by Reg Seeton
After making it to the second leg of The Amazing
Race 16 in Chile, the grandmother and granddaughter
team of Jody Kelly and Shannon Foster were out
to prove that age is nothing but a number when
running The Amazing Race. Although Shannon conquered
her fear of heights the previous week, the second
leg of The Amazing Race became a challenge in
dealing with Amazing Race elements beyond their
control in the form of busy bus schedules.
Falling to the back of The Amazing Race pack on a late bus toward their first task, Jody and Shannon found themselves still in The Amazing Race when they arrived at the final Roadblock in a near tie with the detective team of Louie and Michael. In an attempt to gather ingredients to make Chilean kuchen, Jody braved the hard hoof of a cow as she pushed forward in The Amazing Race to get milk while Louie wandered the grounds of a makeshift kitchen in search of his final amazing recipe. Although Jody held strong, Louie found his Amazing Race groove and hit the mat in front of race host, Phil Keoghan, to race the third leg of The Amazing Race with team member, Michael. Unfortunately, only minutes behind, Jody and Shannon became the second team to be eliminated from The Amazing Race despite their hard fought efforts.
The day after The Amazing Race, we took a call from Jody and Shannon to learn more about their journey on The Amazing Race, how Jody proved that age really is just a number, how Shannon felt about working together as a team on The Amazing Race, and what they could have done differently after looking back on how they ran The Amazing Race.
THE DEADBOLT: Well, one thing I learned is that I didn't know cows could kick sideways.
JODY: [laughs] That was a pesky cow.
SHANNON It didn't realize it was quite that hard a kick.
THE DEADBOLT: You guys must feel good that you were in it until the end? To me, it didn't look like age factored in at all.
JODY:
I don't think so. The physical challenges were
nothing beyond what I could do. I had done reasonably
well with that.
THE DEADBOLT: It looked like Louie had just as hard of a time finding the pantry. Did it just come down to time?
JODY: Yeah. I actually outran Louie at one point and Michael had a hard time finding the pantry. So that team wasn't significantly better than we were. It was refreshing because they're both in their forties. So I thought, "Wow, how about that?"
THE DEADBOLT: Shannon, how did you feel about your grandmother doing all of the dirty work?
SHANNON In the last Roadblock? Well, had I have known exactly what it involved then I would have definitely done it, because I can run pretty fast and I would have rushed around and got all of the things. But when we read the clue, it said, "Who knows how to make kuchen?" So Grandma knew right away that kuchen was a cake, which I wouldn't have known. We had already agreed that if we had to do cooking, Grandma would be the best at that. So that was the reason Grandma was doing the Roadblock. It was very stressful to hear that she got kicked in the head by a cow. I mean, I was quite worried for her.
JODY: I'm fine. There's no permanent damage.
THE DEADBOLT: That's good to hear. So what was your approach to the second leg as compared to the first?
SHANNON We had to make much prompter decisions and be more decisive. I think we achieved that but we were already behind most of the team members. So that put us at a definite disadvantage.
JODY: Yeah, we did not start the race as aggressively as we should have. So I think we rectified the situation somewhat, starting the second leg of the race, but it's not enough to overcome all of the disadvantages.
THE DEADBOLT: How much did the bus play a factor? Were you that far behind?
SHANNON
The bus did play a pretty big part in it. We
had tried really hard to get an earlier bus.
But having come there later, we had the last
pickings of what bus to get. The ones that were
earlier had already been filled, even the ones
that were more innovative to go to another place
and get another bus. And of course our Spanish
is a little rusty, so it would have been better
if we were a little more fluent in Spanish.
THE DEADBOLT: Now that it's over, what are your thoughts on how you worked together as a team?
JODY: I think we worked awesomely well together as a team. We had made a pact early on not to get into sniping, anger, or name calling. Throughout the race, we didn't whine at all.
SHANNON Yeah, I definitely agree. I think the race brings out the best and the worst in you and we're a lot closer now for that. After this, I think we can take any kind of travel because nothing can be as stressful as the race when everything is beyond your control.
THE DEADBOLT: What did each of you learn about one another that you didn't know before the race?
SHANNON I learned that Grandma is very good at sleep deprivation and poor nutrition and just running with it, and running the race anyway.
JODY: And I learned that Shannon can conquer things like her fear of heights as long as she has coffee.
SHANNON [laughs] No more instant coffee and soda water for us.
THE DEADBOLT: Looking back, what would you have done differently that could have kept you in the race?
SHANNON I think I would have been more aggressive at the outset of the race from the first leg, because if we had finished faster on the first leg, we wouldn't have started so late in the second leg. Although both of us are competitive, we're not necessarily as aggressive as we should be.
JODY: Had we have done the Condor and jumped in the water, that would have been quicker, although we both would have suffered hypothermia. So it was kind of a wash there. We could back and forth all day long and it would accomplish nothing. You can play "what if" all day long but it really wasn't a game changer.
SHANNON
And we really didn't know what the task was
going to involve until we got there. So it's
like you have to make the right decision and
just go with it.
THE DEADBOLT: Aside from the physical, how much did the mental aspects play a part?
JODY: I don't think we had that much trouble. Instead of mental, I would call it "stress related" problems that I had not anticipated. I don't know if it was mental, emotional, or what, but stress built up more rapidly than I thought it would.
THE DEADBOLT: Shannon, in what ways are you proud of your Grandma now that you've ran the race?
SHANNON I'm just proud of the fact that she can do so much. Especially to take on that cumulative stress - emotional, mental, and physical - because it does pile up and yet she was still able to function under all of that, and to have a positive outlook. It's really admirable and quite an inspiration.
