Brother/sister engineers.

Pre-love. The first brother/sister team since Tramel & Talicia. I hope they don't go early like they did, and instead last almost as long as Blake & Paige did.

I like them - some potential for amusing bickering, physically fit, nice to look at, and clearly some brainpower there if they're both engineers. Forget Blake & Paige, I wouldn't mind seeing them go as far as the Linzes, as far as sibling team placement.

Without the creepy incest vibe.

I wanted to be the first to do the [Hank] Azaria & Hendekea joke, because that's truly the first thing I thought of when I clicked on their names. I think this team has real potential. I hope they have better luck than T & T.

Azaria kind of reminds me of a young Randal from The Apprentice.

Hopefully their banter doesn't go from amusing to uncomfortable, but otherwise they seem great.

They're two of my pre-favorites right now. They seem overall nice, but pretty smart. I do hope the bickering doesn't end up being too much, and I do hope that Hendekea being described as "dainty", doesn't mean Azaria will do all/the majority of the physical work.

The name Azaria automatically makes me think of that baby who got eaten by the dingos in Australia. Scary!

I think of Hank. Is the first name pronounced the same as his last name?

I think they're cute. I don't know what the hell that means for the game but, there it is.

Isn't there a famous fashion designer with a similiar name? Max Something? Though I don't think thats pronounced in the same way.

Max Azria, of BCBG.



Here's hoping. Though I want to see more from them first.

Lots of pre-like for these two. I wonder which petrochemical company Azaria works for. We might work for the same one!

I can't wait to hear the "-er" that Phil puts on their names. I'm already laughing and cringing at the thought.

After reading the team bios, this team ranks with Rachel/TK, Kynt/Vyxsin and (sigh) Lorena/Jason as strong contenders for f4.
Indeed, African American teams have finished in the top 3 in four of the last five non Family or All Star TARs (two victories...by 5's Chip/Kim and 7's Uchenna/Joyce, plus two third-place finishes, by 9's Ray/Yolanda and 10's Lyn/Karlyn).

But I'm getting a fourth place vibe from these two, mainly because quite a few times, the most likable team in a Race field got eliminated just before f3 (think 1's Kevin/Drew, 2 and AllStars' Oswald/Danny, 4's Jon/Al, 5's Linda/Karen and 10's Dustin/Kandice).

Just a hunch, that's all. We'll see if these two can not only stay likable, but at least reach f3.

FWIW, I didn't see TARs 2 and 3, so having a brother and sister racing together in a two-person team Race is new and potentially interesting to me.

I'd love for them to go far, but I'm getting a mid-race Philimination vibe from them.

I think Azaria actually said "Thank you for having us!" to the greeter. That's awesome.

Wow! First place! Awesome!

This is the very first time an African-American team has won the first leg, and that's just great!

Negative first: Rolled my eyes when Azaria mutter something about "Women and directions." No need to break out negative sterotypes, buddy.

But I defintely dig this team, and I'm glad they finished first. They bicker a bit, but it seems all good. They kind of remind me off my sister and myself, whenever we argue. So, go Azaria and Hendekea.

I thought their intro was adorable. . .but I am not getting such a good vibe from them. Azaria seems kind of. . .intense, in a way that I don't really like. I didn't like his old "Women! Directions! What can I say?" comment, nor did I like the fact that he expressed doubt about Hendekea's racing ability due to the fact that she is small? Huh?

We'll see how the next few episodes go.

THis y ear's Blake and Paige. They also remind me of that inappropriate sister and brother on "Friends," with the wrestling (in their intro) and the loving looks.

I'm liking these two so far, and was solidified when the greeter said "Welcome to Ireland", and he replied "Thank you for having us". It's nice to see a gracious team once in a while.

They seem like nice people, but did make a few easy mistakes which might catch up to them later on.

I also noticed the strange inappropriate vibe. When Phil told them about the moonlight (or was it midnight) skiing, I wondered if he had the same feeling.

I felt like they were going to make out at any given moment. When the father from the father-daughter combo said that Azaria and Hendekea gave up one of their beds for them, I thought, "What are the sleeping arrangements here?"

I like them, but I'm hoping there will be a Detour involving genetic testing somewhere later in the Race so Azaria and Hendekea can discover they're not really related.

Thought the same thing.

Two beds? We don't need two beds!

Smart = sexy is totally evidenced in these two. Azaria is my eye candy this season, and his sister is absolutely adorable. I hope they really make it far. Especially after seeing how well they worked together on the tasks.

Now, we just have to work on the travel part.

I did too, but it then occurred to me that it was just as much a slam against male stereotypes ("Men hate to stop for directions" -- and it's true of me, it's probably my most "typical guy" trait), and maybe Azaria is smart and self-aware enough to mean that too.

I never expected them to be first, let alone in the first leg, but hey. That was a pretty good start.

I like Hendekea lots, not sure about Azaria for reasons mentioned above. Am willing to give him a shot -- maybe the "women and directions" thing was weird editing or something. And yeah, am definitely getting a "Flowers in the Attic" vibe from them. Yeeesh.

You know the two california blondes who think they are such hot stuff can only dream of being as attractive as Hendekea.

She's gorgeous, smart, and seems not to have the "I'm gorgeous" attitude the blondes drip with.

Oh, goody! So I'm not the only one who was ever so slightly squicked out that they seemed to be thisclose Like they're channeling Angelina Jolie and her brother or something. Anyhoo, I fell asleep during the epi and didn't see that they came in first for their leg - yay! They seem nice enough, though I could have done without the air of superiority they give off. As a scientist, sure, you are smart. Doesn't necessarily mean you're smarter than everyone else, though. We'll see how well they take advantage of their first place showing.

Positives - they're cute, smart, and seem gracious

Negatives - the "I'm smarter than you because I'm an engineer" statement and the squicky huggy-touchy closeness

I always find that the prettiest women are always the ones who don't try too hard to make themselves "Pretty Girls".

For example, in TAR9 you had Desiree, who to me was exponentially cuter in her glasses and winter coat in Russia than the Pinks were in their tube tops in Brazil, just because she seemed nice and gave off a vibe of brains and self-confidence, and the Pinks just seemed like some tiresome stereotyped idea of what a Pretty Girl looks like.

Likewise, I find Hendekea much prettier than the LA blondes or Marianna and Julia, just because she has a certain air of confidence and smarts about her, in addition to having a lovely face and being friendly with other teams. If the LA blondes want me to buy into their assertion that they are gorgeous, they'd better drop the "we're so hot" attitude right quick, because that crap isn't pretty.

Does anyone know the origin of their names?

Add me to the list of those finding their wrestling a little squicky! But, overall, I like them.

I'm torn. On the one hand, he did say it, so he has to take the fallout from getting it aired on TV.

On the other hand, pre-race they all get bombarded with interview questions designed to elicit usable, hopefully provocative, sound-bites. So after several rounds of
"What advantages do you think you'll have over other teams?"
"Geez, I dunno, who knows?"
"No really, what advantages...?"
"It's hard to say, everybody has their own..."
"C'mon man, give me something here, what are your advantages?"
"Ach, well we're engineers, so maybe we're smarter than some of the other teams."

It's not the wisest thing to have said (and if he's smart, he should be aware how such words get used against them). But I'll wait and see what they actually seem like in action, and not dwell too much on pre-race interview stuff.

But then again, maybe that's because I want to like them!

They're obviously smart and pretty to look at, but I can't decide if they are also:
a. Cutely spazzy.
or
b. "intense" Millies.
or
c. cutely spazzy too early in the race to not be annoying later.

But I love that they were friends with the father/daughter team who seem cool.

Yeah, I didn't particularly like that "we're smarter" line either. Book smarts doesn't always translate to good race performance.

I do like this team and I hope they go far. They say they are engineers but I thought their intro shot has them holding a beaker full of green liquid or something, so I'm guessing they are both chemical engineers? It would be funny if their actual jobs have nothing to do with being in a lab and this was just for the intro shot.

In their pre-show interview, they said they watched the previous seasons and looked at situations where teams made mistakes. They asked themselves what they would do in those situations to not make the mistake. They also bought lots of supplies for every possible mistake they might run into.

Overplanning isn't a good idea, but if they're this focused and methodical, they might be able to go all the way.

I wouldn't put much stock in that intro shot. It seemed to me like what television always does when people are supposed to be "doing science"--put them in a lab with beakers filled with colorful liquids. According to their bios, he is a facilities engineer (not sure what that is) and she is an aerospace engineer.

So far, I like them a lot. Booking taxis ahead of time? Researching online from the airport? Looks like they came to RACE!

I come from a pretty affectionate family, so I can imagine that if I were racing with either of my brothers (or with my sister, for that matter) we'd come off a little gross to some people. It's funny, I don't think it's overly close or weird when it's my family, but I can appreciate that it looks sort of "off" when I see other people who are the same way.

I don't know, but when my husband saw them on screen for the first time, he said, "They're from East Africa, probably Somalia" (meaning their family at some point).

Although they (well, Azaria) seemed a little bit arrogant in the introductory interview, they seemed smart, resourceful, and solid during the show, and I ended up kind of liking them by the end of the show.

I don't have a brother or anything, but I wasn't really weirded out by how they were acting. I didn't see them as inappropriately affectionate or anything. . .the preview, maybe, because that seems more like a younger-kid thing to do, but I also think the previews are usually so fakey-fake that I don't believe them anyway.

I'm also affectionate with my [late] brother and my sisters, but dayum. In the ride in the red cadillac, I was actually taken aback to see that they were siblings. I think I gasped. I dunno, maybe we'll just wait and see.

That aside, smartness is never not a good quality to possess, but thinking you're smarter than the other racers 'cause you got an engineering degree ain't gonna help you, Azaria, when you're running around in an Indian market looking for some little hole-in-the-wall shop and it's 120 degrees in the shade.

I did notice a bit of a Blake-Paige vibe from them, but really just in the very odd scene in the bedroom in Ireland. (The one where the sibs gave up one of the beds in their room to Ronald/Christina). Mr. Karebear and I, being the mental twelve year olds that we are, were both totally weirded out by brother-sister and father-daughter pairs sharing twin beds in the same room.

Theirs was probably the most underwhelming win of the first leg I've ever seen.

I am so rooting for this team, especially because of Azaria's "NOLA" shirt. I live in New Orleans, and have to root for the home-town folk.

Also, my guess is that they are smarter than everyone. I went to college with their older brother, and he was one of the most ridiculously intelligent individuals I've ever met. He graduated first in our class in Biomedical Engineering, and it was like he wasn't even trying that hard. Then he went to Hopkins and got an M.D. and a Ph.D. Also, he was the nicest guy ever, and was the Homecoming King senior year. So yeah, a very genetically gifted family. Smart and charming seems to be their default.

I like these two, smart and pleasant. Though all that kept running through my head was "Wonder Twin Powers - Activate!"

Were cell phones even allowed on that flight? Or were they using them just before takeoff? Either way, reserving taxis from the first airport to be waiting for them at their destination was a very smart move -- exactly what I'd do if I went on the race. So kudos to both of them.

I just hope that their overplanning doesn't lead to them totally tanking in the end ala Millie and Chuck.