Metropolis Reality Forums - Article on Meredith/Gretchen

Sponsored by: The Fans!

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 24^th, 2024, 2:39am

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Article on Meredith/Gretchen ť

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Amazing Race
   Amazing Race Gossip, News & Recaps (Moderators: JP, Heather, yesteach, Isle_be_back)
   Article on Meredith/Gretchen

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic

Author

Topic: Article on Meredith/Gretchen (Read 216 times)

Genius
ForumsNet Member

Asian engineering!

Gender:

Posts: 13605

Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« on: Mar 4^th, 2005, 5:37am »

Quote

Modify

Villages couple survives first elimination on 'The Amazing Race'

By THERESA CAMPBELL, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Villages snowbirds Meredith and Gretchen Smith proved they can keep up with the youngsters on "The Amazing Race," as the pair began from the starting line in Long Beach, Calif., and flew to Peru, where their adventure included roping llamas and taking a thrilling zipline ride across the country's picturesque mountains and valleys.

The grandparents finished sixth out of 11 teams.

The first episode of the seventh edition of "The Amazing Race" aired Tuesday night during a two-hour premiere on CBS. Viewers will be able to see the Villagers on television again next week as "The Amazing Race" continues. The show follows two-person teams as they race around the world to compete for a $1 million grand prize. It's being broadcast locally on WKMG-TV, Channel 6, in Orlando.

The Smiths, who are renting a winter home in the Village of Lynnhaven, are contractually forbidden to talk about their experience until they have been eliminated from the show. Readers can learn more about the pair through "The Amazing Race" Web site, which features live interviews with the teams.

The Smiths married in their 60s after being matched by mutual friends. This is the second marriage for both. On the Web site, they shared their fascination for the reality show.

"I think we are like Monday morning quarterbacks. We've watched every session of 'The Amazing Race' and we'd sit there in our easy chairs and say, 'Gee, we could do that,' " Gretchen said, adding she and Meredith have five grown children between them.

"The next thing we knew, we got an application from one of them, saying, 'Go for it, you'd be great,' " she said. "Meredith will tell you that in our age, we're in our late 60s, and there is not that much more opportunities for 'the great adventure,' so we decided to take a chance and try out for it."

The Smiths say they work well as a team, because they understand each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"We have the advantage of working together without conflict," Meredith said.

"Meredith's strengths are physical; he is very analytical," Gretchen said. "I tend to be more unfocused, I go off and find different directions, but I think that's a woman thing. We're very multitask oriented, and when he's trying to communicate with me, he makes me look directly at him, and his famous word is, 'Focus.' So, I think that is what is going to happen on this adventure, he is going to try to keep me focused. One thing we have to do together is he is stronger, physically, than I am and I think he'll pull me forward, and I will encourage him when he's doing all the hard things."

Meredith revealed their strategy.

"We'll take the time to analyze the clues and be very deliberate in what we do before we go running off," he said, adding the pair decided early on that Gretchen would do the driving.

"I have a heavy foot, and he will do the navigating," she said.

The Smiths also hope to be involved in some water challenges as they compete in "The Amazing Race."

"We're both water people, and I've done a lot of swimming in my day, competitively, and so I am looking forward to challenges where I will be able to use my swimming skills," Meredith said.

He believes their ability to communicate in other languages will help. Meredith can speak Spanish while Gretchen knows French.

"We're both prepared. Meredith more than I, because it has always been his mantra. He's in good physical form," she said. "I tend to, now that I'm retired, to sit back and read my newspaper and enjoy life a little more, but he does push me and encourages me to go through some of these very difficult tasks."

The Villagers said they wanted to enjoy the experience. They are not expecting to be the best in the race.

"We do not have any illusions of going there and being perfectly prepared. I think there are going to be a lot of surprises," Meredith said. "And the fact that we are a little bit older, and have seen a little more of life than some of the other contestants, will be to our advantage in handling surprises."

Recap of episode 1

Helicopters transported the 11 teams of two to the historic harbor in Long Beach, Calif., where host Phil Keoghan welcomed them to the starting line of the race. After informing the teams there would be eight elimination legs during the course of the race, Keoghan signaled the start, and teams raced to their bags, where they learned they would be flying to Lima, Peru, on one of two flights. After landing, they had to travel by bus to the Plaza de Armas to find their next clue.

The Smiths were on the second flight.

After landing in Lima, the teams rode a bus to Plaza de Armas and opened their next clue, which instructed them to travel 30 miles by bus to the city of Ancon. Once there, they had to make their way by rickshaw to the beach known as Playa Hermosa and dig through one of three sand piles for airline tickets to their next destination, Cuzco, Peru. Each pile had a different departure time: 6 a.m., 7 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. Once a team claimed a set of tickets, they could not search another pile.

The Smiths had to settle for the 7:40 flight.

Landing in Cuzco, the next clue revealed the teams had to take a marked taxi 22 miles to the small town of Huambutio and find a kiosk where the owner would hand them their next clue. Arriving at the kiosk, the clue instructed the teams to make their way two miles to the top of a gorge, take a zipline across it, and then a second zipline to get to the bottom.

The Smiths yelled with delight during their individual zipline rides across the picturesque view of the mountains and valleys around them. Next, the teams faced their first detour. They had to choose between Rope A Llama and Rope A Basket. For Rope A Llama, each team had to rope two llamas and take them to a pen. Roping the llamas didn't require strength, but getting them to cooperate and walk to the pens was frustrating and time-consuming for some of the teams.

Rope A Basket required each team member to use a rope to tie a basket containing 35 pounds of alfalfa to their back and carry it two-thirds of a mile to a store. Carrying the heavy baskets required strength, but teams with endurance could finish quickly.

The Smiths chose the Rope A Llama task, and while the llamas stubbornly refused to be pulled in any direction for some of the teams, Gretchen patted the llamas on the rear and told them to get moving. They did as she told them, which allowed the pair to take a delivery truck ride, departing every 20 minutes, nearly 20 miles to the town of Pisac, where they were told to search the marketplace for their next clue.

The final race of the show was a frantic race to the mat to learn how the teams placed. The Smiths arrived sixth. The 11th and last team, Ryan and his friend Chuck, were the first to be eliminated.

Luckily for "The Amazing Race" fans in Florida's Friendliest Hometown, Meredith and Gretchen are still in the race, which means Villagers can cheer for the town's celebrity snowbirds again next week.

« Last Edit: Mar 4^th, 2005, 5:39am by Genius »

IP Logged

TAR14: Tammy and Victor
S18: Brendan, Taj, Spencer

Kendra
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 6654

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #1 on: Mar 4^th, 2005, 3:44pm »

Quote

Modify

hmm intestesting article..any articles with Debbie and Bianca?..hehe

IP Logged

Palpatine
ForumsNet Member

Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?

Gender:

Posts: 1134

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #2 on: Mar 4^th, 2005, 7:05pm »

Quote

Modify

Wonder if their related to Willard. (Both have the last name of Smith) Shocked

IP Logged

JP
ForumsNet Moderator
Moderator
ForumsNet Member

Ditch IE. Use Firefox.

Gender:

Posts: 14706

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #3 on: Mar 5^th, 2005, 10:48am »

Quote

Modify

No kidding! That means we have 6 Smiths in our Reality TV shows today! 5 from TAR7, 1 from Survivor Palau! I haven't heard anything like it since TAR4's sprinkling of Steves, Daves, and Jons. Cheesy

IP Logged

Amber
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 1477

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #4 on: Mar 5^th, 2005, 11:47am »

Quote

Modify

Is there any on ROb and Amber... LOL F+Kfan

IP Logged

Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi

Kendra
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 6654

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #5 on: Mar 5^th, 2005, 3:03pm »

Quote

Modify

hahaha funny
wow that a lot of smiths!

IP Logged

Amber
ForumsNet Member

Gender:

Posts: 1477

Re: Article on Meredith/Gretchen
« Reply #6 on: Mar 5^th, 2005, 3:06pm »

Quote

Modify

I think there was a smith in AR3 have to check

IP Logged

Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic


Previous topic \| New Topic \| Next topic »