Reality bites: Youngstown pair knocked out of 'Race'

They say they feel like the winners because the show led to their engagement.
After five weeks of punishing travel and adventures, Youngstown area residents Ray Housteau and Deana Shane were eliminated during Tuesday night's episode of "The Amazing Race 7."
"We really have not gotten over what has happened yet," Housteau said during a phone call from New York City. "We still have nightmares about it, and we totally expected to win."
The couple came up short in their attempt to create cornmeal by using logs to grind up corn. The tortuous exercise, which took place in Soweto, South Africa, left the couple's hands shredded and ended their dreams of winning "The Amazing Race 7."
"It came down to the corn," Shane said. "The lady was not giving us enough credit on what we were giving her, and we tried and pounded just as hard as any other team."
Naturally because of their experience, the now engaged couple has a severe aversion to the crop.
"We hate corn," Shane said, laughing.
"Corn, corndogs, popcorn, caramel corn," Housteau said.
Long journey
The couple's trek began in November in South America, with junkets through Peru, Chile and Argentina before the show traveled to Africa. Housteau and Shane were the fifth team out of 11 groups to exit the show, which Shane said should be called "The Grueling Race."
Despite their vast amount of training, which included one-on-one workouts with Boardman High School cross country coach Dave Pavlansky, the duo said the experience was beyond comprehension.
"It's 20 times harder than what you would think," Shane said.
"It's so difficult," Housteau said. "You don't eat, you don't sleep. Everything is thrown out of whack, and it gets to you. It really does, much more so than you really think. Of all the physical training we did, it didn't help us as much as we wanted it to, because a lot of the stuff wasn't physical. I was hoping you'd be running and swimming and lifting and doing all of these other things that we would have done very well, and a lot of the stuff that we had to do was not related to that at all."
Added Shane, "It was more mental."
Back home
When the show wrapped up taping in December, Housteau and Shane returned to the Buckeye State from an undisclosed sequestered location with news of their wedding engagement.
Fortunately for the couple, who were sworn to secrecy regarding the results of the race, their family members and friends were preoccupied enough with the May 21 wedding date, in which all 11 couples from "The Amazing Race 7" are expected to attend.
For the couple, who have dated off and on for years, perhaps there was no better gauge of compatibility than competing together on the show.
"Absolutely, because of the race [we're engaged]," Housteau said.
With pending nuptials and two brand-new Toyota Rav4 sports vehicles they won on Tuesday's show, there is a sense that Housteau and Shane are the true winners of "The Amazing Race 7."
"I believe so," Shane said.
Housteau agreed.
"We won two cars and each other more importantly," he said. "We won a lot of friends for life, and we had the adventure of a lifetime. Yeah, we're the winners."