The Amazing Race > The Racers

TAR 26: Harley Rodriguez and Jonathan Knight

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Zachary:
their editing is leaning somewhere ...

A comeback for another season, possibly? I feel strongly about this...

Alenaveda:
FROM CBS.COM:
http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/elimination_interviews/1003952/



Jonathan and Harley Let Their Love Shine Even After an Elimination
Find out which major feat took them to new heights

Posted on Mar 16, 2015 01:10pm

Harley and Jonathan, the third couple eliminated on Season 26, answered your questions about running The Amazing Race.

1. Sandra L. - Too bad they got eliminated. They are my favorite couple. They showed so much love and respect for each other. I hope to see them again in an All Stars Season. My question is, do you guys ever fight? What drives you crazy about the other person?
Harley: Thank you! We’ve never had a big blow up because there’s no reason to fight over petty situations…we also give each other space, which is important to us.
Jonathan: We don't ever fight! We have a very good give-and-take relationship. We also don't have many stressors that most couples have in relationships. Things may change in the future if we involve kids, job challenges, health issues ect.

2. Pam G. - How did you stay so positive during the Race? Everyone else was complaining, but I don't think I ever heard ya'll complain.
Harley: As a team, on the Race and in life, we knew that if we didn’t support each other, no matter how good or bad we were at challenges, we would end up not enjoying our once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Jonathan: I haven't seen the other teams complaining! And, we certainly wouldn't complain. It was such an honor for the producers to pick us to be on the show.

3. Verne H. - Which team do you feel is the frontrunner, and which group races better together – Daters or Blinders?
Harley: I’ve been surprised at how well the Blinders have been dominating, but Rochelle and Mike have been great together! The Daters might have a challenge where it works in favor of their longtime knowledge of each other.
Jonathan: Whenever you think a team is the front runner, things usually go south from there.... The race is so unpredictable. It's going to be fun seeing how the different team dynamic plays out. We are shocked the singles are blowing away the dating couples so far!

4. Janice W.P. - Which challenge on The Amazing Race did you find the most satisfying after you accomplished it and why? You guys were amazing! Totally felt the love. So proud of both of you!!!
Harley: I found the puzzle box so satisfying because I really used my brain instead of brawn…completely still concentration.
Jonathan: Thank you for your compliments. The biggest accomplishment for us was just being chosen to race. There are so many applicants every season to choose from, and they chose us. We enjoyed all the challenges and wish we could have done some more. Wearing high heels was a pretty major accomplishment though. We still don't know how people do it!

5. Linda C. - Sorry you were eliminated! Why did you not choose to dance when you had the chance?
Harley: I know! We didn’t choose the dance challenge because Jon had said ahead of time that since it takes him longer to learn steps, to completely avoid those types of challenges if possible. Haha!
Jonathan: Dancing involves lots of memory. We decided going into the Race to avoid as much mental challenges as possible and stick to more physical challenges. Funny thing is, you never know what will come your way and we ended up dancing together after all in Phuket.

6. Kristen M. - You guys seem like such a sweet and loving couple. What advice would you give to the blind date couples who are looking for love? So sad you got eliminated, love you guys!!
Harley: I always say it’ll happen when you least expect it and when it does, have patience and understanding and out of respect, never try to change each other.
Jonathan: We were not looking for love and love found us. Sometimes you look way to hard and miss what is right under your nose the whole time.

7. Kelli B. - Did you learn anything new about each other during the Race?
Harley: We learned that we understand each other even more through stressful situations and have full support of each other no matter what the outcome.
Jonathan: We learned we are able to function together under extreme pressure. That is an attribute that will come in handy in life over and over.

georgiapeach:


Exclusive: Jonathan Knight and Harley Rodriguez talk 'The Amazing Race' (Part 1)



by Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 03/17/2015


The Amazing Race eliminated Jonathan Knight and his partner Harley Rodriguez during the 26th season's fourth episode Friday night on CBS. 



 Harley, a 41-year-old group fitness trainer, and Jonathan, a 46-year-old entertainer, were ousted from the race around the world after they arrived at the fourth Pit Stop in last place. They are both from New York, NY, and have been dating for seven years. 

Harley and Jonathan were ousted after earning a second chance with a non-elimination leg.

 
In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, the guys talked about their The Amazing Race experience and what went wrong. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion. 

Reality TV World: How far behind Matt Cucolo and Ashley Gordon do you think you finally arrived at the Pit Stop and met the Race host Phil Keoghan?

Jonathan Knight: Actually, we were behind ]Jenny Wu and Jelani Roy]. The edit just made it look like Matt and Ashley were ahead of us, but I think Matt and Ashley and Jelani and Jen were pretty much head-to-head.

Harley Rodriguez: I think Jelani told us we were like an hour-and-a-half behind them.

Reality TV World: I don't recall this being very clear, so what time was your flight out of Phuket and then when you arrived in Bangkok, how far behind the other teams were you?

Harley Rodriguez: We were very, very far behind. We were probably, like, three hours behind everyone. But then finally we caught up. But when we got to Phuket, everyone started at a certain time except for -- well, they were different times according to when you got to the mat -- but we were probably two hours behind the last time when we arrived at Phuket.

 So that's when Jon said it would probably be enough time to catch up if there were really difficult challenges, but then we had a non-elimination round. And then the next day, yeah, the next leg, it was the Speed Bump. So, we probably could've shaved off about 30 minutes. So there could've been a chance for us to catch up to the last team. But we didn't see anyone for two legs! (Laughs)

Reality TV World: During the non-elimination leg, you guys departed the Pit Stop in fourth place but then when you tried to book tickets on a flight, you got stuck on a way later option. I think you were about nine hours behind the last team at that point. Were you just not aggressive enough at the airport's ticket counter? How'd you end up way behind the pack like that?

Jonathan Knight: The airport, everybody stayed up all night in the airport. And then we were all camped out in front of the ticket counter, and then just when the ticket counter opened, all the ticket agents were getting all weirded out and stuff. They were freaking out because there were all these cameras and, you know, they were just all confused and stuff.

 So the gate opened and everybody just did a mad dash to the ticket gate. Basically, it was just the Racers that ran to the ticket counter and that's when the chaos started in. The ticket agents got all confused and they didn't know -- it became a free-fall. And we kind of got lost in the shuffle.

 So that's how we ended up not getting those plane tickets. Me and Harley, [Michael Dombrowski and Rochelle Nevedal], and [Bergen Olson and Kurt Jordan], we were like first, second and third in line at the ticket counter.

Harley Rodriguez: And so they got their tickets so then Bergen and Kurt said, "Okay, let's stick together and go find a flight." But there were two terminals and we had to take a bus between each terminal, so we were going back and forth for like hours between the airlines.

 So we were having meltdowns. And that's when I said, "Let's just split up," and then they found a flight. Then, we finally found the final flight, which took us all over the place.

Reality TV World: Would you say your elimination pretty much came down to bad luck rather than mistakes or poor performance?

Jonathan Knight: Well, no, because we screwed up again. When we got to Phuket, we actually missed another flight and that was just because of my stupidity. Because it's just so weird when you're in a foreign country and people are talking to you, like the flight attendant was just like, "Yeah, take the ticket and go to the gate."

 Well, when you think of a "gate" in America, you think of what we know as a gate. Well, she meant, "Take the ticket when you get to the next stop and go to the transfer gate." But she had said nothing about the transfer gate. So we went straight to the gate. It was closed. So we just fell asleep on the floor at the gate and set our alarms to wake up with enough time to get on the flight.

 And then when we tried to get on the flight, they're like, "No, you can't get on the flight! You have to go to the transfer gate and get a new ticket reissued." So the transfer gate is way above in the airport. They were like, "You're never going to make it by the time you run up there and run back. The plane is going to be gone." So then we had to book another flight, which was, what, an hour later, babe?

Harley Rodriguez: Like two hours. Two hours later.

Jonathan Knight: Yeah, so if we didn't miss that flight, that's what screwed us up. Reality TV World: Did either of you really struggle with any particular task in the last couple of legs or did you get through the challenges pretty smoothly? You weren't edited into the episodes all that much because you were so far behind everyone most of the time. 

Jonathan Knight: Yeah, that, and we were breezing through the challenges. They were really easy. It seemed like on those two legs, the one challenge that was the killer was the wakeboarding. I guess it was only [Blair Townsend] that made it around and everybody else was just face-planting left and right.

Harley Rodriguez: But definitely the airport sealed our fate. I mean, if it wasn't for that, we would've been [okay]. Like Jon was saying, the challenges, we would get through them on either the first or second try (laughs) and then on to the next. We were just focused on trying to catch up.

Reality TV World: Did you like how the show changed up its Detour format in this leg or did you like it the old way better? Obviously this time around, there ended up being four Detour tasks -- two for each mode of transportation, the "Water" and "Wheel" -- and the teams therefore attempted different challenges, some being more time-consuming than others. 

Harley Rodriguez: I kind of liked it! I just think it adds more drama to the show. We were lucky that we didn't end up trying to get a water taxi when they were all taken or trying to get on something when all those slots were filled up.

 So, I mean, it definitely made you think. You had to keep in perspective where you were in the Race. We were like, "No way. The teams are obviously there [at the water]. We need to choose the other."


Read more at http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/exclusive-jonathan-knight-and-harley-rodriguez-talk-the-amazing-race-(part-1)-17630.php#bXzGFsQiIkBc2XCz.99

Marionete:
Thanks for the article, peach!
I know there was much too show this episode and they probably didn't want to completely kill the suspense, but I think the highlighted events should have been aired.

georgiapeach:
Murtz On The Scene: Exclusive Interview With The Amazing Race 26’s Jonathan Knight & Harley Rodriguez


by Murtz on March 30, 2015


The Amazing Race finally returns this week after being preempted for the last three weeks because of the NCAA March Madness tournament. A couple of weeks ago, I caught up with Jonathan Knight and Harley Rodriguez who became the third team to be eliminated. Initially, Jonathan (a 46 year-old entertainer) and Harley (a 41 year-old group fitness trainer) were saved by a non-elimination leg but after boarding a late flight from Phuket (that departed much later than the flight that most of the other teams were on), the pair were unable to catch up to the pack.

I caught up with Jonathan and Harley to discuss what happened.

Murtz Jaffer: Jonathan, I understand that you were actually behind Jenny and Jelani but that the episode made it look like you were behind Matt and Ashley. How far behind were you?

Jonathan Knight: We were told by Jenny and Jelani that we arrived 1 1/2 hours behind them.

MJ: It seemed like your flight out of Phuket left much later than everyone else’s. How much of a gap was there between your flight and the flights that the other teams were on?

Harley Rodriguez: We were 9 1/2 hours behind the team ahead of us…Bergen and Kurt.

MJ: Usually, the team that gets eliminated is featured a lot in the episode but because of how far back you were, you didn’t really get to interact with many of the other teams (and as a result, weren’t heavily featured in your last episode). Were you surprised by this?

JK: I love that they did it in the way that they did. People I know said they were in such suspense not knowing the inevitable outcome.

MJ: Harley, usually teams are eliminated because they couldn’t complete a detour or roadblock but you guys proved that navigating flights is perhaps the most important aspect of The Amazing Race. If you were giving advice to a new team going on to the Amazing Race, would you tell them that getting on the right flight is the key to winning?

HR: I would tell a new team to use every resource tirelessly…phones, computers, agents, and don’t stop until you get a definite booking.

MJ: How did you manage to get past your cat allergy on the show?

JK: Luckily for that challenge, we were in and out! I made sure I didn’t touch the cats and never touched my eyes until I had a second to wash them.

MJ: Why do you think the blind date couples have been so successful this season as it has only been pre-existing couples who have been eliminated thus far?

HR: I feel that as pre-existing couples, you go into the Race knowing that one team member will do certain challenges (like jumping out of a plane) while the other one doesn’t. In the case of the blind date couples, since they don’t know each other, both of them go into the Race knowing they will do any and every challenge without qualms.

MJ: Jonathan, while you were on the Amazing Race, did anyone recognize you as a member of New Kids on the Block and was this an advantage or disadvantage?

JK: I was so focused on the task at hand I really didn’t notice. I do know that fans showed up at an airport later in the race. Strange how the digital age allows so much to be revealed. I was disappointed when I got home and found out that three days into the Race, people already knew that Harley and I were cast on this season. I was looking forward to sharing the news and being able to see peoples responses. Glad phones aren’t allowed on the race, I would have been glued to my Twitter account (@JonathanRKNight).

MJ: You guys had to complete a speedbump but because of how far back your flight was… it seemed to not even matter at that point. Was it a factor?

HR: Of course it mattered…every minute spent on a challenge delays your arrival at the mat.

MJ: If you guys had been given the opportunity to use a U-Turn to catch-up, who would you have U-Turned?

JK: That’s hard to say exactly, but it would have been any team that we had known was behind us.

MJ: Harley, what’s next for you?

HR: I would love to revisit the countries we travelled to, with enough time to really enjoy it instead of zipping through areas in a race against time!

MJ: Jonathan, what’s next for you?

JK: I’m coming to a city near you! NKOTB is doing another arena tour this year with TLC and Nelly. We have our 7th NKOTB cruise this fall. Personally, I finally finished writing my autobiography, and landed a TV development deal showcasing my business renovating houses.

MJ: Thanks for joining me!

http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,30836.0.html

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