Shame shame you NOW know my name...

Us "back stage"

Somewhere in the first week of my arrival, our Chinese coordinator Mary asked us if we would like to be on this Chinese game show called Just Go. Just go is sort of like American wipe out if that will help you understand. We all, of course, said we would love to but thought no more about the subject. Well we were wrong about thinking she wouldn’t pull through. Monday we get a knock on the door and there is Andrea with a big smile on her face. She says "sooooo Mary got us on Just Go…" We all freaked out and started preparing for the coming Friday. Preparing as in, saying we are getting prepared, but still doing the same stuff as normal. Maybe squeezing our gluts coming up the stairs.

Well the big day comes and were up at 5:00 in the morning making our 2 hour drive to He Fei, the capital of Anhui province. We ended up getting lost and arriving an hour and a half late. It was no big deal though, they hadn’t even started he games. So we get situated “back stage” and sit and watch a TV that shows what’s going on live. So we watch as the first group of girls goes. In my mind, and I’m positive in the minds of my fellow teammates, we have got this one in the bag. I was fairly confident that I was going to breeze by this course and win Mary an AC unit. You see the prize you win at the end if you complete the course, you win a whirlpool air-conditioning unit. Now I will quickly run through the women’s course and the men’s.

The women’s course consists of a tramp, 4 turn tables, 3 sweeper arms going around in a circle while you jump from 1 platform to the other, a long treadmill, then the  sinister stairs, then to a swinging platform you must land on by swinging from a rope, then you must cross 3 moving tables that pivot with your weight, then you must climb up a 30 foot slide with water coming down it by pulling yourself up with a rope, then you hit the big red button and you win.

The men’s course, you start out by running across 8 unstable treasure chest looking things, then you must run across 6 rolling logs, then pull volt across a 20 foot gap, after that you run up the treadmill and to the row of sinister stairs, then you come to two moving tables that you must jump from one to the other through a moving windmill, then climb the 30 foot slide to victory!

So the first group of girls go, then the first group of guys. Then they are calling our names and were lining up on stage, my heart is going crazy and I feel like I might pass out haha! Andrea goes first, she makes it to the sweeper arms but takes one right in the butt and falls head first into the water. Then its Alexis, she makes it all the way to the sinister stairs but falls in at the top. Then it’s me, the buzzer sounds and I start running, I jump off the tramp and come to the first turn table, I hop on and start to situate myself for the next jump, but then the table angles down and I slip right off. I try and jump to the next table but it was too late and I fell into the water. I was SO MAD, I could not believe I didn’t even make it past the first table, I knew that I shamed myself and America ;) then Emily is up, she gets to the first turn table and… yes indeed, falls in. Next is Garnet, she makes it to the first turn table and as you guessed, falls in, following me and Emily’s lead. Last but not least is Sarah. She comes to the first turn table and makes it, then the second, then the third, and yes to the fourth, all she has to do now is get to the platform… but she falls haha. We come back to the back stage and get to watch Bobby and Jeff go. Bobby goes and makes it all the way, he not only just makes it but he does it in record breaking time, 1 minute 30 seconds. Jeff goes and falls off at the logs.

Over all I had a blast, even though I shamed America on national TV, I still had a great time. Sorry to my fellow Americans for not even making it past the first turn table ;)