Video Beat EXTRA EXTRA - AMAZING RACE USA 14 IS ON!!!

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

In a surprising development a mother and her deaf son finished first in the first leg of the race. The series had its usual mix of talent on the teams representing gays, black, young, old, beauty and another competitive team of cheerleaders - AMERICAN IDOL CHANGES SCHEDULE - Recommended TV Listings

Monday February 23, 2009

THEY'RE OFF!!!

They're back that being the US version of the Amazing Race with series 14 which will travel to 9 countries on 5 continents while traveling 40,000 miles (64,372 kilometers) and 12 legs. Eleven teams started the race from Los Alamitos, California, USA at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base with their first plane departure from Los Angeles International Airport to Zurich, Switzerland.

In a surprising development a mother and her deaf son finished first at one of my favorite places that I've ever visited in the world the Interlaken, Switzerland which was the pit stop for first leg of the competition. Margie Adams (50) and her son Luke (22) are from Denver, Colo. Margaret is a clinical research associate and Luke is a college graduate.

After the race Luke said that participating in the race was important to him because he wanted to show people around the world that deaf people can accomplish things like anyone else it's just that they can't hear or speak.

Luke has been deaf since birth and his mother became his link to the hearing world. He uses American Sign Language to communicate. Luke and his mother have developed their own short hand sign language and the ability to almost read each other's minds - an ability that came in handy on this leg of the race.

Another surprise was one of the younger more physically superior teams Jennifer Hopka (26) and boyfriend Preston McCamy (28) from Columbia, S.C. finished last and were eliminated. Jennifer is a student and Preston a software engineer.

The series has its usual mix of talent on the teams representing gays, black, young, old, beauty and another competitive team of former Miami Dolphins cheerleaders as well as a dash of Asian culture with a brother and sister of Asian decent Tammy Jih (26) who lives in San Francisco, California and Victor (35) who resides in Los Angeles, California.

They are both Harvard University educated lawyers. For those that don't know attending Harvard equates to having money and brains. They finished second trailing by only seconds in this leg of the race.

Tammy is a litigator who believes that her ability to keep a cool head under pressure, especially with little or no sleep, will lead to success on the Race. Her biggest pet peeve with her brother is that he's a bit of a control freak which became evident than when they recently traveled with friends to China and Victor mapped out the entire trip down to the minute.

Victor is a partner at his law firm and works as a corporate litigator. He is running the Race to see if he and his sister can co-exist in a hyper-competitive situation without driving each other crazy. Victor thinks that his sister can be immature and selfish and he's hoping the Race will remedy that. He is confident in his decision making and believes his sister should do what he says as he knows best.

Tammy would like to prove to Victor that she's not a baby anymore and that it's time he view her as an equal. Victor is modeling his game play after the cut-throat style of Rob and Amber while Tammy prefers Season 12 winners TK and Rachel's laid back approach.

As in the last race sports is represented as sisters Jennifer Hoffman (24) played college volleyball at the University of Louisville and LaKisha Hoffman (28) played basketball for the same school. The race will visit Asia with a stop in Bangkok, Thailand. On Leg 7 they will travel from India to Phuket, Thailand and then travel to Bangkok on Leg 8.

AMERICAN IDOL CHANGES SCHEDULE

In a schedule change American Idol will be televised in Southeast Asia Thursday and Fridays it was announced last week. The show is using a new elimination format by having 12 of the top 36 participate each week for three weeks. The top three vote getters will be in the final 12 making nine of the final 12. The remaining three slots will be filled by a wild card the remaining eliminated contestants. The first three to qualify after competing this past week are Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace and Michael Sarver.

This format was used in season three. That was the season Jennifer Hudson was eliminated at the seventh spot. Since that time she has become the shows biggest losing winner having won an Academy Award in 2007 for her role in Dream Girls and this year winning a Grammy Award. Hudson is the prime example that you can't believe in what SIMON (Cowell) SAYS.

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TV SCHEDULE

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia - Thailand time zone. Check your local listings for time in your area.

NOTE TIMES AT OF THE SAME TELECAST IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

SUNDAY

3:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:45 PM - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - Channel V

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

10:45 PM - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - Channel V

MONDAY

11:45 AM to NOON - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - Channel V

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

8:00 PM - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - Channel V

8:00 PM - AMAZING RACE - AXN Channel

10:00 PM - SOPRANOS - HBO

10:30 PM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

12:00 MIDNIGHT - AMAZING RACE - AXN Channel

TUESDAY

4:00 PM - AMAZING RACE - AXN Channel

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

12 NOON - FRONTLINE - Australia Network

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

THURSDAY

5:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

11:30 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

FRIDAY

7:00 AM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

??? - STAR SPORTS - NBA GAME - CHECK ALL of NBA TV SCHEDULE for Southeast Asia

12:00 NOON - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

4:30 PM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

5:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

7:00 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

8:45 PM - AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL - Channel V

11:30 PM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

Midnight - SOPRANOS - HBO

SATURDAY

7:00 AM - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

??? - ESPN SPORTS - NBA GAME - CHECK NBA TV SCHEDULE for Southeast Asia

7:30 AM - CLICK (Internet Technology program) - BBC

12:00 NOON - AMERICAN IDOL - Star World

3:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

5:00 PM - LARRY KING - CNN - Airs daily

7:00 PM - AMAZING RACE - AXN Channel

7:00 PM - THE BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - (1 1/2 hr) Star World channel

9:00 PM - JAY LENO - CNBC

11:00 PM - THE BEST OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE - Star World channel

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