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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 3:49 pm
Even if its not, they always make it look like a photo finish.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 8:52 pm
YIPPEE! My favs won! When the spoiler about a "couple" winning came out, and they were the only "couple" left, I was afraid to hope! But ---------------hooray! I haven't been more pleased before or since the hippies!
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 9:26 pm
I haven't been so pleased since Chip and Kim, the last Orange County couple to win. These two went to Fountain Valley HS and live/work quite close.. but I haven't figured out where Rachel's florist place is, yet.
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Monday, January 21, 2008 - 1:51 pm
I am so glad that TK and Rachael won. This was a really great game and though I didn't actually dislike anyone, towards the end these two were my favorite. They worked really well together and were consistent at it. They were on GMA this AM and are still together; lots of luck to them in their future.

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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, January 21, 2008 - 5:36 pm
Phil looks pleased, too.
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Riviere
Member
09-09-2000
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 11:28 am
Awesome win!!! TK and Rachel avoided all the back stabbing and meltdowns other teams had. Way to go, worth a million!!!

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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 6:19 pm
From my (and their) local paper.. http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/erwin-rosales-race-1962933-team-beach hope that continues to work.. but Sunday, January 20, 2008 How did O.C. 'hippie' couple win 'Amazing Race'? Rachel Rosales and T.K. Erwin of Huntington Beach claim a $1 million prize on CBS reality show. By PETER LARSEN The Orange County Register Comments 14| Recommend 15 A young Huntington Beach couple raced through 10 countries in four continents, covering 30,000 miles in 21 days to win $1 million in “The Amazing Race 12.” Rachel Rosales, 23, and T.K. Erwin, 22, reached the finish line in Alaska ahead of the other two teams still in the competition to claim the prize in the finale that aired Sunday on CBS. “None of this seems real,” Erwin told host Phil Keoghan after he told them that they had won the race. “It’s kind of freaking me out.” For Rosales, having gone on this adventure with Erwin made it all the more special. “He’s my best friend, he’s my best rock and I got to do this with him.” Erwin and Rosales are the second Orange County team to win the race, joining Chip and Kim McAllister of Coto de Caza, million-dollar winners of “The Amazing Race 5” in 2004. “I’m really happy for them, because it seems that they, throughout the whole race, got the real gist of what racing’s all about,” said Chip McAllister at a viewing party held at Dave & Buster’s at the Block at Orange, which was attended by 20 previous racers, including several winners, “and that’s to enjoy yourself as much as possible and if you happen to win, that’s just extra.” In the finale, the three remaining teams raced from Taiwan to Alaska, hunted for clues hidden in a codfish or crabs, climbed a glacier to find another one and then worked through a challenging puzzle that required them to remember moments from each of the previous 10 legs of the race. Rosales finished the puzzle first, after front-runner Christina Hsu – teamed up with her father Ronald – could not remember all the clues. The Hsu team finished second. Coming in third were Don Jerousek and Nicolas Fulks, grandfather and grandson, respectively. Rosales, who owns a floral business, and Erwin, a substitute teacher, have been dating for a year, and were often referred to by other competitors on the show as “the hippies” for their laid-back appearance – Erwin wore a headscarf in almost every episode – and demeanor. Their free-spirited style set them apart from the other Orange County couple on the show, Nate Hagstrom, 25, and Jennifer Parker, 23, (from Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach, respectively) who bickered and fought with each other almost all the way around the world, finally finishing in fourth place when they were eliminated in the episode that aired Jan. 13. “We’re very, very happy for them,” said Hagstrom, though he admitted still being a little bitter that he and Parker hadn’t won. Though the race itself ended in August, only now does it feel like it’s over, Parker said. “Because you experience so much, it’s really sad when it all starts spiraling down,” she said. A fifth Orange County contestant, Staella Gianakakos of Fountain Valley, and her partner, Ari Bonias of Long Beach, were the first team to be eliminated when the season debuted on Nov. 4. Gianakakos, Erwin, Rosales and Hagstrom all attended Fountain Valley High School, though Hagstrom said he only met the others after they were on the show together. According to the CBS bio for Erwin and Rosales, their mothers knew of each other growing up in Huntington Beach, though they got to know each other better recently. Rosales went to work after high school, eventually buying a floral business. Erwin went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was captain of the swim team and still holds the school record in the 200-meter backstroke, according to CBS.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 6:22 pm
There is a longer and better article in today's paper that may not yet be up online, but one interesting point is that TK said that Rachel kept a journal and they spent the whole time of the flight from Taiwan to Alaska, going over the detail in her journal and that helped her to complete the roadblock.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 6:24 pm
Found it! http://www.ocregister.com/news/says-erwin-rosales-1963571-race-last Monday, January 21, 2008 For 'Amazing Race' winners, the toughest challenge was keeping quiet O.C. residents T.K. Erwin and Rachel Rosales went on a life-changing whirlwind but couldn't tell anyone – until now. By PETER LARSEN The Orange County Register Comments 5| Recommend 10 After dating for a year, T.K. Erwin and Rachel Rosales took off last summer to backpack through Europe for three weeks. At least that's what they told their parents and friends in Huntington Beach. But while they did carry backpacks and they did spend a few days in Europe, the scope of their adventure was far greater than the typical twentysomething's traipse around England or France or Spain. Which left them upon their return with a story that seemed a little shaky, they say. "It was getting a little suspicious when I came home and had no pictures of where we'd gone," says Erwin, 23, by phone from New York City on Monday. "And we didn't have the names of places we went or anything," adds Rosales, 24. Still, they kept their secret for the next few months, as hard as that was to do at times. "We'd had this amazing life-changing experience and then couldn't tell anybody about it," Erwin says of their return to Huntington Beach and their regular lives – his as a substitute teacher, hers as a florist. "We had a lot of late nights going, 'Was this all a dream? I can't believe this really happened!'" What happened was a race around the world for 10 countries in 21 days, four continents covered with 30,000 miles traveled, all of it captured on video by crews from CBS' "The Amazing Race 12." When the show wrapped up Sunday and Rosales and Erwin were revealed as winners of the $1 million prize, at last they could tell whole story of what reallyhappened on their summer vacation. AN UNLIKELY PAIR This was a journey that few who knew them would have ever imagined Erwin and Rosales would have taken together. Like travelers passing through the same airport at the same time, they grew up in similar circles without every really knowing each other. Their mothers, Cindy Rosales and Kristy Koll, were both court reporters, Rosales says "And they've just been close friends since before we were born," she says. "But we were two completely different people, hanging out in two completely different crowds," Erwin says of their teen years spent at Fountain Valley High School where Rosales was a year ahead of Erwin. After high school, Erwin went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he captained the swim team. Rosales went to work, eventually as an owner of Costa Mesa Florist. "After T.K. finished college, he was home living with his mom and just kind of chilling out," Rosales says, explaining how the two finally met and fell for each other. "I've spent a lot of time with Kristy and she was going to go out with me and my mom and they told me that T.K. was going to tag along," she says. "We went and saw 'Little Miss Sunshine' and just liked each other instantly and wanted to go to dinner. "We went to Silky Sullivan's (restaurant and bar) and just didn't want the night to end." THE 'RACE' BEGINS "The Amazing Race" sends teams of two hop-scotching from country to country, following clues and completing challenges with the last place team on each leg almost always eliminated. In this, the 12th season of the Emmy-winning reality series, Erwin, Rosales and the other racers started at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles from which they quickly departed for Ireland – where fellow Orange County racer Staella Gianakakos was eliminated – then to the Netherlands and onto Africa and Burkina Faso. "We didn't have too many low points but one of mine was in Burkina Faso when I took the bike into the market but on the way back I got myself lost, and by the time we left we were in last," Rosales says. After traveling on to Lithuania, Croatia and then Italy, Erwin says he found himself at his most despairing as he flew over the Italian countryside in an ultra-light airplane searching – unsuccessfully for a long while – for a clue on the ground below. "We were basically tied for first and by the time we left we were in last," he says. "That was probably the most down and disappointed I was in the whole race." But those kinds of moments were rare for the pair, whose laid-back style and supportive way with each other made them seem – unlike many of the other teams – that they almost never lost their cool. While other teams often argued and fought from continent to continent, Erwin and Rosales most often were shown offering words of encouragement and kisses to each other. "I think really that is who we are," Erwin says. "But before the race, we kind of saturated ourselves through past episodes, and really found that on the average – obviously there are exceptions to everything – but the majority of teams that were successful were successful because they got along with each other and they weren't wasting time bickering with themselves." That sense of calm paid off tremendously in Taiwan in the next-to-last episode when the couple started out far behind the other three remaining teams but made up the time and survived, while another team from Orange County, Nate Hagstrom and Jennifer Parker, were eliminated. "We knew that there was a 7:30 a.m. train and an 8 a.m. train, and that we might catch up – that was our last hope," Erwin says. "So the fact that we caught up, that right was there was probably the most fired up I was on the whole race." Their homework into past seasons of the show also paid off in Alaska in the final "roadblock" – one of the show's terms for a challenge – when Rosales moved the pair into the lead by being the first to finish a puzzle that required contestants to remember what they had done earlier in the race. "Rachel kept a journal throughout the entire race," Erwin says. "So we spent the entire flight from Taiwan to Alaska reading her journal over and over – what we'd done and what countries we'd been too – because we knew that in past seasons there'd been those all-encompassing challenges." CROSSING THE FINISH LINE They won the race in Alaska as August arrived, leaving only one last challenge: to keep quiet about the outcome. "At first it was kind of anticlimactic," Rosales says. "Then it kind of messes with your mind a little bit, because you went through such an extreme situation and you're not able to share it with your family and friends. But we did have each other." So they spent time with other contestants who'd also just finished the race – and were in the same hush-hush position – and perfected their poker faces when people asked them how they had done, questions that came more and more as the couple advanced on the show. "Even up through last night, our parents – they threw a big party over at Silky Sullivan's – had no clue," Erwin says. "So they watched it for the first time on the West Coast and we started getting calls around midnight last night. "My mom called me last night and was just, 'I cannot believe you guys were able to keep that from us!'" he says. "She was convinced that had we won she would have known it by looking at us." Monday passed in a blur of interviews – starting off with "The Early Show" on CBS – and phone calls to and from friends, family and reporters. When they return from New York, they say they'll figure out what to do with the $1 million they won in similar fashion to how they ran the race – calmly and carefully and together. "I have a couple of credit cards – petty amounts – but that's going to make me feel good (to pay off)," Rosales says. "Maybe update my wardrobe a little bit and fix up my house a little bit, but mostly just use it for the future." Erwin says he hopes she will use the financial cushion to cut back a little on her workaholic ways, and that they're already talking about doing more travel this year – presumably without having to milk camels or walk on stilts or any of the other challenges they completed on the race. "I'm excited about the endless possibilities," Erwin says. "My life up to this point has been so regimented with athletics and school and everything. It's kind of nice not knowing what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. "I'm excited about the possibilities and I'm up for anything."
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 7:47 pm
Great article!!! makes me like them even more! thanks for posting it, Sea.
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 8:05 pm
That is 2 TAR winners from OC. I wonder if any other state has had more than 1 winner
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 - 8:29 pm
Great article. They seem like a wonderful couple and it was so nice to see people like that winning the race.
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 6:12 am
I think there have been more Californians ON TAR than from any other state, so that improves CA's chance to have a winner. I THINK there have been two or three from TN. There was a guy on the very first show, and then half of a brother-sister pair that I remember -
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Kellsma
Member
08-28-2002
| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 10:38 am
Being from Orange County, I love to see two winners from OC that are nice, genuine people. Especially since we have reality shows taking place here such as, The Real OC-Laguna Beach and The Real OC-Newport Harbor and Real Housewives of OC. Not putting us in the best light even though I love watching these shows. Haha. Really interesting that Chip and Kim(my all time favorite winners, love that finale) live in Coto de Caza, which is where The Real Housewives of OC is based. Shows that some nice, genuine people live there too! The negative people from OC that have been on the The Amazing Race, for example, Nate and Jen, Team Guido and the first team that got eliminated this season, Ari and someone I think! Positive attitude usually pays off but then again, we did have Zach and Flo win that one season but they were not from Orange County 
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 5:05 pm
Has anyone heard if Ron had surgery for his hernia after the race?
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 5:37 pm
TNT, but comparing one county, and physically a rather small county.. Orange County still has done well with Chip and Kim winning and now TK and Rachel, plus Nate and Jen going 4th (lol, and Ari and Staella out first). Trying to remember if we've had any other racers.. now LA county definitely has, and San Diego county .. I think the Guidos are from there and maybe Chip and Reichen and the married ministers from this season. Kellsma, ME TOO!!! In fact when Chip and Kim won I wrote a letter that was published in The Register because I was so proud that they were from around here. OG, I haven't heard anything about Ronald's hernia.. perhaps it wasn't a big one, and it healed? I would hope he was able to get a truss to wear for the rest of the race and I would think had it been strangulated, he'd have had to leave the race, but he did stop talking about it after a few episodes, so that is a good thing.
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Kellsma
Member
08-28-2002
| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 5:44 pm
Seamonkey, Team Guido is from Laguna Niguel, another OC couple and they finished third. I would love to have seen that article, wonder if it is still in their archives. That was one of the best finishes ever, I was traveling during the finale so I could not be spoiled with the ending. That is when they were 2 hour finales and I thought no way they would pull it off and they did!
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Doggydog
Member
06-22-2006
| Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 12:06 pm
Do the 2nd and 3rd place winners receive any money?
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Kitt
Member
09-06-2000
| Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 12:28 pm
I think, though I might not be right, second place get $25,000, third get $10,000. presumably to share, as the $1M is to share. I think it's meant to be more of a stipend than a prize, and they aren't away from home that long.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 12:46 pm
I know they get something, thought it was a bit higher than that, but definitely it pales in comparison to the winner Chris and Ron got some nice prizes, at least one trip, the cars (though I think they will end up being those minute new electric cars from India that they probably cannot drive here) and some catarmaran? Nick and Don got at least one trip to Mexico. Nate and Jen got nada, prize-wise..
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Happymom
Member
01-20-2003
| Monday, January 28, 2008 - 2:37 pm
When does the next season start?! I'm ready!!!!
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Rosie
Member
11-12-2003
| Monday, January 28, 2008 - 3:33 pm
I don't know when the next season starts, Happymom, but Tnt just might be along soon to let us know. 
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Tntitanfan
Member
08-03-2001
| Monday, January 28, 2008 - 7:29 pm
Now Rosie - are you implying I am an addict? I don't actually know! I have Survivor and BB on post-it notes on my TV, but no starting date info yet for TAR!
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Rosie
Member
11-12-2003
| Monday, January 28, 2008 - 7:41 pm
lol
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 6:19 pm
Rachel and TK were on Reality Remix interviewed by Kennedy (I think it should be online at foxreality.com) Not a real startling interview.. they don't have the money, yet, they don't plan to change, but want to take trips and such. They said they were able to be calm much of the time because .. that is how they normally are in real life. They said teams should always just go forward, even if it looks like they are behind.. there can always be non elimination or they may simply not be last. They said there is a certain amount of luck involved for everyone.
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