Jessica "Jessie" Lynn Shields and Francesca Piccoli are a team on The Amazing Race 29.
The two formed a very fast friendship after meeting, despite being the last two paired up at the Starting Line. However, their low placement on the first leg doomed them to a late flight the following leg, which was further compounded when they could not find the woman on the marked bicycle for a long time. This delay was long enough that even another team getting injured and taking 5 attempts to finish the Roadblock could not save them and they were eliminated in 10th place.
Profile
Jessie
Age: 28
Hometown: Howland, Ohio
Current occupation: K-9 Police Officer at Youngstown Police Department in Youngstown, Ohio.
Describe what you do: I do drug and gun interdiction and respond to priority calls for service: burglaries, robberies, homicides, alarm drops.
3 words to describe you: Positive, happy and extrovert.
Favorite hobbies: Bench pressing, squatting and dead lifting. I also enjoy shooting guns and sleeping.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?: The accomplishment I am most proud of is becoming Youngstown Police Department's first female K-9 handler.
What scares you most about traveling?: What scares me the most about traveling is reading maps.
What excites you most about traveling?: What excites me the most about traveling is seeing the world and experiencing different cultures.
What qualities do you hope your partner has?: I hope my partner is a male, can read a map and isn't emotional...because I am as emotional as 15 women put together.
What qualities will be hard for you to put up with in a partner?: It would be difficult for me to be a partner with someone who is negative.
What do you think will be the biggest challenge you and your teammate face?: I think the biggest challenges my partner and I will face will be the traveling itself due to language barriers, deciding whether to take a taxi or a bus and reading foreign maps.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why?: I would most like to visit Italy because of the history, culture and of course food.
What do you hope to accomplish by running The Race (other than winning one million bucks)?: Other than winning one million dollars, I hope to accomplish breaking out of my comfort zone. Traveling, especially without a phone or GPS, has never been a strong suit of mine.[1]
Francesca
Age: 33
Hometown: Banning, Calif.
Current occupation: U.S. Army
Describe what you do: I am a 1SG/E-8 Airborne Civil Affairs Soldier. Civil Affair soldiers are often at the forefront of a mission's interaction with local government officials, civil society and other civilian partners in the international community. Prior to this, I was a U.S. Army Drill Sergeant for five years.
3 words to describe you: Three words that describe me are competitive, determined and empathetic. I believe being empathetic may act as a weakness on occasion, but it also keeps my morals and ethical value intact, so in my eyes it's the biggest characteristic I possess.
Favorite hobbies: My favorite hobbies are running, remodeling houses and RV's, and taking on any challenge. My family and I are currently remodeling a 1985 Fleetwood RV and it's been a blast.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of?: The accomplishment that I am most proud of is being chosen as a contestant on THE AMAZING RACE! The next biggest accomplishment that I am proud of is serving my country and fighting my fears of height by rappelling from helicopters and parachuting from airplanes.
What scares you most about traveling?: What scares me the most is traveling through an unknown place in this world without having a phone. I have become so dependent on such a small device that I am not sure I can function without it, but I am willing to try.
What excites you most about traveling?: Experiencing different cultures and being able to see the world that people 100 years ago couldn't experience.
What qualities do you hope your partner has?: That he or she is smart and carries the strengths that I may have weakness in.
What qualities will be hard for you to put up with in a partner?: Qualities that I would have a difficult time with my partner having would be arrogance, not working as a teammate and panicking under pressure.
What do you think will be the biggest challenge you and your teammate face?: I think that the biggest challenge my partner and I will face is the ability to work as a team because we have never met each other and trust and communication is usually a foundation for being great teammates and trust and communication is built over time.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why?: The one country and place I really want to visit is Greece! I hope there's a chance to visit it on this adventure.
What do you hope to accomplish by running The Race (other than winning one million bucks)?: What I hope to accomplish on this race is to regain some confidence and give myself a challenge that most people don't get the opportunity to have. Just a few months ago, after being married for 8 years, I endured a painful divorce and the loss of my biological father from a battle with cancer. This is my opportunity to feel alive again, regardless if I win money or not.[2]
The Amazing Race 29
Race History
| Jessie & Francesca's Race History | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Leg | Destination(s) | Detour Choice (underlined) | Roadblock Performer | Placement | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | United States → Panama | Shoot / Scoot | No Roadblock | 9 of 11 | |
| 2 | 2 | Panama → Brazil | Keep the Beat / Work Your Feet | Francesca | 10 of 10 | |
| Average | 9.50 | |||||
Legend:
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Post Race
Trivia
Season 29
- Jessie & Francesca were the only all-female team on The Amazing Race 29.
External links
Interviews
- Lauren Wood on WKBN-TV (03/17/2017): "Youngstown's contestant: This was one of my dreams"
- Dan Martin & Rich Morgan on WKBN-TV (04/13/2017): "Local contestant's run on Amazing Race is over"
Social Media Profiles
-
Jessie's Instagram: /JessieLynnShields
- Francesca's Twitter: @franfitness
- Francesca's Instagram: /francescapiccoli_100
References
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