‘Amazing Race’: ‘No chicken, no check-in’

Interview with the dating couple Lorena and Jason, eliminated Nov. 25 in Episode 4 of “The Amazing Race 12.”

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This week’s big question: Does karma play a role in travelers’ fate?

Lorena and Jason were dealt “Amazing Race’s” first “U-turn” card by the L.A. Blondes, Shana and Jennifer, raising issues of what’s fair in competition and pseudo-friendship. The controversial move also raises the ominous sphere of future retribution, for what some viewers have described as a “low blow” and “playing dirty pool.”

If competing for a $1-million prize, would you use a U-turn to eliminate another team?

The trailer for Episode 5 (airing Sun., Dec. 2), which cuts to black just as it looks like the Blondes will be broadsided by an oncoming bus, foreshadows a karmic boomerang for Shana and Jennifer.

In our phone interview today, Jason and Lorena seemed to take the Blondes’ U-turn tactic in stride. They did emphasize that Shana and Jennifer mistakenly thought they were dealing the U-turn to TK and Rachel, and that the strategic move was a case of “kicking them while they were down.”

As in previous episodes, Jason and Lorena completed both physical challenges in good time, with flying colors, and faced their elimination graciously. Lorena told me, “Africa was the perfect place for us to be eliminated.” She also expressed the desire to return to Africa, to volunteer there and give something back to the countries and people who elicited emotional outpourings from several “TAR” contestants — most notably Vyxsin after her memorable, if chaotic, bicycling adventure through the local goat market.

Asked what they’ve been up to since spending some quality time at the Elimination Station, Jason and Lorena gushed about the joys of a 35-mile backpacking trip in Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming, during which they shrugged off a close encounter with a grizzly bear, thanks to the confidence their on-camera adventures have instilled.

Their most memorable on-camera moments? Celebrating Lorena’s (and TK’s) birthday in Ireland, and the surreal, stormy but beautiful moment in Bingo, Burkina Faso, when Jason realized they might be eliminated, during Lorena’s camel milking ordeal.

Who do they want to win? No bad blood, or favorites, here, at least that Lorena and Jason are willing to admit. They both have been rooting “for everyone” since leaving the show. And they too meet with the L.A.-based crew of contestants to relive (and rethink) the show’s pivotal moments each Sunday night.

Is Lorena less stressed these days, having conquered the challenge of camel milking? She says she wants everyone to know that she’s “a sane person, a good person” (Jason concurs) and that she actually enjoyed drinking the (figuratively) bittersweet camel’s milk, which was “sweet, not too thick.” Jason, for his part, says his good-humored friends keep buying Lorena cartons of milk (from cows, not camels) every so often. To her credit, Lorena has maintained her sense of humor through it all: “I took ‘TAR’ really seriously; you can’t take it too seriously,” she says upon reflection.

Like most semi-successful teevee reality stars, Jason and Lorena are moving on to bigger and better things. They say the only other reality show they might consider joining would be a season of “Amazing Race All-Stars.” Lorena (a.k.a. Lorena Segura York) began her acting career in 2003 in the comedy short “Party Foul,” and was most recently cast in an episode of the vampire detective TV series “Moonlight.”

Jason still describes himself as “a struggling artist … not trying to be famous, just trying to live.” He doesn’t “fit into the 9-to-5 regime,” which is why he’s working on a documentary tentatively titled “The Real Hollywood Entourage,” involving an ex-Chippendale dancer friend and his relationship with Mark Wahlberg, the “Hollywood underbelly” and his One Love crew.

My only post-interview regret? I forgot to ask what they did with their chicken. (I was hoping that all contestants found them a good, needy home.)

So, what’s the takeaway for Jason and Lorena? While Jason asserts that he’s “down for any adventure,” he still waffles when asked about the prospects of marriage. He says his “Amazing Race” adventures “opened his mind” to lots of possibilities. From all indications, Lorena, more patient by the day, is still wondering if one of those adventures might be matrimony.

Here’s a sneak at next week’s synopsis:

“One Team continues burning bridges and making enemies when they force a fellow Racer out of an airline ticket office. One Team is too busy butting heads to realize their car is on a collision course with a speeding bus. The simple act of counting fence posts at a Lithuanian festival causes one dating couple’s relationship to be anything but festive.”

Who do you think will be, or deserves to be, eliminated next?

Related:
Amazing Race Q&A w/ eliminated Miami sisters
Amazing Race 12 begins; episode 13 casting deadline Nov. 27, 2007
Amazing Race 2 winner Alex Boylan travels the world

In adventure, until next week.
— Andrew
Senior Editor, Los Angeles Times Travel

[Photos: CBS]

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 6:10 pm by Andrew and is filed under Amazing Race, Travel Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.