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tanbuns:
February 19, 2005

Former UO Cheerleader's Life Takes 'Amazing' Turn
By Mark Baker
The Register-Guard

If you're a Duck or Beaver fan and lived in these parts back in 1987, you probably remember him best as the guy who took a howitzer-of-a-gum-wad-shot to the face from Oregon State's Gary Payton during a Civil War basketball game in Corvallis.

Well, Uchenna Agu, a former University of Oregon cheerleader and one of the best horizontal jumpers in the school's illustrious track-and-field history, is back in the news. This time, it has nothing to do with track and field or a four-stick wad of Doublemint.

Agu and his wife, Joyce, will make their debuts March 1 on the hit CBS reality-TV program "The Amazing Race," the Emmy Award-winning show in which two-person teams race around the world for a $1 million cash prize. The Agus, who now live in Houston, will compete in the seventh edition of the "Race," a year after Eugene twins Karli and Kami French finished fifth out of 11 teams in the fifth edition of the show.


Uchenna Agu and his teammate, Joyce, make their way to the next destination at the Playa Hermosa in Ancon in Lima, Peru, on the two-hour season premiere of "The Amazing Race."
 
Uchenna Agu said he couldn't yet talk about his experience on the show, which already has been taped. All contestants sign a contract that precludes them from speaking with the media before their elimination from the show has been televised or all the episodes have aired, said Mitch Graham, a spokesman with CBS.

"They sent in their application like everybody else and were chosen," Graham said.

Uchenna, 40, and Joyce, 44, have been through some tough times in recent years, according to a Web site promoting the show. He worked for Enron and she worked for WorldCom, now-bankrupt companies that suffered highly publicized accounting scandals. Uchenna is now an energy broker and Joyce is a sales manager.

As is typical of the show's dramatic promos, the couple are painted as having a strained relationship. The program mentions their failed attempts to have children and that claiming the $1 million prize could pay for additional in-vitro fertilization procedures.

Graham would say nothing else about the show, other than that the first leg takes the competitors to Peru. A promotional video for the show at www.cbs.com shows Uchenna Agu racing in a car and screaming about going to Peru as he utters, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

John Gillespie, the former South Eugene High School and assistant UO track coach, isn't surprised that the 1986 Pac-10 triple-jump champion was selected for the show.

"He's competitive. He's got a great attitude about doing things. He's more than an athlete," said Gillespie, who was Agu's jumping coach at the UO. Agu, initially a nonscholarship "walk-on" at the UO, worked to become one of the school's most successful jumpers. Gillespie also said Agu has great "people skills" and is a good strategist.

His favorite memory of Agu was when Gillespie told him that he would shave his mustache if he cleared 26 feet in the long jump, a mark he had never topped, at the Texas Relays in 1986. Agu jumped 26- 3/4 , still the fourth-best mark in UO history. Although Gillespie couldn't be there, he picked Agu up at the Eugene Airport holding his mustache in a plastic bag.

After using up his track and field eligibility in 1986, Agu decided to give UO cheerleading a chance and used his great athletic skills to excel. He apparently still has some of those skills, as evidenced by a clip of him doing a back flip on the CBS video.

But probably nothing prepared him for the "gum incident" of Jan. 10, 1987, an episode that gained some national coverage - including a blurb in "Sports Illustrated" - and launched an acrimonious relationship between UO fans and Payton.

Payton claimed that one of the UO's male cheerleaders called him a "hookhead" during the game in Corvallis. He thought it was Agu because he was the one holding the bullhorn. Agu was quoted in a later Register-Guard story saying he didn't even know what a "hookhead" is.

"None of the cheerleaders do," Agu had said. "I didn't call him a hookhead. There was no name-calling. He just threw the gum at me and hit me in the face."

What would Payton, now with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, think about all of this? It's unclear. He was unavailable for comment because he's on a break during the NBA's All-Star Game weekend.

When asked about the incident Friday, Agu said, "Oh, we don't have to mention that. Gary's a good guy. That's all in the past."

So, did he really call Payton a "hookhead" 18 years ago? Agu laughed and said, "I refuse to confirm or deny."

Graham, the CBS spokesman, assured that there would be no "gum-throwing" competition on this latest edition of "The Amazing Race."

puddin:
RACE NEWS: "The Amazing Race" starts again on March 1, and many fans are aghast that "Survivor All-Stars" participants Rob and Amber will be participating.

Sure, it's stunt casting, but Rob and Amber have proven proved to be a pretty watchable pair of reality veterans in the past, and as "TAR" contestants go, they can't be any worse than "Big Brother" veteran Alison, one half of a whiny, annoying couple who appeared on an earlier edition of "The Amazing Race."

Let's hope that the next "TAR" is not filled with the kind of bone-headed "model/actor/whatevers" that packed the most recent race. I couldn't have been less thrilled that Freddy and Kendra, aspiring models with the personalities of wilted lettuce, won the race. Kendra's comments about "ghetto Africa" where people "keep breeding and breeding in this poverty" sure didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy about her.

All the "normal" people were eliminated early in the most recent race, and the show got less and less interesting as it was dominated by would-be models, actors and people with too much plastic surgery. Let's hope the next race has more people such as like previous "TAR" winners Chip and Kim, a married couple who really struggled during the race but showed class and grace along the way.

By the way, CBS is now accepting applications for the eighth, yet-to-be-filmed "TAR," which will allow families to race instead of duos. "Teams will be expanded to four members from two, and all teams will be comprised exclusively of family members.

"Examples of `family edition' teams could be traditional families (mom, dad and two kids), blended families (newly married with stepsiblings), four sisters, four brothers, multi-generational (grandparents and grandchildren) or engaged couples with in-laws-to-be, etc.," according to CBS' press release.

Racing with your in-laws? Now that ought to be interesting.

source~

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-tribtv,1,3096468.story?coll=chi-news-hed

puddin:
Keoghan: Seventh 'Amazing Race' the best
Saturday, February 26 2005, 16:53 GMT -- by Daniel Kilkelly


The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan has told viewers to expect a fantastic seventh season of the show.

The new season will see former Survivor contestants Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich competing as a team. The pair met during the Survivor All-Stars competition, which Brkich went on to win, and have since become engaged.

However, Keoghan has warned viewers not to automatically assume that they will win the show's $1 million prize.

Keoghan told Zap2it, "A lot of time on Survivor is spent sitting down and working out what you are going to do. There's no time to contemplate like that in The Amazing Race, where you have to make decisions in the moment, on the fly, very, very quickly.

"To me, this is actually the very antithesis of their experience on Survivor, so viewers will see them reacting to a completely different experience here."

He added, "I know I said this before about race five, but I honestly believe number seven is the best race that we have ever had.

"That has a lot to do with the teams we have, and I can assure you that the show has moved back to its roots in terms of the things that made people fall in love with this show in the first place."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19522.html

puddin:
Keoghan to criss cross US for CBS' 'The Amazing Race' 
 
Indiantelevision.com Team
 
(26 February 2005 2:00 pm)
   
MUMBAI: The host of CBS' popular reality show The Amazing Race Phil Keoghan will embark on a 10-city, cross-country Tour in the US from 2 March. In India the show airs on Axn.
 
 
He will drive in a car to promote the upcoming The Amazing Race 7 and casting for The Amazing Race 8. The tour begins in New York City and culminates in Los Angeles on 14 March. During his journey across the US, Keoghan will encourage families who are seeking the ultimate family adventure to apply for The Amazing Race 8, which will be the shows first-ever all family edition.

Keoghan will appear on CBS' The Early Show on 2 March. He will finish his tour with an appearance on CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
 
Keoghan will also appear at book stores in several cities along the way to sign copies of his new book N.O.W. - No Opportunity Wasted. Mercedes-Benz will provide the transportation for the cross-country trip. Phil will be traveling in the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which is the flagship Mercedes-Benz sport utility vehicle.


http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k5/feb/feb252.htm

puddin:


TELEVISION
'Amazing Race' mom, son battle 'Survivor' winners


JOHN KIESEWETTER

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Susan and Patrick Vaughn of Hamilton, Ohio, are the first mother-son team on "The Amazing Race" because Susan's husband refused to go on the adventure.

 "We have traveled 14 times to Europe, but when we travel, we fight over maps and everything," John Vaughn says.
"So my son said, 'I'll do it!' "

On the seventh season premiere, airing from 9 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, CBS will show Susan, 54, and Patrick, 26, embarking from Long Beach, Calif., to Peru on their globe-trotting journey. They're competing for $1 million against 10 other teams, including Amber Brkich and "Boston Rob" Mariano, who won $1 million last May on "Survivor: All-Stars."

But the popular reality series won't show the drama leading up to that point -- how Susan, the judicial affairs director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and her family kept the secret during the taping Nov. 15 to Dec. 20.

When Susan went to buy a backpack, she couldn't tell the salespeople where she was going, for how long, or whether she expected hot or cold weather. "They gave her a lot of strange looks," says John.

When she missed library and civic theater board meetings in Hamilton, about 25 miles north of Cincinnati, people would ask John when he would next see or hear from his wife.

"We had a wide range of friends who asked a lot of questions. We finally had to make up this story about her being in Mexico with a friend at a training program, and that she'd be out of touch," says John, who also works at the university.

"It never occurred to them to guess that she was doing 'The Amazing Race.' They had no idea," John says. "Now everyone is really excited about it. They feel like it's happening to their family."

Viewers might see some tension between Susan and Patrick, who is trying to establish a career as a writer in Hollywood. Patrick tried to tell his mother that a portable hair dryer and curling iron were not needed for the trip.

"And she told him, 'They're essential if millions of people are going to see me on television,' " John recalls.

CBS' publicity also makes it clear that Patrick is openly gay, and Dad is fine with that.

"He's my son, and I'm very proud of him. He is who he is. The fact that he's gay is just an element of his life that we accept."

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20050226/living/95479.shtml

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