Russel & Cindy
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TV ClubHouse: ARCHIVES: The Amazing Race IV (ARCHIVE): The Racers: Russel & Cindy

Ryn

Monday, May 05, 2003 - 09:23 am EditMoveDeleteIP
russelcindy

"Friends / Dating"

BIO

Russell is a 32-year-old model/actor/entrepreneur who describes himself as hilarious and a leader. He loves the adventure of traveling and greatly dislikes losing or failing at anything. He admits he talks a lot, but that he has an ability to get everyone involved. People say he looks like Mel Gibson, but he says he's like the TV character McGyver because he gets things done. He calls Cindy "a female film character James Bond." He is always on the go and cannot stand not to be doing anythingl He claims to be very intuitive, which can be a great gift or a pain in the butt. About his going on the Race with Cindy, Russell declares, "Some people may know their partners better, but that may be what makes us so great to watch: the unknown or X factor."

Cindy is 39 years old and describes herself as a former supermodel and currently, an inventor. She loves to jet ski, play pool and write stories. She describes herself as "loyal, playful and spontaneously adventurous to the point of insanity." She insists on winning; quitting is not an option. Because of her Irish background and being passionate about life, Cindy must blow off steam, and she does so by telling the person off right to their face. She and Russell debate things constantly. She admits that both of them can get a little jealous, and adds, "Russell more than me." Cindy has lived in other countries, such as Japan, Germany, Paris, Ireland and Indonesia. She says she has always had a fantasy of being in a "Jewel of the Nile" situation with a man and hopes THE AMAZING RACE would be that. She says she has a great deal of respect for Russell and that he has never disappointed her. But, she says, both have been so busy that they have had difficulty spending long periods of time together.

Crazydog

Monday, May 05, 2003 - 10:04 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Cindy is a "former supermodel"??? She may have been a model, but I think if she was "super" then people would know who she is.

Something is off about their relationship. Either they are just friends or they are dating. Or they are just booty-calls for each other.

Tabbyking

Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 09:10 am EditMoveDeleteIP
holy crap! this is the 3rd duo i have read about in a row that have modeling under their belts. sheesh! now, how many of the couples have been to bellys?

Tabbyking

Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 09:30 am EditMoveDeleteIP
didn't we have a (likable) russ and cindy on the last race?!

Calamity

Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 10:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Tabbyking, there was a Russell & Cyndi in AR2. They were eliminated pretty early and all I remember about them was that they were pastors.

Tabbyking

Tuesday, May 06, 2003 - 12:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
gosh, it was that far back?! i was thinking AR3...how time and contestants fly!

Monkeyboy

Friday, May 16, 2003 - 03:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
yea...Team God.

Seamonkey

Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 12:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
and not likeable.

This team does sound.. "odd"

Lycanthrope

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 08:45 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Russell is an A-1, bona fide, grade A, okay(due to mod interference) I'll use a nicer term "jerk"(but I think we all know what this guy really is). I'd like to see them gone soon.

Marysafan

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 08:51 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I just don't "get" these two.

Neetka

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 12:55 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Russel is a poster boy for testosterone. He won't ask for directions, he *totally* ignores any input from females (even when she is pointing to the sign that says he is going the wrong way!)...it makes you wonder why he bothered to run this race with a woman, since he obviously thinks women have only one use. He should have partnered with a man - I probably would have still hated him, but I would have had less reason!

Bandit

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 01:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I don't get them either. I mean, yeah, he's good looking, but she needs to get a clue. I wouldn't want to be with anyone who treats me like he treats her. It certainly makes him less attractive.

Wendo

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 05:45 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I wonder after his comments last night and last week about her and regarding a relationship if she's even watching the show with him anymore. Were it me, I surely wouldn't be.

Seamonkey

Friday, June 06, 2003 - 07:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I hope we find out very soon :)

Tabbyking

Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 09:44 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i didn't care for her either, so feel they deserve each other.

Beachcomber88

Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 10:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
She was kind of nebulous in her comments after they were booted. It wouldn't be all that shocking if we find out they're no longer together. I am surprised he's 32 - he looks so much younger next to her.

I felt bad for them. Wasn't their fault that the guy sold them the wrong train ticket. But if I'm in a foreign country and I don't speak the language, I would have shown them the clue with the actual city name.

Seamonkey

Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 10:42 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
That was a mistake.. not really nailing down the exact destination. But, these two haven't worked well together the whole time and..

time to boogie on home!!

Whoami

Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 10:48 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
At the risk of inviting bad karma, I must say that this is no loss to the show! Didn't much like them at all.

Marysafan

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 07:50 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I agree Whoami, they didn't contribute much of anything, and won't be missed.

Crazydog

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 07:56 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I felt bad for them too, but I would have looked at my train ticket a gazillion times to make sure I was going to the right place.

I thought he was OK, didn't care for her. She was very quick to blame EVERYTHING on him. At the end when she was making her puzzling comments you could just tell she wanted to say, we lost because Russell didn't do things the way I said to do them.

I'm still wondering who would label themselves a supermodel knowing full well that no one has ever heard of her.

Would love to find out how these two got along in sequesterville.

Spear

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 01:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
To be fair, it would be an easy mistake to think that "Gmund" might be an abbreviation for "Gmunden" if that's what was on the ticket. I agree with Beachcomber, though -- show the clue. Even if you *think* you know how to pronounce the destination.

Beachcomber88

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 01:47 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I thought about the "supermodel" thing also. I suspected that she was probably a big model overseas, and after re-reading the bio, I think this was probably the case. She probably should have just called herself a former model, but obviously her ego needs her to be "super".

Csnog

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 09:37 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
This article is from fans of reality TV.

Our Interview with Cindy (and not Russell)
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of speaking with Cindy, one half of the most recently eliminated team of Cindy and Russell. Russell was unavailable, and though we tried to hook up, it wasn't meant to be. Here's what Cindy had to say:

On your bio, it says you're an inventor. What have you invented?

Five years ago, I created a child safety system, which we're in the process of patenting and have put a lot of money into. It's not quite ready yet, but I invented it and developed the marketing plan for it. It competes with GPS in a way, but it's used to help prevent missing children, rather than finding them like traditional GPS would. It also gives control back to the parents, because they can use it when they choose to.

Tell me about the train mix-up, and what happened.

The cab driver that took us to the train station advised us on getting to Gmunden, but he got us to Gmund, which is another area with a very similar name. He gave us the wrong town, the wrong train station. I tried to get the money back when we discovered the error, but the guy swore he sold us the right tickets, so that cost us another 15 minutes. By then, we had to get to the other train station, and it was just too late, and very frustrating.

We also had trouble at the bungee jump area. Russell was allying with Jeff & Dave and Chip & Reichen - I myself didn't agree with allying. But when we got to the jump area, Russell pulled out two tickets. You'll notice on TV that he took two tickets out, handed one to Jeff and David, and kept one for us. They got number 7, and we got number 8, which put us a place behind on the bungee jump.

Do you think the number thing sealed your fate?

Well, I think it was a combination - that would have given us the 10 extra minutes that we needed at that moment, but I also feel that between that and the train ticket, it was a lost cause at that point. Unfortunately. It's so erratic.

Did you talk about doing the Fast Forward on that leg, or any time during the race?

Russell and I both agreed that if we played it right, we were physically strong enough to wait for the 3rd or 4th leg if we could. At the train station, I thought "boy, that's too bad we didn't take it, instead of the bungee jump." But from the beginning, we thought we'd wait.

On the train to Gmunden, did you think you still had a chance?

We pretty much knew we were out of it. Trying to keep our spirits high was really hard. Russell was really depressed. I thought it would come down to being 5 minutes apart or something, but it was pretty fatal. We had a pretty good idea.

Watching the show last night, what did you think about the faces Russell was making behind your back?

I saw them throughout the whole shoot. It took all my patience to keep it together. It was not his normal behavior, and it was the first time I'd ever seen him like that. But when you're not eating or sleeping properly, and you're motivated to win a million dollars at all costs, it does strange things to peope.

What was one thing you packed that you realized you shouldn't have?

Flip-flops - the ones you get at North Face. You only need Gore-Tex shoes. I strongly recommend Gore-Tex shoes to keep your feet dry. That's imperative to have, and it's all you need.

If you could do one thing different that you had control over, what would it be?

I would have chosen a different partner. I would have thought about it from a different angle. I was going for "Jewel of the Nile", and ended up with "Throw Momma From the Train", if you know what I mean. For me, it's the saying "when you put passion before principle, even if you win, you lose."

Whose idea was it to do the race?

Mine.

Did you choose Russell right away?

I was pretty clear about Russell, but I wasn't looking at it objectively, exactly all the pros and cons of bringing him, or him of bringing me. He's not here to defend himself, but I would say neither of us took into consideration these things. We were looking at our schedules, and we could probably both do the show, and we also knew we both had a great time together, we both had a competitive edge, we both liked the same things, we're both well-traveled. We normally had a great time together, but this is a fishbowl, and it changed things quite dramatically. It was a complete shock.

How did you prepare for the race?

Took a backpack, put 40 pounds into it, and ran about 5 days on the beach, and up mountains.

During the final words, it seemed like you were re-examining the relationship. Are you still dating?

No. Like I said when we were eliminated: I saw a lot of what happened when things get put on the line, and that to me is a big part of a relationship. When it's put on the line, you get to see people's character and what their choices are, and if it's not to choose to be on your side, then you really need to examine what you like about that person. So for me, it was pretty cut and dry that I wasn't with the right person.

It came out on our web site that you were in a car accident several years ago that forced a career change. Would you care to tell us about that?

Sure. I used to model in New York and Europe, and had a pretty strong career. Oh, and that supermodel comment? That was Sports Illustrated did a comment from Tommy Armour. We were having dinner, a big group of us, and they referred to me as a supermodel, and we were making a joke of it. But I was pretty successful, and had a car accident when I came out to L.A., and it changed my career rather quickly. A drunk driver hit me, and I had to have operations over the next three years. Interestingly enough, I didn't go to college, so I ended up working in a restaurant. I went from $350 per hour to $8 an hour. I learned how to manage a restaurant, and got into designing and promoting, and created a huge database of 13,000 people. That's how I started my business, because I was able to make contacts and get started, so it all worked out at the end of the day. It's just a different adventure, and so was this. Everyone needs a good adventure, but pack the Gore-Tex shoes.

Oh, and I have one more piece of advice. When they give you the money each leg, split it. You should each carry half the money.

Why is that?

What happens is a lot of people get controlling about things. And in my situation, it was hard to get to the money to sustain my food and water and sleep. It's very important to trust your partner, but you should also recognize what you need for yourself at your own time.

Seamonkey

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 10:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Guess it is better to find out now than to make a huge mistake and get married.

Pamy

Friday, June 13, 2003 - 10:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
What an <sd> Russ must be for her to say that about the money. My DH would go hungry for me!

Spear

Monday, June 16, 2003 - 11:51 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Here is a link to CBS web site's "After The Race" interview with Cindy. Even CBS is unable to get answers from Russell!

Beachcomber88

Monday, June 16, 2003 - 12:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Further goes to show how immature Russell is. Ok, so the race is over, the relationship is over, they didn't get along, but gosh, at least answer a few questions! I think they probably asked for them to show up together and he just bailed.

Crazydog

Monday, June 23, 2003 - 01:32 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I think Russell is no prize but I don't think Cindy is much better. Their whole interaction just seems so sad to me. She seems to have gone on the race to try to get him to see that he should marry her. He seems to have gone on the race for the adventure and the competition. It's a big problem when she's running around the whole time simply trying to get him to marry her when that is the last thing on his mind.

It's interesting to me that on their CBS page their quote is her saying how Russell reacts quickly to situations and takes charge, and that it comforts her. Isn't that what he was doing during the entire race? How come now that they've been eliminated she is so upset about him doing everything his way? Is it because he won't marry her?

She just seems so bitter and sad to me.

BTW, I was cleaning my closet and I just realized that Russell has appeared on several Men's Health covers.

Bastable

Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 08:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Russell is boring because he thinks so much of himself. He was a major disappointment, and serves as yet more proof that these reality TV show producers should steer away from the pretty people and make personality a higher priority.

Seamonkey

Thursday, August 07, 2003 - 07:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Don't know where else to put this.. seems that BB Rob and Erika know Cindy and Erika almost got in this year's TAR..

from live feeds:

Jack and Nathan sitting outside, Erika there now too.

(Jack and Nathan pondering what the veto comp. will be. They suspect it might have something to do with that game they were given.)

Erika: I applied for amazing race, got to semifinals 2x. Teamed up once w/ brother (season 2) , once w/ girlfriend (this last one)...It's one of John's shows.

Nate: Really I didn't know that.

Erika: Ya, I told John, "John I wanna do that one too!"

(All are wondering how Amazing Race panned out.)

Erika: Last one I saw was model and actress were fighting. One of them was a Lesbian.

Jack: The virgins...What the hello is that all about?

Erika: They're lying.

Rob joined group.

Erika: We're talking about Amazing Race...

Rob: Cindy was on there!

Erika: Ya! We actually know someone that was on there.

Erika: She got eliminated...Was coupled with someone she was dating.