The Amazing Race > The Racers

Lorena Segura and Jason Widener - TAR12

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puddin:
I cried for the goats  :cmas4

Pedaler:

--- Quote ---Thanks Pedaler! I don't think he knows really...
--- End quote ---

I agree.  In the past, racers have been shown at times not to be good sources of information.  I just wanted to hypothesize some and it was fun, especially since I don't visit the detective threads any more.


--- Quote ---I cried for the goats
--- End quote ---

Puddin, I won't hypothesize about what happened to the goats    :cmas13

puddin:
Lorena and Jason Take an 'Amazing Race' U-Turn
 
On Sunday's edition of "The Amazing Race," a bathroom break nearly cost the Ethopian siblings precious time. The teams had to for no apparent reason keep a chicken with them because "no chicken, no check-in." The Blondes named their chicken Phil, and in a move that will endear the editors to me forever, they showed a clip of Phil looking not unlike the chicken in question. The teams had to do a Detour where they did a native dance or panned for gold. The Blondes looked like they were using moves they'd picked up from "Showgirls," while Kynt actually seemed cool. The Race has apparently supplemented/replaced the Yields (where a team would have to sit around for 30 minutes and steam over the fact they'd been Yielded) with U-turns (where after performing one half of the Detour a team has to go back and perform the other half.) The Blondes use it on Lorena and Jason, who started off a million miles back of the pack anyhow. The Roadblock was about loading up a bike with a bunch of stuff, including a bound goat, and navigating a marketplace.  Vyxsyn was saddened by all the poverty she saw in Africa. The Ethopians just barely get to the mat first, and Jennifer (Nathan's partner, rather than one of the Blondes) is angry because the Ethopians have already been in first a bunch and they won't play nice. I'm not making that up. We get about a gajillion shots of Jason trying to sound optimistic that they can catch up to the rest of the pack. But it's pretty certain that the help they got from Julia to not come in last the previous week only delayed the inevitable.   

Here's what they had to say for themselves:

R: Guys, how are you doing?

L: Good. How are you?

R: Good. Sorry you guys got eliminated last night, but it seemed like it was pretty much inevitable from the start. How did you feel about that?

L: Yeah, we felt the same way.

J: Yeah, we were pretty bummed that we weren’t moving on to another country because we would have been at the airport and we would have equalized this. And of course the U-turn didn’t help. And it didn’t help that nobody really messed up anything. So it just didn't fall right for us.

R: So how far back did you guys start?

L: About an hour and a half behind the last team, which were the Blondes.

R: So do you think if you hadn’t been U-turned you possibly could have caught up to them?

J: I think we would have been close.

L: No, I don’t think we would have. We would have still been about a half an hour behind.

J: But the thing is, you just never know, like the course of action that takes place. Since they did U-turn us, they may probably felt a little better about it and so they were more relaxed in getting to the events. If they didn’t U-turn us, if they would have seen us, it puts more pressure on them. You just never know what’s going to happen. I think we could have—it definitely would have been close.

L: Yeah.

R: So it seems to me that they U-turned you thinking they were u turning the other team that was right behind them. Is that what your impression was, or did they mean to U-turn you?

J: They meant to U-turn us…..

L: They meant to U-turn us, not TK and Rachel. I don't think they would have U-turned TK and Rachel had they known they were the ones coming up behind them.

J: They must have just thought that was us. They were scared that we were catching up with them. 

R: So how did you feel about being U-turned? I mean, you seemed to take it pretty much in stride once you got there.

J: (laughs) There’s nothing else we could do. We were just like, "Alright, here we go."

L: Yeah, it was more like we’re behind, we don’t know if we can catch up. We can only be positive, so.

J: We saw it as, we were the first team ever on "The Amazing Race" to be U-turned, so we will go down in the history books.

R: Why did you guys try out for "The Amazing Race" in the first place?

J: I guess adventure, man. Adventure, maybe some money, and fun. That was it.

R: So how did it compare with your expectations of what would happen?

L: I didn’t know you’re constantly racing. I thought that when you rest, you got a rest, you rested. But it just so happens that you’re racing the whole entire time. So I didn’t know—the adrenaline rush I’d never felt before, just a lot of emotions I’d never felt before. It was completely different than what I’d thought. I thought it wouldn’t be THAT intense.

J: I agree.

R: So Lorena, obviously you have had your moment that was really challenging from last week when you were trying to milk the camel. How do you feel in retrospect, that sort of being out there where you had that sort of breakdown. What was it like to go through it?

L: To be honest with you, I don’t remember going through it. I was so in another space. I was so scared and nervous to let Jason down, to lose this leg. I just put so much pressure on myself that I don’t remember going through it. But watching back, I can see—I don’t know, it’s just hard. It's hard to talk about it. I don’t know if I can ever feel like this again unless I was put in that same situation. And I’ve never acted like that before either—I don’t know how to explain it. I feel bad that I’m being judged for it—not judged, that people are talking about it in a negative way and stuff like that and putting it down when really I see it like it a human being. Because I wasn’t overreacting at all. A human being that’s going through something really hard. And that’s it.

R: How have people you’ve known reacted to that moment specifically and your being on the race in general? ...

L: Well, the people I know—they love me, and they actually felt bad for me for what had happened, very supportive and a lot of love from the people that matter. They’re really, really proud that we went through it and that we’re still together. And they know that it’s hard. And it was fun for them to not know what was going to happen. And it was sad for them—they went through all the emotions that we went through. That’s pretty cool. 

R: It seemed like Marianna and Julia let you in on a secret that allowed you to pass them. Did that make you feel guilty doing that, and did it make you feel lucky that she gave you that hint?

J: At that point we were so far behind, both of us, that I think we would have done the same thing, ‘cause it was definitely a "Let’s just get the hell out of here and get to the next spot." I don’t think they were really thinking that we would catch up. But we did, and that’s the race.

L: It's also we were very far away with our camels. And we were helping each other back and forth. I helped her, and she helped me. And at that moment, we became like teammates. We were so desperate. And even Julia was having a hard time, and she was freaking out. Not to my extent, but she was freaking out too at that point. That we became just like a team and helped us cope with how we were feeling. That last hint came with a bunch of other hints that we both gave each other. So I don’t think they felt bad for doing it, and we felt guilty for doing that. I just felt glad to be out of that situation. I didn’t have room for any other feelings.

R: How does camel milk taste anyway?

L: I could say it was good because in my mind it was great. It tasted sweet, and it wasn’t as thick as cow milk. Thinner. Actually, not bad. I didn’t think it was bad, and I don’t like cow milk.

R: What was your favorite part of being on the Race?

L: There are so many. For me, it was my birthday, the first pit stop of the race. And we got to sleep in tents on this beautiful island of Inishmore in Ireland. I got to celebrate it with Jason and with a beautiful view  and with our first meal in a long time. It was great. That was my best moment.

R: Which, if any, of the teams are you rooting for to win the Race?

L: All of them.

J: We know the outcome, so it's so biased. I just feel that everybody's strong and everybody's going to be surprised as to what happens because we were all surprised when we found out as each person was eliminated. It's going to be fun. It's going to be a fun Race.

R: So what would you advise people who want to try out for the Race to do as preparation?

L: Practice. It's not so much physical as your mental state. Put yourself in situations where you haven't been before and try to tackle them as calmly as possible. Situations that you don't know what's going to to happen. Like go bungee jumping. Go outside of yourself. I think that's the best preparation because then you know you can do anything.

J: It's about keeping your head while other people around you are losing theirs. I think in life, whatever you've got to do to keep your head is definitely a strategy. 

R: Remind me how you guys met and then tell me about how being on the Race has affected your relationship, if it has.

L: I first saw him at a bar that I was working at. I guess that's the first time we met met. But we really got to know each other in an acting class. We became really, really, really good friends and I think the friendship really took us to the next level. We got along really well. It was three months into our friendship that we started dating, and we've been together three and a half years now. We go through our ups and downs and we're just trying to figure out ourselves individually and together. We love each other and we really want to make it work. It's like any other relationship. I think the Race forced us to feel things that we hadn't felt before.

R: Like what?

L: Like the elimination, being a team, working together, me going through my own personal emotional roller coaster and him seeing that and dealing with it and then dealing with the fact of why we got eliminated.

R: Does it bother you or affect you that Jason basically said marriage isn't for him on national TV?

L: No, because we talked about it and I know what he meant by it. When you don't know someone and hear that, it sounds worse than it is. I know what he was trying to say. We live together and we have a very good relationship. ... And he feels that marriage would just be a sealing point that he doesn't need for us to be good together.

J: We live life differently anyway. We don't have normal 9-5 jobs. We're both actors. I'm working on a documentary right now. I'm not a sheep. I'm different. I have an edge to myself that things aren't so secure all the time, and I like that edge. I want to keep it, I think. I think marriage as an institution on the whole, it is what it is. If you want a big ol' family and you want to do it that way, marriage is probably a good thing. But as of right now, I don't want a family right now. I think that's the main reason to get married.

R: OK, anything else you want to add about your time on "The Amazing Race"?

J: I had diarrhea ... after the fourth leg. So thank God we were eliminated. (laughs).

L: Yeah, I don't.

J: You did, too.

L: I did.

R: Well, thanks for sharing and best of luck.

- posted by Raoul


http://tvfilter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!DB9D137CC0F754C9!23353.entry

georgiapeach:
AP Interview

Bickering Couple Eliminated on `Race'
By DERRIK J. LANG – 3 days ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Blame the first-ever "U-Turn." Bickering couple Lorena Segura and Jason Widener were eliminated from CBS' "The Amazing Race" after a new twist imposed by another team forced the contestants to backtrack during a West African leg of the competitive reality series.

"We were already an hour and a half behind," Widener told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. "It was definitely kicking us while we were down."

Similar to the "Yield" introduced in the fifth season, the "U-Turn" obstacle allows racers to choose a trailing team to go back and finish a previously uncompleted "Detour" challenge. In Segura and Widener's case, that meant they had to search for gold after already learning an African dance routine while racing through Burkina Faso.

"All the producers said we did that leg faster than anybody," says Widener.

The "dating couple" team doesn't hold any animosity against "friends" team Jennifer McCall and Shana Wall, the blondes from Los Angeles who targeted them with the "U-Turn."

"Lorena's obviously an emotional person, but we're not super drama queens," says Widener. "We forgive them."

"We know it's a game," adds Segura. "We would've done the same thing if we were in their situation."

Segura and Widener say teams were told about the new "U-Turn" twist before the race began but weren't told when or where it would appear along the race.

During the previous leg of "The Amazing Race," Segura broke down and began crying while attempting to milk a camel during for a "Roadblock" challenge. Widener says he was surprised at how emotional Segura became during the fiasco.

"It's really affected me," says Segura. "It's been really hard to hear people call me psychotic, emotional and whiny."

The couple, both actors from Sherman Oaks, Calif., are still dating but not engaged

georgiapeach:
IGN Interview

Amazing Race Interview: Lorena & Jason
We talk camel milking, U-Turns and more with the couple.
by Eric Goldman
November 29, 2007 - While Lorena & Jason were out of The Amazing Race at the end of the fourth leg, it was not before making sure they will be remembered on the race for a long time to come. Unfortunately for them, this was because of a roadblock during the third leg involving milking a camel that Lorena had some major problems at, leading to a very emotional and notable reaction.

On the fourth leg, the couple from Sherman Oaks, CA tried to make up the time they'd lost in leg 3, but it was not to be, as Shana & Jennifer used the new "U-Turn" on them, forcing them to go back and complete the second detour option they'd skipped. I spoke to Lorena & Jason to find out what they thought about milking camels, being U-Turned, and other experiences on The Amazing Race.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


IGN TV: How did you come to be on the show?

Lorena: Well Jason's family have always been fans. We never really watched it as an ongoing thing but when the opportunity presented itself to be able to apply for it I think we were at that point in our lives where we were like "We need to do something different. We want to travel. This would be the best way to travel and see a lot of places!" Then we sent in the tape and the tape was horrible in the beginning. It was hard to make. We were fighting the whole time to figure out how to make the tape. And then here we are! It was all really quick, too.

IGN TV: Were you familiar enough to have a pretty good idea of what was in store for you or was it a shock to your system?

Lorena: Well when we applied we immediately started watching the All-Stars and immediately bought Season 7 and the first one and started watching. By the time we got on the show we felt like we were already fans. It wasn't that much of a shock, no. It is a shock, because it's nothing like what you see on TV. It's 100 times harder.

- CBSLorena & JasonIGN TV: Did you try to plan beforehand about how you'd deal with stressful situations and hopefully not fight too much?

Lorena: We had a motto that I didn't follow too well. [Laughs] It was "Stay calm. Don't be last. And have fun."

IGN TV: Really, it was only on the first leg that we saw you guys have any notable argument. Did you talk about that afterwards at the pit stop?

Lorena: Oh yeah. We immediately talked about it, actually. We talked about it even before we hit the mat in the car. We were like "If we're gonna get through this, we really have to communicate better. We have to let our past go and start really becoming a team." I think after that it really helped us, because on the second leg we did wonderfully.

IGN TV: What was it that caused the fighting on the first leg?

Lorena: I think we didn't communicate at all about directions. Jason was 100% sure of one thing and I was 100% sure of another and in that situation, we had decided that we would go with what Jason had decided, so we wouldn't have to fight over who's right or who's wrong.

Jason: Because I'm the man! [Laughs]

Lorena: Yeah, because he was the man. [Laughs] But [in that situation] I couldn't let it go. I just felt really 100% sure that we were going the wrong way.

Jason: But we really weren't.
Lorena: But we really weren't. It was just a situation that we had talked about before and how we would act in it, but it just rose up way too quickly and I just didn't know how to handle it.

Jason: Lorena's emotions spin out of control pretty easily.

IGN TV: Marianna & Julia told me they felt close with your team. What teams did you feel you connected with?

Jason: Them [Marianna & Julia], Nate & Jen…Lorena: We connected with [Marianna & Julia] in the third leg the most. That was when we danced, when we did the camel things… At least I became really close to them because they're also Cuban and I'm Puerto Rican, so we had that connection.

Jason: I also definitely connected with Nate and T.K., because we were all athletes. Nate's a volleyball player, T.K.'s a swimmer and I'm a rock climber, so we all connected because we liked sports.

Lorena: We also connected with Kynt & Vyxsin really well. We worked well together.

IGN TV: When you first saw Kynt & Vyxsin, what was your reaction?

Jason: "How are they gonna put on all their makeup all the time?"

Lorena: You can't stop looking at them. It was that sort of thing. But once you meet them, they are the most wholesome, great, honest people.

Jason: Yeah, they're a lot of fun.

Lorena: I really like them.

IGN TV: What did you think of Ron and Christina?

Jason: I definitely don't like how Ron tries to micromanage his daughter. Trying to tell her what to do, instead of let her try to figure things out, you know what I mean? That's probably one of their major issues in life is him trying to control the situation when it's out of control. It's like me with the camels - it was out of my control. What am I gonna do, you know? I think she handled it completely well and it's not that I don't like Ron, it's just that I think he needs to open his mind us a little more and listen to his daughter more, you know? It's hard to watch in a way, but it's good TV.



- CBSIGN TV: You mentioned the infamous camel, so I'm gonna continue on that path. Marianna & Julia told me you all were there about four hours?

Jason: Yeah. Maybe three.
Lorena: Yeah, yeah. We were there for a very long time. What you see on TV unfortunately is the last part of my breakdown. I wasn't like that at all at the beginning. At the beginning I was pretty calm and confident. And then something you didn't see is I drank the milk with somebody who I thought was a judge and who wasn't the judge. They told me I had to fill up another bowl.

IGN TV: Wow, so you'd already filled it up?

Lorena: Yeah, I'd already filled up the bowl and drank one bowl with the wrong judge. But the thing is, there's a lot of issues in that… That's why I don't bring it up. The thing is, I had to fill up another bowl, so that's why I was acting the way I was acting. Because I felt like I messed up, I was letting Jason down, "I can't believe this happened", "We would have been done already!", blah, blah, blah and all this guilt.

IGN TV: What was going through your head during all this Jason?

Jason: Oh man. I was just trying to let it all go, man. I was like "Alright, this is not what I was envisioning as far as staying up in the pack." But you know, it was definitely a good experience, because I went into this weird place of just letting it all go and just not thinking about the million dollars anymore. Just thinking about the experience and just having fun. Just "let her figure it out and we'll move on. Let's just get this thing milked. Once it's milked, we'll see how we can make up time on the next event." It was tough. It was tough watching her, because I couldn't help her.

IGN TV: The preview for that episode gave a pretty good indication of what would be shown. Where you getting ready for or dreading them showing that sequence?

Lorena: Oh, I was dreading it. Because I watched myself as an outsider too at that moment, because I don't remember feeling that way. I was feeling so out of myself, that I don't remember feeling that way. So now watching back, watching myself go through it, was just really hard. Because I watched it the same as you watched it, you know? I don't know… It's been hard to deal with the comments and everything, and the aftermath of what people think and say… But nobody really knows me and nobody knows that's just another side of me, a minimal side of me that I've never seen. I've had to let it go. It's so hard to talk about it! It is…

IGN TV: A stark contrast to seeing your reaction with the camels was after the U-Turn was used on you and you both seemed to deal very calmly with it. Do you think that was partially because of what happened in the leg before?

Jason: Yeah, I think so.

Lorena: Yeah.

Jason: I think we realized that when you're in Africa and you're running through and you're seeing how happy these people are, and they have nothing… And we're riding on a free trip around the world, and we're worried about a million dollars, when really in life, I mean… I think everybody knows and has heard a million times that really money isn't everything. It's about how you handle life and it's about your outlook on life. Because when you die, you're not going to take anything with you. I think you really have that feeling there, because they know, the Africans, that they're never really going to be rich. All they have is each other.

Lorena: They don't even contemplate it. It's not an issue for them. They are happy because they are happy. And seeing that they are happy because they are happy made me realize how unhappy we are because we think we don't have all that we need.

Jason: And we realized we had everything we needed in the race, so it was actually the perfect place to be eliminated.

Lorena: Oh yeah. It was.

Jason: It was the perfect place.

Lorena: It was. We were very grateful.



- CBSIGN TV: Were you surprised to have the U-Turn used on you?

Jason: Well, we didn't know there was gonna be a U-Turn, so when we got there we were just kind of like… Our reaction was "Wow… can anything else go wrong?"

Lorena: We didn't even understand. We were like "Why? We're so far behind!"

Jason: First of all, there was no airport, no equalizer on this leg in that way. Usually everyone always catches up. So we didn't have that. And then we got U-Turned! We were just like "Wow…"

Lorena: "This is just bad luck."

Jason: "This is just… We've just got to stay positive now. This is crazy."

IGN TV: Looking back, what do you think of Shana & Jennifer using it? Do you think "okay, it's part of the game" or that it just wasn't necessary at that time?

Lorena: Well, I still think it wasn't necessary, but I also think that it is a game and people play games in whatever way they play games. We can't hold that against them at all, because they also wanted to win. They were both torn. Jen didn't want to do it, and Shana wanted to do it… They were both torn about it as well, and they made a decision and that was it. You can't hold anything against anybody in life, let alone in a game.

Jason: Yeah, they were playing the game. I just wish they had known… They thought T.K. & Rachel was us, so they thought we were closer to them than we really were.

IGN TV: I was going to ask about that. That's what it seemed was happening.

Jason: Yeah, that was true. They thought they saw us. That's why they U-Turned us. They thought we were just getting out of the bus and it was actually T.K. & Rachel, running from the mine. And they were running to the U-Turn and they thought that was just us trying to figure out where to go, because I think T.K. & Rachel were running around crazy. So I just wish that they had known. That would have given us a chance. But instead, it just kicked us when we were down.

Lorena: It helped them, because we were out.

IGN TV: Did you talk to them later and find out for sure they thought T.K. & Rachel were you?

Jason: Yeah, we talked to them.

IGN TV: How much time did it take to have to go back and do the other task?

Lorena: We were super quick.

Jason: To tell you the truth, when that leg began we were an hour and a half behind the blondes. When the whole leg was over, we were an hour behind the blonds and T. K. & Rachel. So we did both things in the time most people did one [task]. We actually flew. That's what sucks. We were so strong and fast. Just… bad luck.

IGN TV: Overall, how was the whole experience doing the race?

Jason: Great. I'm glad we got as far as we did.

Lorena: Yeah, it was really good. And now, being able to talk about it, it's actually helping me. Like…

Jason: …Therapy!

Lorena: It's like it's free therapy too, included in the combo. That's great!

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