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From the Producers of the Amazing Race,
I've been getting a lot of questions about the rules of TTMAR and my analysis as to why certain contestants succeed and others fail. So here is the rest of the story, what you're not able to see during the episodes...
City: San Francisco The Suspects: Father and Daughter: Rick Lechlietner and Trish Reardon The Detectives: Anwawn Jones and Casey Johnson The Hiding Place: A friend's business The Suspects' Strategy: Hope that their connection to the business would not be uncovered so the detectives would not know to search there. The Winners: The detectives won the $100,000. Psychological Profiles of the Suspects: Rick: Since I had, by far, the most exposure to Rick, I will talk about him first. Rick did, indeed, have a fascinating life story. He was both an ex-marine and somewhat of a counter-cultural rebel in his youth. I always try to discern what each subject's compelling need is when I do an interrogation, a witness interview, a cross-examination or write about a fictional character. Rick's compelling need was to receive validation—which is what ultimately blinded him to his environment. I think he literally forgot that he was in a hostile place with an emissary from the opposition. Rick was a smart guy who built up a successful business and obviously raised a very successful daughter. He knew that I was a deputy district attorney since I told him. But, since I approached him from the perspective of a biographer, he lost himself in his narration intermittently seeking approval for each chapter in his life. Interrogation is about expectations. Rick was prepared for an aggressive, male interrogator against whom he could hold his own (which was why Bishop and I decided that I would interrogate him). He wasn't prepared for a low-key friend who was interested in him. I think Rick would have done fine against an aggressive male. Trish: Bish didn't get much time with Trish because our detectives found the briefcase while he was in the midst of her interrogation. However, he had an excellent beginning. He was establishing a law enforcement bond (with her being a firefighter and him a detective) and he was also beginning to be able to read her "lie face". Trish was a very driven, honest, strong woman. Her Achilles Heel would have been her intrinsic discomfort with telling lies which would have caused "tells" when she invented stories. Insider Info: The extent of Trisha's fury over Rick revealing the Hide Location was not displayed on the show because of time limitations. Trish was so angry with her father it took everything out of me not to intercede on his behalf. To me, the responsibility of the failure to win the game was equally hers. She knew exactly what type of guy her father was. She knew he loved to talk and loved to tell stories. She brought him into the game and then seemed shocked and "disappointed" when he acted true to his intrinsic character. BIGGEST LESSON of this episode: Know your partner and do not expect them to become different people on the show. To bring a man like Rick into an interrogation and expect him NOT to talk was as unfair as feeding a 9 year old a bunch of candy bars then expecting him to sit still for a 4 hour classical concert. Trish should have taken responsibility for the loss and she should have been grateful that her father was game enough to join in with her in the first place. PS: Our detectives were an excellent example of cooperative police work. They were smart and proactive and comfortable working as a team. Bish and I felt like we were in a real investigation with them.
City: Chicago The Suspects: Domestic Partners: Beau Nolen and Ron Stoczynski The Detectives: Michele Wood and John Korolis The Hiding Place: Home of a friend The Suspects' Strategy: Call a friend (Cindy) and have her make a conference call to the owner of the hide house (no phone trail) Conceal the relevance of the stop for the hide by purchasing cupcakes in the vicinity. Go to the beach to get sand on clothing to create evidence of burying the briefcase at the beach. The Winners: The detectives won the $100,000. Ron believed that we had upgraded Beau to a better cell. That belief, coupled with the taking of his toothbrush and notebook and his growing claustrophobia caused him to break and give up the location of the briefcase. Psychological Profiles of the Suspects: Ron presented as nice, polite and very stable. From first appearance, he seemed like he would be able to sustain lots of questioning and hold out, despite the discomfort of his cell. Ron's Achilles Heel, however, was that he experienced a growing anxiety at the loss of control over his environment. This was one of those times in life where we do not know how we will react until we are in the situation. Ron initially thought that the idea of custody and interrogation would not affect him significantly. What he found was that having control over his environment really mattered to him. It really affected him that he could not choose his meals and he couldn't leave his cell. The more powerless he felt, the more his anxiety increased. Ron's breaking point happened when his last frontier was invaded: Bishop and I went into his cell, stood way too close to him, and took the only personal possessions he had left, his toothbrush and his notebook. We also told him that Beau had experienced an upgrade in living quarters. Then we left and he was all alone in an intolerable situation. Ron's experience could give him great insight into what causes him frustration and anxiety in his normal life. He is now aware of the significance of having control. I would love to hear from Ron as to whether his experience in the game has permeated his everyday life. Beau was very smart and thinking like a chess player from the inception of the game. He not only thought of where to hide the briefcase, but simultaneously, planned to throw us off. Taking off his coat to hide the case was genius. It created false witnesses that we relied upon. Since the workers at the cupcake store were unbiased and had the ability to perceive Beau, we trusted that their perceptions, as recounted to the detectives, were accurate. More significant about Beau was that he had had some bad experiences in the past to which he alluded which may have resulted in him feeling outside of the mainstream which then, in turn, heightened his abilities to perceive the emotions of others and hide his own true emotions. In my interactions with him, I did sense a deep vulnerability which he, of course, was able to capitalize on by demonstrating an exaggerated fragility. I have four younger brothers and a younger sister and a very strong sense of taking care of others. Most of my career as a deputy district attorney has been devoted to taking care of very vulnerable victims. When Beau appeared to be vulnerable and desperate to trust me to not deceive him, I could not continue to try to trick him. Definite points for Beau playing the game at a very sophisticated level. Congratulations on a job very well done! Insider Info: People can play the game, lose the money and gain much more than that. With Beau and Ron, what was most impressive was their strong commitment to each other. Ron felt terrible about letting Beau down, but Beau's response to Ron was only compassion for what Ron was experiencing rather than being angry or negative about the loss of the money. Rather than diminishing their relationship, the loss strengthened it. Bishop and I continue to keep in touch with Beau and Ron on Facebook and they are doing great. On another note, something you may not know, Detective Michele Wood is a competitive body builder and has won a significant number of competitions.See you in Episode 5!
City: Miami The Suspects: Jennifer and Rebecca Albano The Detectives: Jorge Montero and Manuel Munoz. The Hiding Place: Outside, under brush, on Banyan Drive The Suspects' Strategy: Creating a zigzag route, making no calls, generating no receipts and hoping that the hide area was too big to effectively search. The Winners: The Detectives won the money Psychological Profiles of the Suspects: In the pre-game interview, The Albano Sisters presented as BFFs with an easygoing, carefree friendship. Rebecca said they were almost "twins". The reality of their complex relationship couldn't have been further from this initial portrayal. During interrogation, Rebecca, the older sister, alluded to an out-of-control past of promiscuity and alcohol and drug abuse. She had the word, "gluttony" tattooed on her arm to remind herself of the pitfalls of her past. She displayed a confident and outgoing personality, yet alluded to a childhood of low self-esteem because, among other things, she was a "heavy" child. In contrast, to Rebecca's open tell-all personality, her sister, Jen, was extremely controlled and very shutdown. She was driven to succeed where her older sister was "lazy". Our detectives took an instant dislike to her and we agreed that she gave off an unappealing, superior air. Where the sisters' relationship was even more complicated was with regard to who called the shots. Jen owned her own business and was essentially her older sister's boss during working hours. In the car, however, Rebecca demonstrated a natural comfort with geography and took the lead on choosing the location for the hide. What we learned from this episode as interrogators, was not to assume that leadership in one avenue means leadership in all. Most interesting was Jen's desire to "blind" herself intermittently during the hide to try to protect herself from future questioning. (She closed her eyes during the drive to the hide area, then opened them to witness the location, then closed them again for the walk to the specific hide spot.) It was consistent with her personality that she would rather be removed from the questioning rather than participate as her gregarious older sister did. What was fascinating was that her actions of closing her eyes were intrinsically contradictory. She closed her eyes along the route which was irrelevant to the investigation since we got the GPS route. She then opened her eyes when the car stopped to register the location of the hide area. This contradiction of action suggests, perhaps, the contradictions within herself: She is fearful of fully participating in life (blinding herself) yet, she also longs for a fuller existence (opening her eyes at the critical juncture of the trip.) If the detectives hadn't found the briefcase when they did, our next line of questioning was to get more information about the sisters' home life from Rebecca to help us break through the reserve of Jen. Insider Info: We immediately clicked into an easy working relationship with our detectives. There was a steady sharing of strategies and information. Since we had so little to work with in terms of evidence (no phone calls, texts or receipts) we were quickly able to list the viable hiding places such as the suspects' business and residence addresses, and outdoor spots along the route. Barring a third party drop-off, the process of elimination drove us all ultimately to focus in on Banyan Drive as the only place left. What was most significant about this game was the detectives' impressive work ethic. Their quest was akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Even if we had broken one of the suspects, it still would have been very hard for the suspect to articulate exactly where the briefcase was hidden since the hide area was so vast and most people don't remember how many feet they walked, or how to describe a particular bush. But for the detectives unwavering dedication, they would not have been triumphant. Bish and I had the deepest respect for their commitment and we are so excited for Jorge's new baby! This case may have been the reverse of the other Miami case with Jimmy and Zuly. There the civilian contestants did it "for their kids" and in this case the detectives did. It makes you think about what goes on inside people when they are willing to work for something bigger than they are...
City: Miami The Suspects: Married couple Jimmy and Zuly Pumariega The Detectives: Joe Schillaci and Al Vila The Hiding Place: Home of family friend The Suspects' Strategy: Tightly executed plan where suspects called their daughter and instructed her to call a family friend so they could gain access to the friend's private residence. The Winners: The suspects won the $100,000. Psychological Profiles of the Suspects: Jimmy and Zuly have been married for over 10 years and have several children. Zuly calls the shots in the marriage, has a more high-powered job and is in charge of the kids' homework. Jimmy is a "kid," playful with the children and never the "heavy" in discipline. Jimmy and Zuly are very committed to each other and to their family. They were not fighting for the prize for themselves, but for their children. Their desire to win the money to improve their children's lives imbued them with a steely resolve during periods of fatigue and the stress of interrogations. Bishop and I could tell during the initial interviews that they would never crack under the pressure of questioning and give up the hiding spot. Further, because the suspects were so focused on winning the money for their children, they were able to lie without feeling any moral discomfort. They literally put lies about the briefcase outside the normal category of "dishonesty" into a special category of "lies that don't count". This gave them the ability to show little emotion when lying and display few tells. Insider Info: We were out of synch with the detectives from the moment we met. They manifested a surging, frenetic energy and seemed anxious about who was in charge of the investigation. The pace of conversation and exchange of information started off all wrong. Further, they revealed that they thought we were actors and this may have contributed to their distrust of us and us not connecting with them. Perhaps, because of our lack of connection, we were not as receptive as we should have been to Joe's very astute theory he articulated while we were driving the suspects' hide route. Joe disclosed that it took too long to get to the off-ramp of 119th street and thus the suspects must have hidden it before that point. Joe was absolutely right, although, even if we all had zeroed in on the beach area, we never would have found the briefcase without a successful questioning of the suspect's daughter, Bridgett, who did have the right to remain silent...
City: San Francisco
The Suspects: Brothers Raul and Paul Bustamante The Detectives: Dean Taylor and Cliff Cook The Hiding Place: Lafayette Park The Suspect's Strategy: Random drop after their first choice was unavailable. The Winners: The detectives won the 100,000. Paul cracked under intense interrogation and gave up the location of the briefcase. Psychological Profiles of the Suspects: To me, the most fascinating part of this episode was the psychological differences between the suspects. Why did Raul treat the interrogations as a joke while Paul suffered intense stress? To answer this, examine the brothers' basic personalities. Raul was an extrovert who was dying to be on television while his brother, Paul, was an introvert who felt safest and happiest at home, playing video games. At the inception of their interrogations, Raul demonstrated a desire to expand while Paul showed a desire to retreat. Once we knew which brother was "the weak link" we focused our time and attention on him. We knew that introverts need time alone to recharge their batteries so we repeatedly invaded Paul's "alone time". Further, instead of giving Paul the nurturing environment which he craved to accomplish his recharging, we moved him from his cell to the interrogation room and back numerous times so that his anxiety rocketed.
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