S33: Kim & Penn Holderness

[Whimsy]

Kim and Penn Holderness will light up the show with their outgoing internet personalities. The couple lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
 

[QuantumMechanic]

Love love love their music parodies. Hopefully killer fatigue won’t make me hate them! 🤣

[Ziggy]

1 hour ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Love love love their music parodies. Hopefully killer fatigue won’t make me hate them! 🤣

Right?  I have a good feeling about them, but I know what you mean.

[ByaNose]

I sorta knew the name but didn’t. I think I saw the viral video but after that I never watched them on YouTube or anything. I guess that’s good for me since I don’t have any expectations. Just going off the picture they are a good looking couple. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything on the race. I’m looking forward to seeing on Wednesday before and after the reset. Were they a strong or a weak team and did the break help or hurt them? Just a few more days to go to find out,

[Whimsy]

On 1/1/2022 at 1:21 PM, ByaNose said:

I sorta knew the name but didn’t. I think I saw the viral video but after that I never watched them on YouTube or anything. I guess that’s good for me since I don’t have any expectations. Just going off the picture they are a good looking couple. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything on the race. I’m looking forward to seeing on Wednesday before and after the reset. Were they a strong or a weak team and did the break help or hurt them? Just a few more days to go to find out,

They have way more than one video. They even wrote a book. You should check them out!

[ByaNose]

3 minutes ago, Whimsy said:

They have way more than one video. They even wrote a book. You should check them out!

Yes, I know they have more then one video & have a book.  I just never saw either. LOL!!! I guess I’ll be watching them as a “normal” couple as opposed to YouTube people. They have a lot fans. Actually, several of the teams are quasi famous with interesting backstories. Although, I’m not sure how any of it will transcend or help them on the Race. Maybe, not being afraid of the camera. LOL!!!, only, 2 more days. So excited. 

[Hera]

I had never heard of them, so I looked up some of their videos. The music parodies aren't for me, but I did enjoy some of their vlogs. In general, couples who have been together for over a decade and who aren't trying to use the race as relationship therapy tend to be pretty solid teammates to one another. They both seem reasonably bright and they seem like they'd be savvy enough to know to prepare (I don't know if they actually did—it's just my guess that they did). I don't know if I think they'll win it, but I don't think they'll be first out unless they have horrendous taxi luck.

[ProfCrash]

They are in good shape, they both work out, they are reasonably clever, and they have spent enough time in therapy/writing a book that I think they know how to communicate with each other when they are stressed out. I suspect that they will do pretty well. That said, Kim is an introvert so that adds an interesting dimension to all of this. She probably benefited from the social distancing and masking and the like. 

[chaifan]

1 hour ago, Hera said:

They both seem reasonably bright and they seem like they'd be savvy enough to know to prepare (I don't know if they actually did—it's just my guess that they did).

From the video they posted on their facebook page, when they were allowed to announce they'd be on TAR, it sounds like they are true TAR fans.  So I think they know, hey, at least one of us needs to know how to drive stick shift, and other little things that help. 

They are also going to be doing post-episode videos, which I think will be really entertaining. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

They are also going to be doing post-episode videos, which I think will be really entertaining.

Reading this, I thought I might find them on the net and watch the post-episode videos for additional insight. So I went and located their announcement video and watched it.

Frankly, I was not impressed. Far too much artificial yukking it up for the camera. 

But I guess I will watch at least the first one or two, and hope they aren't completely unbearable.

[Whimsy]

Here's the first video: https://fb.watch/amMSBjJKuT/

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Here's their recap:

 

[MerBearHou]

Their video of trying to get their kids to wear coats in the cold weather just killed me -- so clever, so spot on.

I like them -- hope they go far.

If Penn will just stop over-thinking like he did last night!!!

Edited January 6, 2022 by MerBearHou

[chaifan]

About the recap video...  it's an hour long.  It is actually a video of them recording a podcast.  There's not a lot of anything to watch.  They show a few still shots, but it's nothing we haven't seen.  So if you want to just listen, as a podcast, you won't miss anything.

I'm mostly through the recap, and there's a lot of fun stuff in there.  Yep, they cover Penn's "it's a Clue!" moment, and there's more to it than we knew (of course).  They talk about a task that was edited out.  Towards the end they discuss how production was reacting to Covid issues, while the race was still on. 

And, yes, they knew it wasn't really the Queen!  😁

 

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, chaifan said:

 

And, yes, they knew it wasn't really the Queen!  😁

 

Sure, Jan! 

[Kristi800]

That's where I know them from! He does remind me of a friend's husband, as well, though - who reminds me of Hugh Laurie. 

Their parody songs are pretty funny and worth a listen or two.

[bearcatfan]

They knew it wasn’t the queen. There’s a clip on the CBS site where Kim says in the cab she knows it wasn’t really the Queen. 

[Netfoot]

I tried to watch their recap. I gave up after 3:45 and stopped watching. Lots of people seem to love these folks. I am not one of them.

I am not at the stage where I dislike them and want them gone. But it wouldn't take much of a push to get me there.

[treeofdreams]

23 hours ago, chaifan said:

Yep, they cover Penn's "it's a Clue!" moment, and there's more to it than we knew (of course).  They talk about a task that was edited out

For those of us who don't want to sit and watch for an hour, can someone summarize this bit please?  Thanks.

[kcrabtree06]

27 minutes ago, treeofdreams said:

For those of us who don't want to sit and watch for an hour, can someone summarize this bit please?  Thanks.

They basically said that on the clue itself, there was a name and a zip code so they thought they had to find a specific envelope. They also said when Anthony left, he had a small box in his hand so that’s why they thought they needed something else. Penn also mentioned that the train was extremely slow, so he was hesitant to leave then have to come back on the slow train again. It wasn’t until the other teams showed up, grabbed the clue and got back into the train that they realized they were done. 

[ProfCrash]

There was a giant slide that they were suppose to go on but it was cancelled because of the weather. Instead of completing the slide they ran to the top, got a clue, and came back. It didn’t really change the outcome of anything though. 

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Listening to Kim and Penn talk about all the good bits that didn't make the final edit -- including the comment that next week's episode (#3) is the one that actually should be / should have been two hours because it ended up being a doozy of a day for the racers -- makes me wish that we could get an extended cut version of TAR on one of the streaming platforms. I would pay to see hours and hours of footage and talking head interviews from each leg. 

[treeofdreams]

16 hours ago, kcrabtree06 said:

They basically said that on the clue itself, there was a name and a zip code so they thought they had to find a specific envelope. They also said when Anthony left, he had a small box in his hand so that’s why they thought they needed something else. Penn also mentioned that the train was extremely slow, so he was hesitant to leave then have to come back on the slow train again. It wasn’t until the other teams showed up, grabbed the clue and got back into the train that they realized they were done. 

Thank you for that recap.  It makes a bit more sense now!

[lasu]

Ugh, I'm from Raleigh, and I good naturedly despise this family! lol.  I say good naturedly, because I honestly wish them no ill will, but they are SO THIRSTY.  Their first video was kinda cute, but this over the top twee family stuff isn't my scene.  I also used to be the executive assistant for the CEO of a company, who now is the president of their PR firm, so only degree of separation.  I saw Penn once in Target, and actually said NO out loud like he was a new video, lol.  He was far enough away he didn't hear me.  And that MF is TALL.  If they have a challenge of getting things off the top shelf, they are going to have it in the bag.

All that said, I...didn't hate them on this.  They seem less ON, which makes sense, and I tend to root for the "older" couple, and they're also from my town...I've gone from going in ready to HATE, to...well, they're not so bad.  Their age and being from Raleigh would definitely have me ruling for them if I didn't already know of them, so maybe they can turn me around.

Not on their videos though.  Not my jam[mies].

[Netfoot]

30 minutes ago, lasu said:

I good naturedly despise this family! lol.  I say good naturedly, because I honestly wish them no ill will, but they are SO THIRSTY.

Your post perfectly describes my attitude to them. And thirsty is a perfect description.

They may be perfectly nice in person, but I don't care. Because I will never get to meet them in person. On video, they are, indeed, just too "thirsty."  I can stand short bursts on TAR inbetween clips from the other racers but when I tried to watch their recap video (longer than the actual episode, and all about meeeee!) I had to give up long before 5 minutes in.

Thinking about it, as the race progresses and teams get eliminated, we get to see the remaining teams more and more. If they go long in the race, I will have to see more of them than I want to, so perhaps best if they Philiminate early.

[Whimsy]

I thought this went without saying, but spoilers are not allowed in the team’s threads. They are ONLY allowed in the spoiler threads. 

[ApprenticeFan]

Before became famous on YouTube, Penn and Kim used to be journalists. (Yes, Penn worked on a NBC affiliate in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.)

[Rabbittron]

He also worked in Colorado as a news reporter. 

[bearcatfan]

I’m pretty sure Kim worked for Inside Edition for several years. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, ApprenticeFan said:

Before became famous on YouTube, Penn and Kim used to be journalists. (Yes, Penn worked on a NBC affiliate in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.)

I've been working my way through the Marvel movies, and both Penn and Kim appear as journalists in Iron Man 3, as do several other real-life journalists. Oddly enough, she is listed in the credits but he isn't (but he is listed in the IMDB credits).

[kris4n6]

20 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

I've been working my way through the Marvel movies, and both Penn and Kim appear as journalists in Iron Man 3, as do several other real-life journalists. Oddly enough, she is listed in the credits but he isn't (but he is listed in the IMDB credits).

I think she got a credit because she had a speaking part, asking Tony Stark a question.

Iron Man 3 was filmed in Wilmington, NC so there were lots of local to NC extras, especially in the news reporter scenes.

And fun fact, my uncle lived there at the time and when my mom was visiting him, RDJ rode by on a bike and made eye contact. 😂 She loves to tell that story.

[RunningMarket]

Penn references Kim being in a movie in one of their family videos. Which one escapes me at the moment.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, RunningMarket said:

Penn references Kim being in a movie in one of their family videos. Which one escapes me at the moment.

It's prolly called "Look At Meee!!!"

[lasu]

On 1/10/2022 at 7:28 PM, ApprenticeFan said:

(Yes, Penn worked on a NBC affiliate in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.)

This SO PERSNICKITY, but Penn's hometown is Durham.  He's not a Raleigh native.  (We are weird about the two being confused around here.)

[bearcatfan]

On 1/11/2022 at 5:07 PM, RunningMarket said:

Penn references Kim being in a movie in one of their family videos. Which one escapes me at the moment.

Iron Man 3

[bearcatfan]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:32 PM, tracyscott76 said:

I've been working my way through the Marvel movies, and both Penn and Kim appear as journalists in Iron Man 3, as do several other real-life journalists. Oddly enough, she is listed in the credits but he isn't (but he is listed in the IMDB credits).

I can never find Penn. Is he in the same scene as Kim? Iron Man 3 is one of my least favorite Marvel movies so I haven’t watched it that often. 

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, bearcatfan said:

I can never find Penn. Is he in the same scene as Kim? Iron Man 3 is one of my least favorite Marvel movies so I haven’t watched it that often. 

Kim appears in the scene where Tony is threatening the Mandarin and, as @kris4n6 notes, has lines - she does a stand-up bit in front of her cameraperson, then turns to ask Tony questions as he's leaving. There's a whole crowd of reporters in that scene, but I don't know if Penn is in there somewhere or not. There is also a montage of on-screen news anchors, so he might be in there.

[bearcatfan]

15 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Kim appears in the scene where Tony is threatening the Mandarin and, as @kris4n6 notes, has lines - she does a stand-up bit in front of her cameraperson, then turns to ask Tony questions as he's leaving. There's a whole crowd of reporters in that scene, but I don't know if Penn is in there somewhere or not. There is also a montage of on-screen news anchors, so he might be in there.

Yeah, I noticed Kim. 

[SnarkShark]

She's really cool.

 

He's kind of an annoying spaz.

[kris4n6]

3 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Kim appears in the scene where Tony is threatening the Mandarin and, as @kris4n6 notes, has lines - she does a stand-up bit in front of her cameraperson, then turns to ask Tony questions as he's leaving. There's a whole crowd of reporters in that scene, but I don't know if Penn is in there somewhere or not. There is also a montage of on-screen news anchors, so he might be in there.

I want to say he was in the background of that scene but I'm not 100% sure.

I started rewatching all the MCU in chronological order last year and I'd forgotten I'd read they were in it so I was surprised to see them (I'd seen the movie when it came out but had no idea who they were at the time).

[ByaNose]

Penn is a true ham. He’s almost too much for but he’s not at the overbearing level. He & Kim work well together. I could totally see them in the Final 3. 

[ProfCrash]

9 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Penn is a true ham. He’s almost too much for but he’s not at the overbearing level. He & Kim work well together. I could totally see them in the Final 3. 

Yup, Penn is Penn and is comfortable with who he is. Kim knows Penn and is comfortable wrangling when she needs to. I can totally see where he will drive people bat shit crazy because he is always on. ALWAYS on. It isn't an act, it is who he is. But that energy level is going to drive people crazy. 

[RunningMarket]

16 hours ago, bearcatfan said:

Iron Man 3

Sorry, I meant which of their family videos he mentions it in. I've only seen a handful, so it might be the one done to the tune of Baby Got Back?

[Kristi800]

I like them. They don't seem to be there to prove something (older people can do this, couples testing their love...). I loved them doing the dance - so up their alley! They don't seem to fight or bicker - a definite win!

[ProfCrash]

 

There are no spoilers in the link. Kim wrote a blog on restarting the race and how hard it was for her and why. It is an interesting read but since it technically hasn't happened yet, read at your own risk? She discusses the travel protocols and mentions how many people racing and working the race got sick. I thought others would find it interesting.

https://theholdernessfamily.com/restarting-the-amazing-race/?fbclid=IwAR0zXlayVKB9vzaWeLjgY70_qBfxVPrXqM-nAQ8Tb3NxvMTAc8D7ex3COiY

[Tdoc72]

13 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

 

There are no spoilers in the link. Kim wrote a blog on restarting the race and how hard it was for her and why. It is an interesting read but since it technically hasn't happened yet, read at your own risk? She discusses the travel protocols and mentions how many people racing and working the race got sick. I thought others would find it interesting.

https://theholdernessfamily.com/restarting-the-amazing-race/?fbclid=IwAR0zXlayVKB9vzaWeLjgY70_qBfxVPrXqM-nAQ8Tb3NxvMTAc8D7ex3COiY

Thanks for the link. It’s amazing that no one got sick. 

[ProfCrash]

5 hours ago, Tdoc72 said:

Thanks for the link. It’s amazing that no one got sick. 

Not really. The vaccine was stupid effective against the initial variants and still worked well against Delta. Heck, it is actually working against Omicron in the sense that vaccinated people are not ending up in the hospital at high rates. Vaccinated people are getting sick and some feel like crap but not bad enough to be hospitalized. But the vaccine worked awesome against the first couple of variants. You didn't need a mask indoors or anything. 

Everyone on the race had to be vaccinated and they were wearing masks in close situations, like the gondola. The flag task was indoors but in a huge room, spaced out, and with tons of air circulation. They were driving themselves almost everywhere, the bus they were on was limited to the number of people on it and everyone sat far away from the driver. I suspect we are going to see a ton of outdoor activities and anything indoors is likely to be a big place or well spaced out.

And they were testing daily or near daily, every time they left a country or entered a country. And staying in an Amazing Race bubble when traveling. The lack of tourism during the time probably meant that it was easy to find hotels with space for everyone working and running the race. 

Omicron is a totally different beast in terms of its transmissibility then the variants running around when the race restarted.

[Hera]

From @greyhorse's post in the episode thread:

Quote

I like that Kim and Penn seem very "normal".  They're not flaunting their fame, or likely explosion in wealth.  They're not constantly making comments about their social media prowess.  I have no clue how or why people can make so much money from YouTube, but has there been any estimate of how much they actually do make?  Was it Kim who said $1M could pay for her kids' college tuition? That made it sound like they're not sitting on millions of dollars. But likely they're doing well.

Influencers' take-home pay can be hard to estimate because on the one hand, the gross amounts of money they make can be eye-catching, but a lot of them have behind-the-scenes staff to pay, plus their own taxes (or for an accountant to sort through it all, which is then an extra cost), plus production costs for high quality recording equipment and editing software, which need to be upgraded and/or relicensed from time to time. Effectively, social media accounts like theirs are small production companies. I have no doubt that Kim and Penn earn a comfortable living from their work, but I suspect that it's a lot less than any headline figures that are attributed to them. They definitely have production staff, as I've seen them reference them in one of their videos.

[ProfCrash]

Heck, they have the Midwest Neighbor in their skits now. Plus a Producer and I think a camera person. The Jammies video that has been posted a bunch has a reference to Penn leaving his job as an anchor to start a Production company with Kim handling local commercials and political commercials. Those costs can be high but are also more maintained and updated now.  

I have no clue how much social influencers make. I know my sons favorite video game YouTubers have contests were they pay out $10,000 on a fairly regular basis so I am guessing that they make a lot. then again, they actually have more views then Kim and Penn do.

I finally watched the Jammies video and thought it was cute. I laughed at Kim's pointing out her roll in Iron Man 3 and then trying to point to Penn in a scene, basically throwing shade at his lack of a part. 

I think they are doing a great job on the Race but I am not surprised. They are both smart enough and in good shape and they seem to know each others strengths and weaknesses well enough. I know we only see what they post but my general impression is that they know that they can annoy each other but that they have learned how to talk to each other when angry. They seem to know when to chill out and take the time to look after the other person. We also have not seen them dealing with killer fatigue yet. 

[Babalu06]

6 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Heck, they have the Midwest Neighbor in their skits now. Plus a Producer and I think a camera person.

I think I heard them say the woman who plays their neighbor is their producer (or one of their producers).