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Gretchen and Meredith appreciation thread !

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puddin:
Gee, it looks like the link is gone ..someone was awful busy last night    {l{

puddin:
Villages snowbirds finish second in ninth episode of 'The Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Way to go, Meredith and Gretchen Smith!

The Villages snowbirds were all smiles finishing in second place (beating Rob and Amber) during Tuesday's leg of "The Amazing Race" in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the retirees' best finish yet, and now the elated pair will advance to the 10th episode, airing at 9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS, with the finale on May 10.

Gretchen, 66, shined during Tuesday's show. In a roadblock challenge, she had to climb a shaky, 25-foot rope ladder to the top of a tower of an ancient European fortress.

"Just say a prayer," she said to her husband. Dangling on the ladder, Gretchen quickly realized that the task was far more difficult than she had imagined. Yet she made it, then had to rappel back down to unlock the next clue.

"Oh, my God ... Whew! Yay!" Gretchen said laughing, while rappelling down.

And back in The Villages, the moment was greeted with cheers from the local crowd watching the TV show at Crazy Gringos. 

   
 

The crowd was thrilled once more when host Phil Keoghan congratulated the Villages snowbirds with the words: "Meredith and Gretchen, you are team No. 2; you're still in 'The Amazing Race.' "

"Oh, we are so proud of ourselves, we really are," Gretchen said with a wide smile. "We've been hanging by our nails, often because of mistakes made by other teams, but this time we made it on our own power and that feels great."

In video interviews on "The Amazing Race" Web site, the Smiths are shown hugging one another as they share more thoughts about the race and answer Keoghan's questions about their determination.

Meredith praised Gretchen for accomplishing the roadblock challenge of climbing the fortress for their team. She was the only female to perform the challenge.

"She's a tough lady. I had no doubt that she would do it," Meredith said.

"I had to rest between each one, to get a little more strength in my upper arms to pull me up, and then I developed a technique, but it wasn't easy, I tell ya," Gretchen said.

Keoghan asked the pair: "Meredith, there is a lot of people getting older in life, and they use that as an excuse for not doing things, saying, 'I can't do that because I'm too old and I can't do these things.' What do you say to those people who are sitting at home watching this achievement and saying, 'I can't do that because I'm too old.' What do you say to them?

"I'd say, 'Think about it some more,' " Meredith said. "You've got to keep on keeping on or it's a downward spiral. You just keep pushing on life and life will reward you. As soon as you start taking it easy, you're on your way out. You've got to push yourself all of the time, because your body will take the easy way out every time. It's a mental game."

Keoghan also questioned the Smiths about what has kept them in the race.

"We're standing here because we have a lot of love for each other," Meredith said. "Every night before we go to bed, we talk about it and we encourage each other, and we just take one leg at a time, one leg at a time."

The Smiths told Keoghan they love the feeling of elation at finishing a race.

"To feel this kind of high, that's pretty addictive," Meredith said.

Tuesday's race began with Uchenna and Joyce, along with Meredith and Gretchen, outsmarting Rob in the Jodhpur Airport, allowing the two teams to have a two-hour advantage as they made their way to Istanbul, Turkey.

Joyce commented on teaming up with the retirees by saying: "Uchenna and I are working with Gretchen and Meredith because they are truly good people, so you really want to help them. But at the end of the day, they're still our competition."

After the first two teams already had left, Rob and Amber and Ron and Kelly thought they were ahead because they didn't see the others. Believing they had the lead, Rob quipped, "Uchenna and Joyce, they don't know who to turn to. They're asking Meredith and Gretchen for advice now. It's like the blind leading the blind."

Landing in Istanbul, Uchenna and Joyce and Meredith and Gretchen boarded the train to the port, followed by a ferry to Kiz Kulesi, where they had to climb to the top of the island's tower to find their next clue. Opening it, they learned they had to search the island for one of four gnomes, each with a different marking on the bottom. Teams didn't know that the team that carried the gnome with the airplane marking on the bottom all the way to the pit stop would earn a special prize for this leg.

Next, the teams traveled 12 miles to Galata Kulesi Tower to find a detour. This detour offered teams the choice between Columns and Kilos. To complete Columns, teams had to travel two miles to Binbirdirek Cistern, an ancient well held up by 224 columns, each displaying a number. Teams must use a unique grid with coordinates directing them to four specific columns. Next, teams must pull a box from the well and, using the four numbers from their columns, figure out the correct combination to unlock their next clue. For Kilos, teams were to travel to a town square and take part in a common practice on the streets of Istanbul: Weighing people. Once they have weighed enough people to accumulate a total weight of 2,500 kilograms, or 5,500 pounds, they would get their next clue.

The Smiths chose Kilos.

"My strategy was to get big people on that scale," Gretchen said in the Web site interview. "Unfortunately, we are not in America. I probably could have accomplished that with five people in the United States, but here in Turkey, there are not that many heavy people."

Yet they accomplished the task quickly.

The next clue revealed that they had to travel 10 miles to the 550-year-old European fortress, Rumeli Hisari.

Just as Meredith and Gretchen were off, Rob and Amber were arriving in a water taxi to Kiz Kulesi and they learned from the boat driver that two teams had come earlier. Rob was stunned.

"Unbelievable," he said.

Arriving at Rumeli Hisari in first place, Uchenna and Joyce learned that one team member would have to climb the ancient fortress, and Uchenna performed the challenge, followed by Gretchen for her team.

Once completing it, the next clue led the teams to the pit stop within the fortress wall.

Uchenna and Joyce came in first, followed by the Smiths. Rob and Amber were third, while Ron and Kelly were in last place, and they heard from Keoghan that this leg of the race was a non-elimination round. Yet they had to surrender their money and belongings for the rest of the race, and the pair also learned they had won the travel award, marked on the bottom of their gnome.

And while The Villages snowbirds were thrilled by their strong finish in this leg of the race, Rob appeared miffed at coming in third.

How will Meredith and Gretchen do next week? Fans will have to tune in to see, as the race for the $1 million prize continues.

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.

http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2005/04/28/news/news01.txt

puddin:
Age before beauty  =]/

'Amazing' couple using wit and wisdom of their years to out-race their youthful competitors.
 
 
 Gretchen and Meredith Smith on "The Amazing Race"

Originally published May 3, 2005
EASTON - Retirees Meredith and Gretchen Smith have gobbled 4 pounds of cow parts, scaled castles and survived head wounds on the current season of The Amazing Race - surprising fans and competitors alike by remaining in the game with just two more episodes to go.

But they have not surprised their neighbors in this Eastern Shore town, where the Smiths are known as two tough cookies. Neighbor Judy Hines likes to tell about the time she was golfing with Gretchen, who is 66, and their cart got stuck in the mud.

"Gretchen pushed us out all by herself," Hines says. "She has a tremendous amount of energy. She's a go-getter. She's a strong lady."

Easton is abuzz as the Smiths find themselves near the top of the heap on The Amazing Race, a CBS show that pits 11 teams in a grueling around-the-world race. Just four teams remain to compete in tonight's episode, and next week's finale will reveal who wins the $1 million prize.

But they have already won millions of fans for their grace and humor. They help their competitors, laugh at their own mistakes and don't physically or verbally abuse each other when things go wrong.

In other words, they're like nothing else on reality TV.

"Somehow they've managed to stay in it, overcome the odds, and all credit to them because they have a special bond with each other," Phil Keoghan, the show's host, said in an interview. "They're out there with these young teams who are duking it out, and they have just held on."

Meredith, 69, a retired executive, and his wife, Gretchen, a former flight attendant, are the oldest team to make it this far on The Amazing Race, in its seventh season and scoring higher ratings than ever before. The race has taken them from South America to Africa to India.

"We want this," Meredith said in a recent episode. (The couple can't talk to the press until they win or are eliminated.) "We want it for a lot of reasons other teams don't."

"We want it for our pride," Gretchen added.

"We want it for our kids and for all of our friends, and we want it for ourselves," Meredith said.

Already, they have outlasted a pair of buff brothers from Santa Monica, Calif., a pair of blond beauties from Oak Park, Calif., and a stockbroker and his girlfriend from Ohio. The stockbroker, Ray, said on one episode, "I'm not losing to a 70-year-old man and his wife - as nice as they are - even if it's at checkers."

Then he did exactly that.

Back home, neighbors are closely following the Smiths' improbable journey. At the YMCA where Meredith gives swimming lessons, reports from the local paper on the team's progress are posted on a bulletin board. The couple's neighbors gather weekly for viewing parties, where they cheer on their friends and boo the competitors. Gretchen and Meredith sometimes join them and, during commercial breaks, fill them in on what really happened.

"I get home from those parties and I don't sleep at night," said Bonnie Lambertson, 63, who lives two doors down from Meredith and Gretchen. "We're all wound up and excited about it. Everybody's so proud of them because they've gone and done this. It's incredible."

Lambertson exercises with Gretchen most mornings at Slim and Tone in Easton, and she pronounces her neighbor in excellent shape. They use weight machines as well as stationary bicycles and elliptical trainers. Meredith, meanwhile, is a seven-time National Masters championship swimmer and in pretty good shape himself.

"I really feel like Meredith is the backbone of that team. He's a strong man," said Alex Ali of Hollywood, Calif., who was on the show with his boyfriend and who helped the Easton couple out of some jams. "When they didn't fall off early, it scared everybody. The only thing people could do was comment on their age, which seemed more and more irrelevant with each leg of the race."

Ali said he knew the couple would go far after Gretchen hit her head on a rock while rappelling into a cave - a wound that required seven stitches - and then kept on racing. She refused to go to a hospital until finishing that leg of the race.

Ali's favorite memories from the race are of sitting in airport lounges or on trains, joking and laughing with Gretchen and Meredith. After the couple had all their belongings stripped from them in one episode, Gretchen said, "All I could have is tampons, and I don't need them anymore."

Meredith and Gretchen, both on their second marriage, have five children between them. The children encouraged their parents to go on the show - even printing out the application for them - and say it's been thrilling and a little worrisome to see them on TV. Gretchen's 36-year-old son, Chris Meadows, said it was tough watching his mom get hurt.

"When I saw the preview for that show and saw her face covered in blood, I was like Oh my gosh!" he said in a phone interview from Lawrenceville, Ga. "She didn't tell us about that."

He added, "Everything they've done has impressed me. They went for six weeks straight doing this. People don't see the fact that they're starving and don't have money and are worn out. But where one is weak, the other is strong, and they support each other. They don't scream and they don't yell. They deal with whatever comes up. And they always seem to come through."

Meredith and Gretchen can be maddeningly slow. They sometimes have trouble finding the clue boxes along the route, and they can't sprint like their competitors. At one point, when Gretchen was struggling to find a clue hidden in hundreds of boxes, she took a break to hug her husband.

"You can do it, honey," Meredith told her. And she did.

That's nothing like the Amazing Race contestant last season who shoved his wife for not keeping up with him or the one this season who constantly belittled his girlfriend. But Meredith and Gretchen's success is showing not only that nice guys can finish first but that older nice guys can do pretty well, too.

"People love knowing that they're there because they deserve to be there," Keoghan, the host, said. "They competed on an equal playing field with a lot of other teams who may have written them off in the beginning. And to me, it's very positive to see them there because they are a living example to others that age, while it is part of the challenge of doing things, is not something that is stopping people from doing things."

Meredith and Gretchen seem determined to make that point, on the show and off. They already have a wedding gift in mind for that stockbroker from Ohio, Ray, who said he could beat them at anything and who will soon be marrying his girlfriend, Deana.

They plan to send him a board of checkers, according to their neighbor, Ron Lambertson. And they plan to attach this note: "We'll play you anytime."

Sun researcher Shelia Jackson contributed to this article
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-to.amazingrace03may03,1,1927206.story?coll=bal-features-headlines

puddin:
Villages snowbirds eliminated one leg short of the final 3 in 'Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Villages snowbirds Meredith and Gretchen Smith can smile with pride knowing they had a great ride on "The Amazing Race," where they persevered through 11 legs of the race and ended their impressive run just short of the final three.

They did better than anyone ever expected of the retirees, and they made history as the oldest couple to advance so far in the CBS-TV adventure reality show.

Next week's two-hour episode, airing at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, will be the finale.

As the Smiths stepped on the mat in last place in London during Tuesday's show, Meredith, 69, and Gretchen, 66, flashed wide smiles and said they were happy with their finish.

"It was a great ride," Meredith said.

"We lasted much longer than we ever dreamed that we could," Gretchen said. 

   
 

Meredith glanced over at his wife and marveled at her stamina and determination throughout the globetrotting trek that began March 1 with 11 teams.

"I have said over and over again that this is an amazing woman. She's the love of my life and my soulmate. I'm very proud of her and I think she's the most beautiful woman in the world."

Host Phil Keoghan praised the Smiths and told The Villages snowbirds that they were an inspiration.

"We are so happy we came this far. All the things we've been able to do and friendships that we've made, it's just been a totally incredible experience for the two of us," Gretchen said.

The Smiths were in New York City on Wednesday to do TV and radio interviews about the show, beginning with a chat on "The Early Show" with Harry Smith, who announced the couple had been "Amazing Race" fans' favorite couple.

"You have made it farther by far than anybody in your age group," Smith said, before asking them about Tuesday night's challenges and their thoughts on the Rob and Amber factor.

"There is always the Rob and Amber factor. We had it throughout the race," Gretchen said.

"What was the feeling by the rest of the contestants about them?" the CBS anchor asked the couple.

"I think they were somewhat disappointed, and that the playing field wasn't level," Meredith said.

Harry Smith replayed an earlier clip of the show when the Villages snowbirds had lost all of their money and possessions and sought help from fellow contestants.

Rob declined to help, while other contestants gave Meredith and Gretchen a few dollars.

"I'm not giving them money. They are the biggest con artists going," Rob said. "They want people to feel bad for them."

"And when you heard that, you thought ... ?" Harry Smith asked.

"Oh, golly," Meredith replied.

"He would have punched his lights out if he had said that to us directly," Gretchen said, causing Harry Smith to chuckle. "How could he have possibly called Meredith ... "

"I think some people attribute their own personality to others," Meredith said, chiming in.

The pair concluded that they had a great time during the race and the Smiths shared even more thoughts on "The Amazing Race" Web site.

"This was an opportunity for the two of us to understand that we could 'talk the talk' but that 'walking the talk' is entirely a different thing," Meredith said. "It's easier to sit in your armchair and say, 'I could do that better' ... Why did they do that?' That's the easy part. The hard part is being right in the middle of things and experiencing it yourself. There is a lot more going on here than what you see on television."

Meredith and Gretchen loved watching previous seasons of the show and were thrilled to be selected from more than 25,000 applications to be on the show.

" 'The Amazing Race' was a culmination of a dream the two of us had, to have a great adventure together, to work as a team, and to experience the many wonders that we experienced during these past several weeks," Gretchen said. "We are just delighted as to what we have seen, the places that we have been, and I don't think that there has been another team on the show that has fully appreciated every little thing that has happened like we have. We've just lived in wonder of all the sights that we've seen, all of the things that we've been able to do, the friendships that we've made, and it just has been a totally incredible experience for the two of us, and I almost get teary talking about it because it really has been a very special time."

Host Phil Keoghan asked the couple if the race brought them closer together.

"I really can't say that this has brought us closer together, because I think we've always been very close," Gretchen said on the race's Web site. "But this has been one of the most wonderful adventures that we can always talk about and share and enjoy, and it's what we really wanted to do together and we did, and it helped us trust each other and love each other more."

Keoghan asked Meredith to share a moment of the race that he never will forget.

"The time Gretchen fell (in the cave), and it scared me to death," he said. "I remember how my heart jumped out of my chest and how I ran to her, and I don't think she knew for sure what had happened to her at the time. I asked her how she was doing and she said, 'Never mind me. Find the damn clue!' That probably typifies the spirit and indomitable courage that this woman has."

Gretchen also had words of praise about her teammate.

"When I have been at my lowest ebb, often in the race when I thought we were coming in last, or when I had my accident, he kept being so supportive and encouraged me to keep moving on," she said.

Keoghan marveled, once more, about the Smiths being part of "Amazing Race" history.

"You are the oldest team that has ever come this far, and probably a lot of people thought, 'They are the older couple. They are not going to get very far,' " Keoghan said.

The Smiths even admit they were amazed how far they advanced. Their initial wish was not to be the first team eliminated.

Gretchen said she was proud of how she and Meredith persevered after being stripped of their possessions during the non-elimination leg, where they came in last, and everything was removed except their passports and the clothes on their backs.

When Ron and Kelly recently lost their possessions during a non-elimination leg of the race, Meredith was shown Tuesday night giving the pair money to help them get by.

"Ron and Kelly were very good to us when we were stripped of all of our possessions, and I wanted to reciprocate," Meredith said.

Gretchen summed up her thoughts of their performance in the race.

"A lot of times we capitalized on other people's mistakes and we were still hanging on by our fingernails," she said. "And there were many times when we got there on our own just by doing the right thing. We're delighted. We have no sad feelings about anything and we're so happy that we came this far, and to get to see beautiful England."

Meredith agreed.

"We've given it our best shot," Gretchen added. "We made it farther than anybody else our age and we're proud of ourselves. Aren't we?"

"I'm particularly proud of you," Meredith said to his wife. "You really hung in there."

They both did.

Theresa Campbell is senior features writer with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9260, or theresa.campbell@thevillagesmedia.com.


http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2005/05/05/news/news02.txt

puddin:
Amazing seniors out of CBS's Race
 
 
Associated Press


Thursday, May 05, 2005


 
Reality show couple Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano (shown on the Survivor finale) remain in contention for The Amazing Race's $1 million prize. (AP/CBS, Jeffrey R. Staab)
 
ADVERTISEMENT
 
 
 
NEW YORK -- The oldest couple on The Amazing Race has 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 said 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 (Tuesday at 9 p.m., CBS, check local listings), 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 US prize.

The Smiths said they never really cared about the money. Gretchen said they just wanted "one big last adventure."

http://www.canada.com/entertainment/television/story.html?id=8c6c83d9-1457-41b3-8e20-0b77f2e7e76f

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