TAR:10 - Double whammy

September 18, 2006 · Filed Under popmedia

Not only did the venerable realitytv staple Survivor kick off this past week, but we also got the start of another edition (the 10th) of The Amazing Race ( TAR:10 )!

TAR:10 promises to be quite interesting, as it is populated by the usual assortment of “diverse” elements & team types, including:

The Flamboyantly Gay Duo (Tom & Terry)
The Moms (Karlyn & Lyn)
The Fighters/Yellers(Kimberly & Rob)
The Parent & Child (Duke & Lauren)
The Sweethearts - Dating (Sarah & Peter)
The Sweethearts - Married (Vipul & Arti)
The Old(er) Marrieds (David & Mary)
The Brothers-in-Arms (Bilal & Sa’eed)
The Clowns (Erwin & Godwin)
The Hotties (Dustin & Kandice and Kellie & Jamie)
The Boy-Toys (James & Tyler)

There are some slightly different variations on the usual themes thrown in, what with Bilal & Sa’eed’s being Mohammedans, Karlyn & Lyn being single moms & having a little more “edge” to them than past Moms teams have had, Sarah & Peter dealing with Sarah’s artificial leg, Duke & Lauren’s conflict over Lauren’s lesbianism, and James & Tyler’s shared history of drug addiction. In the end, though, it’s a pretty standard mix of types for the “characters” that TAR has had over the seasons.

My initial impressions/thoughts on the teams are that:

I like Sarah & Peter as the team I want to win - they have a great backstory, seem to have a great attitude, and Sarah’s just a cutie. Their Ã¼ber-positivity might get a bit annoying, however…
David & Mary are sentimental favorites in a “real people/folks” kind of way. Their lack of pretension is quite endearing. And it was just the sweetest thing, when Mary related about meeting David, and how he was so cute, while she was just plain. Viewing one’s spouse through the eyes of love is a wonderful thing!
Tom & Terry couldn’t be any more stereotypically flaming gay if they tried — the cartoony nature of it makes them not quite as annoying as they might otherwise be…
Duke & Lauren could be sentimental favorites, as I really do feel for Duke; however, the parent-child teams never do all that great in the race…
The Hotties teams seem to be fairly likeable & not overly annoying thus far. Dustin (Miss California) is more appealing (looks & attitude) than Kandice (Miss New York), and Kellie (the blonde cheerleader) is more appealing (looks & attitude) than Jamie (brunette cheerleader)…
Kimberly & Rob are typical of the Fighters/Yellers teams, in that they seem to have some anger management issues, and they are really, really annoying in how they relate to each other…
Karlyn & Lyn annoy the crap out of me, and I hope they’re gone within the next few episodes…
James & Tyler are annoying only in that they are the latest incarnation of the “white boys with six-pack abs” who seem to so often dominate the race. I hope that this doesn’t hold true again this go-around…
Erwin & Godwin are pretty much non-entities at this point. If they hang around long enough, perhaps that will change; however, there doesn’t seem to be an overabundance of common sense between the two of them…
Vipul & Arti are sweet & seem like genuinely nice folks; however, after about 30 minutes of the show, I feared that that would not be enough to sustain them beyond a few legs in the race…
That leaves Bilal & Sa’eed. No sir, I didn’t like them. I wanted them out of the race & off of my TV, as soon as was humanly possible.

Phil promised twists & surprises in this edition of the race, and we didn’t have to wait long. For the first time that I can ever remember, we got a non-pit stop elimination, when the Mohammedans got eliminated at the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. Rock on. Now they can pray to their devil-god without having to worry about losing any time on the race. (and if you think me too intolerant, oh well - I just calls em like I sees em…)

Then, at the expected elimination location, Vipul & Arti (Team Karma) were sadly eliminated. Like I said earlier, they seemed like sweet people, so it was a bummer to see them go so early. That said, it wasn’t surprising, as they didn’t seem to have an overabundance of competitive fire, the likes of which is necessary to go far in this race.

It was very interesting to see that the race started by going to Asia, rather than to South America or Europe, as has been the pattern in the past. I was a bit surprised to see that China was so cooperative & open, but then I remembered that the Beijing Olympics are just around the corner, so it made sense. It’s too bad, in some ways, that the Team Karma was eliminated before the race got to India, as it would’ve been interesting to see if they would’ve had any type of “home court” advantage. The same is true, albeit to a lesser extent for me, wrt the Mohammedans & potential racing in the Middle East (although I’ve got to think that the producers would have to stay away from any/all war zones…).

After the (well-intentioned) missteps of the family edition of the race ( TAR:8 ) and its somewhat tepid successor ( TAR:9 ), I think that the franchise is back on solid ground. TAR:10 promises to be a very entertaining & worthwhile entry into the realitytv derby!

-ghp

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Tags: realitytv, theamazingrace