Uchenna and Joyce - All Stars

[Miss_Griss]

I liked them during their original season, but got pretty turned off to her after seeing them on that "How Do I Look?" makeover show. Joyce seemed to have a real chip on her shoulder, and the tension between them wasn't particularly charming.

It also came out on that show that Joyce used to be an actress and wanted to move back to Hollywood to get back into the game. So much for them just being normal people. I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I think Uchenna had some acting background, too.

At any rate, watching that show, I went from really liking them to having a more mehh feeling about them.

[Broadway]

Miss Griss, I agree completely and yes, you have all of the above correctly. I believe Uchenna said that they had met while acting in a play together and that they had continued to do regional theater.

I just can't shake that negative impression of Joyce after that show, either. I still kind of enjoy Uchenna, but I can't root for them.

[Aota Bass]

Hmmm- I didn't watch that other show.

I enjoy them as a team.

I wonder though- if they want children so very badly they have tried so many different aids, and feel it's damaging their relationship that they both want kids so badly but it doesn't seem to be happening...

Why not adopt? There are so many kids out there who need a loving home. I have an adopted sibling, and I don't understand how people think adopted kids are going to be traumatized about adoption, or that somehow they are less legitimate as children. Even if they still keep trying to have their own, they seem prime candidates to adopt a child or two.

I know that's an extremely personal decision that I have absolutely no right to judge them on. And I'm not judging them. They probably have a great reason. Maybe it's a cultural thing- isn't Uchenna from West Africa or of West African descent (I want to say Nigerian)? It just seems from how candid they are about desiring kids and so far not being able to conceive, that adoption is the perfect option, and I'm just curious that something is preventing them from choosing it.

[LG.]

About adoption - unless you're really rich like Bragelina, adoption can be prohibitively expenses or a really long, hard, and emotionally draining process. However, I think it is better than continuing on with fertility treatments that aren't working. I know U&J won the last time, so they should have some money to be able to adopt, so I'm not sure why they didn't, but they could have actually spent all of it already on failed fertility treatments, as most of those are not covered by insurance and cost huge money. For US citizens wanting to adopt, there are really three options:

1. Domestic infant adoption - to adopt a healthy newborn in the US, the process can take years because birth mothers (and fathers, if they are involved) essentially look at a book of "waiting" adoptive parents and pick out who they want to give their baby to. This is a "beauty pageant" and can take years to get "picked" and sometimes you get "picked" but then the birth mom changes her mind either right before birth or even after and takes the child back - as you can imagine it's heartbreaking to lose that baby. Depending on the state, birth parents can have up to a year or more to "reclaim" the child (some states are shorter), and if the birth father doesn't sign off (or the right birth father), the biological father can come back and contest the child years later, like the Baby Richard case that happened a number of years ago in Illinois.

2. Domestic older child placement, often combined with foster care. These kids are in dire need of homes, and are the actual "waiting children" but often have been abused, neglected, have serious medical problems, including sometimes drug dependency, and often have siblings that they want to place together. I really commend the families that adopt and are foster families to older kids. But it's not what a lot of people "picture" their family being, as so many want to have a child that is "theirs" from babyhood. Older kids sometimes have biological parents that are in and out of treatment or other facilities who may come back and contest custody too.

3. International adoption - This is the route that has the "cleanest" custody in that birth parents don't usually have the right to come "reclaim" the baby (unless maybe you're Madonna and are trying to adopt from a country without following its rules). It is also usually much "faster" than domestic newborn adoption, as it takes 1-2 years instead of, well, sometimes 5 years, sometimes who knows if ever. However, it costs a lot of money. You usually need to travel to the country, pay all kinds of agency fees, stay in the country for some period of time, make some "donation" to the orphanage. This process can also have some heartbreak, if you think you have a "match" and get sent a picture, start making plans, and then someone from within that country steps forward, you can lose out. Every country has different rules, and some are certainly more "friendly" to US citizens than others. Countries with good US adoption programs: Korea, China (girls only, for the most part), Russia, Romania, Ukaraine, Guatamala, Colombia, and a handful of others. When I was looking into international adoption (about 8 years ago) I was told that Africa was pretty much "off limits" and didn't allow American citizens to adopt. Unless of course you're a celebrity and build them a hospital or something. So for Uchenna and Joyce, it might not really be possible for them to just "choose" to adopt a baby from Nigeria unless Nigeria has laws that would allow "normal" American citizens to adopt. If Uchenna is actually a citizen, he would probably have a much better chance of that.

anyway, enough about adoption, it's hard, but very worth it. I ended up not adopting, but still feel like maybe someday I still will.

About Uchenna and Joyce - I like them. I think they are here just to remind Rob and Amber that they didn't win the first time around.

[Monkadelic]

Odd... the number of pages devoted to other contestants, and only 4 so far devoted to this couple. I didn't like a lot of the teams in the season Uchenna and Joyce were one, but I did like them. I enjoyed that while many other teams were abusive toward each other, they were supportive. When Joyce had to shave her head, Uchenna was there for her the whole way.

Maybe they're not all that dramatic like Charla and Mirna or the Kentucky people, but they work well together. I hope they do well again this season.

[Nemeses]

Not to worry, Monk, I've learned that you can't judge a contestant's popularity or likeability by their posts. Some of the most detested contestants often have the most posts, and then sometimes a thread doesn't get a lot of activity until something specific happens involving them. And some contestants just have the type of fans who aren't verbose in their postings, but no less supportive of them. So don't let any of the contestant thread posts fool you U/J have a lot of supporters here

[CEO]

I find nothing likable, or dislikable about this team. They are luke warm, at best.

[qinwahfans]

My favourite team this season!

[holly71]

I was really rooting for this team the first time they raced b/c they had really gotten the shaft by their employers (one worked for Enron, the other for Worldcom), plus the fertility issues (not sure if it was him or her), so I just felt like they had so much crap going on in their lives, it would be nice for them to have something positive for a change.

Then after they won & got their check, I read numerous accounts of Joyce becoming a diva bi*ch & was very disappointed (never read anything negative about Uchenna though). This time around, I don't care if they win or not, but I'm not actively rooting for or against them at this point.

[bandergrove]

Uchenna and Joyce have really annoyed me this season. All they do is whine about the other teams, and they don't have the charisma they had the first time around. Actually, they've annoyed me since they beat Rob and Amber in their original season, since they should NOT have gotten on that plane at the end. You could definitely tell the producers were stepping in and bribing the airline to let them on. If U/J missed that flight, the final episode would have been ruined (in terms of drama, that is).