The Amazing Race > The Racers
♥♥♥ TAR14: "Margie" & Luke Adams - Mother & Son
Hooky:
--- Quote from: Ashe on February 03, 2009, 09:47:45 PM ---I think they'll do well. They sure as hell won't go out first (I'm saving that bet for Steve & Linda), but I don't think they'll win, either. Maybe . . . fifth or sixth? Sad fourth-place finish, even?
--- End quote ---
You know, it would be kind of interesting to see a team like this actually be the first eliminated. It would be sad, but at least we would actually get a major surprise. As far as I can tell, that has never happened before. The team that is very disadvantaged in a unique way (not like Anita & Arthur just being old) always exceeds expectations...maybe we should just expect them to do well from now on.
Anyway, sorry for that ramble.
puddin:
RIT/NTID Grad Proud to be an Amazing Racer
NTID News - February 12, 2009
"Money was a nice perk if it happened, but I really, really wanted to experience it. I just love the games," he said.
Luke, 23, of Monument, Colo., is the first deaf contestant on the popular CBS reality show. He and his mother, Margie, 51, are one of 11 teams to race on the show's next season, starting at 8 p.m. on Feb. 15.
Teams are given clues that lead them around the world, often to exotic locations. They are confronted with physical and mental tasks. Once those tasks are completed, they receive additional clues. The last team to check in each week is usually eliminated. The winning team during the show's finale shares $1 million.
Luke and his mother began the race with the other teams on Oct. 31, 2008 in California. The contestants are not allowed to discuss the race or the outcome, but taping continued through Nov. 21. The winners traveled 40,000 miles and visited nine countries.
Luke, a devoted fan of the show, applied to be a contestant three previous times. He first applied for a season that featured four family members per team.
When he turned 21, Luke applied again, this time with another RIT/NTID student as a teammate. The producers were impressed, but suggested Luke do the race with someone who he was closer with and who could hear and help interpret. So he began to persuade his mother to join him.
Margie admits she really hadn't watched much of the show before she was selected as a contestant.
"When Luke started to apply, he started begging me to go on," she said during a recent phone interview. "The more and more I watched it, the more I liked it. We went on the show for the experience. Luke had been away at college for five years and we hadn't spent much time together."
Luke and Margie were only accompanied on the race by a camera man and a sound man. "I never considered my mom as the interpreter," Luke said. "She was a teammate to me. We went in as mother and son."
During a pre-race interview, Margie and Luke said using sign language may be an advantage so they could communicate and strategize privately.
Born deaf, Luke received a cochlear implant but doesn't use it. He communicates using American Sign Language. "I'm definitely big-D Deaf," he said.
Luke graduated from the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs. He says the decision to attend RIT/NTID was easy after he visited several colleges.
"As soon as I saw RIT/NTID, it was hands down where I wanted to go," he said. "I love that school. I wanted to go to a mainstreamed school, get a good education and I wanted to be exposed to both deaf and hearing people. RIT was perfect."
Luke, who received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 2008, learned he was selected to be a contestant last summer. So he said he didn't seriously look for a job in that field knowing he'd be on the show. He currently works at Starbucks.
Margie works as a quality assurance associate for a pharmaceutical company.
Both Margie and Luke have already gotten many emails from friends, strangers and former Amazing Race cast members who told them to enjoy their 15 minutes of fame.
"We're both really looking forward to seeing the show," Margie says. "When you're doing it, you only know what you're doing. It will be fun to see what the other teams were doing. We're really excited and looking forward to it."
Luke says he'd do the show again, perhaps if they had another season with former cast members competing.
But regardless of his finish, he says he accomplished what he wanted: "I'm very proud to be the first Deaf contestant on 'The Amazing Race.' It was a very, very cool experience. I just hope I make the Deaf community proud!"
http://www.ntid.rit.edu/media/full_text.php?article_id=861
puddin:
:hearts: 2 more DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monument son, mom team up on ‘Amazing Race’
ANDREW WINEKE
February 13, 2009 - 11:11PM
When you don't speak the language, it doesn't much matter whether you can hear what people say.
That's the beauty of "The Amazing Race" for the show's first deaf contestant, Monument resident Luke Adams.
"I just figured, if people don't speak English, the other teams would be at the same disadvantage," Adams said as his mother and teammate on the show, Margie Adams, interpreted during a telephone interview.
Luke, 23, and Margie, 51, were one of 11 teams competing in the 14th season of the CBS reality show, in which two-person teams race from point-to-point and compete in challenges around the world. The new season, filmed in November, premieres Sunday.
Adams recently graduated from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York with a degree in criminal justice. In 2003, he was his class valedictorian at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs.
A longtime fan of the show, Adams applied four times before finally making the cut for this season.
"I started to think about applying when I was 16," Adams said. "When I saw the first show, I loved it - I wanted to be the first deaf person to do the race."
For Margie, finally getting on the show was exciting, but a little overwhelming.
"I was kind of, ‘Oh, what have I gotten myself into,'" Margie said. "I was a little bit worried I wouldn't be able to keep up."
After getting the news they'd made the show, the Adamses had only a month to prepare.
They beefed up their quads hiking the Manitou Incline - which helped a lot, Margie said - and took a map reading class - which, surprisingly, didn't.
"We tried to prepare ourselves, but I'm not sure there was anything you can do to prepare yourself for that adventure," Margie said.
"It challenges you in ways you never expect to be challenged," Luke said. "It really gave us both some confidence."
The only time that Luke's deafness proved to be a major drawback was in the driving legs of the race, which require one team member to drive while the other person navigates from the back seat. That arrangement made it difficult to communicate through sign language.
"It's just a hard thing to do anyway," Margie said.
Most of the time, Luke's experience gesturing and conveying his meaning nonverbally proved to be a bonus on the show, Margie said.
"I think we had the advantage over the other teams," she said. "People were very, very willing to talk with us."
‘THE AMAZING RACE' DETAILS
The 14th season of the reality show premieres at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
http://www.gazette.com/common/printer/view.php?db=colgazette&id=48121
TARAsia Fan:
I really hope they do well. Adrian & Collin from TARA has to be a blueprint for them, but as we've mentioned, Adrian could read lips while Luke cannot so that's going to be an interesting dynamic in this race.
Jobby:
--- Quote from: Hooky on February 05, 2009, 06:12:52 PM ---
--- Quote from: Ashe on February 03, 2009, 09:47:45 PM ---I think they'll do well. They sure as hell won't go out first (I'm saving that bet for Steve & Linda), but I don't think they'll win, either. Maybe . . . fifth or sixth? Sad fourth-place finish, even?
--- End quote ---
You know, it would be kind of interesting to see a team like this actually be the first eliminated. It would be sad, but at least we would actually get a major surprise. As far as I can tell, that has never happened before. The team that is very disadvantaged in a unique way (not like Anita & Arthur just being old) always exceeds expectations...maybe we should just expect them to do well from now on.
Anyway, sorry for that ramble.
--- End quote ---
They have exceeded all expectations by even winning the first leg!! :jam:
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