The Amazing Race > The Racers

TAR18: Amanda Blackledge & Kris Klicka (engaged)

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Jobby:

--- Quote from: Cocoa on March 01, 2011, 04:04:06 AM ---Aww. Joab, you hurt my feelings there. :'( :'( Only redwings? Tsk. :lol:



--- End quote ---

I haven't been in any other players game... :lol:

I fully resigned being a player, i'm too competitive and will end up hurting MUCH feelings (note that i'm using much). :lol:

LoveRocked:
Eliminated ‘Amazing Race’ Team’s New Challenge: Wedding Planning

There can be an upside to being eliminated from “The Amazing Race.”  For engaged couple Amanda Blackledge and Kris Klicka, that means having more time to tend to the unfinished business of their upcoming nuptials. The duo, who were only engaged weeks before their return to this year’s all-star season, couldn’t focus on marriage when they had a “Race” to prepare for. But after getting the boot in Australia Sunday night, they’re throwing all their energy into planning for the big day.  And although having an extra million bucks would’ve helped with wedding costs, they have no regrets about being sent packing.  On Monday, Amanda and Kris called from their home Pismo Beach, Calif. to discuss how they’ve grown as a couple, how it felt to be a ‘roo for a day, and when they intend to wed.

On where they watched their elimination:
Amanda: We were actually supposed to watch it with some family, but there was a crazy storm here and it was snowing, so we couldn’t get away.

Kris: Which I think is for the better. We knew we were going out on this one, so we didn’t really want to be around a bunch of people when it all went down. We were definitely on the phone with our parents talking about everything, though.

Amanda: It was hard to watch the whole thing knowing how it ends. It was interesting watching it and see the other teams. For example, we didn’t know Ron and Christina took quite as long as they did at the Mosaic. The other hard thing to watch was when Margie dropped part of her costume. The clue actually said that you had to check into the Pit Stop with all the pieces of the costume. So, we knew we were in last place going into the Pit Stop, but our hope was maybe somebody got lost or dropped some part of their costume. Watching Mel hand it to her was hard to watch, especially since Luke just told her to keep going. If Mel hadn’t done that, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here having this interview right now.

On the embarrassment of wearing kangaroo costumes:
Kris: We looked liked a couple of backwoods Okies with all this red clay in our teeth and this ridiculous kangaroo outfit on.

Amanda: When we first saw it [the costume], it was kind of intimidating. Having never tried them before, they were kind of funny because you couldn’t actually stand still. You always had to keep moving or you would just fall over.

On the format changes this season, including the non-Pit Stop in the premiere:
Kris: We’d been running non-stop. One thing they didn’t show a lot of, is that we were traveling just to get to Australia alone. It was like a nineteen-hour flight. And you’re not sleeping since you have adrenaline pumping through you and you don’t know what lies ahead. It’d been a couple of days since we’d had any shuteye.

Amanda: And between the Ocean World aquarium and where we had to do the sailing, and Shelly Beach, it had to have been miles and miles that we ran. Then when we were heading to the Pit Stop we actually saw Gary and Mallory running, and we said, “Oh, is Phil not over there?” And they said, “No, he is, it’s a continuation leg.” So we knew when we stepped on the mat that we had to keep going. We were exhausted. I almost actually got sick from running around so much.

On the lessons learned the first time around:
Amanda: The number one thing we changed, as far as our strategy, was that we weren’t going to trust anybody. We were lied to about the stupidest things last time. So many people were giving me bs all the time. And if we found somebody who gave us information and we had time to double check it, then we were going to double check it. We did more of our own research, like at the airport and stuff.

On why so many teams are helping each other this season:
Kris: Obviously there were a lot of people from our season. We’ve all gone to parties and watched episodes together, so we do have a relationship already. I guess that’s part of the game, too. You get to certain points and you know you’re struggling a little bit, if you know someone next to you who you know is going to help you out, then by all means why not ask them?

Amanda: I also think too that it’s on a case by case basis. For example, when I helped Keisha after the scuba diving, I started seeing other teams come out and complete the task with their compass. I looked at Keisha and thought, If her and I can get it and get out of here before the other teams start coming and asking us for the answers, then better for us. I think people help each other depending on the situation.

Kris: One thing that does kind of annoy me is The Redheads, they don’t seem to do anything on their own. They’re always asking Margie and Luke for help. That kind of pissed me off a little bit, but whatever.

On why they decided to return:
Kris: We didn’t have to think about it at all. They asked us and we were just like, “Abso-freaking-lutely.” Just the last time when we got U-Turned and we always had it in the back of our heads, What would have happened if we didn’t get U-Turned? Would we have won the damn thing or would we have gotten eliminated in the next couple of legs?  So when they called us, we were ecstatic about it.

Amanda: No matter how grueling it is and out of your comfort zone you are, it’s still incredible. The places you get to go and the things you get to experience, all on somebody else’s dime. We would definitely do it over and over and over again.

Kris: If we get a call tomorrow asking us to come back we’d say yes again, too.

On how they grew as a couple from this experience:
Kris: For her and I, in both experiences, we just learned how to work together as a team and figure out how to stay cool and collected and respect one another, and go from there. Really it made us stronger in our relationship. Most couples don’t get to go through this together. I think if they did they’d figure out a lot more about their partner.

Amanda: Before the first season, we’d never really worked together as a team in anything. We were both competitive before that but not together. It definitely made us stronger and we realized how well we worked together.

On adjusting to normal life after the “Race”:
Kris: What’s next, is the kind of thing. Am I going to Siberia tomorrow or going to my office? It’s difficult to adjust to at first.

On what lies ahead:
Amanda: Planning our wedding! We got engaged just a couple of weeks before we got the call about “The Race,” and initially we tried to plan for both “The Race,” and our wedding, and we realized that was completely impossible while working full time and trying to prepare for ‘The Race.’ So we put it off ’til 2012.

LoveRocked:
Kris and Amanda of 'The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business' on Wedding Plans, Kangaroo Suits

Kris and Amanda were eliminated after a grueling double-leg in Australia on The Amazing Race. We'll miss them, and their dynamic as one of the few couples in this season. Find out what they have to say about racing again, getting married, and those kangaroo suits!

How did the experience of racing a second time, with all returning teams, compare to your first time on The Amazing Race?

Kris: It was incredible yet a completely different experience this time around. This was everyone's second shot so we were all there to put up a fight to win. Also, many of the teams were our past castmates so it was really cool to experience this all over again with some people you consider friends.
Amanda: Well all the teams of Unfinished Business are experienced and very competitive racers. Van Munster even said in previous interviews that one of the number one things he was looking for when casting this season was the most competitive teams. No teams were weak links this
season!

Have you set a date for the wedding yet? (Note: we had information that they were "recently engaged" in Season 14, when they were in fact, just dating.)

Kris: I proposed to her this July and we got the call asking us to be on this season literally two weeks later. At first, we were starting to make wedding plans but we decided that with having to prepare for the race and working full time we should push it off until 2012.

Amanda: Initially we attempted to plan our wedding and prepare for the race, while both working full time. Let's just say we realized quickly that it would be impossible! Prioritizing, we chose to put the wedding plans on the back burner so that we could focus on the race. We decided to
get married sometime in 2012; this way we can take our time planning and enjoy the ride!

What do you think slowed you down the most? Anything you would do differently?

Kris: The U-turn definitely put a stutter in our stride to say the least. If I were to do anything differently I would say that I wish I didn't get so caught up in the heat of the moment at the starting line and thought things out more clearly. Then we wouldn't have been doomed by the U-turn again! We had an experience of a lifetime though and I would do it again in a second!

Amanda: I think that not being able to find "To Sail To Stop" slowed us down the most! When we first got that clue, we ran into Gary and Mallory at a cafe looking it up on peoples' iphones and smart-phones. "To Sail To Stop" wasn't coming up no matter how we searched it online. So that was when we decided if it wasn't a person, place, or object, it had to be a riddle. A local recommended that maybe it was the Opera House because many locals refer to the architecture of the building as looking like sails; That is what began the wild hunt to solve a riddle only to find out we didn't look enough online. Other teams, that were looking it up on computers and could see more of the search results, found that it was a sculpture next to City Hall. Had we only made it on that first flight to the Outback we wouldn't have been eliminated. We heard we were only 5 minutes at the most behind Ron and Christina and the 1st flight would have definitely put us ahead of at least one other team.

Or, you could also look at it as if we only knew what QANTAS was and didn't have to do the U-Turn than we wouldn't have been eliminated either, since that extra task definitely took longer than 5 minutes!

I wouldn't say that I have regrets though. Kris and I did our best, and considering we were only minutes behind and had the extra task AND were on the second flight, I'd say we did great under the circumstances!

Any other teams you're rooting for? Anyone you're rooting against?

Kris: There is no one I am rooting against but if I were to pick a team that I would like to win I would have to say Gary and Mallory. They are just so down to earth and fun to be around.

Amanda: Kris and I really got to know Gary and Mallory well since we were on the same flight to Sydney with just them and Kisha and Jen. We were also with them on the Ferry to Ocean World and then met up with them again while searching for "To Sail To Stop". We were also rooting for them on Season 17! They're really sweet and honest people with big hearts! We were rooting for them as well as Mike and Mel, our friends from Season 14.

About the kangaroo suits, how would you describe that part of the challenge. It was a lot of fun to watch!

Kris: Let's just say I think your spot on the couch was probably more fun than being in that thing! You get so hot! Also, having red clay in your teeth and hopping around a town in a kangaroo suit was just a little embarrassing. All I can say is wow! Haha.

Amanda: Oh gosh the suits! That's Amazing Race for you though- they always have at least one challenge every season where they just make the contestants look ridiculous! It was also strenuous though- it was pretty hot out that day and we had to go a ways to get to the next
clue- everything always looks so much easier and FASTER on TV!

I was actually hoping that there would have to be more tasks after the detour though. There wasn't enough activity after the detour for Kris and I to catch up! We just got in our suits, ran a few blocks to the clue box and then went straight to the pit stop.

It was funny to watch! I didn't know until watching it that Margie dropped part of her costume. The clue actually specifically read that you had to check in with all the pieces of your costume. I knew we were in last place but I was hoping that someone dropped or lost part of
their costume. Watching Mel hand Margie her costume just made me do more of the "what -if" thinking. I think Kris and I just must be meant to have Unfinished Business!

Do you still feel like you have "unfinished business"?

Kris: Well yeah! Lol. Of course I will always wonder what would happen if things played out differently but what an amazing and fun ride both these experiences have been! I just feel so fortunate and lucky to have done this again.

connayyy:
Amazing Race's Amanda and Kris: We Don't Blame the U-Turn For Our Elimination

How far behind Ron and Christina were you?
Amanda: We heard from a couple teams after the fact that it was about five minutes.

Where do you think you went wrong? Was it trying to get back to Sydney or were you screwed from the automatic U-Turn?
Kris: It was kind of one giant ball of craziness. We came in second place [in the first half of the leg] and go the "To Sail to Stop" clue. We tried to find it on the Internet and it didn't pop up, so we got lost for a while.
Amanda: I definitely think if we caught that first flight, we wouldn't have been eliminated because we were only five minutes behind Ron and Christina. I think not catching that first flight hurt us along with not getting the Express Pass.

What happened when you tried to get back to Sydney?
Amanda: Our first instinct was to ask people and to look it up online, which we did. But we were looking it up on people's iPhones, and when you Googled it, after a few pages it wasn't coming up, so we thought, if you couldn't look it up, then it's not a proper noun, so it's a riddle. But as it turns out, it was actually on the sixth page or something when you Googled it on a phone. You had to keep scrolling.
Kris: All the teams took awhile to get there. Everyone struggled with it. It was just a matter of getting to that second Google page first on a computer. "Oh my God, it's an anchor by Town Hall!" We weren't at an actual computer; we were talking to people with iPhones.

How much time did you lose doing that?
Amanda: It took us about three hours to get there probably. We went to a variety of places. One person told us they thought it was the opera house because a lot of people in Sydney refer to it as the sails because the opera house is in the shape of sails. We went all over Sydney. ... We were definitely bummed finding out we were on the second flight. We knew that since there wasn't a Detour yet that it was coming up.
Kris: But [the second Detour] only took a few minutes. Our thought process was we saw all the other teams doing the mosaic so we figured we'll do that one because we can look at what they're doing and then go to the other task.

Check out photos from The Amazing Race

So you don't blame the U-Turn for your elimination?
Amanda: No, I mean, yeah, we had to do that extra task, but we wouldn't have been eliminated if we didn't have to do that.
Kris: It was our own fault for screwing up on the Qantas challenge. It was our own actions that caused us to be eliminated.

Did you run into any navigation trouble when you were in the kangaroo suits?
Kris: No. It was pretty easy. This was a tiny, tiny town, so they knew what was going on and you asked and they were like, "Oh yeah, they went this way. This is where we told them to go."
Amanda: We knew we were last. When we got to the locker room to change into our kangaroo suits, there were no more costumes left. But we definitely still had hope because the clue said you had to have all the pieces of your costume when you checked in. As we were running, we knew how easy it was for things to fall off. We were hoping that maybe a team lost a piece of their costume. We didn't know that Margie did lose a piece of her costume until we watched it last night. Too bad somebody handed it to her!

Would you come back for a third Race?
Kris: If the opportunity presented itself, we would for sure. This is one of those things we could never, ever pass up. No more U-Turns!

Congratulations on your engagement. Do you have any wedding plans?
Kris: Thank you!
Amanda: We got the call for the Race a couple weeks after Kris proposed, so we put that on hold because it was a little stressful with both. With the Race and everything, we decided 2012 is much better. What's the rush anyway? That's what we're shooting for.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Amazing-Race-Amanda-Kris-1030182.aspx

theschnauzers:
The one thing I love most about Amanda and Kris (like TAR 6's Kris and Jon who they resemble in attitude) is in fact their attitude abut the Race and how they approached every thing about it in both of their seasons.

They handled the challenge posed by the automatic U-Turn and the problem with locating the Town Hall statute with class. And I certainly wouldn't mind in the slightest if these two did get a third chance. ;)

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