The Race was Amazing

So, The Amazing Race is over. Eric and Danielle have won.   Of all the reality shows that infest TV these days, this is one of the very few that I watch, and I’m totally hooked.    I am usually very resistant to such things, but once a season of TAR gets under way, after an episode or two, I become by turns a fan, an enthusiast and then a fanatic. It was my wife who put me on to TAR.  She has long since lost interest, while I remain a seriously devoted. Now I know why soap opera watchers think of their characters as their personal friends.  I engage with these people, and remember with a shock that we don’t actually know each other.

This season just finished was the All-Stars edition, so there was the added attraction of seeing teams from previous seasons, though some of them I could not for the life of me remember. I am happy when teams I like make it through to the next round, and I am pleased when the ones I dislike are eliminated.  Especially pleased was I at the end of round four when Rob and Amber, whom I couldn’t stand, were given the boot.  I rather suspected they would be because, I have noticed, reality shows often love to dwell on hubris before someone is kicked off  (That happens on The Apprentice a lot, for example).  There were many instances of Rob talking to camera during that episode, saying how sure he was that he and Amber would win.  “I haven’t even started to peak.”  Then with glee we saw them knocked into last place by Mirna and Charla, for whom they appeared to harbour a particular dislike.

Last night, the team I was rooting for didn’t win.  They came in second, which was a very creditable effort, and I have a great deal of admiration for them.  Mind you, it was only in the final 15 minutes of the final episode that I at last worked out which one was Dustin and which was Kandice. It was nice to see that of the three final teams, two were all female, and the third was a couple.  No all male teams  on the finish mat this time.  To me, the final episode of a TAR season (except that disastrous family edition – whose stupid idea was that?) is physically draining.  During the final scenes, when all the teams are congratulating the winners (no shots of Rob and Amber cheering or applauding, I noticed) I suddenly realise that that’s it.  No more teams, no more Phil explaining what a Road Block is, no more following the players through the airports of the world as they try to find a flight that will get them to Warsaw or Guam or wherever, half an hour before the others.  The CBS site has a page where you can nominate previous teams for the next All Stars edition, and I rather like the idea of an All Winners edition, or maybe all the teams who were eliminated in the first rounds of all previous seasons and hardly got a chance to play.  But whatever form it takes (except another family edition -- leave the  kids at home please), I’ll welcome any TAR as long as we don’t have to wait too long.  I’ll allow you a brief rest, CBS, but pretty soon I expect you to get working on the next TAR.

Comments

[Flat Cat, Lydia, & Sampan]

Hello! It is me, Flat Cat! Lydia bit my tail and you should punish her!

Flat Cat xxx

[Rashenbo]

hehe, I don't watch that show... but my parents are hooked. They love to watch it.