The Amazing Race > The Racers
TAR 17: Andie DeKroon and Jenna Sykes -- Birth Mother/Daughter
Eugene Schwindlemyer:
--- Quote from: redskooky on September 07, 2010, 10:38:54 PM ---
--- Quote from: Mid-Life on September 04, 2010, 02:19:46 PM ---
--- Quote from: DrRox on September 03, 2010, 05:00:03 PM ---
--- Quote from: Eugene Schwindlemyer on September 02, 2010, 02:08:41 PM ---10 KIDS!!! (11 counting the one on the race with her)
Gesh, traveling with one adult child should be a break from 10 freaking kids at home...
Oh, uh, good luck whith the race, I guess.
--- End quote ---
Before you get to carried away and start assuming way to much......she is the mom in a blended family......not all of those 11 kids are hers. She is step mom to a bunch.....
--- End quote ---
She is the biological mother of all 10 children, plus Jenna.
--- End quote ---
:ascared
How do one become mom to so many kids??
--- End quote ---
ibid (that means "see above") She is Catholic
georgiapeach:
Detailed Hometown Interview:
‘The Amazing Race’ features intriguing local duo
5:00 am September 23, 2010, by Rodney Ho
Birth mom and Cumming resident Andie DeKroon with her daughter, UGA student Jenna Sykes
Over nine years, CBS’s “The Amazing Race” has cast plenty of parent-child combos. None have won the million dollars.
And none have a story quite like Georgia residents Andie DeKroon and Jenna Sykes.
Cumming resident DeKroon had an unplanned pregnancy at age 22. Unmarried, she elected to give Sykes to an adoptive family. Over the next two decades, she had ten kids she is raising with her husband Joe, an IT consultant.
In 2008, University of Georgia student Sykes decided she wanted to know her birth mom. DeKroon agreed.
For the next 18 months, they wrote old-fashioned letters. No emails or phone calls.
“Jenna’s mom knew her child,” DeKroon said. “She needed to be eased into a relationship.”
“I was very overwhelmed just knowing her name,” Sykes said. “Taking it slow by letter worked for me.”
On September 27, 2009, Jenna posted a seemingly innocuous Twitter feed: “Watching The Amazing Race… Wish I could do it!”
DeKroon, also a fan of the show, had an idea. They had not yet met in person. But they both had an adventurous streak. DeKroon thought, “Why not make the show an opportunity to get to really know each other in an unusual yet meaningful way?”
The pair recorded separate audition tapes and combined them. “When we saw each other’s tape, that was the first time we heard each other’s voices,” DeKroon said.
In March, they decided to have the families meet all at once at DeKroon’s home for the first time. “Everything was really really natural,” Sykes said. “There was never an awkward moment, even when all 10 kids came running at me.” Later that month, they met again to interview in Los Angeles to get on the show.
Six weeks later, CBS placed them on the cast for the show’s 17th edition. Soon after, they were traveling around the world. Though they can’t yet detail what happened or whether they’ve won the million, both said the experience was indeed amazing.
“We got to spend this time together 24/7 under these crazy circumstances,” Sykes said. “We got to know each other in a way no other birth parent and child has ever gotten to know each other. There were no distractions from every day life.”
CBS did not allow DeKroon to contact her other family members at all during the three-plus weeks of the race. The producers would merely tell her husband weekly that she was alive.
“As hard as it was,” DeKroon said, “getting to spend time with my first born after 21 years of wondering about her was priceless."
http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2010/09/23/the-amazing-race-features-intriguing-local-duo/?cxntlid=thbz_hm
walkingpneumonia:
There were some kinda mean comments under the article that Peach posted above. Its too bad that Andie may end up having to explain her decisions in life to haters...
In case you miss it, Andie posted a comment of her own that sums things up pretty well:
--- Quote ---Andie
September 23rd, 2010 11:22 am
Hi all! Thanks for your support! Rodney – great job on the article – thank you! In answer to everyone else’s questions, I felt Jenna deserved what I had growing up – two, loving married parents. That is why I chose her family for her. Later, I married and began having children of my own to raise. We are practicing Catholics, so yes I ended up with a big family compared to most! But my husband and I love kids and love being parents, so it works for us. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we were all the same? In answer to xynox – I say 10. Jenna’s parents are 100% her parents and always will be. Sometimes, if I know someone well, I’ll tell them about her (and now of course, it’s “public”) and my children have always known about her and prayed for her, so they were excited to finally meet her. She will always be a huge part of our hearts. But she has a Dad and Momma she loves very much and my meeting her doesn’t change that. Our two families know this is an odd situation, but we hope it will be an example to others how to treat each other and how with love you can overcome any difficult situation. The word seems overused lately due to the Race, but life truly is AMAZING!
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georgiapeach:
I personally don't believe Andie owes any explanations to anyone but Jenna, but how wonderful of her to do so.
She and her family, and Jenna and Jenna's parents are an inspiration, all chosing to go thru this together with love.
I think Andie is pretty AMAZING myself, and can't wait to see the two of them RACE!!
DrRox:
Ditto what Peach said........I look forward to watching these extraordinary people on an amazing journey, courtesy of the Amazing Race.....
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