Brother/Sister Duo in Amazing Global Race

December 6, 2007

New Wave staff
newwave@tulane.edu

Tulane alumni come from all walks of life and pursue countless careers, but few pursue a path as amazing as a brother and sister from Louisiana who are in the hunt for a $1 million prize offered by “The Amazing Race.”

Azaria Azene and Hendekea Azene, both chemical engineering graduates of Tulane University, are tough competitors on the 12th season of CBS-TV’s popular “The Amazing Race.” They are shown trekking all over the globe in the show that airs on Sundays at 7 p.m. CST.

Though the team finished in fourth place on the leader board in the episode that aired on Dec. 2, the siblings have placed first on the leader board three of the five segments that have aired to date.

Azaria Azene, 27, is a facilities engineer for offshore platforms who lives in New Orleans, and Hendekea Azene, 23, is an aerospace engineer in Torrance, Calif. They are natives of Baker, La., near Baton Rouge. The show takes them far from their usual stomping grounds.

On the third episode of the race, camel-milking and a torrential thunderstorm caused havoc as teams traveled to the remote African village of Bingo in Burkina Faso. The Azenes used their book smarts to leap ahead and capture first place.

Other competitors on the show include teams of a father and daughter, grandfather and grandson, two “goth” friends and two dating couples. In completing the entire race, the final three teams will have traveled approximately 30,000 miles.

The Azenes have all the intelligence, wits and skills to win the race, although their personality differences could be the X factor, according to the show’s publicity material. She describes him as confrontational and emotional while he describes her as irrational. Both are worried that the big brother/little sister power struggle will rear its ugly head during the race.

But Azaria Azene proclaimed in the premiere episode on Nov. 4 that he and his sister have an advantage over the other teams “in that we are intelligent and we’re physically fit.”

A CBS promo teases that in the next segment on Dec. 9, “One team falls apart during a detour in Croatia that requires precise teamwork, while one of the race’s strongest teams makes a costly mistake that threatens their future.”

The show (and race) have wrapped, but the final results won’t be revealed until the last episode airs in January.