Archive for the 'Amazing Race' Category
‘The Amazing Race’ Season 15: Teams are announced & one is quickly eliminated
September 28, 2009 1:14pm
‘The Amazing Race’ Season 15 started off last night with a two-hour premiere that not only introduced the new teams, but shocked viewers with a great twist — one team would be eliminated right away.
If you had any doubts as to whether you had it in you to watch yet another season of a global endurance race for $1 million, think again. This season started off with colorful characters, lies and intense challenges that kicked off in the L.A. River before jetting off to Tokyo and ending up in Vietnam by the end of the premiere. They took on challenges including eating a “wasabi bomb” sushi roll to survive a Japanese game show, leading a group of 20 Japanese people through the city to their next checkpoint, fertilizing a fruit tree in Vietnam, and the task that was most influential on the final outcome — herding ducks.
Here’s a quick rundown of the new teams. After that, tune in to Show Tracker’s Amazing Race blog for episode updates.
‘Amazing Race 14′: Chats with winners and others at season’s end
May 11, 2009 3:04pm
Though they were behind most of last night’s episode, the brother-sister team of Tammy and Victor Jih ended up winning the 14th season of “The Amazing Race.”
Both are Harvard-educated attorneys — Victor, 35, works in Century City and Tammy, 26, in San Francisco — who started Season 14 with Victor taking on the role of big brother, bossing his little sister around. But when he led them on the wrong path in Romania, Victor finally realized his sister was a grown-up and the two became strong collaborators.
Here’s a conversation we had with them Monday.
Q: Congratulations!
Tammy and Victor: Thank you.
Q: What was so interesting about you two is that your relationship changed so much during the course of the race.
‘The Amazing Race 14′ finale in Hawaii - who were you cheering to be the winner?
May 11, 2009 12:23pm
The 12th and final lap of “The Amazing Race” found the three remaining teams - siblings Tammy and Victor Jih, mother and son Margie and Luke Adams and friends and former NFL cheerleaders Jaime Edmonson and Cara Rosenthal - leaving Beijing and flying 18 hours and 5,000 miles to Maui, Hawaii.
Arriving at the airport, the teams took taxis — in which they also had to change into their bathing suits — to a section of beach where they had to put spices on a whole pig for a luau and then, using poles, carry the hefty sow some 200 yards and prepare it for the luau. Needless to say, the whole affair undoubtedly turned vegetarians’ stomachs, as well as those of fans of the movie “Babe,” as Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara kept dropping the poor swine in the ocean or on the beach. Though Margie and Luke were the last to arrive at the location, they managed to hoist the poles over their shoulders and pass the struggling other teams.
They were the first to arrive at McGregor Point where they had to ride a Jet Ski out to 100 buoys to find their next clue. Even though Margie, who was piloting the craft, fell out of it at one point, she and her deaf son managed to complete the task with plenty of breathing room from the other two teams.
From there, the teams were sent on the Hana Highway to the Surfboard Fence. Jaime and Cara, though, got a cabbie who didn’t know the way, eventually forcing Jaime to call the police and ask for directions. At the Fence, the teams encountered the Road Block in which one member had to go through 300 vintage surfboards to find 11 with drawings that corresponded to the previous laps of the race. Once the boards were found, the contestant had to line them up in order.
‘The Amazing Race 14′: A chat with sisters Kisha and Jen
May 6, 2009 11:48am
Sisters LaKisha Hoffman, 28, and Jennifer Hoffman, 24, stayed true to each other through thick and thin. When Jen struggled in the swimming challenge, Kisha kept her on track. Even in the face of elimination on the 11th lap when the sisters missed the finish line by seconds because Jen stopped to use the bathroom, there was never any blame on Jen. They went far with their competitive spirit and athletic abilities and had a great time. I got to ask them a few more behind-the-scenes questions about the race and congratulated them on a good run of it.
Of all the countries you went to, what was your favorite travel destination?
Kisha: Mine was definitely Thailand. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather.
Jen: I liked Thailand and also India.
Kisha: Jen traveled more internationally than I did. I enjoyed the opportunity to get out there and appreciated all the things I experienced.
What was your least favorite country?
Jen: No I enjoyed every country we ransacked and ran through.
Kisha: Siberia was so cold. I’m definitely not a cold-weather person. That was an adjustment for me.
How did the race affect your relationship as sisters? Sisters fight, right? But we only saw you supporting each other. Were there any off-camera squabbles?
Jen: People say that like it’s such a surprise that we got along. They depicted us very well. That’s the way my sister and I are on a normal basis. Usually we just communicate by phone calls and text messages. We have our arguments over the phone sometimes. That question surprises me. Everything you saw on TV was completely us.
Kisha. It showed we had a tough time adjusting to each other in the beginning. But we learned to work together, and by the end of it — as sisters and as a team — we progressed from beginning to end.
What’s next for both of you?
Kisha: I live in New York and work as a youth program coordinator and basketball coach.
Jen: Currently I’ll go back to Louisville to be a coach in women’s volleyball. I want to stay in the realm of college athletics. I also dabble in modeling. I’m only 25, single, no kids. It’s great being single.
Oh yeah, has the show brought in any romantic fan mail?
Kisha: I have actually.
Jen: I haven’t.
Kisha: I did earlier today.
Jen: Get out, I didn’t even know about that.
Kisha, you sound disappointed that you have, and Jen, you sound disappointed that you haven’t.
Jen: (laughs)
Kisha: I’ve gotten straight, funny and good e-mails. But it’s funny that they can fall in love with you just from watching the show.
‘The Amazing Race 14′ You’re going to make me eat what?
May 5, 2009 12:29pm
The 11th lap of “The Amazing Race” tested the teams’ endurance as they went without sleep and pushed on.
Cheerleaders Jaime and Cara were the first to arrive at last week’s Pit Stop at the Beijing Drum Tower, only to find out that the race was still on. Margie and Luke were next with Tammy and Victor finding out third and Kisha and Jen arriving last.
Margie started to show signs of wear and tear when she admitted, “The longer we’re on the race, the harder it is. I just don’t want to hear him yell ‘Mom’ one more time.”
The teams had to make their way to the Bey Hai Dong Men street mall and search the shops for the Travelocity gnome. Once they found the little blue guy with the long beard, instructions on the bottom would tell them where to go next.
Margie and Luke were the first to find the gnome’s clue. It told them to go to Gu Gong Xi Bei Jiao where they’d have to get on electric bikes, ride across Tiananmen Square and go to the Dongdan subway station. Riding the bikes was the easy part. Getting a taxi to get to the bikes was the true test. Tammy and Victor were first to grab a cab, but Margie and Luke found one before Jaime and Cara, who were third. Jen and Kisha were still last.
Tammy and Victor were the first to find the bikes, but all teams were amazed at the guards marching at Tiananmen Square.
At the Detour, teams had to choose between two local professions. If they chose Beijing opera, they’d go to the Hu Guang Hui Guan Opera House and make one another up in full makeup with traditional costumes and present themselves to the opera master for approval. Otherwise they had to act as a Chinese waiter at a restaurant. Diners would give their orders in Mandarin and the waiters would recite the orders to the chef and get approval, and the chef would prepare their orders for the teams to then serve to the diners.
‘Amazing Race 14′: pain and suffering in Beijing
April 28, 2009 12:31pm
The 10th lap of “The Amazing Race” Sunday night saw the teams leave Guilin, China, and fly 1,000 miles to Beijing.
Kisha and Jen Hoffman, who came in first place last week, proclaimed they were “over” the squabble they had with the mother and son team of Margie and Luke Adams that began when Luke pushed Jen out of the way at a clue box leading Jen to hurl some expletive name-calling his way.
In sign language, the deaf Luke said “I’m done. I’m not going to talk to them.”
But clearly problems still ensued last night. When Margie and Luke attempted to purchase tickets at the airport to go to Beijing and learned that they couldn’t use their international credit card at the counter, Kisha and Jen who were standing behind them quickly left and went to the correct window, getting their tickets first. Then when they landed at the Beijing airport and raced to find taxis, Luke bumped Jen running to get a cabbie. And then the brother-and-sister team of Tammy and Victor Jih told the travel agent at the airport in Chinese to seat them as close to the front in the plane and put the three remaining teams in the back.
Former cheerleaders Jaime Edmonson and Cara Rosenthal were the first to reach the clue box in Beijing at a foot massage parlor where one member had to perform a very painful Road Block: participate in a traditional Chinese foot massage. First, they had to drink medicinal tea and then get a 10-minute foot massage known for its therapeutic powers. But it was more like Chinese torture as Cara, Tammy, Luke and Kisha screamed and yelled during the ordeal. The teams were told if they cried out “uncle” any time during the massage, they would have to start over again. After they completed the massage, they had to drink another cup of tea before receiving their clue.
Their next stop was Guangcai Natatorium. But even before they got to the natatorium, there were cab squabbles between Tammy and Victor and Jaime and Cara with the former team telling a cab driver where to go and the latter taking the cab away from them. Still, Tammy and Victor reached the location first where they learned of their Detour: Sync or Swim.
Tammy and Victor opted for Sync, in which each team had to attempt a synchronized dive by jumping off a 3-meter springboard in unison. They would receive their next clue if they received a mark of five from the judges.
‘Amazing Race 14′: a chat with stuntmen Mark and Mike
April 20, 2009 2:32pm
Though they are only 4 feet, 9 inches tall, the stuntmen-brother team of Mark, 48, and Mike, 51, Munoz stood tall last night as they were eliminated in the ninth round of “The Amazing Race 14.”
The brothers had incurred penalties two weeks in a row and were docked four hours last week for giving out personal items to taxi drivers in Bangkok, Thailand, when they ran out of money.
Though they were hours behind the four remaining teams Sunday evening, Mark and Mike had a blast performing their stunts, including a fun Speed Bump in which they had to wash and dry the hair of two women in Guilin, China.
The two talked about their experience on the show the morning after their elimination episode aired.
‘Amazing Race 14′: Nastiness prevails on lap 9
April 20, 2009 11:46am
Lap 9 of CBS’ “The Amazing Race 14” got particularly nasty Sunday night as two teams nearly came to blows at the Pit Stop with one team referring to another as “bitches.”
The teams left Bangkok, Thailand, flying over 1,000 miles to Guilin, China. One of the connecting flights from Guangzhou was delayed to Guilin, but sisters Kisha and Jen Hoffman were on a different flight and reached Guilin first.
The teams were supposed to take a taxi to a nearby hair salon for their next clue. However, Kisha and Jen lost precious time when their taxi driver went to the wrong location. The Chinese American brother and sister team of Victor and Tammy Jih couldn’t stop talking about the fact that they could speak Chinese and hoped they would have a leg up on the competition. But their cab didn’t know where it was going.
So the former cheerleaders Jaime Edmonson and Cara Rosenthal reached the hair salon first. Of course Jaime, who hates foreign languages and foreigners in general, was her usually Ugly American self, even stating: “The only thing I know about China is that it’s very populated.” Ugh.
‘The Amazing Race 14′: taxis, forgotten travel documents and dentures
April 13, 2009 12:55pm
Clueless taxi drivers and some truly boneheaded mistakes by two teams who left logic behind in order to reach the finish line propelled the eighth lap of CBS’ “The Amazing Race14” Sunday night.
And for any folks out there contemplating auditioning for the race around the world, always remember to keep your travel papers with you at all times or you could end up being eliminated.
The five remaining teams left Phuket, Thailand, on the same flight and flew 400 miles to Bangkok, where they had to take a taxi to a nearby boatyard to find their next clue. Though most of the taxi drivers told their teams they knew how to get the boats, the majority of them had to stop and ask for the location.
The mother-son team of Margie and hearing-impaired Luke Adams were first to reach the boatyard, where they received the Road Block. Margie chose to accomplish the task: Attach a rod to the propeller of a long-tail boat. After they completed the Roadblock, the next clue had them traveling on the boat down the canal to go to the Peninsula Pier.
‘The Amazing Race’ 14: goodbye to nice guys Mike and Mel
March 30, 2009 2:00pm
The nicest, sweetest and most fun-filled team to grace “The Amazing Race” 14 — the father-son team of clergyman Mel White, 68, and “School of Rock” screenwriter Mike White, 38 — were eliminated last night in the seventh lap of the series.
They had problems finding a taxi at the Phuket, Thailand, airport, and then their cabbie took them to the wrong location. They never recovered from the misdirection.
On the morning after the elimination, the two talked about their experiences and how they have remained friends with the rest of the contestants.
