Intro: Anastasia & Chris entered the first season of The Amazing Race Australia as the resident soon-to-be newlyweds. Or so they thought. This show was sure to put them through their paces, but no one could predict just how much of a toll this would have on their relationship. Despite their fall backs, they were quite a successful team. Sometimes landing at the bottom end of the list, they did manage to scrape into the top three when it came to reaching the pit stop. They came in at first place only once, but bitter sweetly, it was at a pitstop, unbeknownst to them, in the middle of a double length leg of the race; meaning they had only ran half of the current leg, and they had to continue. During this second half, the two competed in a challenge which made them use a two person saw to cut pieces of wood off of a log. The two were not even able to cut off one piece. At the actual pit stop, they came in second, however due to the failed challenge; they were forced to take a four hour penalty. Unfortunately, all of the other teams managed to successfully make it to the pit stop within that four hour time, marking the end of Chris & Anastasia in sixth place.
Why They Made The List: Chris & Anastasia are a very special part of this list, mainly because they are some of the only people who made it because of their actual game play. Well, maybe that isn’t the full story. You see, these two are Greek, and Greeks are usually very argumentative, especially when under stressful situations and when the two parties involved are dating each other! It didn’t help that Chris seemed to have an attitude problem. These two fought constantly in fights usually escalated by Chris and his bad temper. Small things, such as not reading a map properly, not adding anything intelligent to the conversation and even taking the wrong turn, set Chris off. But in all infamously, it was a task involving wine which caused the two to have their biggest outburst yet.
Having to transfer wine from a massive holder into barrels, Chris told Anastasia not to start pouring the wine in so soon. She did. And as the wine poured over the ground, Chris went off; telling her to listen to him and do as she’s told. Chris was definitely the bad guy in this situation, not helped by his oftentimes sexist remarks towards his girlfriend (who could forget the ‘daddy never spanked you when he should’ve’ line?). In this situation though, the usually submissive Anastasia didn’t hold back; giving him a mouthful of opinion as well. It was probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest spats of 2011.
The straw that broke the camels back when it came to including them into this list however, was actually due to their ability to work together. You see, between all the spats and dummy spits, this team did very well to pick themselves up, work coherently, and show us moments of love and support. A team like this would have ripped themselves apart early and would have usually succumbed to the dreaded pit stop early in the race; but for this couple to make it to sixth place is a remarkable show of resilience, perseverance and strength; something that shouldn’t be sneezed at.
Legacy: While these two contestants have slipped into quietness and normality, it should be noted that they have since separated. Anastasia does not hate Chris for his outbursts, blaming them on the pressures of the game, but didn’t blame the pressures of the game on their demise. Chris, who was afraid of what Anastasia’s father would think of the on air footage of him, has even admitted to losing sleep after watching himself yell at Anastasia. Yes, there was definitely a lot to sort out with these two.
Since then, Anastasia has found new love. Fellow contestant Mel Munday introduced her to South Australian AFL player and student nurse Ash Duncan at the Amazing Race party in Adelaide. And what happened to Chris? Dunno.
So, a very unlucky couple indeed; very fitting for number 13. Their situation wasn’t anything to laugh about, but for tomorrow’s number 12 entry, there was always reason to have a bit of a chuckle.
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