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TAR18: Ronald Hsu & Christina Hsu (father/daughter)

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slayton:
Amazing Race Contestants Christina Hsu and Azaria Azene Wed
By Patrick Gomez

When Ron Hsu, 61, and his daughter Christina, 29, first competed on The Amazing Race, they came in second place despite major communication issues. While they didn't make it to the final Pit Stop on Unfinished Business, the father-daughter team approached their "second-in-a-lifetime opportunity" with an emphasis on the journey rather than the finish line. After their elimination on Sunday's episode, Ron and Christina spoke with PEOPLE about the detour that did them in, enjoying the local cuisine, and what it was like for Ron to walk Christina down the aisle to her most important Pit Stop yet – the wedding altar! – where she married her fellow season 12 competitor Azaria Azene this spring.

You just couldn't find those 'holy men!'
Ron: I was going for the gusto! I thought holy men should be near the holy river of Ganges and that was my downfall. I walked from one end of the river to the other. I should have gone back to the starting point.
Christina: The Roadblocks are the most difficult on The Race because you are separated from your partner and you can't help each other out. It was really nerve-wracking when the Cowboys showed up.

You two really seemed to enjoy yourselves this time around.
Christina: We made a point to keep things in perspective. We decided to do the second-chance Race because we wanted to spend more time together. It's about the experience and taking quality time out. That really helped contribute to our game – just relaxing and taking in the experience.
Ron: We tried to savor the moments. Like instead of going to the airport and waiting six hours for a flight, we would go in to town and see the sights if possible.

Speaking of savoring, Ron, you enjoyed a lot of local cuisine on The Race.
Ron: I like to be adventurous and see what unique flavors that they have. And on the super-legs, we were much more famished because you were expecting food at the Pit Stop but then Phil gives you a clue and tells you to keep going. So I tried to take advantage of the most economical options to save money – city street food.

And congratulations are in order, Christina, on your March wedding. How did your relationship with Azaria blossom after season 12?
Christina: After filming we would talk on the phone as friends and now we've been together for over three years. I can't explain it – the gift of true love. I feel very lucky. We have a lot of common goals and values and we both love traveling, exploring, and growing. We had a great foundation.
Ron: We were so grateful that Christina got to meet her prince on season 12. That's not a venue where you usually find your soulmate but we just adore Azaria.

What was it like to walk her down the aisle, Ron?
Ron: It was a plethora of emotion that overwhelmed me. I just had to make sure that I didn't cry. She radiated happiness that was so infectious.
Christina: I was so proud to be escorted down the aisle by my parents. We just had a ball. We're happy. Married life is good. We are so grateful for the Race bringing us together.

slayton:
‘Amazing Race: Unfinished Business’: Ron Hsu says wrong street cost team time

slayton:
Christina followed her dad Ron's philosophy of 'carpe diem' on 'The Amazing Race'
by: Sheri Block

Getting lost in an Indian market led to elimination for Ron and Christina Hsu but the father and daughter team say they wouldn’t have changed a thing about their time on “The Amazing Race.”

“We always had our eye on the prize, we have a competitive spirit and our goal from the get go was to see the world together … even though we only made it halfway around, we’re grateful for the memories that we did have,” Christina tells CTV.ca over the phone.

The team fell behind the others during a Roadblock challenge in Varanasi that required Ron to search for colorfully-dressed sadhus (holy men) in the middle of a very crowded market to receive their next clue.

Ron says he received some bad directions from a local and ended up wandering near the Ganges River, in the opposite direction of where he needed to be.

When he finally figured out he was in the wrong spot and headed back, all the other teams had already finished the challenge.

“That was my downfall. It wasted a lot of time so I had to go back and re-trace my steps,” says Ron.

Christina says it made for a few nerve-wracking moments while waiting for her dad to finish, especially when the cowboys – who took the wrong flight and were an hour behind everyone else – breezed through the challenge and finished before them.

“It amped up (all of our) nerves when the cowboys showed up. The cowboys are a formidable team. I knew they would come back from their deficit … but I was just really glad my dad never gave up,” says Christina.

By the time Ron and Christina completed the Roadblock and the Detour challenge that followed, they were the last team to arrive at the mat and were eliminated.

“We were told later on that we weren’t that far behind (the Goths), that it was actually quite a close race so that’s why you never give up on ‘The Amazing Race,’” says Christina.

“We were hoping for a non-elimination leg or that somebody might have got lost like I did,” adds Ron.

But even though they didn’t quite match their second place finish on Season 12, Ron says spending quality time with his daughter before she got married was reward enough.

“We only see each other maybe once or twice a year. She’s been busy with her job and lives on the East Coast 3,000 miles away, so (when there was) an opportunity to race with her again, especially before she was going to get married, I felt this was a wonderful time,” says Ron.

Christina, who got married earlier this spring, valued the time with her dad just as much.

“I learned so much from him. He is not only knowledgeable on so many different topics, my dad has always lived the ‘carpe diem’ model and tried to squeeze every drop out of every day,” she says.

“That’s a really good lesson that I was able to witness and learn on this ‘Race’ with him and he really made a point to push us to take time out to (do other things).”

That included taking time out to eat good meals.

“Being an older racer I didn’t want to have a lack of energy because of (lack of) food. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t an impediment to Christina in that regard and plus the smell and the beauty of the food there is just something that is just so wonderful,” says Ron.

He adds that Season 18 was much more physically demanding than the first time they ran the ‘Race,’ and there were less opportunities to rest up considering many of the legs continued on into “super legs.”

Christina is glad Ron encouraged her to take time out of the busy ‘Race’ schedule to experience the culture.

“There’s only so much waiting you can do for a flight, you might as well use it to spend time together. I do feel like the ‘Race’ this time around was all about keeping things in perspective and running a ‘Race’ where we both were having a good time. It’s one of those things you can never replace with money or a million dollars. It was priceless.”

 

slayton:
“We Walk Away with Nothing but Positive Memories” – Reality News Online’s Exclusive Interview with The Amazing Race 18's Ron & Christina

Lucy980906:
As a chinese,……(you know)
B est wishes to Chistina&Azaria!

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