THE LEFT LANE
The local 'Link'
Advertiser Staff and News Services
There's an island link to NBC's "Weakest Link," daytime version, which heads into its second season of syndication Monday, seen locally from 4 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KHNL-8.
Two Hawai'i contestants will be aboard the first week, fielding questions and dodging barbs from host George Gray. They are Eduardo Hernandez, 34, of 'Aiea, a development director, and Jamie Kemp, 45, of Mililani, a newspaper publisher. Both appear on a Sept. 25 show.
For the new season, the daily "take" has been upped to $100,000.
Wanted: 2 co-hosts
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Potential hosts to replace Gumbel, according to network buzz, include Harry Smith, who was host of a previous CBS morning news show; "Inside Edition" anchor Deborah Norville and NBC sports reporter Hannah Storm.
'Race' to remember
Last year, New York business consultant Jill Aquilino applied to compete on CBS' "Amazing Race" in tandem with her brother, Frank Thomas Aquilino.
They weren't picked.
On Sept. 11, Frank, a vice president at trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed at the World Trade Center.
Despite his death, Jill Aquilino remained determined to compete on the reality show — the third season of which begins Oct. 2 — that pits teams of two in a globe-trotting trek for a $1 million jackpot.
This time she made it. Instead of racing with Frank, Aquilino is teamed with boyfriend John Pietanza, her brother's closest friend.
"The first time I applied for this show, it was purely for winning the money with my brother," she wrote on her entry form, obtained from CBS.
Aquilino, who is somewhere on the road midcompetition, was not available for comment.
"This time around, and following his death on 9/11, I have a very different perspective on life," she wrote. "I want to face as many new and exciting things as I possibly can in this lifetime and I think the 'Amazing Race' offers a ton of thrilling experiences."
"Amazing Race" casting director Lynne Spillman said she had not selected the Aquilinos for the earlier round because producers were less interested in siblings than in partners who had another kind of connection, such as mothers and daughters.
"We loved Jill and John as a couple from the minute we popped the tape in," said Spillman. "The story about how they came together through the loss of her brother made us think that the audience would root for them even more."
