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puddin:
Amazing Race: Will nice guys finish last?
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 3, 2005
BY KATE AURTHUR
New York Times News Service
At the beginning of an episode of this season's Amazing Race, Rob Mariano, one of the contestants, spoke to the camera: "You know that thing, the American dream? Amber and I are living it." As the episode progressed, viewers saw Mariano, along with Amber Brkich, his fiancee and racing partner, steal a cab from another team, get a police car to escort them through Santiago, Chile, and successfully talk other teams into also quitting a challenge he couldn't complete, thereby ensuring that he and Brkich would stay in the game.
It appears the definition of the American dream has changed. Brkich, 26, was the winner of Survivor: All-Stars less than a year ago. Since then, Mariano, 29, another Survivor alumnus who was once a construction worker from Boston, and Brkich, a former secretary from Beaver, Pa., have shed their old lives to form a new one together: they are reality television's premiere villains.
CBS announced last month that it will broadcast their wedding, which took place on April 16 in the Bahamas, as a two-hour special called Rob and Amber Get Married on May 24 (9 p.m., Channels 4 and 12). In between Survivor: All-Stars and the wedding show, they took part in the seventh season of CBS's Amazing Race, which is broadcast Tuesday nights at 9 (Ch. 4, 12). With only tonight's episode and next week's finale left, Mariano and Brkich have schemed and backstabbed their way to being one of the four couples remaining in the race.
"What they've brought more than anything is a real sense of competitiveness and controversy -- they're planning the game in a new way," Kelly Kahl, CBS's senior executive vice president for scheduling, said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "Some in the audience like it and some don't."
From the Nielsen rankings, it appears that those who like it are in the majority -- the ratings for this season of The Amazing Race are poised to be its highest ever.
The show, a two-time Emmy winner in the reality program category, was once one of the more kindly of television's reality offerings, but the growth in viewership coincides with a ramping up of its portrayals of villainy.
In its fifth season, broadcast last summer, a Texan named Colin Guinn continuously sniped at his girlfriend, Christie Woods. During its sixth season, which ended in February, Jonathan Baker (whose grandparents live in Providence) and his wife, Victoria Fuller, berated and belittled each other, and Baker shoved her on camera.
"I'm a big fan of Rob and Amber," said Baker in a phone interview yesterday. "Everything I tried to do, Rob pulled off."
Meanwhile, Baker and Fuller are doing their best to stay in the spotlight. They appear in the May issue of Playboy magazine -- Fuller had been a Playmate in 1996 -- and have several other media projects in the works.
Baker said the couple has made its own reality show pilot, Mad Love, which will probably air on A&E. Then there's Reality Check, in which Fuller and Baker appear with other reality stars, due on VH1 this fall.
Also coming, he said, is Battle of the Network Reality Stars on Bravo Aug. 1 and The Voice of Reality, a radio commentary on reality TV, which will air on the Sirius satellite radio system this summer.
With the stunt-casting of Mariano and Brkich on The Amazing Race, the shift in the show's tone from a benign racing competition to a more confrontational, character-driven reality drama has evolved even further.
As reality veterans, Mariano and Brkich are different kinds of antiheroes than Guinn and Baker: more lovable scamps than potential rage-a-holics. (Since they are still on The Amazing Race, they are not allowed to talk to reporters.) Brkich's unscripted debut was on the second season of Survivor in January, 2001; Mariano was on the fourth edition of the series in 2002. Both were chosen to play Survivor: All-Stars, broadcast last year. During the show, the gleefully manipulative Mariano (also called "Boston Rob" and "The Robfather" by fellow contestants) and the quietly calculating Brkich began seeing each other. They were the final two players in the game, and before it was announced on the show's finale in May 2004 that Brkich had won, Mariano asked her to marry him on live television, and she accepted his proposal.
The couple actively lobbied to be on The Amazing Race. Phil Keoghan, the show's host, recalled recently that he first met them at a CBS press function where they approached him with their request. But, he admitted, "I actually didn't even know who Rob and Amber were."
The producers did, and they were cast. According to Keoghan, who sent the teams on their way from the starting point in Long Beach, Calif., the other teams recognized them immediately and were visibly furious. "There was never as much tension at the starting line as there was when they came on the scene," he said.
On the show, the couple have consistently plotted against the other teams, trying to prevent them from getting the fastest bus or plane, as Mariano literally winks at the camera.
When Keoghan described what Mariano and Brkich have done for The Amazing Race, he sounded as if he were talking about a scripted villain, someone like J.R. Ewing. "I think they've been incredibly tenacious, smart, engaging, charismatic," he said. "That doesn't mean that people have to necessarily agree with all the choices they've made, but there's no denying that they've made for some entertaining moments. They are good TV."
http://www.projo.com/tv/content/projo_20050503_amazing03.202c4f5.html
puddin:
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
(05-04) 12:58 PDT New York (AP) --
The oldest couple on CBS'"The Amazing Race" have been eliminated, leaving the final three teams to heave-ho to the finish line. Retired couple Meredith and Gretchen Smith surprised many viewers with their amazing staying power. Although each season of the competitive reality show has included a token older couple, the Smiths made it farther than any other older couple in the history of the race.
"We never gave a thought to our age or our physical circumstances, all we wanted to do was beat out at least one team on every leg," Meredith told The Associated Press Wednesday. "That's all we focused on."
Meredith — and "Amazing Race" editors — didn't focus on severe pain the 69-year-old retired executive experienced in his foot after being accidentally run over by an elephant statue on wheels during a challenge in India.
"It was bothering him a lot for the rest of the race," said Gretchen. "When he got home, he had it x-rayed and found he had three partially healed bones and that's what had been broken."
Gretchen, 66, had her own bout with pain after falling in a cave in Africa, resulting in a bloody gash. Later, the Smiths were the last team to arrive during a non-elimination leg, a situation that required host Phil Keoghan to strip the Smiths of their money and possessions.
"Uchenna (Agu) and Kelly (McCorkle) were the two people who came to our room in the middle of the night and gave us clothes," said Meredith. "We had no clothes other than those on our back, as you saw. As an interesting side note, Gretchen was wearing Uchenna's underwear."
"Yes, 'cause I didn't have any others," said Gretchen.
In case you were wondering: boxers.
During the May 10 finale, either Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle or Joyce and Uchenna Agu will cross the finish line and win the $1 million prize. The Smiths never really cared about the money. Gretchen said they just wanted "one big last adventure."
On the Net:
www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race7/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/04/entertainment/e125843D45.DTL
puddin:
'Survivor' sweethearts stay ahead of the game in 'Amazing Race'
By Amy Amatangelo
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - Updated: 01:27 AM EST
Romber rules!
''Boston'' Rob Mariano and his ''Survivor'' spouse Amber Brkich continue to dominate the seventh season of ''The Amazing Race.'' Once again, the reality lovebirds, who met and fell in love on ''Survivor: All-Stars,'' came in first in last night's episode. The love-'em-or-hate-'em duo are now one of three remaining teams vying for the million dollar prize in next Tuesday's two-hour finale.
Meredith and Gretchen Smith, the oldest competitors ever to make it this far in the game, were eliminated. They made their game-ending blunder early in this leg of the race. Both the Smiths and Uchenna and Joyce Agu took the later but direct flight from Istanbul to London. Mariano, Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle took a connecting flight through Frankfurt, Germany, and arrived in London an hour and a half ahead of the other teams.
As always, Mariano and Brkich benefited from their brazen combination of luck, strategy and fame. In London, they hooked up with a lovely chap named Stuart who shuttled the pair around the city. ''This guy is pumped to be with us. Let's see if we can lure him in and keep him with us all day long,'' Mariano said.
The unapologetic couple keeps onmaking enemies on their way to the pit stops. They yielded closest competitors and former allies Young and McCorkle.
Young and McCorkle escalated their incessant bickering. Former beauty queen McCorkle appears to think the game will serve as some sort of couple's therapy. ''I used to think I could marry Ron. Now I'm just not sure if he is the one for me or if I'm the one for him. That's what this race will show us,'' she said.
All teams lost it during a ''roadblock'' that required one member of a team to drive a double-decker bus in and out of orange cones without ever hitting a cone. Even mild-mannered Joyce was pushed to her limits. ''I can't understand what the hell you're saying to me,'' she screamed at her husband.
However, if there were a prize for being the nicest team, the million dollars would easily go to the Agus. Uchenna even tried to help the Smiths with a particularly heavy task until he was reminded that aiding another team was against the rules of the game.
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/tvNews/view.bg?articleid=81527
puddin:
Amazing Race’ down to final three teams
Oldest couple, Gretchen and Meredith, eliminated in Tuesday's showThe Associated Press
Updated: 4:58 p.m. ET May 4, 2005NEW YORK - The oldest couple on CBS’ “The Amazing Race” have been eliminated, leaving the final three teams to scamper across the finish line.
Retired couple Meredith and Gretchen Smith surprised many viewers with their amazing staying power, making it farther than any older couple to compete on the reality show.
“We never gave a thought to our age or our physical circumstances, all we wanted to do was beat out at least one team on every leg (of the race),” Meredith told The Associated Press Wednesday. “That’s all we focused on.”
Meredith — and “Amazing Race” editors — didn’t focus on the severe pain the 69-year-old retired executive experienced in his foot after being run over by an elephant statue on wheels during a challenge in India.
“It was bothering him a lot for the rest of the race,” said Gretchen. “When he got home, he had it X-rayed and found he had three partially healed bones and that’s what had been broken.”
Gretchen, 66, had her own bout with pain after falling in a cave in Africa, which resulted in a bloody gash. Later, the Smiths were the last team to arrive during a non-elimination leg, a situation that required host Phil Keoghan to strip the Smiths of their money and possessions.
“Uchenna (Agu) and Kelly (McCorkle) were the two people who came to our room in the middle of the night and gave us clothes,” said Meredith. “We had no clothes other than those on our back, as you saw. As an interesting side note, Gretchen was wearing Uchenna’s underwear.”
“Yes, ’cause I didn’t have any others,” said Gretchen.
In case you were wondering: they were boxers.
During the May 10 finale, either Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, Ron Young and Kelly McCorkle or Joyce and Uchenna Agu will cross the finish line and win the $1 million prize.
The Smiths said they never really cared about the money. Gretchen said they just wanted “one big last adventure.”
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7738059/
puddin:
'Amazing Race' - Fab! Rob, Amber in the lead
Scott Tady, Times Staff
05/04/2005
The Beatles' "Abbey Road" was a key clue in Tuesday's episode of "The Amazing Race," though the three teams competing against Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano would have felt more inclined to be singing "Help."
After all, Brkich and Mariano regained the race's lead, thanks to some shrewd airport maneuvering, in which the couple scored a ticket to ride a previously sold-out flight to Frankfurter, Germany. A connecting flight to London helped them erase the 104-minute lead that Uchenna and Joyce had enjoyed before the Houston couple unwittingly took a later flight to London.
The race's long and winding road took the teams all over London in Tuesday's episode, and as usual, Brkich and Mariano relied on a little help from their friends. Specifically, they met a man named Stewart on the subway who personally escorted them to their next appointed destination, the Abbey Road street-crossing made famous by a Beatles album cover.
Brkich and Mariano then rode a 40-story Ferris wheel along the Thames River as required, and then headed to Baker Street, and the home of Sherlock Holmes, where Brkich received a hat and pipe like those worn by the famed detective. She watched as Mariano successfully steered a double-decker bus through a series of cones in a competition.
Ultimately, Brkich and Mariano finished this next-to-the-last leg of the race first and as a reward will receive a free home entertainment system.
Maryland retirees Meredith, 69, and Gretchen, 66, didn't win anything as they finished the leg of the race last and were thus eliminated from the $1 million contest. As a teaser in the final moments of Tuesday's episode, the three remaining teams were interviewed separately, each speaking confidently of their chances in next week's two-hour season finale.
Brkich vowed that she and her now-hubby would come together, right now, to win the race.
"Losing is not an option," Mariano added. "I'm telling you, we're winning this race."
Scott Tady can be reached at stady@timesonline.com.
http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14465770&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478564&rfi=6
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