The Amazing Race > The Racers

TAR 22: John Erck & Jessica Hoel "Dating"

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maf:
Hindsight is always 20/20 so yes, they should have used the pass as soon as they got there and realized there is only one team in front of them. But once that team got it the pass couldn't save them. Then it made sense to keep working the task if this was to be a non-elimination.

RaceUntilWeDie:
Okay, in most cases, a team with an Express Pass probably would have used it in this scenario (down to Chuck/Wynona and them in the Roadblock).

If I were Wynona and that Express Pass team was considering using the Pass, I would have been all like "But there's still a team behind don't waste it!"

Would have been a great/strategic lie (at least in my eyes – and if the team actually buys it :lol:)

bc922:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Amazing-Race-Jessica-John-1062600.aspx

Amazing Race's Jessica and John: We Didn't Over-Think Using the Express Pass
by Joyce Eng

The Amazing Race's Jessica and John made dubious show history on Sunday, becoming the first team to get eliminated without using the Express Pass despite having ample chances to use it to skip a challenge. Even more questionable? After their elimination, John declared that he had no regrets and that he didn't need the $1 million, generating a classic eyebrow-raising "oy vey" from Phil Keoghan. What did he really mean? And why were they hell-bent on not using the Express Pass? Find out below.

Let's get down to it: Why didn't you use the Express Pass?
Jessica: There are a lot of reasons. At the fruit-offering Detour, we decided not to use it because you had to get the fruit offering checked and we checked it multiple times and we never knew exactly what was wrong with it. We timed Joey and Meghan, and they took an hour and 15 minutes, so we thought it would take everyone a long time and we could save it for the Roadblock. And we also thought that the derby girls [Mona and Beth] were still behind us and that Dave and Connor could have decided to go home because they had been talking about that. When we got to the other Detour, we had no indication that the derby girls had even been there, so we were under the assumption that they hadn't arrived yet. The challenge was difficult, but it was quicker. But hindsight being 20/20, the transportation getting there and going to the next challenge, we probably wasted a lot of time. And then getting to the Roadblock, we were both super-excited because we're both surfers and we thought it was a surfing challenge.

And it wasn't.
Jessica: Right! And traditionally when you're at a Roadblock, like at the sandcastles, you could see your partner doing the challenge and then you take more transportation to Phil. But that wasn't the case. You were separated and you had to run to Phil. At that point, once we had some information that we were the last team, I couldn't communicate with John and we had to be together to use the Express Pass, so there was no way for us to get together and decide to use it. And when we got the clue out of the clue box, there was another clue in there, so that re-confirmed to us that the derby girls were behind us. And we didn't know about Dave and Connor. ... Once John got down there, Chuck was on his way up and then I talked to Wynonna. In the Race, you have to make a lot of decisions and a lot of assumptions and unfortunately they just didn't go our way. As you saw, it was a really long leg. I had been really sick the night before, so I had a lot of stress just being kind of rundown. The decisions we made about the Express Pass were mutual. We talked about it a lot.

John, when you saw Chuck running up, did you ever think, "I should just follow him and we can use the Express Pass just in case we are last"? You didn't think that it could just be an extra clue in the clue box?
John: No. And following Chuck didn't occur to me then. I was thinking about the derby girls and was under the impression that we were in front of them.

Do you think you were over-thinking using the Express Pass? You kept talking about how you wanted to be strategic with it, but the whole purpose of it is to bail you out of a losing or difficult situation.
Jessica: We just didn't think we needed to use it at the time because we made the assumption that people were behind us. Potentially that could be over-thinking it. We were obviously wrong. But we could've used it and found out that Dave and Connor withdrew or the derby girls were actually behind us that would make us regret using it. So we could've over-thought it, but you have to make really quick decisions in order to continue on. I don't think we over-thought it; we just made decisions that weren't right that day.

John, what made you run up to Jessica without a surfboard?
John: Well, when I saw Chuck, I interpreted it as a good thing. Not only are we not in last place, but we're competing with other people. He left and didn't return, but I didn't think it was a critical thing because, again, I didn't think we were last. I ran up to Jessica because after scanning the surfboards for a while — I lost track of how long we were there — I wasn't able to figure out which sticker it was. ... So I thought I could run up where Phil was and check out the boards that have been checked in.

Which he didn't let you do anyway.
John: Exactly! That was the first point that I was brought up to speed that we were last and the derby girls were actually ahead of us the whole time. That was the first time since we pulled the clue that Jess and I were together and had the opportunity to use the Express Pass. It just happened that we were in last place, so we couldn't use it because if we skip the challenge and check in in last place, that doesn't make any sense. That's when we started thinking, "Maybe a team has some sort of penalty that we're not aware of. If we just hope for the best and finish the challenge, we can still be in the Race and still have our Express Pass." I know they aired a sound clip of me saying, "I don't know why we should use the Express Pass" — that's because we were well aware that we were in last place and it didn't seem it would be smart. Don't use it if there was no upside to using it.

Can you explain your comments about not having regrets and not needing $1 million? Phil was totally dumbfounded by it.
John: [The "oy vey"] was funny. I intentionally used the word "need" because of the fact that it's such a powerful word. Jessica and I wanted to win the $1 million. That would've been great. ... But standing there, I was just making a comment that Jess and I don't need this money. We're not running the Race exclusively as a means to get rich. We're here to have fun and lead adventurous lives. It was important to me to note how much we appreciated being on the Race and going to all these cool places. The money would've been icing on the cake and no doubt we wanted it, but it wasn't super-important to us. That's why I said that.

What does it feel like to be the first team to get eliminated without using the Express Pass?
Jessica: It's exciting! We go down in history! [Laughs] I hope when they give out Express Passes in the future, they slash our faces on them. Like a reminder: "This is meant to be used!" We can laugh about it now. We had no idea we were going to be last that day, but I guess that's our claim to fame now.

It was hilarious when you went to a random person's house and started a Detour. Did you steal the sarongs from the house?
Jessica: [Laughs] First of all, our cab driver was awesome. It was the right house number, and [the owner] actually had this red and yellow pole and we thought it was the right place because those are Race colors. He's the nicest guy. ... The clue says to put on a sarong and he grabs sarongs from his closet and puts them on us. ... The next-door neighbor blessed our offerings and we walked into a temple in his house. They were going along with it because they didn't know what we were doing and we thought it was right because they were going along with it. [Laughs] And then they didn't give us a clue and we did run out with their sarongs. The funny part is we got to the actual challenge and people were looking at us like, "Whoa! Did you bring your own sarongs?" We made a point when we got into our cab to return the sarongs. We felt so horrible that we just ran out of there.

What are you up to now?
Jessica: We're back in Huntington Beach, [Calif.] It's been fun to watch the Race. I'm still working in sales out of my home office. John is working on website design and building his iPhone app. We're kind of just doing what were before and enjoying life.

bc922:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/amazing-race-jessica-john-eliminated-427193

'Amazing Race': Latest Eliminated Team on Making Show History and a Big Wrong Turn
by Kimberly Nordyke

The duo became the first team ever eliminated on the mat while in possession of an express pass -- which would allow them to skip a challenge -- on CBS' reality competition. While the struggled with the tour, Jessica wanted to use the express pass, but John was hesitant to use it, saying they they should try to finish without it.

On Monday, John, 27, and Jessica, 26, who live in Huntington Beach, Calif., talked to The Hollywood Reporter about their biggest mistakes, not using the express pass and ending up in a random person's backyard for one of the challenges.

The Hollywood Reporter: It seemed like you pretty much knew that you were in last place but finished the challenge anyway. Were you still holding out hope that you wouldn't be eliminated?
Jessica: Yeah, you always have that last bit of hope that something will happen, whether it's a non-elimination or someone is still behind you. It was heartbreaking, of course. I was really tired at that point. [My thought was], Did this really happen? After this huge long leg, are we really going home? It was definitely tough.

THR: John, it seemed like you were the one resisting using the express pass. Why were you so hesitant to use it?
John: Given the assumptions we made, that was definitely true. Jess brought it up a couple of times, should we use the express pass? At that point, I didn't think we needed to or that it was the best thing to do.

THR: Looking back, would you have made a different decision?
John: Yeah definitely, with hindsight being 20/20, we made a number of mistakes. Looking back on it, we would have made different decisions than the ones we did. But while running the race, we had to make assumptions to make our decisions. One of the things we were thinking was that the roller derby girls [Beth and Mona] were behind us. It turned out they were in front of us. But we were making decisions off the assumption and belief they were behind us. It was a big part of our thought process.

THR: Do you think you lost a lot of time by deciding to leave the "fruity top" detour and instead taking a shot at the "sandy bottom" one?
Jessica: The first challenge, it didn't even show how long we were there. The fruit challenge, I felt like we were working a long time. They checked it something like five times and kept saying no. We didn't know what was wrong with it. We thought last night we would get some closure, maybe on the screen they would circle that a fruit was missing or too big, but we got no indication. We were there so long, and you were not allowed to switch bases; our base was actually not functioning and was bent all the way to the side. After poking so many sticks into it, it was completely demolished. So we had to do something.

THR: There was a humorous moment where you went to the wrong location for one of the challenges and were in some random person's backyard. But he went along with it. How much time did you spent at the wrong place?
Jessica: We spent a good chunk of time there. We got into this person's house and were pretty confident it was the right place because there was red and yellow above the front door. The taxi driver confirmed it was the right address, and the guy went along with us willingly. He put a sarong on us, the lady blessed it, and we went in the temple. They were going with all the parts of the clue. If you walked into a neighbor's house here, they'd be like, "Get out." But the people in Bali are so sweet and inviting, and it's part of their tradition to build these flower offerings in their house. When all was said and done, we looked at them and said, "Where's our clue?" That was my indication we were in the wrong spot.

THR: Jessica, at the end of last night's episode, you said it would take you a while to get over the loss. Was it hard watching it play out on TV?
Jessica: Yeah, I am actually super competitive, that's why I work in sales, and in sports. So it came down to that. I really wanted the win, but especially watching it on TV, it was hard to relive it. But it gave me some closure. Even if they didn't show it all, there were so many reasons that day [that led to our elimination]. We gave it our all. Every single leg, we were competitive and really wanted to win. Our mistakes we made in the moment, there was nothing else we could have done differently given the information we had. Now it's on to the next adventure.

georgiapeach:

'The Amazing Race' exit interview: Jessica and John
The still-dating duo shares their rationale behind not using the Express Pass
By Diane Vadino Mon 2:23 PM
 

If you watched Sunday night's "Amazing Race," you saw history being made: Jessica Hoel and John Erck became the first team ever to leave the competition with an Express Pass still in their pocket. The dating couple endured one of the worst-possible legs in Bali, from beginning a Detour task in a completely random guy's backyard to closing remarks that literally had Phil answering "Oy vey." We spoke to the pair -- notably, still together -- about what went wrong, their edit, and John's controversial suggestion that he doesn't need a million bucks. 

MSN TV: What was watching back that episode like for you guys?

Jessica: That definitely was a crazy episode. It's tough to hear [criticism], but we know why we did everything we did, and we understand why we made the decisions we made. It's comforting to know it's over, to have some closure.
 

That is the literally million-dollar question. Why didn't you use the Express Pass when you had the chance?

 

Jessica: At the fruit [challenge], we had our fruit checked multiple times -- you never know exactly what's wrong with it. We thought it'd be our best option to do the other Detour, and we thought we could use the Express Pass at the Roadblock. We had no idea where the roller derby girls were, but we'd heard they'd had some trouble. There was another opportunity to use it at the Roadblock -- but we'd been overjoyed to get there because it was surfing challenge, and we love to surf. Also, there was another clue in the box and that confirmed to us that there was another team behind us.

 

It looked like a really contentious time between you.

 

Jessica: John and I, our whole lives -- we have so much fun. We were laughing so hard throughout the whole race - we were having such a great time, and  we were disappointed that those parts were missing [from the final edit]. Something else that didn't show up was that I was really, really sick the night before -- I felt like every time I was on screen I was really run down.


John, what took so incredibly long with the surfboards?

 

John: Jessica and I were super excited at first -- we thought it was a real surfing challenge. But in terms of what took so long -- it boils down to the fact that I didn't know which sticker was the one they wanted us to find. Rather than giving up [when I didn't know], it was important to us that we finish strong and that we didn't quit and that we held our heads high and were optimistic that something may fall in our direction -- whether it's a non-elimination leg or any other scenario, like a team getting a penalty. But really what took so long was that I didn't know which sticker to bring up.

 

Your comments are not needing a million dollars rubbed some people the wrong way.

 
John: I think a lot of people are misinterpreting what I said. I specifically used the word "need" intentionally -- to simply highlight the fact that we're all such fortunate people on the race, all things considered. Of course we don't need the million dollars. We don't need to win this task to be happy or succeed. I was just trying to put things in perspective. Don't get me wrong -- Jess and I both definitely wanted to win the million dollars; we're very competitive. But it's not that something that we needed.

 

I have to ask: Are you still together?

 

Jessica: We're still together, and I really don't think that much has changed. We're all very happy and healthy and having a good time -- that's how we started the race, and that's how we finished it, too.


http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/tv-buzz-blogpost.aspx?post=ec90f3e3-0aa3-40f5-8d47-1631f2c44505

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