‘The Amazing Race’: Go, Missouri!
Sam (left) and Dan run "The Amazing Race."
After Sunday night’s season premiere of “The Amazing Race 15,” my early favorites are:
- Sam and Dan, the brothers (both are gay) from Missouri. They grew up in Liberty, in the Kansas City area, but given that no St. Louisans (again) made the cut, I’ll take it. Here’s their official bio, in which you’ll learn that Dan’s hobbies include exercise and that Sam “claims to be optimistic.”
- Friends Zev and Justin. Zev has Asperger’s syndrome, making him “not much of a people person,” he says, but he’s a really interesting and funny guy.
- “Flight Time” and “Big Easy,” the Harlem Globetrotters, certainly stand out in a crowd, and seem much less inept (more ept?) than athletes often are on “TAR.”
- Gary and Matt, the father-and-son farmers, seem likeable and have the potential to do well at farm-related challenges such as those offered in Vietnam. And Matt’s pink hair means he’s easy to identify.
On the other hand:
- Maria and Tiffany, the professional poker players, are good for a (horrified) laugh but are way too annoying to want to stay around long. Their pointless lie about being rich poker players didn’t last long, and they’d have been out in the first hour except for a non-elimination stay of execution.
- Also annoying me is Marcy, whose forever upbeat attitude and wild eccentricities seem too contrived to be real. How long before partner Ron tells her to put a sock in it?
- Oh, and Lance the Boston lawyer? Put two socks in it.
- As usual, most of the dating or married couples blur together at this point. One was eliminated at the starting line, after a license plate challenge that shouldn’t have been so hard; another came in last in the first elimination, and their behavior toward each other suggests that they should go with “off again” in their “on and off dating” history.
The 15th edition started a little more slowly than usual, even with that frantic early competition. There was no hilarity like last season’s cheese-rolling in Switzerland, and a game of “Sushi Roulette” in Tokyo was, first, too random, and second, too reminiscent of “I Survived a Japanese Game Show.” But once the show — which will cover eight countries in 21 days, the fastest pace ever — arrived in Vietnam, “TAR” did what it does best, in showing a real slice of a country’s culture while putting the teams through hell. In this case, duck hell. which called for using flags to herd flocks of ducks across a bridge, then back into their pen. Zev turned out to be something of a duck whisperer, while most of the women flapped around too much and made the ducks nervous.
Want more? Here’s a full recap from my pal Andy Dehnart at RealityBlurred.com, and another one from the entertaining Josh Wolk at EW.com.
Thanks for telling me one of these reality show’s features a nice little queer couple. I’ll be sure not to watch. It’s yet another example of continuing intrusion into American life when TV tries to tell us that homosexuality is normal and should be accepted. Not by me it isn’t and I won’t be raising my children that way either.
Got a problem with that? I don’t care.
YoYo–get a frickin’ life and crawl out of the stone age. What a self-righteous bigot you are.
I am a gay man who is in a 20 year relationship-we adopted a baby boy last year and plan on raising him to be kind and accepting of others-something that your parents apparently failed to do with you. I pity your children…you are setting them up to be miserable human beings.
Got a problem with it?
I don’t care.
Is there a reason why they need to have a gay couple in every season of The Amazing Race? Do they have a checklist of every cross-section of American society and check off each one as they put these teams together?
Okay, that makes 2 comments about the “little queer couple” or “gay couple”. You know them, the self-identified Christian, small town, young brothers. Not a “couple”, but brothers.
Sometimes I wonder why a show, critic or article even identifies someone as gay even if they’ve “come out”? Were Zev and Justin marked as “straight” even though Zev made that little “tear” remark after Justin talked about his Aspergers? Which one of them said “should we make out?” during another mini-interview? That would’ve been a great spot to remind everyone that they are straight (not that there’s anyting wrong with that!).
If I were you, yoyo, I’d be more offended by Fox News Channel telling you how to think (and by your remarks, they seem to be successful) than a reality show intruding into your life. I don’t think the Arbitron people will miss your viewership too much.
You know what? I don’t care if the brothers are gay or straight, as long as they race fair and don’t become “Ugly Americans”. Most of the gay people who have been on AR have been among the most accepting of the other cultures, and none of them have annoyed me the way the typical AR couple (white & dating) usually does.
I agree with Gail on her favorites…all of those teams were fun, and didn’t waste time yelling at each other.
Is there a reason why they need to have a gay couple in every season of The Amazing Race?
1) We (gay people) are a part of this country just as much as you are-like it or not…and the show attempts to represent all aspects of our culture-again whether you like it or not. Sorry that 70-80% heterosexual representation isn’t enough for you.
2) Has there been a gay couple “every season?” I have watched the show for most of the seasons and don’t recall this…though maybe I wasn’t as hyper-fixated on it as you apparently are.
Hey YoYo, I’m guessing you’re a “Christian”? Yeah, you all are so “love thy neighbor” aren’t you?
Anyways, Gail, you and I are thinking alike. In addition to your picks, I also like Brian and Erika. Erika is the former Miss America. I don’t know why, Gail, but ducks just make me laugh uncontrollably. And the expressions on the Japanese audience’s face just did me in. Come on, Gail, it was funny! The only thing that bugged me was how easy the speed bump was. Huh? Usually they give them something that takes a while to complete, something more challenging. “Serve someone soup”. WHA? Oh well, the Poker girls (hee) won’t last long anyway.
Yoyo - It doesn’t surprise me to see comments like this anymore. It’s almost expected. What is sad is that you have children, and the odds are your hatred and bigotry will be passed along to them. You do realize you are the one with issues?
jtg61 - See comments above. Why this bothers people like you and Yoyo I have no idea. You two realize it’s a television show? My guess is the producers and creators put gay people on to scare the two of you. Why don’t you just root against them…hope they hurt themselves or come to the revelation that, during the race, they’ll realize they are actually straight and transform right before your eyes. What I think might make for good tv (although would never happen) is that the religious couple and the gay couple work together to win the race…oh wait, did I just label another couple? And isn’t it odd that they seem to have a religious couple in every season of the Amazing Race!!!
get over yourself - It’s not worth your time to have to defend anything. The great thing about comments like those are that they inherently provide both sides of an argument. Most people (just not in this particular area) will read those comments and realize who we are dealing with in life. Congrats on your adoption. So many kids in life grow up with no parents - or horrible parents and it’s great you have the extra love to give.
Hi Gail-
Is there a chance they will rerun the premiere episode? I completely forgot it about it and didn’t tape it until 8 p.m. when I realized it was on. Now I am lost.
PamE…I don’t know if CBS will re-air the episode, but you can watch it online at the CBS website. Here is the link: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/video/?pid=w1IyQNlrm_9CWJDi6oEd7Yoov5dgXJDJ&vs=Default&play=true