Amazing Race: week 1

I probably should have taped the show since I was kind of planning to blog on it, but the contestants are just a blur of stereotypes in the first few weeks anyway, so who cares what their names are.

The last series (well, the last one we Oss-ies got to see, anyway, since Channel 7 decided to skip the series where familes of four raced around North America) had:

• an old couple;
• a black couple;
• a pair of roller girls;
• a pair of college room mates who bore a spooky resemblance to each other;
• a pair of frat boys who oggled the roller girls and the Barbie twins;
• a mother with her annoying offspring;
• a suspected wife beater; and
• a gay couple.

This season we have:

• an old couple;
• a black couple;
• a pair of roller girls who bear a spooky resemblance to each other;
• a pair of frat boys who are oggling the roller girl Barbie twins;
• an annoying mother with her offspring;
• TWO suspected wife beaters; and
• two blokes who claim to be just good friends, but take five syllables to pronounce the word "hello".

We also have a pair of self-confessed nerds and some middle-aged Texan "Glamazons", none of whom are taking the show the least bit seriously. The absolute prize for that, though, goes to BJ and Tyler, a pair of crazy cool cats who both have long hair and have been nicknamed "hippies" by the couple they nicknamed "Ken and Barbie".

There's some pretty funny names, too. The rollergirls are named Danni and Danielle. Wife beater number 1 is named 'Lake'. He introduced himself to the male member of the token black team in the following exchange:

Lake: "Hi, my name's Lake, like the ocean."
Ray: "Hi, my name's Ray, like the sun."

We saw Lake in medical scrubs, so the chances are he's not a lawyer and won't sue me for calling him a wife beater. I'm not suggesting that he (or Ken from Ken'n'Barbie ) specifically hits his wife, but you can just tell that the woman don't get a whole lot of respect or freedom. Abuse takes myriad forms, and far be it for me to laugh at such a serious issue. It's just scary that Jonathan and Victoria created so much interest - and such high ratings - that the producers now feel the need to include two relationships with that kind of dynamic.

We also got a whole lot of other typical Amazing Race moments. Yet again the teams are starting out in South America, this time Sao Paolo, Brazil. We had the token old couple staggering around and walking straight past the clue box, FIVE times, then claiming it had been moved to that spot after they walked past! Best of all we had someone not reading the instructions properly. Lake (I really don't like him, in case you hadn't guessed) started out in the back seat with the clue while his wife drove. He tells her to pull over at a phone box, and makes her phone the airport to reserve tickets on the first plane. They get back in the car with him driving this time. She reads the clue for herself and points out that they're specifically prohibited from phoning ahead to reserve tickets. He admits that the fact they're now running dog last due to the illegal roadside stop "may by partially my fault". I wonder which part wasn't his fault, and to whom the responsibility for that part rightly falls...