S26: Jelani & Jenny

[Donny Ketchum]

Hi.  We're from N.Y.C. and L.A., and we're the first black/Asian team on the race.

[Kromm]

Wow.  Way to buck the stereotypes show.  Two African-American men on the show, and neither could dance (one of them talked about it, and the other, Jelani, we saw clear evidence of how crappy he was at it).  

 

In regards to this team, for the most part the casting seemed realistic with the dating setup.  With these guys we got matched careers and seemingly compatible personalities.  But they live on complete opposite sides of the country!  

[Special K]

She might be a little tightly wound for him, but overall I liked these two a lot.

[hendersonrocks]

The conversation where they unpacked the phrase "in the vicinity of" ad nauseam was gold (made all the better by the fact that they realized how ridiculous it was and were able to laugh about it). I like these two.

 

The only moment that felt kind of...off...was at the very beginning when Jelani blurted out "I have the hottest partner!" in the whole group after they just met. I liked that she let it just sit there awkwardly and that was that, no other shenanigans of the sort from there on out.

[Chyna]

The conversation where they unpacked the phrase "in the vicinity of" ad nauseam was gold (made all the better by the fact that they realized how ridiculous it was and were able to laugh about it). I like these two.

 

 

Me too. They already seem very at ease with each other, and I like a team that can laugh at themselves. They were also very patient and pleasant with each other even when the dancing task seemed to be going badly. This is definitely my favorite blind date team that I want to fall in love. (Unless they start ripping each other apart in the third leg. :) )

[Jobiska]

I love this team (the "vicinity" convo clinched it).  I was intrigued that they represent two different ways of getting into the legal profession.  He was all "I was a sports law paralegal!  And I loved it!  And I decided to really commit to that field and become a lawyer!"   And she was the too-common "My parents wanted me to go into a good, challenging field, and I didn't like the sciences, so....."  I just hope she's not unhappy in her work.  

[Donny Ketchum]

Boldly established themselves as the team to beat.  I'm glad the minority team beat all of the lily-white teams.  They did well with the Detour, and they were very fortunate to distinct "vicinity" from "inside," unlike Jeff & Jackie.  I'm so glad they're treating this like a working relationship and hope they can do well.  They're one of the few teams I'm any bit wild about.  And they have the Express Pass, so there's that buffer for them later on.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Donny Ketchum

[Donny Ketchum]

Another fine leg.  Jelani worked that Roadblock like magic, and they stayed calm at that Share Roadblock.  Lucky that Laura & Tyler stupidly gave up their cabbie, but nonetheless, who can argue with luck when it gets you a win?  Great job!

[Chyna]

I love it when I team I like does well!

[etagloh]

Definitely my early pick to win it all, while treating it strictly as a "blind friendship", which throws a spanner into the CBS dating angle.

[Hanahope]

I love how she wanted to read the clue again.  Keep doing that girl, that's what gets teams ahead.  Reading the clue.  Then rereading the clue.  Then reading the clue again.  That's got them first, figuring out the key word was "vicinity" when they may not have locked onto that word in the first reading.  Hopefully they will keep that up when killer fatigue hits.

[aradia22]

I love this team. I'm really hoping they don't hit race fatigue and have a huge fight. Their friendship/camaraderie is great and has been from the start. I don't know if a romantic relationship is brewing but they're proving to be great racers and if they pair up strangers again, I think it'll be off the strength of this team.

[Donny Ketchum]

Fell out of the top spot this week, but since they, too, missed the list of needed items, I don't mind.  But that was their one mistake.

 

They rocked out every other task and earned third place.  Good job.

[Lingo]

Putting aside the fact that they live on opposite coasts, these two seem very compatible: both lawyers, they seem to think similarly and have very similar senses of humor.  It's too bad they seem to have friend-zoned each other.  Maybe they just don't find each other physically appealing? I'm holding out hope though.

[scrb]

Ugly side of her came out this week.

[viajero]

It was mostly her, but he also had his moments.  He was the one making the big deal about giving up the first taxi at the airport, even though they immediately got the next one in line.  I do hope they pull it together in coming legs.

[Lingo]

They're both stressed out and think they're right, and they both have pretty good reasoning for their points of view.  In a website bonus clip, they fight over the cab situation and both explain (at length) what they were thinking, reasonably if heatedly.  I can't take a side on that fight, but I'm with Jelani on not ditching Matt and Ashley so underhandedly.  That will just paint a U-Turn target on their backs.

[Donny Ketchum]

So the shine is off both of them this week.  Jelani for his "I got beaten by a girl" remark regarding Rochelle, and Jenny for her overall unpleasantness.  They struggled with the Wheel Detour, as neither could play snooker for jack shit.  Jelani struggled big-time with that Roadblock, too.  And in the end, struggles with locating the Pit Stop nearly sank them.  The one thing they did that impressed me was grabbing that tuk-tuk before Matt & Ashley could.

 

Seventh place, but let's hope they can get it together in three weeks.

[Donny Ketchum]

Glad Jenny's calmed back down this week.  They seemed to get lost at one point, and it looked like Jelani had problems driving stick.  Still, they rocked out the Stack Detour, and Jenny took failing the Roadblock in good spirits.

 

Decent fourth-place finish.  Good job, guys.

[interesting]

Jenny calmed down quite a bit, I wonder what they did to calm her down, probably a lot of talking.  But the bonus clip of her and Jelani rowing that boat was hilarious!!  She didn't even scream at him, just laughed her way through it, and he was calm too, I really like them and hope they make it to the end.

[aradia22]

They dialed back on them this week. I hope this doesn't mean they're out of the running to get into the finals. 

[Camera One]

I'm glad they were able to avoid fighting this week.  The bonus clip mat chat with Phil was interesting, though Jenny was the main one talking.  They didn't fight in the other bonus clip despite their difficulties in the rowboat, but their dynamic overall is just really awkward.  I do want to cheer for them again, though, so I hope they start to get more comfortable with each other.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Camera One

[Camera One]

I was curious about how each of the individual racers in the Blind Date teams ended up on this season, so I looked up Jenny and Jelani as well.

 

Jenny originally auditioned with a girlfriend, who was also a big Race fan.  

http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php?topic=30830.5;wap2

 

Jelani applied a few years ago with an ex-girlfriend.  I couldn't find info on how he ended on this particular season as a single.

 

This website goes through all the teams and explains how they ended up on the Race:

http://www.thewrap.com/sizing-up-the-new-amazing-race-cast-nkotb-olympians-and-10-blind-daters/

Edited April 8, 2015 by Camera One

[TudorQueen]

I still like them and they still seem like competent racers, so I'm a little bewildered as to why they're not doing better. Also, they were the blind date team I most hoped/believed could forge a lasting connection, and that doesn't seem to be going that well either.

 

I think that it's possible this 'love connection' idea isn't meant to work well on the stress-filled, on-the-go Amazing Race.

 

[Donny Ketchum]

Also, they were the blind date team I most hoped/believed could forge a lasting connection, and that doesn't seem to be going that well either.

 

I think that it's possible this 'love connection' idea isn't meant to work well on the stress-filled, on-the-go Amazing Race.

 No good.  Jenny already had a boyfriend even before she started the race.

[Donny Ketchum]

Well, Jenny seemed to devolve back into her nagging ways after the Detour was chosen for them, which is a shame.  Still, she did the Roadblock very well, and they both seemed to do fine with their Detour.  It was just navigation that hurt them on the way to the Detour and the Pit Stop, dropping them into fifth place.

 

Dumb of Jenny to lose that map, though.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Donny Ketchum

[hendersonrocks]

Jelani appears to not give a single fuck at this point. I'm curious if that's temporary, or if this is a longer-term situation that's going to go the way of Bergen & Kurt.

[aradia22]

I can't get a read on this team through the editing. Sometimes they're getting along. Sometimes they're bickering. I can't tell if they generally get along but occasionally blow up or if they sometimes have fun at the tasks but are generally arguing.

[fishcakes]

It seems as if they might spend a lot of time arguing, but admittedly I'm basing that on only two different moments, the one a few episodes back where we saw them fight for the first time and at one point Jenny sadly sad, "every day. Every day on The Amazing Race is another fight," and then last night when Jenny sternly said they'd talk about something later and Jelani was half-laughing/half-I-am-so-over-you when he said, "oh, I'm sure we will talk about it later," suggesting to me that as soon as the cameras are off, he usually gets an earful. I'm guessing that these two don't get along, but the reason we're not seeing much of it is that we've already got Hayley screaming at Blair on a near-constant loop and if TPTB have two blind date couples who'd just really rather not (or three, really, counting Bergen and Kurt), then they have to admit that this concept was ill-conceived.

Edited April 11, 2015 by fishcakes

[TudorQueen]

This leg left me with one lingering question: Does everyone hate J&J, and if so, why? Jenni is a bit hypercompetitive, but  not a terrible person, and Jeilani seems like a terrific guy. They seem pleasant and not hard to hang out with. I mean, I thought Matt and Ashley's harping on getting to U-Turn them was a petty - and not terribly strategic - moment, but everyone else seemed to think U-Turning J&J was an absolutely great idea. They've been good racers, but not overwhelmingly so, and they've made their share of mistakes, but to focus on them like this doesn't make the other teams look good, or sensible.

[ChuChu]

My impression was that the point of U Turning J&J was to force them to use the express pass and get it out of play.  It was strategic, not personal.

Edited April 19, 2015 by ChuChu

[Camera One]

Matt gloating about it beforehand, multiple times, including outright saying he's looking forward to using the U-Turn on J&J suggests otherwise.  I'm sure for the other team, it was solely strategic, but for Matt (and maybe Ashley, though she didn't say much), it was clearly a source of pleasure.

[Thog]

For Matt & Ashley the U-turn was revenge for an earlier leg when J&J were supposed to be working with them, but ended up leaving them in the dust. At the time Jelani even said that he was afraid it would come back to bite them if they made enemies. I haven't gotten the feeling that anyone actually dislikes Jelani, but I thought someone did mention that Jenny is high-strung.

[Camera One]

They weren't working together.  Matt and Ashley were just trying to tag along with them to find their way to the Pit Stop.  Jelani was right, though.  Jenny could have tried to ditch them in a smarter way.  She might have thought they were racing for last, though.  Ironically, that same leg, Jelani wanted to grab someone else's cab, which could also have come back to bite them.

[blackwing]

Matt and Ashley dislike Jenny for the surreptitious tuk tuk ducking.  They also seem to think she is sneaky and conniving.  Tyler and Laura witnessed the haranguing of Jelani when Jenny mistakenly accused him of losing the Monaco map.  Mike pointed out that Jenny is extremely high strung.  From what we have seen on the show, she IS high strung.  

 

Her reaction at the U Turn was way over the top.  She said she expected it but then proceeded to act like a complete harridan about it.  They had the express pass, and she already knew that Matt and Ashley were upset with them.  So why so surprised?  And why so upset since she had the express pass, it didn't really hurt them at all.

 

She seems extremely vindictive and I would say she's among the shrewish contestants we have had on the race.  I thought I disliked Marie, but in the end, Marie at least seemed like she was having fun, and the fact that she and Tim are engaged says a lot about her.  I see no redeeming qualities in Jenny whatsoever.  She doesn't seem like she's having any fun at all.  Her boyfriend must be a real doormat.

[graefin]

I thought I disliked Marie, but in the end, Marie at least seemed like she was having fun, and the fact that she and Tim are engaged says a lot about her. 

I thought that was a joke?

[Tyr]

I thought that was a joke?

 

It was, so what's blackwing's point? Besides, Jenny was clearly having a blast on the Monaco highwire after the map mishap, so it's not as though she's a permanent gamebot. Jelani has always been cool as a clam, etc.

[Camera One]

She is high-strung and too demanding, but she has shown appreciation and enjoyment of the Race several times along the way.  She also did apply initially with a friend, so she clearly wanted to Race.

[Camera One]

Jenny posted on her blog about the IIIII riddle:

 

Roman skating rink? Five IIIIIs skating rink? Yeah, that was horrible! As lawyers, Jelani and I overanalyze. In fact, that's pretty much all we did on the show! In cars, in airports, in our hotels, and everywhere in between, we would analyze everything from the weather to strategy to what we're eating. We basically spent the entire month talking to each other. Even when we were frustrated or pissed off, we were discussing why we were upset. It's definitely a mutual trait that worked for us as we were able to work through differences pretty quickly. And that's probably why even now my heart smiles every time I think about him!

 

http://www.goodbadandfab.com/2015/04/the-amazing-race-amsterdam-can-i-get.html

[aradia22]

Aw, if that's true it's rather sweet. That's one of the reasons I'm not completely against the blind date thing. Or at least racers coming to the race as strangers. It's definitely a bonding experience if they can stick it out.

[jhlipton]

Jenny's blog is fun!
 

I received quite a bit of internet backlash for my behavior in Bangkok and also managed to offend cat lovers all over the world. I'm not going to make excuses for the way I interacted with Jelani or blame it on editing. I was simply having one of the worst days of my life. It pushed me into panic mode. I let the heat, stress, and possibility of elimination get the best of me and in turn I became the worst version of myself to my race partner and my best friend on the show. I'm so grateful to have been paired with Jelani as throughout the day, he remained calm and supportive even when I was in crazy stress mode. He's the best!

 

 

Love that.  

[Jersey Guy 87]

Interesting blog, I like that she's perhaps the first reality TV contestant to not blame editing.  I also liked this quote:
 

 

Another bad. As we were on a family friendly TV show, we couldn't fully enjoy the highs of being in Amsterdam.

 

Given that she admits after the fact that she overreacts towards Jelani when she's stressed I'm willing to cut her a little more slack for the rest of the season.

[Thog]

Oh, I'm so happy to see that, because I do want to like her. One of the video extras this week shows her going off on Jelani, Hayley-style, in an airport. If that's just her having a bad day that she ends up regretting, I'm glad they're not showing more scenes like that on television.

[Rancide]

I'm glad she's taking responsibility for how she acts while stressed.  But honestly, my biggest problem with her--and my biggest impediment to rooting for this team--isn't her freak-out moment but more her general seeming inability to say anything nice, ever.  She doesn't have too many Hayley-style meltdowns, but I feel like 95% of what we hear her saying to Jelani is either criticism or barking orders.  I feel like Jelani could compete a task twice as fast as his nearest competitor, and the most Jenny would do *might* be to mutter "good job" quickly while reaching for the next clue.  

 

Obviously it's a race, and obviously they need to be very focused on race-related tasks, but I feel like Jenny is missing a crucial message of seasons past which is that teams that are supportive and kind to each have a greater chance of succeeding.  I get that this is probably a personality trait, and I feel some sympathy for her because I have a similar tendency to just want to get to the task at hand without bothering with the "niceties" of communication, but it's been an important life lesson for me to know that niceties are more important to most people than they are to me and that I need to respect that.  

 

Given her blog posts, I don't feel like the problem is that Jenny doesn't like Jelani but more that she hasn't learned yet how to demonstrate appreciation for him in casual interaction.  I think that's something she really needs to work on because the absence of it is going to be a big impediment in all sorts of relationships.  Can you imagine, for example, having Jenny as your boss?  Yikes.  Good thing Jenali seems to have the patience of a saint.

[jhlipton]

Given her blog posts, I don't feel like the problem is that Jenny doesn't like Jelani but more that she hasn't learned yet how to demonstrate appreciation for him in casual interaction. 

 

Again, we don't know that.  She seems very focus-driven, so she may mutter something while starting on the next clue, then tell him he rocked the task on route to the next stop, while the cameras are off.  Since the theme of the season seems to be "women are shrews, men are saints", I wouldn't be surprised.

Did you see her post about the crate-stacking in Bangkok -- that was nothing but praise fore Jelani.

Edited May 4, 2015 by jhlipton

[Lingo]

They have two different philosophies about the race. This was what the big airport blowup was about in this week's bonus video. She was VERY upset that he kept giving information away to other teams, e.g. he told Laura and Tyler about the earlier flight that J&J and B&H snagged. She was upset because L&T could have gotten a chance on the flight via standby.  His response: So what? As long as we're not last, it doesn't matter. In her mind, EVERY SINGLE SECOND matters, whereas Jelani is more strategic about when a lead matters.  I have to admit that in that situation I'd be more like Jenny, but she's got to realize that acting as if EVERY SECOND matters is going to drive them to killer fatigue.

[tarfanofthejungle]

Jenny's a bit high strung, but I think her temperament is well suited for high stakes scenarios, where the pressure allows her to focus her energy more productively. Jelani's the opposite, he's more relaxed, thoughtful and lowkey. May not be so adept in high pressure scenarios, but excellent as a complement to Jenny's intensity. Each are each other's yin and yang, at least when they are in synergy.

 

I'm betting if these two arrive at the final mental task early, and Jenny is tasked to do it, they will blaze through it like nothing and go on winning the race.

 

I think Hayley and Blair are really similar to  these guys, only  Jelani have figured out the their own dynamics early on and accepted each other's role in the team. Blair on the other hand is yet to figure out theirs and still unaware of his own as well as Hayley's strength , as a team, even after 10 legs. Could this be an indication of the probable outcome of the race finale? 

 

What do you guys think?

[Chyna]

TV Guide post-race interview: Interesting explanation for why they did so miserably at the selfie task at the end.