing Race"?


Keoghan: Definitely Ron and Kelly. You know he's been a POW. She's a beauty queen. She wants more from the relationship; both are very competitive. There's the mother-son team, a dynamic we've never had on the show before. She's quite straight in the sense she works in the judicial system and he's gay man, a wannabe writer in Hollywood. And there's Lynn and Alex, who are a gay couple from California. They're one of the funniest teams I think we've ever had. And they're not the good-looking model gay guys. They're more of your everyday ... (Pauses.)


BL: Everyday gay?


Keoghan: I don't know what I'm trying to say. They just look like your everyday guys.

   



BL: What changes can viewers expect this time around?

Keoghan: There's some rule changes. The consequences, for instance, of coming into a non-elimination leg last are different this time around. It's better I leave that surprise for you and the viewers to experience when it comes on.

BL: Don't they already get their money taken?

Keoghan: Mmmmhmmm.

BL: There's more?

Keoghan: Yep. It's surprising and it certainly makes things difficult.

BL: Speaking of difficult, the eighth season of "Amazing Race" will features families with children and the minimum age limit is 8 years old. Yikes!

Keoghan: I don't think it's 8. I think it's 12. (He confers with his publicist.) It's been lowered to 8? OK, well, I didn't know that. That's news to me.

BL: So would you let your 9-year-old daughter go on a race around the world?

Keoghan: Yeah, I would if she was with the right people. It wouldn't be with me because I don't want to compete. I have no desire at all to apart of any reality show. If she was in the right mix with the right family, absolutely. I just have no desire to take her myself.

BL: Why not?

Keoghan: You're under a microscope, let's be honest. I admire every single person that goes out there and puts themselves on this race. I just wouldn't want to subject myself to that kind of scrutiny. Look how, in the span of this conversation, we've analyzed teams and talked about them. I don't wish to be analyzed like that. I prefer watching.

BL: Well, thanks for answering my questions. Good luck on your road trip. Remember, if you get tired, just pull over on the side of the road and rest.

Keoghan: Ah, that's very kind of you to say.

BL: And make sure you drink lots of water.

Keoghan: Well, you're very caring all of a sudden.

BL: All of a sudden? I'm always caring.

Keoghan: I wasn't expecting that lovely support. I thought it was reserved just for Jeff, but now I feel I'm getting special treatment, too.

BL: There's enough love to go around for all reality show hosts.

Link thanks and credits to NotNow
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050301/ap_en_tv/bad_language_phil_keoghan_1

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Amazing Race producers share the secrets of their success
By Elisa Chia, TODAY

 
 
 
 
Who, what, The Amazing Race? On paper, the adventure-reality television series seemed like a terrific idea. It would be a travelogue with a twist: 11 pairs of contestants would race around the world for a US$1 million ($1.64 million) prize.

In reality, it was a logistical nightmare. Unlike reality series such as Survivor or The Bachelor, the Amazing Race was not filmed in one location. Hence, creators-producers Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster had to apply for countless travel and filming permits.

 

Just listening to the husband-and-wife team talk about the size of the production crew was distressing.

"We usually start with around 60 people," said van Munster. "Then, in each country, we would recruit 100 or more locals," Doganieri added.

In all, the crew could number as many as 2,000 people around the world. "That's everybody, drivers, PAs... you know," said Doganieri.

She added: "Nobody knew who we were and there wasn't a lot of help."

That was then. The first season debuted in September 2001.

Three-and-a-half years, seven seasons and two Emmy awards later, the husband-and-wife are enjoying the fruit of their labour.

"We have countries and tourism boards contact us, saying 'We want you to run through our country'," said Doganieri.

"Now, we go to a country and we get better access. They'll say, 'You want to film in the pyramids?'"

Granted, there are also countries that want to cash in on the series' popularity and use the show as a platform to reach millions of viewers worldwide.

"Some tourism boards tell us, "We'll do this, this, and this for you. But when push comes to shove they don't do anything, but they benefit," van Munster said, declining to name the culprits.

Fans of the Race comprise another obstacle.

"It is a problem now," van Munster said, laughing. "When we run down the streets with cameras, people come up and go, 'Oh, there's The Amazing Race.' So it's almost like the Pied Piper (in that they follow us)."

"It doesn't matter where we go - Singapore, India or wherever - they all know."

Doganieri added: "But, we are in and out of a place so quickly that by the time somebody realises that it is The Amazing Race, the contestants will have got on a bus or into a taxi. Like Bertram said, you really cannot keep up. It's very difficult."

Of course, the show also owes its success to the colourful contestants. These are selected by Lynn Spielman, who also does the casting for Survivor.

Of the contestants, van Munster said: "They don't have to know anything. They can bring as many Vuitton suitcases as they want - actually I wouldn't advise that - and know as little as possible. It's not that complicated. It's not a geography quiz by any means."

He chuckled: "I love it when people pronounce Nice as 'nice'."

The city in France is pronounced "niece", by the way.

The couple also couldn't stress their concern for the contestants' welfare enough.

"We're extremely careful with what we do. We outline the challenges so they will be tested first," said van Munster. "If it is tricky - certain stretches of road, for example - we hide ambulances in the bushes. We always have doctors, hospitals and a helicopter standing by in very primitive areas."

With the show's international success, will the producers allow people from other countries to join the race?

"No. Right now, it is strictly Americans," said van Munster. "If anybody wants to buy the format, he or she is welcome to do so and include other nationalities. - TODAY

Catch The Amazing Race 7 every Wednesday at 2230 SST
 
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/135189/1/.html

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March 02, 2005
Snap Judgements of the Latest Amazing Race Teams
Tonight a new season of the best show on television, The Amazing Race, kicked off. If you're not yet watching the Race, you really need to start. Heck, even James watches, even though he likes to pretend that he doesn't ;-).

I still have a hard time figuring who's who, but even so, it's never to early too judge. Let's take a quick look at the latest batch of teams racing around the world for a cash prize of $1,000,000.

Debbie & Bianca: Team Just Friends. Or are they "just friends"? For some reason, I get the feeling they may really be a romantic couple. I guess we'll find out. Anyway, Debbie & Bianca seem like they handle travel and communication problems well, but when things don't go exactly right they freak out a little. That could be a problem as teams never go the whole race without a few bumps in the road. My personal ranking: 6th of the 11 teams

Susan & Patrick: Team Thinks They're On Survivor. This mother and son team really benefited in the first leg by tagging along with the Spanish-speaking Debbie & Bianca. I don't know how they'll do on their own. Plus, they seem to think they're on a manipulation-based game like Survivor. Come on people, it's not about screwing other teams, it's about racing fast yourself. My ranking: 8th.

Rob & Amber: Team Really Was On Survivor. Reality TV fans already know these two from their appearances on Survivor. While some might hold that against them, I actually like them. It helps that Rob is kinda hot (especially with the Boston accent). I think they'll be a great team: they're smart and athletic. Plus, already in this first leg when things went wrong, they were able to laugh about it. Teams that don't waste time & energy fighting each other have got to do better in the long run. My ranking: 3rd.

Brian & Greg: Team Brothers Braff. I think these guys bear more than a passing resemblence to Zach Braff from Scrubs, especially Greg. Let's face it, they're handsome devils. Plus, they've shown an appealing combination of humor and dorkiness so far. I love 'em. They came through this leg unscathed, so I can't tell how they'll act towards each other when the going gets rough. My ranking: 1st.

Lynn & Alex: Team Jaybird. Lynn reminds me so much of Project Runway's Jay. Together, they remind me a little bit of season three's beloved Team Cha Cha Cha. They aren't as fabulous as Danny & Oswald (who is?), but they're very funny. Of course, the funny teams never win. :-(. My ranking: 2nd.

Meredith & Gretchen: Team Dandy (for Dandy Don Meredith). I know these guys are supposed to be the lovable grandparents, but I don't like them one bit. They, like Susan & Patrick, seem to think this is Survivor or Big Brother. Just shut up and race. My ranking: 9th.

Ray & Deanna: Team Backslide. These on-again, off-again daters are another blah "couple" team. Actually, they're worse than blah as I think that Ray was a huge asshat tonight. He was really mean to Deanna, who was really struggling with the high elevation in Peru. I hate it when a player just rags on their teammate like that. My ranking: 10th.

Uchenna & Joyce: Team Sob Story. One of this married couple worked for Enron, while the other worked for Worldcom. On to that add the fact that they've been trying to get pregnant for years with no luck. They want to use any money they win for more in vitro. Now, hate them if you will for airing their personal sob story, but hey, to get on the show you have to have some kind of hook, right? Anyway, it looked like they got off to a slow start, but once they hit the llamas they did a much better job of working together. They could go far. My ranking: 5th.

Ron & Kelly: Team POW. He's a former POW in the Iraq War, she's a pageant queen. He annoyed me when he made a special point to tell Ray about his POW past and how he'd use the money to help disabled vets. What was the point of that? Did he expect Ray to just roll over and let him win? But, other than that moment they seemed okay, if unmemorable. In fact, they're both pretty dorky. Normally, that would endear them to me, but in this case not yet. My ranking: 7th.

Megan & Heidi: Team Barbie. These two identical friends made an early statement that they weren't dumb blondes. Unfortunately, they then proceeded to do dumb things like digging in a pile for tickets for a 7:40 flight when there were still 7:00 tickets to be had. Maybe they'll redeem themselves, but for now their ranking is dead last: 11th.

Ryan & Chuck: Team Hillbillies. Ask not for whom the fiddle twangs, it twangs for these guys, the first team Philiminated. I really liked this team. Sure, they made the same mistake as Team Barbie, but they were so funny and so personable and so surprising (one of them just happened to speak Portugese!). I wish they would have gotten a better cabbie at the end. My ranking: 4th.

So there you have it, ten teams remain and the race is on! I love this cast compared to last season's: fewer models and more quirky types. Hopefully this season will also have less bunching, less Europe, more airport strategy and more cranky animals. Lemme tell you something, cranky animals are comedy gold.

Posted by kris at March 2, 2005 12:03 AM

http://www.dummocrats.com/archives/000765.php

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Villages couple survives first elimination on 'The Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Villages snowbirds Meredith and Gretchen Smith proved they can keep up with the youngsters on "The Amazing Race," as the pair began from the starting line in Long Beach, Calif., and flew to Peru, where their adventure included roping llamas and taking a thrilling zipline ride across the country's picturesque mountains and valleys.

The grandparents finished sixth out of 11 teams.

The first episode of the seventh edition of "The Amazing Race" aired Tuesday night during a two-hour premiere on CBS. Viewers will be able to see the Villagers on television again next week as "The Amazing Race" continues. The show follows two-person teams as they race around the world to compete for a $1 million grand prize. It's being broadcast locally on WKMG-TV, Channel 6, in Orlando.

The Smiths, who are renting a winter home in the Village of Lynnhaven, are contractually forbidden to talk about their experience until they have been eliminated from the show. Readers can learn more about the pair through "The Amazing Race" Web site, which features live interviews with the teams.

The Smiths married in their 60s after being matched by mutual friends. This is the second marriage for both. On the Web site, they shared their fascination for the reality show.

"I think we are like Monday morning quarterbacks. We've watched every session of 'The Amazing Race' and we'd sit there in our easy chairs and say, 'Gee, we could do that,' " Gretchen said, adding she and Meredith have five grown children between them. 

   
 

"The next thing we knew, we got an application from one of them, saying, 'Go for it, you'd be great,' " she said. "Meredith will tell you that in our age, we're in our late 60s, and there is not that much more opportunities for 'the great adventure,' so we decided to take a chance and try out for it."

The Smiths say they work well as a team, because they understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"We have the advantage of working together without conflict," Meredith said.

"Meredith's strengths are physical; he is very analytical," Gretchen said. "I tend to be more unfocused, I go off and find different directions, but I think that's a woman thing. We're very multitask oriented, and when he's trying to communicate with me, he makes me look directly at him, and his famous word is, 'Focus.' So, I think that is what is going to happen on this adventure, he is going to try to keep me focused. One thing we have to do together is he is stronger, physically, than I am and I think he'll pull me forward, and I will encourage him when he's doing all the hard things."

Meredith revealed their strategy.

"We'll take the time to analyze the clues and be very deliberate in what we do before we go running off," he said, adding the pair decided early on that Gretchen would do the driving.

"I have a heavy foot, and he will do the navigating," she said.

The Smiths also hope to be involved in some water challenges as they compete in "The Amazing Race."

"We're both water people, and I've done a lot of swimming in my day, competitively, and so I am looking forward to challenges where I will be able to use my swimming skills," Meredith said.

He believes their ability to communicate in other languages will help. Meredith can speak Spanish while Gretchen knows French.

"We're both prepared. Meredith more than I, because it has always been his mantra. He's in good physical form," she said. "I tend to, now that I'm retired, to sit back and read my newspaper and enjoy life a little more, but he does push me and encourages me to go through some of these very difficult tasks."

The Villagers said they wanted to enjoy the experience. They are not expecting to be the best in the race.

"We do not have any illusions of going there and being perfectly prepared. I think there are going to be a lot of surprises," Meredith said. "And the fact that we are a little bit older, and have seen a little more of life than some of the other contestants, will be to our advantage in handling surprises."

Recap of episode 1

Helicopters transported the 11 teams of two to the historic harbor in Long Beach, Calif., where host Phil Keoghan welcomed them to the starting line of the race. After informing the teams there would be eight elimination legs during the course of the race, Keoghan signaled the start, and teams raced to their bags, where they learned they would be flying to Lima, Peru, on one of two flights. After landing, they had to travel by bus to the Plaza de Armas to find their next clue.

The Smiths were on the second flight.

After landing in Lima, the teams rode a bus to Plaza de Armas and opened their next clue, which instructed them to travel 30 miles by bus to the city of Ancon. Once there, they had to make their way by rickshaw to the beach known as Playa Hermosa and dig through one of three sand piles for airline tickets to their next destination, Cuzco, Peru. Each pile had a different departure time: 6 a.m., 7 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. Once a team claimed a set of tickets, they could not search another pile.

The Smiths had to settle for the 7:40 flight.

Landing in Cuzco, the next clue revealed the teams had to take a marked taxi 22 miles to the small town of Huambutio and find a kiosk where the owner would hand them their next clue. Arriving at the kiosk, the clue instructed the teams to make their way two miles to the top of a gorge, take a zipline across it, and then a second zipline to get to the bottom.

The Smiths yelled with delight during their individual zipline rides across the picturesque view of the mountains and valleys around them. Next, the teams faced their first detour. They had to choose between Rope A Llama and Rope A Basket. For Rope A Llama, each team had to rope two llamas and take them to a pen. Roping the llamas didn't require strength, but getting them to cooperate and walk to the pens was frustrating and time-consuming for some of the teams.

Rope A Basket required each team member to use a rope to tie a basket containing 35 pounds of alfalfa to their back and carry it two-thirds of a mile to a store. Carrying the heavy baskets required strength, but teams with endurance could finish quickly.

The Smiths chose the Rope A Llama task, and while the llamas stubbornly refused to be pulled in any direction for some of the teams, Gretchen patted the llamas on the rear and told them to get moving. They did as she told them, which allowed the pair to take a delivery truck ride, departing every 20 minutes, nearly 20 miles to the town of Pisac, where they were told to search the marketplace for their next clue.

The final race of the show was a frantic race to the mat to learn how the teams placed. The Smiths arrived sixth. The 11th and last team, Ryan and his friend Chuck, were the first to be eliminated.

Luckily for "The Amazing Race" fans in Florida's Friendliest Hometown, Meredith and Gretchen are still in the race, which means Villagers can cheer for the town's celebrity snowbirds again next week.

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.

[puddin]

Amazing Racers drop in on show-watching party at Crazy Gringos

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Crazy Gringos was the hottest place in town for "Amazing Race" fans Tuesday night, and once Villagers noticed Meredith and Gretchen Smith were among them in watching the reality show, fans were elated.

They couldn't resist seeking their autographs and telling The Villages snowbirds that they're cheering for them.

Fans say the Smiths showed up quietly, sitting at a table with Villagers Nancy and Bill Petri, munching away on nachos before being recognized in the dimly lit restaurant. Once the word was out that the Smiths were in the house, the couple hopped from table to table during commercial breaks to meet the crowd.

Some of the 100 fans at the party, including Art and Jean Ollila, couldn't resist asking Meredith and Gretchen their outcome in "The Amazing Race."

"Keep watching the show," were the words the Ollilas and other fans said they heard from the Smiths.

And if you're an "Amazing Race" fan fretting about missing Tuesday's party, don't worry. Crazy Gringos plans to host another "Amazing Race Party" on Tuesday, so fans can watch the fourth episode on Crazy Gringos' 19 television sets and big screen TV. The show airs at 9 p.m. on WKMG-TV, Channel 6, in Orlando, with eight teams left in a globetrotting race for a $1 million prize. 

   
 

"This is a great party and it's exciting," said Will Pardee, assistant general manager of Crazy Gringos, who was thrilled by the turnout. "We really appreciate the business, and we're inviting Meredith and Gretchen to come back as well."

Cheers from the crowd

During the beginning of Tuesday's show, Gretchen acknowledged on TV that Meredith was taking on a lot of the responsibilities in the race.

"But I make it up to him in a lot of other ways," Gretchen said on-screen, prompting the crowd at Crazy Gringos to erupt in laughter and cheers.

In another scene, Gretchen tells Meredith: "You're doing very well, honey."

"Awww," their fans at Crazy Gringos cheered in unison at hearing that.

Jack and Sherry McGraw were thrilled to be among the partygoers watching "The Amazing Race" with fellow fans, including the Smiths.

"We told everybody back home that we were coming to Crazy Gringos to watch it, and little did I know they would be here, so that is exciting. Absolutely, we're rooting for them," Sherry McGraw said. "It's so thrilling to have somebody from The Villages have a good showing on the show. They are doing awesome."

"They are going great," added Jack McGraw, who raised his arms in the air in support of the Smiths.

The McGraws also raved about the "Amazing Race" party at Crazy Gringos.

"This is just one more thing that makes The Villages special," Sherry said. "They always go the extra mile to support people, and we're just so happy to be a part of the excitement."

Barbara Canipe was glued to the tube while watching the show and was thrilled when she met the Smiths.

"They are great and so nice," Canipe said, adding she has been an "Amazing Race" fan for years and was a fan of Gretchen and Meredith before meeting them on Tuesday. "The two of them together, they're smart."

John Rohan attended the party with his son, John Michael, and the pair were among the Smiths' cheering fans.

"Oh, this is very exciting," Rohan said.

Carol Reynolds expressed the same sentiments, adding: "I'm here tonight as a Gretchen and Meredith fan."

"It's exciting to see someone who is on TV, and that they are here at Crazy Gringos enjoying the excitement with everybody else," Judi Andrews said. "I'm watching the show because of them."

Sheila and Roger Hartwell were all smiles upon meeting "The Amazing Race" contestants.

"It was wonderful talking to them," Sheila said.

Bill and Nancy Petri also found it fun watching "The Amazing Race" with the Smiths.

"Oh yeah, we're Gretchen and Meredith fans," Nancy said, adding she never watched "The Amazing Race" until now.

"I met Gretchen right before the show started at a flight attendants' meeting here in The Villages, and I went home and told my husband, 'We have to start watching The Amazing Race because Gretchen and Meredith are going to be on it,' " Nancy said. "Gretchen is a former flight attendant with American Airlines, so we have a kinship."

"And we're happy they are here in The Villages," Bill Petri added.

During a commercial break, Bill echoed praise for the pair: "Oh, they're doing well."

The Petris noticed that the Smiths, like the other fans of the show, were focused on the TV screen, eager to see the actions of the other teams on the show.

"I can tell they are getting a big kick out of the reactions in here," Bill said of the fans.

The crowd booed when contestants Rob and Amber of "Survivor" were shown pulling tricks to get ahead of the rest of the teams, and the fans cheered with delight whenever the Smiths were on the screen.

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.

[puddin]

Easton's Amazing Racers hold on to seventh place
By JOHN GRIEP
News Editor
March 17, 2005
 
 
 “Lucky 7.”

 That was Meredith Smith’s comment when he and wife Gretchen were told they had finished in seventh place on the third leg of the “Amazing Race.”

 The Easton couple maintained their ranking from last week’s leg, after rising to as high as fourth place at the “detour” task.

 Starting in seventh, the Smiths quickly drove out of Santiago, Chile, and were in third place as the teams drove through the Andes into Argentina for their first task of the leg.

 “This elevation is ferocious,” Meredith remarked as he drove the winding, mountainous road to the next clue.

 Brothers Brian and Greg passed the couple before reaching the “detour” at Puente Viejo, where teams had to choose between paddling seven miles down a river or biking seven miles along a railroad track.

 The brothers, with their physical strength and fitness, opted for biking, a choice that backfired when one’s tire went flat and they had to finish the course carrying their bikes.

 The Smiths chose paddling and passed the brothers as they were trying to inflate the tire. Two other teams who chose the river course also would pass the brothers before they reached the end of the bike course.

 The Easton couple finished the rafting trip in third place, but were passed by dating couple Ron and Kelly before reaching the next clue box.

 Teams were directed to drive 70 miles away to Camping Suizo where they would enjoy a traditional Argentine barbecue.

 When teams arrived there, they faced a “roadblock,” a task one team has to perform. The clue said the team member should not be a vegetarian.

 Meredith took on the task for his team and learned he had to eat four pounds of the traditional meal, which included pork sausage, blood sausage, cow rib and other cow parts.

 “Survivor: All Stars” Rob, who reached the task in second place, decided early on he couldn’t finish and took a four-hour penalty that began when the next team arrived to get their clue. He then set to work convincing another team to also quit, knowing it meant his team could not finish last.

 His break came when dating couple Ray and Deana arrived at the task and Deana decided to perform it. She soon realized she would be unable to eat the four pounds of food and opted to quit after Rob explained his plan to the team.

 As Meredith struggled to eat the food, Ray and Deana then persuaded the Smiths to join them for the four-hour penalty, which began when mother-son team Susan and Patrick arrived at the roadblock in eighth place.

 With three teams sitting out, Alex, who had arrived at the task in first place with partner Lynn, and Uchenna, who had arrived in sixth place with wife Joyce, battled to finish the meal first. Despite Alex’s headstart, Uchenna cleaned his plate first, soon followed by Alex.

 But the married couple got lost on their way to the pit stop, allowing gay couple Alex and Lynn to reach the finish line for the third leg in first place. Uchenna and Joyce settled for second.

 Brothers Brian and Greg were third, followed by dating couple Ron and Kelly. Ron, who had been imprisoned for more than two weeks in an Iraqi prison during the Iraq war, said the traditional Argentinean meal had been the worst meal he had ever had.

 Although the food in the prison tasted worse, Ron said, he didn’t have to force himself to eat four pounds of it.

 Rob and Amber, the engaged “Survivor” couple, finished fifth, while Ray and Deana beat Meredith and Gretchen to sixth place after their penalties expired.

 “I didn’t think I could do it,” Rob told host Phil Keoghan at the pit stop, “but I found a way to plot and scheme in the Amazing Race.”

 Patrick, who began eating in earnest when the last team, Debbie and Bianca, arrived at the roadblock, finished ahead of Debbie, who also managed to eat the entire meal.

 However, the lifelong friends from Virginia — who had hoped to be the first all-woman team to win the “Amazing Race” — finished in last place and were eliminated from the race.

 They took home a consolation prize of $10,000 each — the reward for finishing first in the premiere episode of the reality show. A crucial mistake in the third leg — driving more than two hours past the exit for the Andes mountains — led to their downfall.

 While the Smiths have ranked sixth or seventh in each of the first three episodes, the race is getting tighter for the Easton couple with each leg. With sixth place in the first leg, the team was in the middle of the pack. Although they finished Tuesday night’s episode in seventh place, that ranking now puts them next to last.

[puddin]

Are These Amazing Race Gals Gay?
by Ethan Alter


Debbie and Bianca
 

Debbie Cloyed and Bianca Smith went into The Amazing Race (Tuesdays, 9pm/ET) intending to be the first all-female team to walk away with the $1 million prize. (Click here for photos of all the teams.) Unfortunately, a major navigational error on their way from Chile to Argentina set the gal pals back by almost five hours and sealed their fate. Here, they discuss their mistakes, Rob Mariano's controversial Roadblock strategy and what they really mean by calling each other "lifelong friends."



TVGuide.com: So you really had no idea you were heading in the wrong direction for two hours?
Debbie: We had gotten directions from someone who told us that it would be a five-hour trip, so we were expecting a long drive and weren't perturbed at all by how long we were on the road. We were double-checking our directions along the way, but every single person would tell us something different, and our map was pretty inadequate at that point. So we were just going with it and having fun and then, when we saw the ocean, we knew we had screwed up.
Bianca: After a week of racing we were going on very little sleep and so you have to go on trust instead. We trusted that the initial directions we received were correct, and they ended up being wrong.
Debbie: You have to understand: Bianca is pursuing a Ph.D. in education, I just finished a novel, and I have two photography books coming out. But we've always been horrible with directions. [Laughs]

TVG: Your getting lost was ironic, since you were the one team that actually spoke Spanish fluently.
Debbie: It's funny. Bianca and I have traveled the world together. Between the two of us, we've been to 30 countries, except for South America. So for us to get to go to a place where neither of us had been before and be able to communicate was terrific. And we have more travel plans now. Bianca is going to Australia this summer, we're going to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa in the fall, and after that, we're going to move to Buenos Aires for a year.
Bianca: We'll teach English, Debbie will write, continue with her photography, and learn how to dance tango! Every couple of years, we get cabin fever and have to take off to another country. So when we saw Buenos Aires, we fell in love and were like, "All right, we're coming back."

 
 
 
 
TVG: You clashed with Rob a few times. What's your take on that stunt he pulled at the Roadblock? Brilliant strategy or flagrant cheating?
Debbie: I love the compliment Rob gave me: "That chick is tough. She's got the b---s to yell at me." That was my favorite part of the show. I was like "Right on." That settled [our conflict] for me; it's all good. We're more proud of ourselves if we play fair, but he did it a different way and that's life.

TVG: Were you aware that Rob had stolen your cab in Chile?
Bianca: No, we didn't know about that. We watched it for the first time along with the rest of the world. It is interesting and funny to see behind-the-scenes stuff like that. But we weren't shocked.

TVG: You were very vocal about wanting to be the first all-female team to win the race.
Bianca: That was definitely something that was important to both of us. We felt it was bigger than ourselves, and it was a chance to show that women are just as strong and just as tough [as the male teams]. And really, I think we accomplished that. Our lack of direction skills aside, I think we maintained our dignity and our strength throughout. I know for a fact that we have more guts than many of the men in our lives. That is what's unfortunate about the fact that we didn't win. We had what it took and luck wasn't on our side. It's about time that a women's team wins the race.

TVG: The show billed you as lifelong friends, but at times you seemed... er, more than that. Care to comment?
Debbie: We're lifelong friends, but I am aware of [the speculation]. I think it's a shame that people have to ask questions like that because it's obvious that they don't have a friendship like we have and have had our whole life. If only they could be so lucky. It says more about them than it does about us. Bianca has been with me my whole life. She's seen every triumph, every sorrow, every good, every bad, every boyfriend. She's my family.
Bianca: Also, culturally, my mother is Mexican and this is the way we behave. We're very touchy; we love each other and we're not afraid to tell each other. Life is too short to be boring and not love with all your heart. So that's where all the touching, kissing and loving came from. But we are definitely lifelong friends. We live on separate coasts right now. I live outside of Washington, D.C., and Debbie is in L.A. But we talk on the phone five times a day and visit each other often. Whenever we part, we always have a plan for a future trip to look forward to.

TVG: Bianca, settle a lingering question. Did you deliberately point Ron and Kelly to the wrong sandpile on the beach in Peru?
Debbie: We're glad you asked us this! We have to set it straight. I'm the one who went to go look for the piles, and Bianca somehow got the information wrong...
Bianca: Actually, Debbie, they did show what happened. If anyone has TiVo they can go back and look. I watched it again, and it showed that I said to Ron and Kelly, "There's a 7:00 and a 7:40 flight. I think the middle one is the 7:00." I don't know if they put the "I think" part in there, but they definitely showed that I told them there were two flights. When they got to the middle pile and saw it was 7:40, they should have gone on to the next one.
Debbie: That sort of thing adds drama to the show. And you have to understand, we were so far ahead of those people at that point. We were trying to help everyone. It was not intentional. Bianca is a very wonderful, honest, golden-hearted human being. We felt so horrible when we found out they thought that we had misdirected them. But then they got back at us by keeping us off the bus the next day!

source
http://tvguide.com/news/insider/050322b.asp

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The Accidental Columnist
The Amazing Race - Episode 7.4
by Dan Weltin
March 23, 2005

 

Leg number four. Boyfriends Lynn and Alex will start things out at 3:49 a.m. They're a little cocky because the other teams are far behind them. It's true that most are, but Married Couple Uchenna and Joyce are actually only about 20 minutes behind. Oh well, wouldn't want to get hung up on technicalities.

Teams must drive 25 miles to Cabana La Guatana. The Boyfriends arrive at 6:00, but it doesn't open for another half hour. No one is there besides them when it opens. Guess they can get a little cocky.

ROADBLOCK

At the ranch, one member of each team must perform a typical Gaucho challenge: Ride a horse around barrels and spear a ring in 40 seconds or less.

The Boyfriends get it on their second try, while Joyce (who arrived in between trials) keeps getting bucked off the horse.

Meanwhile, Brothers Greg and Brian get lost and arrive after Patriots Ron and Kelly complete the Roadblock. Survivors Rob and Amber get lost as well, but in a stroke of luck, stumble upon the ranch.

After completing the Roadblock, teams must drive 25 miles to the airport where they'll take one of two prearranged flights to Buenos Aires. The first departs at 9:30 a.m., the second leaves five hours later at 2:30 p.m. Once there, they'll take a taxi to a tower where they'll meet a man in a trench coat who has their next clue.

Boyfriends, Patriots, Married Couple and Brothers all make it to the first plane and are especially happy because Rob and Amber are nowhere to be seen. Plus the four teams all finished their meat last episode. Little do they know the pilot is holding the plane for Romber. Ha ha!

Off/On Daters Ray and Deanna, Old Folks Meredith and Gretchen, and Mother/Son Duo Susan and Patrick will all be stuck on the second flight. And speaking of those teams, back at the Roadblock, Deanna struggles with her horse and Ray gets upset. He gets even madder when the Old Folks arrive and complete the challenge first.

DETOUR

Flight #1 lands at 2:30 and since Romber was last on, their luggage will be first off…and they'll first to the clue.

Now teams must take a train to the city of Tigre and find the docks. All five teams head out on the same train.

The Boyfriends head to the front of the train to try and get a headstart, but Romber (or STD as the Boyfriends call them) quickly follow.

The clue at the docks is the Detour. This week teams either choose Shipwreck or Island. In Shipwreck teams search a 7 square mile delta for a shipwreck matching their picture. In Island, teams must travel the same delta to locate an island marked on their map.

Here's the breakdown:

Shipwreck Island
Rob and Amber Lynn and Alex
Brian and Greg Ron and Kelly
 Uchenna and Joyce   
 Meredith and Gretchen
 Ray and Deanna
 Susan and Patrick

The boats have trouble and a couple of them break down. Lynn and Alex must radio for a replacement boat which costs them some time. Rob and Amber's boat gets a crack in it and forces them to go slow, but they find the clue first. In reward for his huge effort, Rob gives the boat driver his Red Sox hat. It pays off because Rob and Amber arrive at the Pit Stop before Greg and Brian who experienced no boat trouble at all.

Speaking of the Pit Stop, after teams find the clue, they must return to shore and travel 35 miles by taxi to the La Martina polo club (this week's Pit Stop).

Uchenna and Joyce start out doing Shipwreck, but they switch to Island when the accidentally find the correct island.

After finding the clue, the Patriots get stuck in a slow cab and the Boyfriends' cabbie gets lost. Both mistakes cost them and they bring up the rear of the first-flight teams.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER THREE TEAMS?

Meanwhile, the loser three teams are heading to the train to Tigre. Off/On Daters and Old Folks make the first train giving them a slight lead over Susan and Patrick. The Mother/Son Duo, however, think the reverse is true since they don't see the other teams on their train. Suckers.

Ray and Deanna get lost on the way to the clue, so Susan and Patrick catch a break and catch up. Ray and Deanna quickly bounce back, however, and take the Old Folks down instead. The Off/On Daters find the clue on the island and start heading back to shore. Old Folks run into them and think they're heading to the island, not back to shore so they follow. It costs them some time before they realize their mistake.

Luckily for them, Patrick is all but giving up. Baby. Maybe if he had a better attitude they wouldn't have finished in last place and been eliminated. Sigh.

LEADERBOARD

1st Place Survivors Rob and Amber
2nd Place Brothers Brian and Greg
3rd Place Married Couple Uchenna and Joyce
4th Place Patriots Ron and Kelly
5th Place Boyfriends Lynn and Alex
6th Place Off/On Daters Ray and Deanna 
7th Place Old Folks Meredith and Gretchen 
Eliminated Mother/Son Susan and Patrick

http://www.the-trades.com/column.php?columnid=3066

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Villagers shrug off deception to stay in 'The Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Riding a horse around barrels in impressive time, and racing in the coastal waters off of Argentina in "The Amazing Race," Villages snowbirds Meredith and Gretchen Smith proved even as the oldest couple, they still have what it takes to stay in the game.

Seven teams are now left. The fifth leg of "The Amazing Race" airs 9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS.

The following is a recap of the fourth episode:

Tuesday's show began with teams driving 25 miles to the small town of La Lunta to find a ranch known as Cabaña La Guatana for their next clue. Arriving at the ranch, the teams opened their clues to find a roadblock. In this roadblock, one team member had to participate in a traditional gaucho challenge. First, they had to ride a horse around a series of barrels and then, using a stick, spear a ring at the end of the course. If they could perform the task in 40 seconds, a competitive time for an Argentine cowboy, they would receive their next clue.

Some of the teams struggled in the horseback riding challenge, and when Ray and Deana saw Meredith and Gretchen arrive at Cabaña La Guatana, Ray quickly brushed the Smiths off.

"It's the oldsters," Ray said. Yet in a head-to-head battle, Deana lost to "oldster" Meredith, who completed the course in 36 seconds while Deana had to stop because her foot fell out of the stirrup. 

   
 

Opening their clue after this challenge, Meredith and Gretchen excitedly drove to Mendoza Airport to catch the 2:30 p.m. flight to Buenos Aires, and then were instructed to travel by taxi to the English Clock Tower and find a man in a raincoat for the next clue.

The clue from the man instructed teams to travel by train 20 miles to the city of Tigre and find docks located at 700 Lavalle.

At the docks, the teams opened their clue to find a detour. This detour required teams to choose between "shipwreck" and "island." Teams choosing shipwreck had to search a 7-square-mile area filled with abandoned ships for a specific shipwreck using only a 30-year-old picture as a reference. To complete the island challenge, teams had to use a map to travel four miles through the confusing delta waterways to the San Antonio River and find an island on which their next clue was located.

The Smiths chose the island detour. Following Ray and Deana, they were unaware the younger couple was steering them away from their clue.

Ray ranted about Meredith and Gretchen on this leg of the race, calling the seniors, "a couple of decades beyond where they need to be."

"I'm not losing to a 70-year-old man and his wife, even if it was checkers. They don't belong in the game with us," Ray said.

After finally finding the clue, Meredith realized Ray had been trying to confuse him, and Meredith took it all in stride.

"Guess he was lying to us. Part of the game," Meredith said.

While opening the clue, the Smiths discovered they needed to travel 35 miles by taxi to the town of Vicente Casares and find La Martina, the most prestigious polo club in Argentina and the pit stop for this leg of the race.

Rob and Amber placed first, while the Smiths came in seventh. Susan and Patrick, the mother and son team and good friends of the Smiths, came in last and were eliminated.

Next week marks the fifth episode of "The Amazing Race," which CBS announced will run two hours. A preview of the program shows this leg of the race is a challenge for Gretchen. She was shown on TV after a fall and with a bloody face. Was Gretchen OK? Will the Smiths make it to the sixth leg of the race? Fans and viewers will have to tune in Tuesday to see. _)^

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.

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Local duo loses 'Race'


Susan Vaughn says she's still tight with her son Patrick, who complained about her nagging before they were eliminated from "The Amazing Race" show Tuesday.

"I knew when Patrick and I were cast on the show that the bond we had would not be tarnished by the experience," says Susan, 54, of Hamilton.

On the show, the pessimistic Patrick, 26, a Hollywood writer, constantly brushed off his mom's optimism as they were last to reach an Argentina polo club.

"I expected there would be moments like you saw (Tuesday) night. The editing doesn't show all of the positive things that Patrick said to me, and things he said about our experience," says Susan, judicial affairs director at Miami University in Oxford. "He and I are a great team and best friends."

Susan calls traveling eight days through South America on the show "a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn't trade a moment of it."

John Kiesewetter

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050324/LIFE03/503240323/1038/Life

[puddin]

Posted on Fri, Apr. 01, 2005
 

The Kansas City Star


KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Having polished off his burnt-ends sandwich, Phil Keoghan finishes off a reporter's final futile attempts to probe deeper beneath his bland exterior.

"You see, I don't separate the personal and the professional," said the host of The Amazing Race, the popular reality show that airs Tuesday nights on CBS. "Isn't the ideal to actually work in a job that is your personal passion? Isn't that what we all want? To wake up every morning and do what we want to do and be paid for it?"

If this is Keoghan's passion, it's impossible to tell from that stone-faced look that he usually wears in public. It's the same look that has made him famous on The Amazing Race.

The show's 11 million or so faithful viewers all know the ritual: Exhausted teammates arrive at the end of each leg of their round-the-world journey, huffing and puffing. They look Keoghan hopefully in the eye, searching for just a hint that they were not, indeed, the last team to arrive at the station and, therefore, are "Phil-iminated."

Last week, Keoghan and his father, John, whom he flew in from New Zealand, were seeing America from a Mercedes SUV they are driving from New York to Los Angeles. (He was to wrap up his tour Monday with an appearance on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.)

Along the way, he was attending tryouts for an upcoming edition of Race and promoting his book, No Opportunity Wasted, a companion to the Discovery Channel series by the same name.

Later, over lunch at a Kansas City, Kan., barbecue restaurant, he explained that barnstorming was something he had done from the start of his TV career 11 years ago. As one of several "road warriors" for the quirky FX morning show Breakfast Time, he scoured small-town America looking for offbeat or compelling stories that might interest his cable audience.

"The producer used to say to us, 'You're going to Lebanon, Kansas. You will find five stories. End of subject,' " Keoghan recalled.

Journalistically, this may have been easier for an outsider who carries the traveling gene. (John Keoghan recently heard from someone who met father and son on the Appalachian Trail in 1983.) Today, though, Keoghan recalls the marketing lesson.

"People like local news," he said. "I learned that you could create a lot of local press, a lot of good will, by going to the market and talking to people face to face and letting them have a story out of you being there."

Keoghan conducted an interview with a Denver radio station en route to the barbecue joint. After lunch, it was off to a bookstore to sign copies of No Opportunity Wasted.

The book begins with a near-death experience Keoghan had at age 19, when he was diving into a shipwreck for a New Zealand TV show. He became disoriented inside the ship's hull before being rescued by another diver.

Keoghan claims to have no memory of those final terrible moments before he blacked out, but the ordeal had a transforming effect. He decided to make a list of adventures for himself and began checking them off as he accomplished them.

He learned barefoot water skiing. He got a skydiving license. Later, the stunts became more elaborate: hiking up an active volcano and having a four-star meal prepared at the top.

All the while, Keoghan rode the wave of nonfiction TV. He hosted various syndicated and cable adventure programs (including one, inevitably, titled Keoghan's Heroes), where he was "paid to have fun." He was a finalist for the job of Survivor host. When The Amazing Race came along, he said, CBS President Leslie Moonves told him, "When your name came up the second time, we wanted to give you a shot."

It's easy to make fun of Keoghan's all-work, all-play mentality. Then again, he was on the road for 363 days in 2004, logging nearly half a million miles. And after the resurrection of Race, who can blame him for not wasting this opportunity?

Besides, he gets to share it with his father, John, an affable retired agricultural consultant who now runs a bed-and-breakfast with his wife on New Zealand's south island.

While fetching coffee and bagels that morning, Keoghan was spotted by Karen Jaggers and Jeannie Sheahan, mothers of students at a local elementary school. They wanted Phil to come by and surprise John Sheahan, who was giving a report that day on New Zealand. The idea of jazzing up the boy's show-and-tell made him break into a big grin.

Hopping into his rig -- a G-class SUV donated by Mercedes -- Keoghan took a shortcut out of the parking lot, over curbs and grass, like a teen-ager who'd just gotten his license
 
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/11275007.htm

[puddin]

Villages snowbirds take fifth place to remain in 'Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Villager Bill Petri admits he is simply amazed that Villages snowbirds Meredith and Gretchen Smith are still in "The Amazing Race," and are showing the world that retirees can compete with 20- and 30-year-olds.

"Good for them," Petri said. "I was expecting them to be out of the race long before this, and Meredith and Gretchen are doing wonderfully. I'm very proud that they are still hanging in there, and that's a good thing for all of us seniors to see, that they are hanging in there with the young guys."

The race, which began with 11 teams, is now down to five.

Tuesday's show featured the racers competing in challenges in Botswana, while taking in sights of African scenery and exotic animals crossing their paths. The teams began by driving 141 miles past the city of Maun and then 48 miles to Sankuyo Village, where their next clue waited under a water tower.

After opening the clue, teams learned it was a detour, where they had to make a choice between two village chores: "Carry it" or "Milk it." To complete the Carry it, team members were told they had to balance three items on their head: a basket filled with corn, a bucket of water and a bundle of logs. Next, without using their hands, they had to carry their load to a cooking area 70 yards away. While the balancing act was difficult, teams that could master the technique would finish quickly.

For Milk it, teams had to choose goats from a pen, tie them up and milk them until they had filled a 10-ounce cup. While the task appeared simple, milking the goats was not as easy as it looked and was a challenge for some teams to do. 

   
 

The Smiths chose the Milk-It task and did well.

Reaching the route marker, teams opened the clue to find a roadblock. This roadblock required one person to navigate their team's Land Rover vehicle through a crocodile-infested river crossing. Then, continuing through the bush, the driver had to choose a driving path by removing the marking posts along the way. However, trees felled by elephants blocked each path, and the racers had to remove logs in the path, then drive to the next clue posted on a small tree.

Opening the clue, teams were instructed to drive nine miles to the Khwai River Lodge, Botswana's oldest safari lodge and the pit stop for this leg of the race.

Rob and Amber stepped onto the mat in first place.

Meredith and Gretchen arrived at the Pit Stop in fourth place but were told they had to return to the roadblock because they had not taken a clue directing them to the Khwai River Lodge. They panicked a bit, and then jumped in their car in search of the final clue.

And in the end, the Villages snowbirds made it, beating out brothers Greg and Brian back to the lodge to claim fifth place. The brothers came in last and were the sixth team eliminated on "The Amazing Race."

Villagers and fans will be able to tune in at 9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS to see how the Smiths do in the next leg of the race. Previews of next week's program showed Meredith and Gretchen receiving a rousing standing ovation from townspeople. What's that all about? The Smiths can't tell, so that means fans will have to watch the show to see.

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.

[puddin]

Villages
 
Villages snowbirds Gretchen and Meredith Smith ride in a rickshaw in India during TuesdayÕs seventh episode of ÔThe Amazing Race.Õ Photo courtesy of CBS 
 

'Amazing Race' fans kept in suspense by cliffhanger finish

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Just five more days. That is how long fans of "The Amazing Race" reality TV show will have to wait to see the rest of Tuesday's leg of the race, which ended with the cliffhanger phrase: "To be continued."

So how will Villages snowbirds and retirees Meredith and Gretchen Smith do in the rest of the leg in India? Down to five teams, will the Smiths survive the competition and challenges? Will they move from last place to stay in the race?

Viewers will have to tune in at 9 p.m. on Tuesday on CBS to see, and friends of the Smiths have been told next week's show is not to be missed.

Will Pardee, assistant general manager of Crazy Gringos, is thrilled that Meredith and Gretchen will be in Tuesday's eighth episode. He said Villagers packed the restaurant during the seventh show and cheered for The Villages snowbirds from Maryland.

"At 9 o'clock, we were filled with people coming in just to see Meredith and Gretchen on TV," Pardee said. "There were lots of cheers back and forth every time the fans saw them on-screen. Every time they were on, the whole place applauded for everything that they did. No one was disappointed that it will be continued; we're all glad that Meredith and Gretchen are still going. They are doing good."

Tuesday's show began with teams flying more than 5,000 miles from Africa to Lucknow, India. 

   
 

The contestants began the journey by signing up for a charter flight to Francistown, Botswana, and all of the teams were on the same flight. The teams had tickets provided to Mumbai, India, but needed to arrange their own flight from Mumbai to Lucknow.

The battle for the best flight to Lucknow began once the plane landed in Francistown. Two very clear camps formed as boyfriends Lynn and Alex quietly asked for the use of a woman's cell phone to book tickets for themselves, Uchenna and Joyce, and Meredith and Gretchen on the same flight landing in Lucknow at 9:35 a.m.

Meredith was appreciative of the gesture and asked Lynn why he was doing this for them.

"Because we want you guys in the finals with us," Lynn told Meredith.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the small airport, Rob and Amber and Ron and Kelly secretly found tickets on a flight to Lucknow arriving five minutes sooner than their rivals. In an effort to cover his tracks, Rob asked the agent not to help the other teams book this flight.

After landing, the teams donned traditional scarves before walking through the religious palace known as Bara Imambara, and they had to find an area known as Bouli for their next clue. The clue revealed they were to travel three miles by horse-drawn carriage, also known as a tonga, to a steel emporium where they would find their next clue.

Opening the clue, the teams discovered a roadblock, and were told one team member had to search more than 600 different-sized tin boxes for one of 10 containing a clue.

The Villages snowbirds made it to the steel emporium last, and Gretchen was overwhelmed by the daunting task ahead of her to find a clue in one of the boxes.

This clue instructed the couple to hire a cycle rickshaw to take them three miles to the area known as Aishbagh and find a gas station where their next clue waited.

At the gas station, Meredith and Gretchen received a warm welcome from locals when they arrived. For no apparent reason, the crowds began cheering wildly for The Villages snowbirds, and the Smiths waved and blew kisses to their adoring fans in return.

The next clue revealed that the teams had encountered a detour, and they were told they had to choose between Solid and Liquid. For Solid, teams were instructed to travel one mile to a coal depot and smash enough coal to fill two burlap sacks with 175 pounds, then transport the coal on a flatbed bicycle to a store four blocks away to receive their next clue.

To complete Liquid, teams had to travel three miles to a local tea stall, select a tea cart and deliver a cup of tea to five specific employees from a list of 10 in a nearby three-story office building in exchange for a business card from each of them. After collecting all five business cards, teams were to return to the tea stall to receive their next clue.

As Meredith and Gretchen began delivering tea, they found themselves faced with an impostor who tried to accept a cup of tea, but the Smiths quickly foiled the culprit when he had no business card to offer in return.

The other teams completed the task before the Smiths and were pushing their carts back to the tea stall for the next clue.

Opening the clue, the teams were puzzled by the instruction to see Phil Keoghan on the mat on the rooftop of a building a mile and a half away.

Amber immediately noticed the wording of the clue was strange.

"This clue is written differently. It never said pit stop," she said, yet she and Rob rushed to the rooftop to see Keoghan. Expecting to hear news of another first-place finish, Rob and Amber received a big surprise when Keoghan informed them that all he had waiting for them was their next clue.

The latest leg of the race was not over.

No one was eliminated Tuesday night, and for Meredith-and-Gretchen fans, the show's ending was great news as it means another week (at least) of watching The Villages snowbirds on "The Amazing Race."

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.


 http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2005/04/14/villages/villages01.txt

[puddin]

A day without end on ''The Amazing Race'': After two boring challenges in India, the show cheats viewers by having no finish line by Josh Wolk
 

   
SIKH, AND YOU SHAN'T FIND Meredith and Gretchen have run out of Lucknow
 
What's the opposite of adrenaline? Because that's exactly what was pumping through me (or sludgily oozing through me, more like it) as I watched tonight's two utterly noncompelling challenges: opening boxes and serving tea. Good Lord, what's less enthralling than that? I hope this does not signal a new, mundanity-oriented direction for the show. Next week I do not want to see Phil introduce a detour as ''Surf . . . or Turf. In Surf, teams will have to sit in front of a television set and change channels until they find a rerun of Home Improvement. In Turf, they will mow producer Bertram Van Munster's lawn. Those who pick Surf will get a comfy chair, but this is digital cable, so there are a lot of channels to get through. Mowing the lawn is strenuous work, but as long as they don't run over a squirrel and jam the blades, they could finish quickly.''

With five teams left, things should be getting more tense, not less. The producers are desperately trying to work up some false drama with Ron and Kelly, otherwise known as the least demonstrative couple since Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe. (The one shot of physical contact we saw of them was Kelly trying to extricate herself from Ron's hug as if he had just proposed a wife swap with Gretchen and Meredith.) With Ray and Deana gone, the editors need bickerers, and so they've accentuated every disagreement between these two with ominous music and zooms in to Kelly's vaguely furrowed brow. I'm not buying it at all. Kelly has said that she reads the Bible for guidance on her relationship: If you're looking for volatility, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree with her, unless you're willing to count a tense citation from the Book of Ecclesiastes as a lovers' brawl.

Kelly did show a hint — just a hint — of competitiveness when Ron worried aloud about allying with the hated Rob and Amber: ''Keep your enemies closer,'' she said sneakily, as if she had studied The Art of War back in her pageant days — although I suspect she probably quickly tossed it away in frustration when she realized Sun Tzu was not specific enough about whether she should use double-sided tape to keep the bottom of her bathing suit in place. And all of her attempts at devious strategizing fell apart when she and Ron didn't yield Rob and Amber. She actually looked to Rob for advice. Someone should have told her that there are certain times when it's permissible to let the enemies get a little farther away.

Getting back to the challenges, I suppose the producers might have convinced themselves they had a difficult task in the metal-box search because it befuddled Gretchen so, but she's a horrible test case. You could play ''Which hand is the penny in?'' and stymie her. Hell, you could play it with palms open and she'd still be going, ''Ohhhhh, Meredith! Both the hands look so alike!'' I feel like this entire season has been one young producer's rebuttal of this couple's initial statement that age and experience would always triumph over youth and inexperience. ''So they think age is only a state of mind, eh? Ha! By the time I get through with them, they'll be begging for a condo in Boca Raton and a coupon for a 4:30 dinner.''

I've seen seasons of Survivor where contestants don't look as bad as Gretchen does now, and they have no food or shelter. This week she was dashing around with a scraped-up face, carrying all her belongings in a yellow shopping bag until she could finally get a pity knapsack. When will the degradation stop? I'm waiting for them to come in last for the next nonelimination round, when Phil says they can continue, but they will be trailed by a small bully who will yank their pants down every time they stop to read a map on a busy street. (''Ohhhh, for gosh sakes, Meredith, there they go again, down to my shoes!'' ''I know, honey, mine are down there too, let's just hoist 'em up and move on.'') Their one uplifting moment came when throngs of Indian people spontaneously cheered them on, which was either a case of mistaken identity or, judging from the way the locals crowded them, an unfortunate meeting with the Indian Pickpocketers Collective.

And then there was the tea challenge, which was nothing more than turning confused deliverymen with language barriers into a sport. Gee, maybe when my Chinese food arrived 45 minutes late last week and I couldn't get a decent explanation, I was part of a reality show and just didn't realize it. In that case, go, Team Cold Chicken with Cashews!

And here's another question: What exactly does the company that had the racers sicced on them do? Whatever it is, it isn't done efficiently if they can spare a day to have American game-show contestants pester them with drink orders all day. I sure would be annoyed if my boss allowed players on the Indian Amazing Race to dash around my office trying to give me a latte in exchange for a business card. ''It's like I told the last guy, Ramesh: I'm under deadline, I'm lactose intolerant, and Jim from accounting is down the hall!''

And all of this ended with a resounding thud as Rob and Amber arrived at Phil's mat first, only to be told that it was not in fact a pit stop but rather a handoff of another clue. Who are they trying to kid? A cliff-hanger is just a fancy way of disguising a non-elimination round — much like climactic music and slowed-down grimaces are just a fancy way of disguising a bland couple.

What do you think? Are the challenges getting tired? Are you praying for Gretchen to sent home for a rest? And are the show's previews too misleading, even by reality-TV standards?

To post comments to this article, you must be an EW Subscriber, EW Newsstand Buyer, or AOL Member. Please log in or subscribe. 
(Posted:04/13/05)
 
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1048702_3_0_,00.html

[puddin]

'The Amazing Race' Amber, Rob near finish line
Scott Tady, Times Entertainment Writer
04/20/2005


She drove a camel cart, pushed an elephant's butt, scrambled across a rocky field and reached a finish line third.

 
And for that, Amber Brkich advanced to the final four of CBS's "The Amazing Race 7."

Brkich and Rob Mariano outlasted their nemeses, Lynn and Alex, who reached the finish line last, and were eliminated from the $1 million race.

The episode began in Lucknow, India, with a 24-hour train journey. All that downtime gave the now-newlyweds Brkich and Mariano a chance to charm opponents Ron, the former POW, and his beauty queen girlfriend Kelly.

"Rob is very humorous, and Amber is just very sweet," Ron said.

In the show's Detour segment, the teams had to choose between tasks authentic to Indian culture. Brkich and Mariano picked a task where they had to push a 600-pound elephant statue through a bustling Indian street. Brkich pushed from the rear, as Mariano tugged by the tusks.

In the episode's Road Block contest, where only one team member could compete, Brkich sat in a two-wheeled cart and used rope reins and a series of "Go, go, go" and "This way, this way, this way" commands to steer a camel down a dirt race course.

It wasn't glamorous, but at least she didn't lose her hair.

That was the fate awaiting Joyce, 44, a Houston resident who along with her husband, Uchenna, took a gamble by playing another of "The Amazing Race's" silly games - a Fast Forward - where the first team to finish a secret task got to automatically advance to the finish line. There was a big catch: To complete that Fast Forward task, both teammates would have to get their heads completely shaved.

That wasn't a problem for the already-bald Uchenna, though Joyce reluctantly accepted the game's sacrifice, and had her long, braided hair shaved off. Good thing for Brkich she didn't compete and "win" that contest, or she might have needed to wear a wig to her wedding last Saturday.

Scott Tady can be reached at stady @timesonline.com.


©Beaver County Times Allegheny Times 2005

[puddin]

Lynn and Alex Eliminated from The Amazing Race 7
The Amazing Racers all get back to even when they all wind up taking a 24 hour train ride.  Rob Mariano is up to his usual cleverness and trickery and convinces Sanja, the manager at the hotel where he is staying, to be his guide through India.  Uchenna and Joyce go for the fast forward, while the other teams compete in pushing huge model elephants down a street.

The fast forward turns out to be a Hindu head-shaving ritual.  Uchenna is already bald, but Joyce is visibly distressed over having her hair cut.  However, she refuses to back out and makes it through the hair shaving like a champ.  Uchenna and Joyce win the fast forward and are given directions to go directly to the pit stop, which puts them in first place.

After completing the elephant task, the other teams struggle to race uncooperative camels around a track.  Ron & Kelly and Rob & Amber are the first two teams to finish, and they race each other to the pit stop.  They reach the pit stop in second and third place respectively.  Lynn & Alex are initially ahead of Gretchen & Meredith, but their taxi driver makes a mistake and takes them to the wrong palace.  Gretchen & Meredith make it to the pit-stop fourth, and Phil tells them that they are officially the oldest team to have ever made it this far in the Amazing Race.   Dating teammates Lynn & Alex wind up being the last team to check-in at the pit stop, and they are eliminated from the Amazing Race 7. 

http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2005/04/lynn_and_alex_e.html

[puddin]

The Elephant Walk

 
''The Amazing Race'' continues to putter through India, where Gretchen lets Meredith push her around, leading to worries that the old folks could be on their last leg by Josh Wolk
 

   
DEATH AND TAXIS A bad cab sent Lynn and Alex to their well-deserved rest
 
It's at this point that many readers will expect me to apologize to Gretchen and Meredith. I've been riding them hard for looking like they're going to expire on every continent, but as Phil pronounced at the end of tonight's Amazing Race — when they once again barely dodged expulsion, this time by beating Lynn and Alex — they are now the oldest couple to ever make it this far into a season. But if you listened to Phil's voice, you heard the same tinge of shock and fear that I was feeling, as if after complimenting them, he wanted to add, ''So be happy with that and please quit, before you kill yourselves!''

I have nothing against older people, as some readers have accused. I love them. They're soft and cuddly and always have mints in their pockets and usually keep a Reader's Digest in their bathrooms so there's always something to read when you visit. And I don't think they make for bad competitors: Last season, were it not for some bad turns, Don and Mary Jean could have done well. My problem with Gretchen and Meredith is that it seems that their goal is not so much to win a million dollars as to find the best possible country to keel over in.

Meredith is 69 years old, and he was trying to single-handedly push a 600-pound elephant through the streets of India. (Well, 600 pounds plus whatever Gretchen's body weight is. Why oh why did she stay on that elephant? Why not just hop on Meredith's back for the whole detour?) He looked like he was going to collapse when he finished, and Gretchen's incessant yelling certainly wasn't helping matters: It sounded like someone was raping a camel. No wonder Meredith looked so scarred when he was subsequently made to run a camel race; it was the worst kind of déjà vu. And yet with all the abuse they take, they won't quit. Every episode I find myself yelling at the TV, ''Stay down!'' and they don't. It's like watching a Rocky movie, if Burgess Meredith had played Rocky.

But thanks to a bad cab driver — the game-killing variable that is to The Amazing Race what a pulled hamstring is to the NFL — Lynn and Alex fell behind and Team Deathwish stayed alive another day. I can't say it was sad to see Lynn and Alex go. I wonder if their hatred for Rob and Amber will stay with them in their daily life. When they heard that CBS will be airing Rob and Amber's wedding, did they say, ''Quick, we've gotta get to Massachusetts and get married first!''?

One other thing: When they were ejected, Alex kissed Lynn on the cheek, which seemed kind of demure for a longstanding couple. I'm wondering if the producers requested they not kiss on the lips so as not to throw the Parents Television Council into a self-righteous, FCC-baiting tizzy. The show tried to make up for this reticence with the gay-friendly move of introducing the Gay Indian Pedicab Couple: Stuck on inching transport in congested traffic, let them be a rallying cry for the world: ''In about an hour and a half, depending on whether or not that overturned chicken tikka stand gets moved, and if that cow decides to get out of the thoroughfare, they'll be here, and queer, so get used to it! . . . Actually, come to think of it, you'd better allow two hours — that cow doesn't look like it's going anywhere. So let's all meet then, at which point they will still be queer, and you should then get used to it.''

The only consolation for Lynn and Alex is that they lived to see Rob and Amber get nervous. Up until now, Rob has been so confident that it must have been maddening to watch him nearly always land in first and look as if he hadn't exerted any energy. But now you can see him start to worry: It's not fun anymore; it's a contest. After he hired Sanjay as his guide, he guarded him like he was the nuclear codes on 24: When Ron nearly persuaded Sanjay to get in his cab, I thought Rob would kill Sanjay rather than lose him. And then, of course there was the way he got help pushing his elephant by dragging young Indians off the street by their collars. Perhaps from now on he will have a different notoriety when he arrives at a new country: No longer will it be ''Aren't you Rob from Survivor?'' Now it will be ''Aren't you that famous American who stalks the streets, forcing innocent passersby into stressful manual labor to help you win a million dollars? Your exploits are legendary! And annoying. Legendary and annoying. But mostly annoying.''

While everyone else battled with elephants, Uchenna and Joyce went for the fast forward, and Joyce got shaved. If you remember, Bertram Van Munster floated this challenge out in AR5, and religious models Nicole and Brandon chickened out, believing that without their luscious manes, they would not be able to perform God's work by appearing in J.C. Penney catalogs. By stubbornly trying this challenge again, Van Munster tipped his hand that perhaps this was less about the game and more about his bald-head fetish. But hey, if a certain producer once had a major sexual awakening while watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I'm not one to judge.

It was a very touching moment to see Uchenna support and reassure Joyce as she wept through her scalping. This is when The Amazing Race really shines: when we see couples or friends able to be so caring even in the most stressful of situations. You see that with Gretchen and Meredith, too, even if it's harder to hear amidst all of Gretchen's yelling. See? I don't hate those lovable old folks at all. They've got a lot of heart: All I want is for those very hearts not to explode out of their chests during the challenges.

What do you think? Are you worried about the old folks' health? Is Rob losing it? Who could replace him and Amber as front-runners?
 



Post your response below.
 

[puddin]

This 'Race' really is 'Amazing'
 

What a cast, what a world

THE AMAZING RACE 7
Tomorrow night at 9, CBS.

Most of broadcast TV's quality reality shows - and there aren't that many of them - have fallen victim to poor casting this season.

There's not a single "American Idol" contestant worth getting as excited about as Paula Abdul does; Stephenie and Tom are the only "Survivor" contestants with heart and grit this year and they're both walking targets unlikely to last much longer; and on "The Apprentice," Donald Trump's savviest business move would be to fire the whole bunch at the finale and take the night off.

"The Amazing Race," though, is having an amazing season.

The breathless travelogue marathon is down to the Final Four in its seventh incarnation, and far from being tired or boring, this CBS reality series is having its best edition ever.

As always, the twin strengths of "The Amazing Race" are 1) the thrilling scenery, people and animals encountered along the way, and the contestants' reactions to them; and 2) the way the relationship of each two-person team is tested, and either forged together or pulled apart, by the rigors of the exhausting multi-continent road race.

Year in and year out, it's a sweet, inspirational and often educational reality show.

"Amazing Race 7," though, has lucked into so many great teams, that each leg of the race provides a delicious amount of drama, a few laughs, and usually, by the end, a tear or two.

The celebrity couple of "Amazing Race 7," former "Survivor All-Star" contestants Amber (who won) and Rob (who came in second, but proposed marriage to her on live TV just before learning he'd lost), has alienated all but one team with their relatively ruthless tactics - but they've stayed tight as a couple, and those tactics, to this point, have served them well.

Rob and Amber are the only team to finish more than one leg of the race ahead of the others. They've finished first on three different occasions, and clearly are the dominant pair. Right now, though, they're in third place, immediately behind the only team that tolerates them, Ron (a former POW in Iraq) and Kelly (a former beauty queen).

The more Ron and Kelly, who are dating, race, the less they seem to like one another - though their youthfulness and competitiveness keeps them going strong.

Leading the race as the next episode begins are Uchenna and Joyce, one of two married couples in the final four. They're black, and the parts of the race that went through South Africa and Africa, seeing both the people and the landscape, touched them deeply. A chance to leap forward in the game last week required the team that reached that opportunity first to submit to a holy Indian head-shaving ritual.

Uchenna's head already was bald, but Joyce sobbed as she sacrificed her long tresses; by the end, she had accepted the spirituality of the event, and they ended in first place.

Bringing up the rear of the Final Four, but persisting longer than any elderly team in any "Amazing Race," are Meredith and his wife, Gretchen. These two really do fit the term "amazing." They've never won a leg of the race - or, for that matter, come in second or third - but they keep hanging in, even after Gretchen got hurt during a cave-exploration challenge and all their possessions were taken away as a penalty.

They're like AARP Energizer Bunnies and just keep going and going and going. They've managed, somehow, to last longer than some formidable teams - some who worked well together (Lynn and Alex, Brian and Greg), and some who imploded (Ray and Deana).

In this final four, I hope Ron and Kelly go next, just because the other three teams are so dramatically dynamic. Since Rob and Amber already have won one reality show, and are making their marriage a prime-time event, I'd like to see them finish third - and have the race get down to one of the two married couples.

It'd take a miracle for Meredith and Gretchen to make it that far. This whole season of "Amazing Race," though, has been one little miracle after another.

Originally published on April 25, 2005
 
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/303204p-259565c.html

[puddin]

 
'Amazing' Racers Have No Love for Romber
Monday April 25 3:09 PM ET


This time, they can't blame the editing. Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich are racing to the altar in their pre-taped televised wedding next month, but their "Amazing Race" cast mates have no love for Romber.

"None of the other teams liked them," recently eliminated Lynn Warren told The Associated Press recently.

Added his boyfriend and teammate Alex Ali: "We were just more vocal about it. Amber and Rob had a bad attitude. They were terrible."

ADVERTISEMENT
 
 
Romber, as many have dubbed the terrible twosome, have become the most hated team on CBS' seventh edition of "The Amazing Race." The pair of former "Survivor" contestants Brkich was sneaky in "The Australian Outback," Mariano was rambunctious in "Marquesas" met during "Survivor: All-Stars," which Brkich eventually won, and were engaged on the live finale.

"We actually didn't know who they were when we started the race," said Ali of the crossover couple. "I never watch `Survivor.' We thought Rob was cute. He has a nice butt. Then, when he tried to pull one over on us, I was like, that guy's a jerk."

Ali is referring to "Boston Rob" Mariano's sly second-leg strategy in Peru that involved bribing a bus station security guard to withhold information from most of the racers. Later on the bus, Mariano paid the driver to only open the front door, delaying teams in the back of the bus.

"It's not like we were sitting at home watching Rob and Amber," said Warren. "We were in a race with them. We know them as people, and they really are truly sucky. They're no Trista and Ryan, that's for sure."

Romber gave no attention to Greg and Brian Smith, the sixth team eliminated, when the brothers accidentally flipped their vehicle in Africa, although every other team stopped to see if the Smiths and their camera crew were unharmed.

"It kind of showed how they were when they drove past us and didn't even roll down the window to see if we were OK," said Brian. "It looked like a bomb had hit our car."

"We're friends with every other team except them," said Greg. "We didn't really get to know them."

Romber's "Race" behavior has extended beyond bribes and brush-offs. During the third leg, Rob persuaded two teams to forfeit a Road Block eating challenge in Argentina, a fact that baffled even host Phil Keoghan. Ray Housteau and Deana Shane were one of the two teams who agreed to stall. They insist they were using the other teams' red hot Romber hatred against them.

"Those teams were preoccupied with that," said Housteau.

"Right, the teams were always like, `Where's Rob and Amber? Where's Rob and Amber?'" said Shane. "Well, we thought, let's use this. They're more worried about where Rob and Amber are."

It didn't work. Shane and Housteau were eliminated in the fifth episode.

Despite animosity from teams that went bye-bye, Romber have done well in the race. They've come in first place three times more than any team this season. However, in the last episode, Romber fell to third place with only gung-ho retired couple Gretchen and Meredith Smith now behind them. Uchenna and Joyce Agu, who shaved her head as part of a Fast Forward challenge last week, are currently in first. All-American couple Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle are in second.

This season's winning team will cross the finish line during the two-hour finale May 10. Romber will stand at the altar during CBS' "Rob and Amber Get Married" on May 24, but Warren and Ali won't be in attendance.

"I'm still waiting for my invitation," said Warren.

___

On the Net:
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20050425/111446694000.html

[puddin]

On TV, Reality Loves a Villain
By KATE AURTHUR

Published: April 26, 2005


At the beginning of an episode of this season's "Amazing Race," Rob Mariano, one of the contestants, spoke to the camera: "You know that thing, the American dream? Amber and I are living it." As the episode progressed, viewers saw Mr. Mariano, along with Amber Brkich, his fiancée and racing partner, steal a cab from another team, get a police car to escort them through Santiago, Chile, and successfully talk other teams into also quitting a challenge he couldn't complete, thereby ensuring that he and Ms. Brkich would stay in the game.

It appears the definition of the American dream has changed. Ms. Brkich, 26, was the winner of "Survivor: All-Stars" less than a year ago. Since then, Mr. Mariano, 29, another "Survivor" alumnus who was once a construction worker from Boston, and Ms. Brkich, a former secretary from Beaver, Pa., have shed their old lives to form a new one together: they are reality television's premiere villains.

CBS announced last week that it will broadcast their wedding, which took place on April 16 in the Bahamas, as a two-hour special called "Rob and Amber Get Married" on May 24. In between "Survivor: All-Stars" and the wedding show, they took part in the seventh season of CBS's "Amazing Race," which is broadcast Tuesday nights at 9. With three episodes left, Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich have schemed and backstabbed their way to being one of the four couples remaining in the race.

"What they've brought more than anything is a real sense of competitiveness and controversy - they're planning the game in a new way," Kelly Kahl, CBS's senior executive vice president for scheduling, said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "Some in the audience like it and some don't."

From the Nielsen rankings, it appears that those who like it are in the majority - the ratings for this season of "The Amazing Race" are poised to be its highest ever. Defying the pattern of most aging television shows, particularly reality series, the average number of viewers has climbed steadily over the past three editions of "The Amazing Race," from 10.3 million to 11.5 million to 12.4 million for this current season, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The show, a two-time Emmy winner in the reality program category, was once one of the more kindly of television's reality offerings, but the growth in viewership coincides with a ramping up of its portrayals of villainy.

"I think that the prevalence of more confrontational characters has certainly drawn attention to the series, and that helps bring viewers in," said Andy Dehnart, the editor of realityblurred.com, a Web site about reality television.

In its fifth season, broadcast last summer, a Texan named Colin Guinn continuously sniped at his girlfriend, Christie Woods. During its sixth season, which ended in February, Jonathan Baker and his wife, Victoria Fuller, berated and belittled each other, and Mr. Baker shoved her on camera.

With the stunt-casting of Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich, the shift in the show's tone from a benign racing competition to a more confrontational, character-driven reality drama has evolved even further.

Both Mr. Guinn and Mr. Baker blamed the producers of "The Amazing Race," which was created by Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri, for editing them into evil, one-dimensional characters. But they also both admitted that they provided more than enough unflattering material for the producers to use. Speaking on the telephone from Corpus Christi, Tex., Mr. Guinn said: "I can let my temper get the best of me sometimes. I wasn't thinking as much about the cameras as I should have."

According to Mr. Baker, he played the villain on purpose because those are the characters from reality television that he has loved watching. But, he said, he lost control of his own portrayal. "I was out there trying to be larger than life," he said from Los Angeles. "Sometimes that comes back and bites you. I didn't know what it was going to look like."

As reality veterans, Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich are different kinds of antiheroes than Mr. Guinn and Mr. Baker: more lovable scamps than potential rage-a-holics. (Since they are still on "The Amazing Race," they are not allowed to talk to reporters.) Ms. Brkich's unscripted debut was on the second season of "Survivor" in January 2001; Mr. Mariano was on the fourth edition of the series in 2002. Both were chosen to play "Survivor: All-Stars," broadcast last year. During the show, the gleefully manipulative Mr. Mariano (also called "Boston Rob" and "The Robfather" by fellow contestants) and the quietly calculating Ms. Brkich began seeing each other. They were the final two players in the game, and before it was announced on the show's finale in May 2004 that Ms. Brkich had won, Mr. Mariano asked her to marry him on live television, and she accepted his proposal.

CBS immediately began talking to the couple about broadcasting their wedding. The network will not disclose how much it paid Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich, but in 2003, ABC paid Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter from "The Bachelorette" $1 million to broadcast their nuptials.

The wedding aside, the couple actively lobbied to be on "The Amazing Race." Phil Keoghan, the show's host, recalled recently that he first met them at a CBS press function where they approached him with their request. But, he admitted, "I actually didn't even know who Rob and Amber were."

The producers did, and they were cast. According to Mr. Keoghan, who sent the teams on their way from the starting point in Long Beach, Calif., the other teams recognized them immediately and were visibly furious. "There was never as much tension at the starting line as there was when they came on the scene," he said.

On the show, the couple have consistently plotted against the other teams, trying to prevent them from getting the fastest bus or plane, as Mr. Mariano literally winks at the camera.

When Mr. Keoghan described what Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich have done for "The Amazing Race," he sounded as if he were talking about a scripted villain, someone like J. R. Ewing. "I think they've been incredibly tenacious, smart, engaging, charismatic," he said. "That doesn't mean that people have to necessarily agree with all the choices they've made, but there's no denying that they've made for some entertaining moments. They are good TV."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/arts/television/26race.html

[puddin]

Rob and Amber's success
hurts ‘Amazing Race’
Controversial couple
are loved, hated by viewers
COMMENTARY
By Andy Dehnart
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:22 p.m. ET April 25, 2005When CBS cast “Big Brother 4” twit Alison and her boyfriend Donny for “The Amazing Race 5,” the Emmy award-winning series seemed to be selling out, using nepotism to draw viewers from one series to another. But Alison and Donny’s quick exit — they were eliminated during the second leg of the race —turned them into the joke many viewers hoped they’d be.


 
Two seasons later, “Survivor” veterans Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich joined “The Amazing Race 7,” after practically begging to participate. Those who’d lamented the Alison and Donny stunt casting hoped that Rob and Amber would follow their “Big Brother” counterpart and flop on their faces early on, letting the real teams run the rest of the race.

That didn’t happen. Now, Rob and Amber are now one of the final four teams. They’ve cruised in to first place during three out of seven legs, and in three others were in third or second place, raking in trips, behaving ruthlessly, and eviscerating other teams. Based upon their success so far, they may just take it all.

Perhaps even more than the dysfunctional relationships and confrontational tone of the sixth season, Rob and Amber’s presence, aggressive game play, and boundless luck has divided fans. Some love them, some hate them, but everyone agrees that they’ve influenced the show unlike any team before them.

Their success, though, has hurt the show’s rapidly tarnishing reputation.

Unfair advantage?
First, there’s the issue of fairness. With their appearance on “The Amazing Race,” both Rob and Amber have each had three separate opportunities to win $1 million on CBS reality shows.

Rob is fond of pretending that he won “Survivor All-Stars” (“we’ve already won a million,” he said once), but he’s actually lost that game twice. While he didn’t even make it to the jury during “Survivor Marquesas,” his alliance with Amber and strategy did help him to place second on “Survivor All-Stars,” and he earned a substantial $100,000 prize. Both he and Amber also won new vehicles. And CBS paid for their recent wedding and will air it as a two-hour special next month. Do they really deserve or need more?

Perhaps more egregiously, their celebrity has created an unfair advantage on “The Amazing Race 7.” Traveling in other countries, Rob and Amber stumble across magazines with their faces on the cover, and people frequently recognize them. Certainly, the cameras and production people with the teams attract attention for all of the teams, but more than once this season, Rob and Amber’s fame has helped them out, and that’s an advantage the other teams will never have.

‘The Robfather’
Most of their success, though, is due to their abilities. “Boston Rob” is at once ingenious and insufferable, cunningly evil and completely charming. His behavior and game play earned him the nickname “The Robfather” on “Survivor Marquesas,” and lost him “Survivor All-Stars.” But it landed him in second place during the All-Stars season, and has kept the couple near the top of “The Amazing Race” pack.

That’s because Rob’s a walking paradox. When he calls Amber “my girl,” he sounds both genuinely affectionate and obnoxiously sexist. Talking about working with locals, he said, “It’s tough organizin’ Indian labor,” and with that, he managed to be both endearing and offensive all at once. He says nearly everything with a cute grin, looking like a bear cub that will snuggle up against you just to get close enough for a good mauling.

And his approach to “The Amazing Race” takes advantage of all of those characteristics as he claws his way to the front of the pack. In the process, he’s quite possibly fundamentally altering the series, like the way that Richard Hatch’s first-season alliance affected every subsequent game. In six seasons, no one had ever run the race quite like Rob has.
The team that's ‘like an STD’
For all the talk about “The Amazing Race” being a game, it’s really not; the other teams aren’t necessarily obstacles or even allies. The race is between the team and the course, and that’s it. With varying degrees of intensity and success, past teams have definitely brought competitiveness to the show, but Rob has stepped it up to a new level. This has been a near-constant source of conflict between Romber and other teams on this race (fellow racer Lynn said the team is “kind of like an STD”).


 
Certainly, this season has a number of intense competitors besides the “Survivor” couple. When Joyce was faced with the decision of whether or not to have her head shaved in order to skip some tasks, she didn’t even hesitate: “Let’s go, let’s just do it, I don’t care,” she said, her focus only on earning the fast forward. Gretchen and Meredith, the oldest couple to ever make it to the final four, have survived injury (Gretchen fell in a cave), near-constant screw-ups (Gretchen fell after the couple returned to the cave for the second time, having missed a clue the first time), and game twists (all of their possessions were taken away except their passports and the clothes they were wearing). Yet they hobble along, and their determination keeps helping them to beat younger teams to the pit stops.

But Rob is more than determined. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. On a recent episode, he was literally grabbing children from a crowd to help him push an elephant on wheels. He constantly recruits locals as guides and convinces them to follow him around for miles and miles. That’s smart, but as Rob drags someone around with them, this strategy comes across as quasi-kidnapping (in India, fellow racer Ron said that Rob “coerced” a man “into following us on the rest of the leg”).

There’s more: Rob once stole a cab belonging to another team. He bribed a bus driver to not open the back door, thereby delaying the teams standing toward the rear of the bus. He’s asked for information and made his source swear that he wouldn’t tell anyone else. Often when he does these things, Amber stands nearby and looks embarrassed.

Rob’s most controversial action involved a unique interpretation of the rules. In early seasons, failing to perform at a task resulted in a race-ending 24-hour-penalty for a team. (Mother and daughter Nancy and Emily were eliminated from the race during the first season after incurring such a penalty). But with that penalty now reduced to four hours, Rob played the odds. He refused to eat four pounds of meat, and then convinced other teams to join him in quitting. It was a brilliant strategy: he skipped the task and ensured that he wouldn’t be eliminated, as his fellow quitters would be behind him.

Haven't they won enough?
Although he may have considered this sort of move beforehand, he seemed to conceive of this strategy as we were watching. Rob sometimes plays the dumb or ignorant card, but he’s always thinking and scheming. All of his actions are permitted in the rules of the race, but are they ethical? Is this how teams should run “The Amazing Race”? Should they be more concerned with thwarting others than with helping themselves? And, as a former reality cast member, should they even be allowed to race?

For CBS, the answer is probably a strong “yes!” to the last question, and “who cares” to the others, as this season’s ratings have been up consistently. For fans of this three-and-a-half-year-old series, the answers are less obvious.

Part of the appeal of reality television involves getting attached to cast members, who we grow to love (or hate) as a series unfolds. This explains the increasing prevalence of people we already know showing up again and again on reality shows; they’re easy to cast, and the audience’s familiarity means the show can jump right into the drama. Just tune in to MTV’s “The Real World/Road Rules Challenge,” where this is only display week after week, season after season. Cast member Veronica recently noted, without a bit of embarrassment, that she’d been on seven “Challenge” shows. That’s a total of eight reality show seasons, including her original appearance on “Road Rules.” And that’s insane.

Perhaps there’s a severe shortage of reality contestants. But without new faces, there wouldn’t be anyone new to get to know.

And part of the appeal of “The Amazing Race” is getting to know pairs of people as they navigate the earth and get to know each other better. Rob and Amber’s presence may alter the game, but it’s denied us the chance to meet two new people, denied those new people the chance to have their chance at $1 million, and denied Rob and Amber’s fellow racers the chance at an even playing field.

If Rob and Amber win “The Amazing Race 7,” they’ve earned it, and deserve their reward. They just didn’t deserve to run the race in the first place.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7632157/page/2/

[puddin]

They rule TV's reality

By Hal Boedeker | Sentinel Television Critic
Posted April 26, 2005

 
 
They are reality royalty and, as such, far more photogenic and fun than the other royal couple of the moment, newlyweds Charles and Camilla. "Boston Rob'' Mariano and Amber Brkich keep taking amazing leaps in their reign on the airwaves.

They fell in love last year on Survivor: All-Stars, jumped to the current edition of The Amazing Race and will headline a CBS special about their wedding. Rob and Amber Get Married represents another triumph for two everyday people who have finessed the reality format.

"Reality exploits people,'' says Winter Park dentist Carl Bilancione, who competed on Survivor: Africa in 2001. "It gives you a false sense, if you're on one of those shows, that you'll make it big. It doesn't work that way. A lot of people go through reality and are disappointed that doors didn't open.''

The doors keep swinging wide for Mariano and Brkich, who were married April 16 in the Bahamas.

"I think Rob's conniving brilliance and Amber's next-door look made it work for them,'' Bilancione says. "It's a love story. America loves a love story.''

Yet many viewers detest these lovers, primarily for Mariano's win-at-all-costs tactics. When a competing Amazing Race team flipped its vehicle, the couple drove by instead of stopping. That ruthlessness helps explain their longevity in reality -- where once you're voted out, you're usually forgotten.

Mariano and Brkich are among the final four teams in The Amazing Race, which airs at 9 tonight on WKMG-Channel 6. Because of CBS restrictions on Race participants, they're not talking to the public. The winning duo will be revealed in a two-hour finale May 10.

Two weeks later, at 9 p.m. May 24, CBS splashes the couple's nuptials across a two-hour special. Event planner Colin Cowie designed the wedding, and he knows the routine from creating swank ceremonies for Jerry Seinfeld, Kelsey Grammer, Sela Ward, Barry Bonds and Lisa Kudrow.

CBS isn't discussing the Mariano-Brkich wedding yet, preferring to save the publicity for closer to the telecast. But why does America's most-watched network keep falling back on this duo?

"You're seeing people made for reality," says Ron Simon, television curator at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York. "With Rob and Amber, you can see the wheels turning whether they're on Amazing Race or Survivor. You don't know what they're like in real life. But they've created personas for television. They're consistent in how they present themselves.''

Brkich, 26, was an administrative assistant from Beaver, Pa., when she received national exposure on Survivor: The Australian Outback in 2001. Mariano, 29, was a construction worker from Canton, Mass., who competed on Survivor: Marquesas in 2002.

The sweet Brkich and the brash Mariano struck up an alliance that turned to romance on Survivor: All-Stars. Mariano proposed to Brkich on live television, and she accepted, right before she defeated him to win the show's $1 million prize.

"He seemed like he really liked her,'' says Tim Brooks, co-author of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. "The TV audience can see through artifice extremely well. When characters or politicians try to fake things, the camera is unforgiving. This doesn't seem to be an act. They do seem to mesh together on a personal level.''

CBS now lists Brkich's occupation as "winner, Survivor: All-Stars.'' Mariano's job title is "runner-up.''

That visibility has been a plus on The Amazing Race as bystanders have helped the reality stars on the globe-trotting adventure. One awestruck woman aided Brkich on a shopping spree in a Soweto market. But that has spurred a debate about whether their celebrity skews the game.

"The mail I get is split,'' says Matt Roush, senior critic at TV Guide. "People who hate them say they have the advantage of being famous. Other people think they made the show better. People are marveling at them. Rob and Amber don't snipe at each other. They are charming, telegenic.''

Still, Roush is rooting against them in The Amazing Race.

"It should be about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances,'' he says. "They are not playing on a level field.''

TV curator Simon agrees. "They were on the show to bring the Survivor viewership over to The Amazing Race,'' he says. "CBS and the producers allowed them to exploit any advantage they had; at least it seems so on the show.''

Survivor alum Bilancione met Mariano several times and didn't like him. Yet the dentist applauds Mariano's play on The Amazing Race, especially when he refused to eat a huge meal and instead took a time penalty.

"You have to admire the guy,'' Bilancione says. "He has not lost sight of the goal: Win. He used to be the most despicable character. He has shown a softer side. On the finale of Survivor: All-Stars, he showed class by apologizing [to other players] and proposing to Amber. The way he handled it was brilliant.''

A few players have converted their reality gigs into other programs. Elisabeth Filarski Hasselbeck, who appeared on Survivor: The Australian Outback, won a co-hosting job on ABC's The View. Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter transformed their romance on ABC's The Bachelorette into a wedding special.

But Mariano and Brkich could be considered the king and queen of reality, says Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. He doesn't fault them for letting CBS televise the wedding.

"Anyone who stands on a diving board knows the pleasure of having all eyes on you,'' Thompson says. "Reality television is more about exhibitionism than money. It's about being famous.''

Yet he adds that television probably has complicated their future.

"There's not a lot the entertainment industry can do with them,'' Thompson says. "They're going to have to struggle through the first five years of marriage. They met as characters on a TV show.''

Television curator Simon voices similar concern about the reality players. "They flourish in this alternate universe,'' he says. "Can a real-life marriage between them survive? That's another matter.''

They have bought a home near Pensacola, according to Brkich's hometown newspaper, the Beaver County Times in Pennsylvania. That would seem to put them out of the show-business whirl, but with this pair, anything is possible.

In this real-life version of The Truman Show, the sequel possibilities are many. A honeymoon special perhaps. Maybe their first child's birth as a series. If the wedding does well in the ratings, CBS could turn to the couple again -- without a blink of its trademark eye.

Hal Boedeker can be reached at 407-420-5756 or hboedeker@orlandosentinel.com.

[puddin]

Amazing Race: Will nice guys finish last?
 
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 3, 2005
 

BY KATE AURTHUR
New York Times News Service
 


At the beginning of an episode of this season's Amazing Race, Rob Mariano, one of the contestants, spoke to the camera: "You know that thing, the American dream? Amber and I are living it." As the episode progressed, viewers saw Mariano, along with Amber Brkich, his fiancee and racing partner, steal a cab from another team, get a police car to escort them through Santiago, Chile, and successfully talk other teams into also quitting a challenge he couldn't complete, thereby ensuring that he and Brkich would stay in the game.

It appears the definition of the American dream has changed. Brkich, 26, was the winner of Survivor: All-Stars less than a year ago. Since then, Mariano, 29, another Survivor alumnus who was once a construction worker from Boston, and Brkich, a former secretary from Beaver, Pa., have shed their old lives to form a new one together: they are reality television's premiere villains.

CBS announced last month that it will broadcast their wedding, which took place on April 16 in the Bahamas, as a two-hour special called Rob and Amber Get Married on May 24 (9 p.m., Channels 4 and 12). In between Survivor: All-Stars and the wedding show, they took part in the seventh season of CBS's Amazing Race, which is broadcast Tuesday nights at 9 (Ch. 4, 12). With only tonight's episode and next week's finale left, Mariano and Brkich have schemed and backstabbed their way to being one of the four couples remaining in the race.

"What they've brought more than anything is a real sense of competitiveness and controversy -- they're planning the game in a new way," Kelly Kahl, CBS's senior executive vice president for scheduling, said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "Some in the audience like it and some don't."

From the Nielsen rankings, it appears that those who like it are in the majority -- the ratings for this season of The Amazing Race are poised to be its highest ever.

The show, a two-time Emmy winner in the reality program category, was once one of the more kindly of television's reality offerings, but the growth in viewership coincides with a ramping up of its portrayals of villainy.

In its fifth season, broadcast last summer, a Texan named Colin Guinn continuously sniped at his girlfriend, Christie Woods. During its sixth season, which ended in February, Jonathan Baker (whose grandparents live in Providence) and his wife, Victoria Fuller, berated and belittled each other, and Baker shoved her on camera.

"I'm a big fan of Rob and Amber," said Baker in a phone interview yesterday. "Everything I tried to do, Rob pulled off."

Meanwhile, Baker and Fuller are doing their best to stay in the spotlight. They appear in the May issue of Playboy magazine -- Fuller had been a Playmate in 1996 -- and have several other media projects in the works.

Baker said the couple has made its own reality show pilot, Mad Love, which will probably air on A&E. Then there's Reality Check, in which Fuller and Baker appear with other reality stars, due on VH1 this fall.

Also coming, he said, is Battle of the Network Reality Stars on Bravo Aug. 1 and The Voice of Reality, a radio commentary on reality TV, which will air on the Sirius satellite radio system this summer.

With the stunt-casting of Mariano and Brkich on The Amazing Race, the shift in the show's tone from a benign racing competition to a more confrontational, character-driven reality drama has evolved even further.

As reality veterans, Mariano and Brkich are different kinds of antiheroes than Guinn and Baker: more lovable scamps than potential rage-a-holics. (Since they are still on The Amazing Race, they are not allowed to talk to reporters.) Brkich's unscripted debut was on the second season of Survivor in January, 2001; Mariano was on the fourth edition of the series in 2002. Both were chosen to play Survivor: All-Stars, broadcast last year. During the show, the gleefully manipulative Mariano (also called "Boston Rob" and "The Robfather" by fellow contestants) and the quietly calculating Brkich began seeing each other. They were the final two players in the game, and before it was announced on the show's finale in May 2004 that Brkich had won, Mariano asked her to marry him on live television, and she accepted his proposal.

The couple actively lobbied to be on The Amazing Race. Phil Keoghan, the show's host, recalled recently that he first met them at a CBS press function where they approached him with their request. But, he admitted, "I actually didn't even know who Rob and Amber were."

The producers did, and they were cast. According to Keoghan, who sent the teams on their way from the starting point in Long Beach, Calif., the other teams recognized them immediately and were visibly furious. "There was never as much tension at the starting line as there was when they came on the scene," he said.

On the show, the couple have consistently plotted against the other teams, trying to prevent them from getting the fastest bus or plane, as Mariano literally winks at the camera.

When Keoghan described what Mariano and Brkich have done for The Amazing Race, he sounded as if he were talking about a scripted villain, someone like J.R. Ewing. "I think they've been incredibly tenacious, smart, engaging, charismatic," he said. "That doesn't mean that people have to necessarily agree with all the choices they've made, but there's no denying that they've made for some entertaining moments. They are good TV."

http://www.projo.com/tv/content/projo_20050503_amazing03.202c4f5.html

[puddin]

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

 (05-04) 12:58 PDT New York (AP) --


The oldest couple on CBS'"The Amazing Race" have been eliminated, leaving the final three teams to heave-ho to the finish line. Retired couple Meredith and Gretchen Smith surprised many viewers with their amazing staying power. Although each season of the competitive reality show has included a token older couple, the Smiths made it farther than any other older couple in the history of the race.


"We never gave a thought to our age or our physical circumstances, all we wanted to do was beat out at least one team on every leg," Meredith told The Associated Press Wednesday. "That's all we focused on."


Meredith — and "Amazing Race" editors — didn't focus on severe pain the 69-year-old retired executive experienced in his foot after being accidentally run over by an elephant statue on wheels during a challenge in India.


"It was bothering him a lot for the rest of the race," said Gretchen. "When he got home, he had it x-rayed and found he had three partially healed bones and that's what had been broken."


Gretchen, 66, had her own bout with pain after falling in a cave in Africa, resulting in a bloody gash. Later, the Smiths were the last team to arrive during a non-elimination leg, a situation that required host Phil Keoghan to strip the Smiths of their money and possessions.


"Uchenna (Agu) and Kelly (McCorkle) were the two people who came to our room in the middle of the night and gave us clothes," said Meredith. "We had no clothes other than those on our back, as you saw. As an interesting side note, Gretchen was wearing Uchenna's underwear."


"Yes, 'cause I didn't have any others," said Gretchen.


In case you were wondering: boxers.


During the May 10 finale, either Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle or Joyce and Uchenna Agu will cross the finish line and win the $1 million prize. The Smiths never really cared about the money. Gretchen said they just wanted "one big last adventure."


On the Net:


www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race7/


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/04/entertainment/e125843D45.DTL

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'Survivor' sweethearts stay ahead of the game in 'Amazing Race'
By Amy Amatangelo
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - Updated: 01:27 AM EST

Romber rules!
 
     ''Boston'' Rob Mariano and his ''Survivor'' spouse Amber Brkich continue to dominate the seventh season of ''The Amazing Race.'' Once again, the reality lovebirds, who met and fell in love on ''Survivor: All-Stars,'' came in first in last night's episode. The love-'em-or-hate-'em duo are now one of three remaining teams vying for the million dollar prize in next Tuesday's two-hour finale.
 
     Meredith and Gretchen Smith, the oldest competitors ever to make it this far in the game, were eliminated. They made their game-ending blunder early in this leg of the race. Both the Smiths and Uchenna and Joyce Agu took the later but direct flight from Istanbul to London. Mariano, Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle took a connecting flight through Frankfurt, Germany, and arrived in London an hour and a half ahead of the other teams.
 

 
     As always, Mariano and Brkich benefited from their brazen combination of luck, strategy and fame. In London, they hooked up with a lovely chap named Stuart who shuttled the pair around the city. ''This guy is pumped to be with us. Let's see if we can lure him in and keep him with us all day long,'' Mariano said.
 
     The unapologetic couple keeps onmaking enemies on their way to the pit stops. They yielded closest competitors and former allies Young and McCorkle.
 
     Young and McCorkle escalated their incessant bickering. Former beauty queen McCorkle appears to think the game will serve as some sort of couple's therapy. ''I used to think I could marry Ron. Now I'm just not sure if he is the one for me or if I'm the one for him. That's what this race will show us,'' she said.
 
     All teams lost it during a ''roadblock'' that required one member of a team to drive a double-decker bus in and out of orange cones without ever hitting a cone. Even mild-mannered Joyce was pushed to her limits. ''I can't understand what the hell you're saying to me,'' she screamed at her husband.
 
     However, if there were a prize for being the nicest team, the million dollars would easily go to the Agus. Uchenna even tried to help the Smiths with a particularly heavy task until he was reminded that aiding another team was against the rules of the game.

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=81527

[puddin]

Amazing Race’ down to final three teams
Oldest couple, Gretchen and Meredith, eliminated in Tuesday's showThe Associated Press
Updated: 4:58 p.m. ET May 4, 2005NEW YORK - The oldest couple on CBS’ “The Amazing Race” have been eliminated, leaving the final three teams to scamper across the finish line.


 
Retired couple Meredith and Gretchen Smith surprised many viewers with their amazing staying power, making it farther than any older couple to compete on the reality show.

“We never gave a thought to our age or our physical circumstances, all we wanted to do was beat out at least one team on every leg (of the race),” Meredith told The Associated Press Wednesday. “That’s all we focused on.”

Meredith — and “Amazing Race” editors — didn’t focus on the severe pain the 69-year-old retired executive experienced in his foot after being run over by an elephant statue on wheels during a challenge in India.

“It was bothering him a lot for the rest of the race,” said Gretchen. “When he got home, he had it X-rayed and found he had three partially healed bones and that’s what had been broken.”

Gretchen, 66, had her own bout with pain after falling in a cave in Africa, which resulted in a bloody gash. Later, the Smiths were the last team to arrive during a non-elimination leg, a situation that required host Phil Keoghan to strip the Smiths of their money and possessions.

“Uchenna (Agu) and Kelly (McCorkle) were the two people who came to our room in the middle of the night and gave us clothes,” said Meredith. “We had no clothes other than those on our back, as you saw. As an interesting side note, Gretchen was wearing Uchenna’s underwear.”

“Yes, ’cause I didn’t have any others,” said Gretchen.

In case you were wondering: they were boxers.

During the May 10 finale, either Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle or Joyce and Uchenna Agu will cross the finish line and win the $1 million prize.

The Smiths said they never really cared about the money. Gretchen said they just wanted “one big last adventure.”

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7738059/

[puddin]

'Amazing Race' - Fab! Rob, Amber in the lead
Scott Tady, Times Staff
05/04/2005


The Beatles' "Abbey Road" was a key clue in Tuesday's episode of "The Amazing Race," though the three teams competing against Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano would have felt more inclined to be singing "Help."

 After all, Brkich and Mariano regained the race's lead, thanks to some shrewd airport maneuvering, in which the couple scored a ticket to ride a previously sold-out flight to Frankfurter, Germany. A connecting flight to London helped them erase the 104-minute lead that Uchenna and Joyce had enjoyed before the Houston couple unwittingly took a later flight to London.

The race's long and winding road took the teams all over London in Tuesday's episode, and as usual, Brkich and Mariano relied on a little help from their friends. Specifically, they met a man named Stewart on the subway who personally escorted them to their next appointed destination, the Abbey Road street-crossing made famous by a Beatles album cover.

Brkich and Mariano then rode a 40-story Ferris wheel along the Thames River as required, and then headed to Baker Street, and the home of Sherlock Holmes, where Brkich received a hat and pipe like those worn by the famed detective. She watched as Mariano successfully steered a double-decker bus through a series of cones in a competition.

Ultimately, Brkich and Mariano finished this next-to-the-last leg of the race first and as a reward will receive a free home entertainment system.

Maryland retirees Meredith, 69, and Gretchen, 66, didn't win anything as they finished the leg of the race last and were thus eliminated from the $1 million contest. As a teaser in the final moments of Tuesday's episode, the three remaining teams were interviewed separately, each speaking confidently of their chances in next week's two-hour season finale.

Brkich vowed that she and her now-hubby would come together, right now, to win the race.

"Losing is not an option," Mariano added. "I'm telling you, we're winning this race."

Scott Tady can be reached at stady@timesonline.com.

http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14465770&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478564&rfi=6

[puddin]

Amazing Race Heats Up
By Erika Rohrssen
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Article Tools: Page 1 of 2

With four teams left, the seventh season of CBS's The Amazing Race has some viewers wondering how far would one go to win a million dollars.
The show began with 11 teams of two racing around the world in order to win the large sum of money and other prizes. This year the teams ranged from a mother and her homosexual son to a pair of brothers to a former POW and his beauty queen girlfriend to Survivor: All Stars winner Amber and her fiancé Suvivor: All Stars runner-up Rob.
From the beginning the other teams resented the Survivor cast mates, because they felt they should not win another million dollars. Rob, who was commonly referred to as Boston Rob, was known as a schemer on his previous show and his reputation preceded him as many of the Race's contestants stood clear of Rob and Amber, knowing that Rob would do anything to get his way. However, this did not stop Boston Rob from scheming his way into and out of many situations in different countries, angering the other teams. In many instances already this season, members of the local communities recognized the duo from their popular TV show and offered their assistance to the team. Although the pair has been lucky that locals have helped them, Rob's own instincts and plots have been the driving force of their success. During one challenge, team members were forced to eat four pounds of meat, Rob decided to quit and take a two-hour penalty. Knowing that he and Amber would be eliminated, he convinced other teams to also take the penalty, assuring his own safety in the race.
Rob and Amber are not the only strong team this season that is willing to do anything to win. Retried couple, Meredith and Gretchen, was the last to arrive at one of the pit stops, but were fortunate enough to have landed on non-elimination round. Although this kept the duo in the game, they were not only stripped of all their money, and not given any the next round, but unlike previous years, all their belongings were also taken away. Being left with no clothes or money the other teams assumed Meredith and Gretchen would be eliminated right away. Even after Gretchen had to receive stitches after falling in a mineshaft, the team continued on and surprised the other teams by being in the final four. 

http://www.mcquadrangle.org/main.cfm?include=subApplication&subApplicationName=quickRegister&fuse=registrationOrLoginRequired&thereferer=http%3A//www.mcquadrangle.org/news/2005/05/04/ArtsEntertainment/Amazing.Race.Heats.Up-948078.shtml%3Fpage%3D2

[puddin]

Racing up the ratings
May 5, 2005

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Phil Keoghan's The Amazing Race is set to surge ahead of other reality shows.
Photo: Supplied
A near death was the start of a great career, writes Paul Best.

At 19, Phil Keoghan nearly died. On a dive to a sunken liner for a New Zealand TV adventure show, he passed out and almost drowned.

For the host of today's TV reality-slash-game show The Amazing Race, the near-fatal experience was an epiphany - which the New Zealand-born 37-year-old has been living off ever since.

"When you're 19, you just don't think you're going to die," Keoghan says.

Immediately, on a brown paper bag, he compiled a wish list of things to do before he did die, which included, without hesitation, diving again to the shipwreck.

"What you have to understand is for more than 15 years before Race started, my list was my entire career," he says.

"I strapped on anything that moved, broke an unofficial world record diving the world's longest underwater cave - not bad for a claustrophobic - swam the Bosphorus Strait from Asia to Europe, got my reindeer skiing licence, joined the Polar Bear Club, scuba-dived with a dog. I did crazy **** for 15 and a bit years."

Advertisement
AdvertisementFor this born adventurer, life accelerated into one great adrenaline rush. It led to creating his own TV series, No Opportunity Wasted, which he hosts and co-produces with his Australian wife, Louise, and writing a book last year based on the show, which he was recently here to promote.

Before that, though, his credentials almost got him the job as the host of Survivor, pipped at the line by Jeff Probst, and landed him the plum gig fronting The Amazing Race.

For the uninitiated, The Amazing Race - created by Bertram van Munster and his partner Elise Doganieri - has 11 teams of two criss-crossing the globe for a $US1 million prize.

Pairs are whittled down as the last team to check in at each pit stop is, most times, eliminated. It's the moment, too, fans love when a po-faced Keoghan delivers the coup de grace: "You're the last team to arrive. I'm sorry to tell you, you've both been eliminated from the race."

Each season involves some 2000 staff, including a cameraman and sound recordist per team who shadow its every move, and months and months of planning and scouting for locations.

Teams over the 30-day odyssey must complete all manner of hair-raising tasks - "Detours" and "Roadblocks" - which might involve rolling down a hillside in a giant inflatable ball called a Zorb, bungee jumping from a cable car, drinking blood or being dragged behind a bullock team through a muddy field.

Although tight editing helps, the show's strength lies in the drama generated by the raw emotions of competitors as they jockey for scarce seats on airlines, negotiate street maps for foreign cities, try to be understood by cab drivers, and generally bicker, cry, scheme, declare their love and occasionally their hate.

The last season was notorious for Jonathan Baker, who reduced his wife, Victoria, to a sobbing wreck before the camera.

At the other end of the spectrum, season five, Keoghan's favourite, had Charla Faddoul, a gutsy dwarf, who showed what she was made of by hauling a side of Argentine beef across her shoulder while her regular-sized cousin Mirna schlepped behind.

Keoghan's sensitivity to the different cultures Race encounters (reflected also in the disparate backgrounds of contestants, albeit all American) was learnt growing up in the Caribbean in a household that celebrated diversity.

"Race exposes particular Americans to a world they don't see in primetime TV. Most of what they see is a war here, a person killed there, a natural disaster over here. We present a world that seems inviting, with people who are warm and helpful, not this big scary place that if you get in a plane you're going to be killed by travelling to some foreign land."

But if we're honest, there is also a guilty pleasure in watching Americans bumble along, displaying scant respect for or knowledge of their foreign hosts. It's a fascination Keoghan struggles to fathom, especially given how gruelling Race is. It's a non-stop sprint that lasts, on average, 32 hours from pit stop to pit stop, with 12 hours down time in between. Keoghan says it's no armchair ride for him either, one of only four people to have completed all 91 pit stops, to date.

"It knocks the crap out of people. It's pretty tough. I lost seven kilograms in one season. You don't sleep. You look like crap." On top of that he does his own make-up, wardrobe and filming and had, by his own admission, two days off last year.

While the show, now in its seventh season, has enjoyed a core, and ardent, following in Australia, it has only more recently, in the 9.30pm Thursday timeslot, started to find a primetime audience, with finishes in the top 10 Melbourne shows this year and twice as many viewers as it had four years ago.

But in the US, it also took time to find its legs after something of a false start. "The Amazing Race launched three days before September 11," says Keoghan.

"There was a huge campaign. Every bus in Manhattan was promoting it. It was a massive push and we got a solid rating. Then 9/11 terrorist attacks happened and the world focused on other things, and rightly so. The marketing was eroded overnight (and) from that point, we were playing catch-up."

However, the breathless pace of the show, the exotic locales and quirky mix of teams have seen the program, which has picked up two Emmys for best reality program, endure and gain traction while other reality shows have stumbled, or tired.

Such has been the worldwide success that producers run decoy teams (including eliminated ones) to throw bystanders off the track.

The formula has altered little over the past seven seasons, but change is inevitable, and season eight will introduce teams of four from the same family, acknowledging the show's key demographic.

Meanwhile, Keoghan is hoping his new show, No Opportunity Wasted, in which people are given $US3000 and 72 hours to turn their dream into reality, will be picked up by Channel Seven.

He also has ambitions of hosting his own chat show. One of the most-loved aspects of Race is the mat chat, the half-hour debrief he has with each team as it finishes each stage.

"I love interviewing because I love learning about people. My parents taught me if you look hard enough, you'll always find something special."


http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Racing-up-the-ratings/2005/05/04/1115092506666.html?oneclick=true

[puddin]

Racing to Abbey Road



The image has popped up at least 1000 times since 1968. The album cover to the Beatles Abbey Road featured John, Paul, George and Ringo walking across Abbey Road, which is the street right near the famous studio where they conducted some of their famous recording sessions.

Since then, everyone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the comedians across the world have tried to spoof the famous scene. It's a bit perplexing to know what's been so fascinating about that scene where it's been reproduced as many times as it has, but many people flock to it for source of inspiration, usually from a comedic perspective.

But the producers of The Amazing Race didn't really use Abbey Road as a source of comedy, instead using it as not only a challenge of intelligence and resourcefulness, but as a way to get to know London as well.

One point Jonathan felt has been missing from this season's The Amazing Race, and has addressed several times in these columns, is the absence of the GAME aspect of this competition instead of just running a RACE, noting there is a significant difference between the two.

He liked that the players had to use their brains a little bit and had to figure out what the picture was and how they were going to get there, instead of utilizing these tasks that, while cultural in nature, really didn't take much mental wherewithal to get through. It's all about The Amazing Race being more than just a race. After all, if viewers wanted to watch a race, they'd watch NASCAR.

"That was the game," Jonathan said. "Bring the game forward. There needs to be more of this. It needs to be more of a scavenger hunt."

After all, whether it's milking goats, sucking water out of a spring, or racing stubborn camels around a round, dirt track, this season's The Amazing Race featured a lot more "doing" and a lot less "thinking."

"Instead of just doing something, they should be doing something with the information of the area," Jonathan said referring to way the producers set up the tasks requiring the contestants use their heads and know something about London too.

Jonathan appreciated the way London was utilized through out the episode, first in the detour, especially in the "Brains" section of the detour.

For example, look at the Sherlock Holmes part of the detour. Holmes is the fictional detective chronicled in mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who, according to the stories, lived at 221b Baker Street (perhaps a tribute to our own Jonathan Baker?) for more than 20 years at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. He frequently smoked a pipe, wore his famous detective hat and used a magnifying glass at the scenes of the crimes he investigated.

The address, the pipe and the hat were all part of the detour and not only made the contestants think about where they had to go next, but gave the task a certain London feel that most of the episodes this season have sorely lacked.

"They really took the best parts of London and they've never done that before," Jonathan said. "They've never taken the best parts of it and put it in the game like that before."

That included the roadblock as well. Forcing the contestants to maneuver a double-decker bus through a controlled course took some skill and also reminded those at home that mode of transportation is primarily popular in the larger cities in England rather than anywhere else. Did you know the double-decker buses in London were developed as a response to a 1950s effort to clean up the city's dreadfully dirty air at the time and originally ran on electricity? And did you know they eventually moved to automobile buses but kept the double-decker style to accommodate more people without creating a vehicle that was too long by law?

The Amazing Race didn't tell us that, but being reminded that the double-decker bus was such a staple to London led to a little original research on our part. It's one of the few times this season that that an area's culture was reflected so well in a task it was worth looking more into and learning about.

"I commend them that they took an environment and really did something with it this week," Jonathan said. "They haven't done that all season."

It was almost as if The Amazing Race did what the producers of Sex in the City and Las Vegas did in creating their shows. Those people made the cities those shows took place in an important character in the show and formed storylines around them. The producers of The Amazing Race have really failed to do that for the most part this season, at least until this week when the city of London really shined.

"London was the star last night," Jonathan said. "We really got a good flavor of it. That was a good representation of London. The only thing they didn't do was to put a box in front of Big Ben and use Piccadilly Square."

The city of London wasn't the only star of the night though. As usual, Rob and Amber showed how smart and skilled they are playing this game, along with being a little lucky.

First, they took a calculated risk (along with Ron and Kelly) to get the flight to Frankfurt from Istanbul hoping they could get another flight to London from there. They went ahead and did it anyway even though they didn't know if they would be able to get the flight to London or not.

When they got to London an hour-and-a-half before Uchenna and Joyce and Gretchen and Meredith, they hit the ground running and even got ahead of Ron and Kelly in the London tasks. They made their most shrewd move when they convinced their new British friend, Stuart, to be their guide in London for the day. Without him, there's a good chance they'd still be stuck in London trying to solve some of those riddles that Stuart had the answers to so quickly. He helped them finish the tasks and get to the pit stop first giving them an advantage before the last leg of the race and the final episode of the season.

This is not the first time Rob and Amber have used a guide and Jonathan likes the strategy, as he used it many times himself last season. He sees himself and Rob thinking alike, possibly due to their east coast upbringing (Jonathan being from New York and Rob being from Boston).

"When you have a guide, you don't have to worry as much," Jonathan said. "When the guide left, you see the stress level go up. Maybe it's because I'm from the east coast, Since we're from the same demographic, I see us thinking alike."

No matter what the situation, it's just another example of Rob and Amber PLAYING THE GAME that Jonathan has talked about so many times before. None of the other teams have thought to get a guide to help them through cities they have never been in before, but Rob, always the charming, confident salesman, gets people to help him every leg of the race when the others don't bother to utilize that strategy, instead just RUNNING THE RACE.

The GAME aspect of The Amazing Race was prevalent in a couple of ways this week. First, the producers really injected a little life into this season with the episode set in London with competitors having to use their heads a little more and focusing more on what these fabulous cities across the world have to offer. Watching people solve puzzles and trying to find certain locations is often more interesting than watching them milk goats or move tree trunks off the side of a dirt road.

And, impressively, Rob and Amber took advantage of what the producers set up by getting their new friend Stuart to be their guide for the day. Playing the game by taking the risk with the flights and securing a guide led them to the finish line first this week. If they continue to compete that way, they could be tough to beat...


And the teams...

In speaking to Jonathan this week, he didn't have that much to offer about the teams left in the field. He summed it up by saying the coming attraction/teaser for next week really describes how he feels about the rest of the teams.

Uchenna and Joyce are "in the game." They have stuck it out all the way through and have shown they will do anything to win and try their best in the process.

Ron and Kelly will "cancel each other out." It's pretty obvious these two are an absolute disaster. She is demanding apologies from him about the way he is acting when she has been ten times worse through out the season. It doesn't look like their relationship survived after the show was over. Frankly, it will be a miracle if they even finish next week.

Jonathan definitely isn't a fan of Kelly at all. Can you blame him?

"I do think she's a bitch, period," he said. "She's just gone off on (Ron) way too many times."

And Rob and Amber? "Losing is not an option." They've proved they will do anything to win and that certainly won't change as the final leg of the race comes up and they head back to the United States.

But even though it may be an option for them, is it their fate?

Jonathan's theory, looking at teams from the past, is that the team who runs the race (and plays the game) the best and the most flawlessly generally don't win, they'll end up coming in second.

We've seen Rob and Amber stay focused, be a good team, remain full of energy, take guides with them on the tasks and even take part in a little healthy underhanded, but not illegal, play to get where they are. They aren't necessarily the most skilled mentally or physically, but they've run the best race to this point.

That's why they won't win.

"Anyone who was run the race flawlessly, they have come in second," Jonathan said. "That's the curse of The Amazing Race. That's why Rob and Amber won't win."

That's why as we head to the finale, Jonathan's final predictions are as followed:


Third Place: Ron and Kelly

Second Place: Rob and Amber

First Place: Uchenna and Joyce


Will his Amazing Race instincts lead him to being correct?


We'll find out next week!


Enjoy the finale!


-- Steve Coogan
InsidePulse.com


-- Jonathan Baker
The Amazing Race 6

http://tv.insidepulse.com/articles/37330

[puddin]

It's a race to the end

STEVE TILLEY, EDMONTON SUN

 
In Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts's character was so sweet and cute and clever and spunky, you almost forgot she made a living by sleeping with any man who'd lay cash on the bedside table.

The Amazing Race is reality TV's version of the hooker with a heart of gold. Sure, it still belongs to the genre that's lowered the collective IQ of televised entertainment as a whole - something of a feat considering we're talking about the same medium that's given us According to Jim and Yes, Dear.

But when it comes to realiteevee, The Amazing Race is the show you can watch without feeling like you need to shower afterwards. It's a semi-genuine, pseudo-educational and consistently entertaining mix of travelogue, soap opera and game show, and viewers have responded (particularly in Canada, where the galloping globetrotters routinely finish near the top of the ratings).

Throw in some sort of cheeseball singing component and you'd have the mother of all unstoppable TV juggernauts.

Season 7 of The Amazing Race, wrapping up its run Tuesday night at 9 on CTV and 10 on CBS, sees Survivor alumni Rob and Amber leading the final three teams sprinting for the finish.

The Romber's good fortunes might seem a little suspicious, given that CBS's clever bit of stunt casting has made this one of the most talked-about seasons of The Amazing Race ever, but their continued success could simply be because they're the only ones actually playing the freakin' game.

Or are they? All it will take for bickering couple Ron and Kelly and down-on-their-luck spouses Uchenna and Joyce to slip past the chowderhead and his blushing bride is one small mistake, one lucky break or one bit of divine intervention on behalf of the producers. Not that anyone would ever accuse a reality TV show of being open to behind-the-scenes manipulation. Heck, no.

As the race has wound its way through South America, Africa and India, we're genuinely bummed that some of the most interesting teams were eliminated relatively early in the proceedings. It would have been sweet to see fun-lovin' brothers Brian and Greg, vaguely Sapphic hotties Debbie and Bianca or even the almost creepy mom-and-son pairing of Susan and Patrick still in the running.

But as the teams shoulder their packs and prepare to leave London on the leg's last race, all eyes are on the final three. Who will win? Who deserves to win? And what does that prissily annoying Travelocity gnome have to say about it?

ROB MARIANO, 29, AND AMBER BRKICH, 26

RELATIONSHIP: Engaged Survivor alumni who married post-race in a soon-to-be-televised ceremony. Gack.

POSITION LEADING INTO THE FINAL LEG: 1st.

WHY THEY ENTERED THE RACE: 'Cause CBS asked them to. And why not? Survivor: All Stars' million-dollar winner Amber and her runner-up beau have turned the spotlight on this season's race in a big way, with viewers divided between those who want to see them repeat their Survivor success, and those who want the smirking Robfather and his dimply doll to go down in flames.

WHY THEY SHOULD WIN: They're the one team that has truly played this race like a game. Deception, bribery, milking their fame to get help from the locals ... no tactic has been too underhanded for the Romber.

WHY THEY SHOULDN'T WIN: Because they've already got a million bucks from Survivor and way more than their 15 minutes of fame. And because there's a fine line between playing well and being a pair of obnoxious cheaters.

DEFINING AMAZING RACE MOMENT: Rob's back-to-back bribes in Santiago, Chile, where he first paid a local to keep quiet about an earlier bus leaving the airport, and then paid the bus driver to only open the front doors so that Rob and Amber could get a head start on the other teams.

WHAT THE TRAVELOCITY GNOME SAYS: "My word! This Romber makes a common troll look like a desirable companion for afternoon tea. Such despicable behaviour is rarely rewarded in the end!"

ODDS: 2 to 1

- - -

RON YOUNG, 28, AND KELLY MCCORKLE, 26

RELATIONSHIP: Dating couple in the early stages of their relationship.

POSITION LEADING INTO THE FINAL LEG: 2nd.

WHY THEY ENTERED THE RACE: The former Iraq POW and his Miss Carolina 2002 honeypie figured the race would allow them to spend a lot of time together under stressful circumstances and decide whether or not their relationship could work. I think we have the answer.

WHY THEY SHOULD WIN: Ron deserves to win simply for putting up with his cranky, chilly, God-fearin' girlfriend for this entire globe-spanning trek. How he's resisted the temptation to tie her up and leave her on some dusty roadside in India is beyond fathoming.

WHY THEY SHOULDN'T WIN: They're neither the strongest of the final three (that would be Rob and Amber) nor the most genuinely deserving (Uchenna and Joyce.) Considering how poorly they function as a team and as a couple, it's amazing they've even made it this far.

DEFINING AMAZING RACE MOMENT: When Kelly took Ron to task for his lack of commitment to anything, citing the example of how he managed to get out of the army by being taken prisoner in Iraq. Wow. Just ... wow.

WHAT THE TRAVELOCITY GNOME SAYS: "Stuff and nonsense! If you can't embrace the spirit of the adventure without quarrelling like children, then surely the spoils shall go elsewhere."

ODDS: 4 to 1

- - -

UCHENNA AGU, 40, AND JOYCE AGU, 44

RELATIONSHIP: Married couple that's fallen on hard times, financially and emotionally.

POSITION LEADING INTO THE FINAL LEG: 3rd.

WHY THEY ENTERED THE RACE: They clearly figured their luck was in need of a drastic turnaround. Uchenna worked for Enron (d'oh!), Joyce worked for WorldCom (D'OH!!), and several attempts at having children, including through in vitro fertilization, have failed. What's the worst that could happen?

WHY THEY SHOULD WIN: Of the remaining teams, they're the most deserving, both for their situation outside of the realm of the race and for their generally upstanding behaviour during it. And let's not forget that interesting news item that broke just before the race began. If you don't know what we're talking about, you don't want to. Yet.

WHY THEY SHOULDN'T WIN: There's really no reason why they shouldn't, except that they've occasionally allowed their soft hearts to slow them down, like lending a hand to struggling seniors Meredith and Gretchen. Also, they enter the final leg of the race in last place.

DEFINING AMAZING RACE MOMENT: Arriving at a Fast Forward challenge in India, only to learn it involved both team members shaving their heads. The already smooth-pated Uchenna comforted his distraught but determined wife as she bit the bullet and allowed her lengthy locks to be shorn.

WHAT THE TRAVELOCITY GNOME SAYS: "One couldn't ask for two better challengers, noble of spirit and strong of body. Pip pip and tally ho!"

ODDS: 3 to 2


http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Entertainment/2005/05/08/1030574-sun.html

[puddin]

Three teams left for an 'Amazing' finish   

Monday, May 9, 2005

By MARC SCHWARZ
STAFF WRITER

 
 
After 40,000 miles and five continents, "The Amazing Race" comes down to this:


Will "Survivor All-Stars" champ Amber Brkich once again ride Rob Mariano's coattails to become the first person to win $1 million on two different reality shows?


Will Kelly McCorkle use the money she and Ron Young receive at the start of the next leg to replenish her cosmetic supplies, or will she once again skeeve out millions of viewers by borrowing lipstick from way-too-friendly airline ticket agents?


If Uchenna and Joyce Agu manage to win, will they actually receive the $1 million? Twice they won a leg and earned nothing except the right to be the first to depart on the next. Only one other time during the race has a leg winner not received a prize (Lynn and Alex). Rob and Amber, on the other hand, have won three trips and a home entertainment system.

Here's a look at the three remaining teams in reverse order of how they finished the last leg. The two-hour finale airs at |9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS:

Uchenna and Joyce

 
Relationship: Married.

Will win because: If there is such a thing as good karma, they'll cross the finish line first. They don't bicker, they play clean and have even helped out other teams along the way. Plus, they should fare well in physically demanding tasks.

Won't win because: The small time-saving things have not been their strong suit - the best example came last week, when they settled for the direct flight to London instead of exploring other possibilities.

Prediction: As was the case last season with Kris and Jon, nice couples don't finish first.

Ron and Kelly

Relationship: Dating.

Will win because: They decide to stop fighting and focus on racing, or more likely, the other two teams self-destruct.

Won't win because: No good reason other than we don't want them to. What started as the feel-good story of the season - he was a POW in Iraq, she was Miss North Carolina - has degenerated into the tedium of watching a couple that clearly doesn't belong together.

Prediction: Finish third and then break up.

Rob and Amber

Relationship: Engaged before the race, they married last month.

Will win because: Destiny and luck appear to be on their side. Not only have they always found someone to help them out, they've been smart players and very supportive of each other.

Won't win because: At some point their luck has to run out ... doesn't it? And maybe Rob's mouth will finally get him in trouble; previews of the finale suggest that they might be involved with some sort of run-in with the law.

Prediction: Of course they'll win. Do you think CBS would air the wedding of a team of losers? ("Rob and Amber Get Married" airs at 9 p.m. May 24.) :]

E-mail: schwarz@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY2OTA1ODAmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3

[puddin]

Houston couple to compete in 'Amazing Race' finale
 
03:20 PM CDT on Monday, May 9, 2005
 

From CBS.com
 

"The Amazing Race" is down to the top three teams and one of them is a couple from Houston. Uchenna and Joyce will compete against Rob and Amber, the former "Survivors" everyone loves to hate, and Ron and Kelly, the former POW and beauty queen. The winner will be decided in a two-hour finale Tuesday night.

 
CBS

Uchenna and Joyce have survived tough times outside "The Amazing Race."
"The Amazing Race" may seem like a cakewalk to Uchenna & Joyce, who are going through an extremely challenging period in their lives. Both worked for now-bankrupt companies that experienced highly publicized accounting scandals: Uchenna worked for Enron and Joyce worked for WorldCom. Uchenna and Joyce’s primary motivation for participating in the Race is to regain some of the closeness they’ve lost during these trying times.

Uchenna and Joyce have also been through a tough emotional period. After several failed attempts to get pregnant, they tried in-vitro fertilization, but it was unsuccessful. They desperately want children and say their numerous failed attempts has caused tension within their relationship.



Both are adventurous and ready to compete. Both have hinted that if they won the Race they would use the prize money for additional in-vitro fertilization procedures.

"The Amazing Race" finale can be seen on CBS/Ch. 11 Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

[puddin]

May 8, 2005

Former UO track star races into final episode of reality TV show

By Mark Baker
The Register-Guard
 

   
Have you been watching? "Amazing," isn't it?
All right, maybe not that amazing, but how often do you get to see a former University of Oregon athlete race around the world with his wife? And watch her get her head shaved somewhere in the middle of India ... and him eat mass quantities of some mystery meat somewhere in the middle of South America ... and then together outrun the "old couple" into a London park just to plant themselves in front of some English dude wearing a derby hat?


 
Your answer should be - "Not often."

But that's just some of the stuff that Uchenna Agu, a track star and male cheerleader for the Ducks in the mid-1980s, and his wife, Joyce, have been doing every Tuesday night on CBS since March 1. And you can watch the couple, who live in Houston, again this Tuesday in the two-hour final episode of the latest version of the hit reality TV show, "The Amazing Race." Uchenna and Joyce are one of three couples left who have a chance to win a $1 million prize.

Not that anyone's going to talk about it.

Taped last fall in locations from Peru to Argentina, from South Africa to Turkey, and finally in London, contestants are forbidden to talk about the "Race" until all the episodes that they appear in have aired.

The Agus did not return a phone message left for them on the eve of the penultimate show, and CBS spokeswoman Kim Sartori wasn't about to cough up anything. Sorry, you'll just have to watch.

Uchenna Agu, one of the best long jumpers and triple jumpers in UO history, is probably better known for being the lucky guy on the other end of former Oregon State basketball star Gary Payton's tossed gum wad in a 1987 Civil War game in Corvallis. Payton, who now plays for the Boston Celtics, accused Agu of being the one who hollered "Hookhead" at him, a label that stuck among UO fans for, well, forever.

Agu laughed and said he could not confirm or deny he made the infamous remark from the sidelines in an interview before the premiere of the seventh version of "The Amazing Race."

But that's not really what this is all about, is it? Of course not.

It's about whether Uchenna and Joyce will do all Duck alums proud Tuesday and bring home the moola.

To do it, they'll have to beat the favorites, Rob and Amber, the craftiest couple left in the race. They met on "Survivor" last year and are now engaged. Amber won the $1 million prize and Rob was the runner-up. The other couple left in the race are Ron and Kelly, best known for their constant bickering.

On last Tuesday's show, Uchenna and Joyce were in first place at the beginning, but chose to play it safe and take a direct flight from Istanbul, Turkey, to London, rather than risk the possibility of flying to Frankfurt, Germany, and trying to get on a connecting flight that would have arrived in London earlier, but only if they managed to get a seat. Both Rob and Amber and Ron and Kelly chose the Frankfurt route and beat Uchenna and Joyce to London, giving them the advantage. Meredith and Gretchen, still in the race despite being the oldest couple at 69 and 66, respectively, were eliminated after Uchenna and Joyce beat them to London's Pottersfield Park.

As for what to expect on the final episode, a preview showed Uchenna and Joyce getting a flat tire, and Joyce exclaiming: "No frickin' way!"

THE AMAZING RACE 7

What: Final episode.

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Who: Former UO track star Uchenna Agu and his wife, Joyce, take on two other couples - Rob and Amber, and Ron and Kelly - for $1 million


http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/05/08/ol.amazingrace.0508.html