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TAR15: Ericka Dunlap & Brian Kleinschmidt - Married

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puddin:
Former Miss Americas visit troops in a dark war reality



ST. SIMONS ISLAND — It was odd to see a Miss America crown on the heads of soldiers, airmen and Marines dressed to match the dirt and rocks.

Heather Whitestone McCallum wore a Kevlar helmet during parts of her four-day visit to Afghanistan in October, but she took along the glittering head gear that she won as Miss America 1995. Back home on St. Simons Island, she spoke Friday to elementary school students at Frederica Academy, two days after Veterans Day.

She showed pictures. She told stories. Pictures, they say, are worth a thousand words. But there aren’t enough words or pictures for some of the heartbreak she saw or to describe the absolute triumph of the human spirit she witnessed.

There were photos of her and five other former Miss Americas standing at parade rest under orders from former Miss Utah, Jill Stevens, who was deployed previously with the Utah National Guard as a medic. One of them, Erika Dunlap, Miss America 2004, is a contestant on CBS’s “The Amazing Race.”










more here

http://jacksonville.com/news/columnists/terry_dickson/2009-11-15/story/former_miss_americas_visit_troops_in_a_dark_war_reali

RealityFanWA:
I'm glad they made the final 3 but I wanted them to win!

Benedicto:

--- Quote from: RealityFanWA on December 09, 2009, 02:42:52 AM ---I'm glad they made the final 3 but I wanted them to win!

--- End quote ---
They actually won, had the chip counter did not RIGGED it against Brian/Ericka  :'(
Look at my signature =o

RealityFreakWill:
Amazing Race’s Ericka & Brian Stronger Than Ever

Ericka Dunlap, 27, and Brian Kleinschmidt, 27, only placed third in The Amazing Race 15, but this Nashville couple (a.k.a. Mr. and Miss America) were consistently fun to watch thanks to her dramatic meltdowns and their witty repartee. The aspiring country singer and her marketing tour manager husband spoke with PEOPLE about keeping it real on The Race. –Carrie Bell

It must have been frustrating to gain the lead and then lose it because you can’t bungee bounce.
Brian: It was a tough challenge and it was a blow to our spirits to lose the lead but it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. They made it look like we were there for an hour when in actuality we were probably only there for an extra 10 or 15 minutes. The thing that really killed us was that our dealer in the poker room miscounted some chips.
Ericka: It sucked to lose the lead. We were in first place for the first time ever and it seemed like destiny to achieve that when it really counted. We arrived at Love about 13 minutes ahead of Meghan and Cheyne but couldn’t get the damn flowers. When they got there and she got it, I started to get very anxious and frustrated. The more frustrated I got, the worse I performed.
Brian: It felt like we lost a million dollars by about four inches. Ericka is much shorter than Sam and Meghan. She came so close and grabbed a handful of petals almost every time. But that’s life.

That was probably your biggest meltdown, but you had several memorable tantrums on the Race.
Ericka: The truth of the matter is if you put a group of pastors out there on the Race, they’d get frustrated and yell sometimes too. I know I’m a sweet, good person who loves my husband. I had my meltdowns and my moments. I was frustrated and hungry and we were in the heat of competition and we were there to win a million. If you’re passive and just there for the experience, you would probably be much calmer. But we wanted that money!

Now that you’ve seen the episodes and had time to reflect, how do you feel about your behavior?
Ericka: We had some spats. Everyone did. It was freeing for me in a way. I‘m not some passive perfect pageant girl. It was freeing
Brian: We’re a real couple with real problems. We conquered all those and got stronger as the Race went on. Ericka is competitive and passionate. That’s what I love about her. Our positive moments still outweighed the negative moments.
Ericka: I think more people relate to us than dislike us. Women see me at Walmart and write me on Facebook and tell me their husband has started calling them Ericka because they act like me.

How did it affect your marriage?
Ericka: It exposed us to a lot of different sides of each other that we were not aware of and we’re surely prepared for a lot of new challenges. It made me love him more.
Brian: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. We’ve only been married for 3 years and have experienced more than most people will in the first 50.

Did it change your family’s opinion of Brian?
Ericka: Yes. My mom is so proud of how far we got and things have been much better between them. They realized he’s here to stay and that he loves me.
Brian: That’s worth more than the prize.

What were your favorite and least favorite moments?
Brian: Our favorite city was Prague even though transporting the beer for a mile and a half from moonlight to sunlight was the worst task for me. It was so heavy, it took three trips and we had to deal with those rowdy drunks.
Ericka: I loved the candelabra task with the medieval dungeon men because it was really easy to complete that one. My worst? There were so many. How to choose? The bells were probably the worst.

http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/12/08/amazing-races-ericka-brian-stronger-than-ever/

RealityFreakWill:
Hitting the Final Mat with Brian and Ericka of The Amazing Race

One of the strongest teams of The Amazing Race 15, husband and wife team of Nashville marketing tour manager, Brian Kleinschmidt, and former Miss America, Ericka Dunlap, had their fair share of highs and lows leading up to The Amazing Race finale. Although Brian and Ericka were always an Amazing Race threat, Prague proved to be a huge challenge, as Brian and Ericka almost saw themselves on the outside of The Amazing Race looking in at the other Amazing Race teams after nearly being eliminated.

Thanks to a non-elimination round, Brian and Ericka regrouped for a second chance at Amazing Race glory and a renewed run at landing in the top three forThe Amazing Race finale. When the teams touched down in Las Vegas to run the final leg of The Amazing Race, Brian and Ericka were in the heat of competition until the Nashville couple hit a roadblock and fell victim to a Cirque du Soleil bungee task at The Beatles "Love" show. As a result, Brian and Ericka lost precious Amazing Race time and crossed the finish line in third at the estate of singer Wayne Newton behind brothers Sam and Dan and Meghan and Cheyne who wonThe Amazing Race 15.

The next morning we caught up with Brian and Ericka of The Amazing Race to find out their Amazing Race turning point, whether Brian could have ran down Mandalay Bay instead of Ericka, what they would have done differently, their thoughts on Sam and Dan, and the real story behind the broken stick shift we heard about earlier in the season.

THE DEADBOLT: You guys should've been awarded second place for knowing who Wayne Newton is.

ERICKA DUNLAP: Hello! Thank you.

[The Amazing Race] BRIAN KLEINSCHMIDT: You know what? You are the first person that we talked to today that actually realized that.

ERICKA: Which makes you the smartest person.

THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Sam and Dan should've been given a penalty for that.

BRIAN: [laughs] You know what's funny? Sam and Dan are some of our best friends now. Do you know who they thought it was?

THE DEADBOLT: Who?

BRIAN: George Wallace, who is an African American performer in Vegas. I'm glad you noticed that, because in the clue it said, "You need to know who this person is."

THE DEADBOLT: You were so strong for most of the race. Aside from the finale, did you feel there was a turning point before you got to Vegas?

BRIAN: Honestly, I felt like our turning point was in Amsterdam. I really do, it was our worst leg. But at the same time it was our best leg. I mean, everything that could've went wrong that leg went wrong. Every team has it and that was our leg. I had trouble getting the car in gear, it was raining, and I wasn't feeling well. Ericka had some trouble at the bell tower and then we decided to not take the bikes for some reason. But when we got to that dance challenge, it was like we forgot about all of that stuff and we put it all aside and we almost fell in love with each other as we were dancing, because we knew we were like three hours behind. So we were like, "Whatever happens was meant to be." When we got on that mat and Phil said that we were still in it, I think that's the turning point where we really believed that we were in this thing to win it.

THE DEADBOLT: Ericka, how tough was it up there on Mandalay Bay?

[The Amazing Race] ERICKA: Oh man, it was like no big deal, honestly. I mean, the only thing that was really challenging was that as I was working my way down the rope, it was kind of burning my hand. We had gloves on but it was burning through the gloves a little bit. That was the only thing that was uncomfortable about it. But I was just psyched that I was actually doing that, it was so exciting. I can't believe that I had the chance to do it and I know that my whole family was just like, "What? She's actually doing it and enjoying doing it." I'm not like an adrenaline junkie, but for something like that it was a once in a life time. You just had to go for it and go all in.

THE DEADBOLT: Brian, if Ericka had used up all of the roadblocks, could you've done it?

BRIAN: Actually, we were very smart about our roadblocks. We had it all planned out because we honestly thought the last challenge was going to be a memory challenge. Ericka was so prepared for the memory challenge. She had a song written about all of the roadblocks and all of the places we went. She had a little diddy written. So if I would've had to have done it, I would've done it, because one of my goals going into this was getting over my fear of heights and it's a crazy fear. If you notice Cheyne going down that building, I probably would've looked like Cheyne. I think Cheyne passed out on the way down. You know, if had to do it, I would've done it. But luckily Ericka stepped up to the plate and knocked it out for the team.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the key to getting the bouquet of flowers in the Cirque du Soleil challenge?

[The Amazing Race] BRIAN: The bouquet of flowers was frustrating. But it wasn't as frustrating as they made it look on TV. They made it look like we were there all day. But when you think about it, when Meghan and Cheyne got their bouquet, the only mistake they made is that they went to the Venetian. When they realized that was wrong, they went straight to Monte Carlo to the poker room. Well, we beat them to the poker room, so we could not have been at the bungee that long. So they made it look like we were a little more frustrated than we were. But the key was to stay calm and to get it on the second bounce and you had to take the right angle. It wasn't necessarily Ericka's fault, it was more me because I was controlling where she went. If Ericka was about three inches taller, that would've helped, too.

THE DEADBOLT: What did each of you learn from that task?

ERICKA: You really just have to slow down and communicate. I think that's the most important thing, just evaluate the situation and develop a strategy that can be taken in many different adventures in life. I mean, you just never know when you just have to take a deep breath, evaluate what's going on, and then work from there based on looking around you. One of the things that I think was our downfall was that we got in first and we really didn't know what we were doing. Sam and Dan and Meghan and Cheyne, not to say they were copying us, but they definitely had a chance to learn from our mistakes and realize that they were able to catch up to us, and they were able to gain some really precious ground.

BRIAN: Just staying calm under pressure is huge. Like Ericka said, getting to a roadblock is not always an advantage. Even though this wasn't a roadblock, getting to a challenge like that first is not always the best. I can remember when we were in Dubai, Dan and I were one of the first ones searching for those urns. We searched for forty five minutes before we found those urns. When the other group came, they just saw where we were and walked right out to those urns. So it's not always an advantage to be first.

THE DEADBOLT: Given how Sam and Dan played throughout the race, would either of you go back and do anything differently?

[The Amazing Race] BRIAN: No. I'm really proud the way we ran the race. We tried to stay honest and play fair and not make any enemies. That was one of our main goals, because when you start focusing on other teams and start bickering and fighting, you lose focus of your own team. We tried to stay clear of that and play nice. If we could help people out, we helped them out. But I wasn't going to help Big Easy with the Franz thing. If we could help somebody out who wasn't going to put us out, we had no problem doing that. Sam and Dan, I respect the way they ran the race. It's just not the way we chose to run it.

ERICKA: At the same time, I think it would've been smart if perhaps during that situation Brian would've just gone down to somehow stop them from carrying through and allowing them to put us almost out of the race. That's the only thing I wish we would've done a little bit differently. But I'm proud of the fact that we were decent and kind to everybody who was running the race.

I had my meltdown moments with Brian, but that's just kind of the strange part of our dynamic. We were talking about this a little earlier. In real life, he is the one who's a lot more feisty and frantic and I'm the one who's always kind of calm and collected and trying to figure out what the solution is going to be. So we definitely had a role reversal throughout the race and it's interesting to watch all of that play out. Half of the time when we're watching these episodes, I don't even know that I said or did some of those things, because it was just raw, fleshy emotion that was coming out. There was no real bone to it.

BRIAN: After the first leg or so, you honestly forget that the cameramen are there and that there's a mic on you. That's why the show is so genuine and real, because all of the emotions that you're seeing are as real as you can get.

THE DEADBOLT: I've been talking to the other teams about a broken stick shift. What can you tell me about that?

[The Amazing Race] BRIAN: [laughs] I don't know what you're talking about.

THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Lance told me you broke a stick shift.

BRIAN: Leaving the L.A.sewer system. First of all, that was just crazy with the license plates. I almost had a heart attack when Phil said a team is going to be eliminated right on the spot. But we got our license plate and got in the car. I've never driven a Mercedes like that so I thought that it was just a regular gear shift where I had to pull up and down on it. Well, little did I know, all you had to do was touch a little button and that put it in gear. So I took the whole gear shifter, put it in drive, pulled down and the whole thing came off in my hand. So I quickly got out of that car, got in the next car, and drove to the airport. I left that one for Lance, my friend. The funny thing is, Lance thinks that he broke it. When I told him at the end of the race that I was the one who broke it, we had a great laugh about it.

http://www.thedeadbolt.com/news/106820/brian_ericka_amazing_race_interview.php

 

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