Fire and ice

By Paolo R. Reyes Inquirer MANILA, PhilippinesâThey may have been mistaken as âTeam Africaâ by one of the clueless Malaysian contestants, but retired US Navy senior officer Henry Reed, 48, and his strong-willed Filipina wife of 13 years, Terri, 44, are as Pinoy as they come -- minus the modest, passive-aggressive personality, that is. Super sat down with the outspoken husband-wife tandem and grilled them for a fu ll disclosure. (Well, almost. We donât want them to incur the $5 million penalt y thatâs cemented in their contract.) One thingâs for sure, these hard-nosed co mpetitors are bound to generate some seismic shockwaves over the boob tube. What made you decide to join the race? Terri: It was my idea. I loved watching the show. So I asked Henry if we could. He asked me, âGive me 10 reasons why we should?â I was up till 3 a.m. thinking . Then I got out of bed, grabbed a piece of paper, and wrote down: âP5 million. P5 million. P5 million â¦â There were 5 million reasons! Did you have any kind of alliance with Marc and Rovi? Terri: NO!!! No, no, no. Thatâs all I can say. And that youâre not going to be disappointed with the Philippine teams this season. Henry: Alliances really donât work. Itâs such an individual thing. Unlike in âS urvivor,â you donât need anybody else for this game. Did things get really nasty between the teams? Terri: Youâll have to wait and see. But it got real nasty between me and Henry. Henry: In our normal, everyday life, we fight a lot. That is the reality of it. [laughs] Do you think youâll be portrayed differently after the final edit? Terri: I really donât think so. You better agree with me, Henry! Henry: Itâs real fire, believe me. The only way they could change what really h appened, through editing, would be to make us look boring and lovey-dovey. Terri: I donât think theyâll be able to find that kind of footage. Henry: If they could stretch about 38 to 39 seconds of lovey-dovey moments, the n hats off to them. Thereâs too much fire there! [laughs] What was your edge over the other teams? Henry: I guess being mature and being together for so long. I think weâre the o ldest team. Terri: Please. Donât remind them! Henry: When I was in the military, we traveled around the world. I trusted her to read maps and give me directions. Sheâs pretty industrious. When sheâs focus ed, nothing is going to stop her. When we were in New York, she had to get some major dental work. The doctor told her she couldnât eat meat for two weeks and she canât talk for two days. On the way out of the doctorâs office, sheâs alre ady yakking âtake me to Sizzlers to have a steak!â She donât listen to anybody, and sheâs always right. How was your marriage after the race? Terri: Same thing. Lucky 13. But we promised each other that after 49 years of marriage, heâll have his âone minuteâ -- a minute when he can have his peace an d I cannot say a single word. Henry: For one minute she can just shut the hell up. She canât talk to me. She canât yell at me. Sheâs just going to leave me alone for 60 seconds. I donât th ink sheâs going to be able to do it. It ainât gonna happen! [laughs]