The Amazing Race > The Racers

TAR 16: Joe Wang and Heidi Wang--Married

<< < (3/14) > >>

Hooky:
Based solely on the fact that they have an image in the press releases I have more hope that they won't be team anonymous. :wohoo:

Sailing:
El Segundo couple gets `Amazing' offer

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


http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_14349034

georgiapeach:

georgiapeach:
Missed this one before:

An Amazing Journey


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Although we think we came in there the most competitive, the best team, after meeting all the other teams, they are all just great and just magnificent people themselves. Not only did we have a great time participating in the race, it enhanced our lives by meeting such wonderful people as well. That goes for the contestants and everyone that works at ‘The Amazing Race.’ It’s a fantastic show.”
 
http://www.tbrnews.com/articles/2010/02/04/stepping_out/step2.txt

Hooky:
This team is getting such a lousy edit. Is it really such a "bad" or "abnormal" thing to save a spot in line for an alliance member? Just because the "oh-so-important" detectives and the brothers say they are villains doesn't make it so. Things like this have happened before, but I've never seen such an average, normal, and non-villainous team get a more villainous edit. They seem to be nice, competitive people. They haven't done anything yet to warrant a "villain" label. It's all editing.

In addition, at least two of the F3 teams last season did worse things (possibly all three), but they weren't portrayed this badly. :P

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page