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Rob Cesternino (@RobCesternino) and Chief Amazing Race Correspondent Jessica Liese (@HaymakerHattie) are joined by Jodi Wincheski (@JodiWincheski) from Amazing Race 14 to recap Episode 4 of the Amazing Race All-Stars “Smarter, Not Harder” which took teams across Malaysia.
Brenchel Impressing and Luke Smashing
Jodi is impressed with Brenchel and says they are a lot different than they were on Big Brother. She feels they are a lot less annoying, and they have evolved into normal people this season through helping others. She says that pumping up other teams is not normal race behavior and recalls an incident between Kiesha and Luke over a five second head start at a clue box.
Jodi is always impressed with Margie and Luke. She calls them a tough team who despite their communication barriers, has always managed to run strong legs. However, she does say that she was not surprised at all over Luke’s breakdown and said that he has his moments. Margie is great at handling them though and knows that they are all because Luke loves the Amazing Race and is really competitive.
She doesn’t think there is a rule that applies to breaking things on the challenge despite Luke’s breakdown. Jessica feels that there is no precedent on the race, however she remembers Colin from TAR6’s breakdown over the Ox being broken.
Should There Be Shoes?
Jodi wishes there had been a challenge at the SkyBar during her season. She didn’t get to go anywhere as fun. Both agree that there was colored water that they were pouring, because they would have wasted a lot of alcohol during Brendon and Rachel’s 47 pour trial.
Jodi doesn’t know if there should have been uniform footwear during the trampoline challenge. She does feel that the race tries to do things like the locals do them and if the locals do not get special footwear, the racers should not either.
Don’t Act, Deliver.
Jodi is always impressed with Dave and Connor and she feels they work really well together. She feels that they always are able to communicate really well together and they have definitely put their past performance behind them. She was surprised with Jessica and John for getting in the raft while it was falling apart. She was impressed though with Big Easy’s ability to float.
In regards to the Afganimals, Jodi feels they are always putting on a show. She feels they should worry more about the actual racing part.
Missing Pieces
Jodi finds new people for Reality Shows primarily Survivor, Amazing Race and sometimes Big Brother. She says that they don’t always fill all the roles they need from all the applicants and when that happens, she finds people to fill those roles. Rob compares her to a bounty hunter for people. She says sometimes she will find people who have applied for the show and have fallen through the cracks, but often times they will particularly seek out people who are at least familiar with the show.
She says that in her time as a Casting Producer, she has found Kat and Hayden independently as well as Whitney Dunkin, the Culpepper’s, Brenda, Chase, Jefra, and Chuck and Wynona. Being a casting producer, it does annoy Jodi more when people act for the cameras on the show. She just wants to see the people compete and feels it is important to not be over the top.
Sneaking Snacks
Jodi brought a rolling suitcase on TAR 14, because she was a flight attendant and they brought rolling suitcases with them. She also brought it because she was 5’2 and could not carry it around as easily as some of the other teams.
Jodi talked with the other flight attendants on the race, and they would hook them up with travel tips and extra food, both of which came in handy. They did not do what Rob suggested by telling the flight attendants to not give food to the other teams, because she knew as flight attendants, they were trained to do it anyways.
Jodi thinks what a lot of people don’t realize is how little money teams actually get at the start of each leg, and to combat this, they brought granola bars with them on the race which is something that Rob didn’t know was possible. She feels that most teams bring food and says that they have to carry them around with them though.
Jodi feels that Phil had a weird reaction to the country singers arriving at the pit stop last night and came across as a little rude, and Jessica agrees that he seemed a little cranky. Jodi thinks that he didn’t expect them to do well on the race and says that they probably would have been out if they didn’t get that Express Pass.
Recycling Reality Stars
In terms of getting recycled players from other CBS reality shows such as Survivor and Big Brother, it can go either way with teams reaching out to CBS and CBS reaching out to them. She says there aren’t a lot of people who don’t want to race around the world for a million dollars, and in most cases their partners are obvious. Rob thinks it would hurt a reality stars chances of getting on the show by campaigning for it and Jodi disagrees and says it doesn’t affect anything. CBS gets who CBS wants, but it doesn’t hurt to let somebody know. She says you want to seem enthusiastic and excited, but not despite.
Jodi feels that Brenchel would not do well on Survivor, and they would be early targets to get out of the game. Jessica then asks who the premier candidate would be to do the CBS Triple Crown and Jodi does not want to answer the question. She thinks there is a possibility of that happening though. Rob thinks they would do okay on Survivor, and that this softer side of Brenchel would help them in the tribe. Jodi feels that they would get the Rupert treatment where people feel that they have played too many times to play again.
Jodi feels that the more reality TV that someone does, the bigger their head and their ego gets however the opposite has happened in the case of Brenchel. Rob agrees saying that BB12 Rachel was very insecure and fragile, and they are not the same people they once were. Jodi feels there is more stability in the fact that they are now married.
Monitoring Minutes and Meltdowns
Jodi feels that they do not have to make tasks that take the same amount of time because it takes away the element of choice and choosing which one they will be better at. She feels that if all detours were created equal, people would never switch. She feels that more people didn’t switch because there was only four practice rooms and most people didn’t feel musically inclined.
Jodi works with the people who are voted off of Survivor, but not the people at Ponderosa. She works with the Pre-Jury people who cannot go home. She says she has a lot of fun working with those people, but says there are moments where everyone wants to kill each other. She says if you focus on the fun things that are happening instead of the fact the guy next to you voted you out, you have a lot more fun.
She says the process is similar with the Amazing Race, because the teams cannot go home and they have to go to a sequester home. She says there were a few hurt feelings in her season at the sequester house, but people get over it a lot faster. She feels the Survivors who get voted out are in a worse state the eliminated Racers because there is more resentment. Racers who get knocked out are largely eliminated due to their own incompetence. Survivors who are eliminated take it a lot more personal because they feel as if they were being attacked.
How to Stand Out
Jodi feels that if people want to really stand out in the casting process, have a really magnetic personality. She said that she gets a lot of emails both from people who have applied 20 times as well as people who have been on the show before. She said that she never gets a vote on returning players though, because that is entirely in CBS’s court because they have already seen you once. If returning players try to get back on, she tells them bluntly that she has no say and if they want you, they will give you a call.
She feels that if you have applied for a show 20 times, you really have to re-evaluate your chances of getting on the show. Rob brings up Troyzan who has been a success story for multiple appliers, and she says that the needs of the producers change on a dime. She says that there is no magic number for applicants though. Jessica asks if being in the shows internet community hurts your chances, and Jodi says that too much involvement could look bad.
Anything Can Happen
Jodi feels that Dave and Connor are not going to be out shown by the other teams because of their lack of race experience, because they are so well traveled as a team. She says you never know on the race when you hit something that screws you up like a Taxi or a wrong Detour. She also brings up Jessica and John who have had even less experience on the race. Jodi thinks that it doesn’t matter where you place in relation to Jessica and John, but it depends more on the impression they made on the race. She feels that if they had not lost with the express pass, they wouldn’t have been memorable enough to bring back again.
Jodi’s advice for hopefuls is to interact a lot on the tape. Do not take turns with your teammate, she is much better if you ditch the script and just interact more like you would in a bar. Jodi also has information on her Facebook page that has information about how to make a tape for Survivor and the Amazing Race.
You can catch Rob on Survivor Know-It-Alls with Stephen Fishbach on Wednesday night at 10PM eastern and catch the Exit Interview with this weeks voted out castaway on Thursday as well as the recap podcast with Denise Stapley.
Special Thanks to our Amazing Race Recapper, Michael Shaheen
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