The Amazing Race 6



We’re three episodes into The Amazing Race’s sixth incarnation (Tuesdays at 9 on CBS) and I’m wondering if the producers looked at the excellent fifth season and decided that the show suffered from too much love and harmony. Through either casting or editing, this race appears to have many more obviously dysfunctional couples than the previous two. Heck, if TV has taught us one thing it’s that all elderly couples are loving and kind, but the obligatory-soon-to-be-eliminated grandparents on The Amazing Race are sniping at each other like kids and even tried to cheat at one point.



Of the warring couples, the loudest is Lori and Bolo, two professional wrestlers from Florida. In the pre-start interviews were bragging about how they were physically and mentally fitter than anyone else like to be in the race,  but in reality neither of them are very smart and Bolo seems to have the washed-up wrestler physique – he’s really big, but he’s done so much damage to his body that his joints are fragile. Lori spends the entire time on camera yelling at Bolo to hurry up.



The most disturbing couple is “married entrepreneurs” Jonathan and Victoria. It’s kind of unfair to lump Victoria in with Jonathan. She appears nice enough, but Jonathan is an abusive, shallow moron. He plays it off as being “competitive” and “intense” but after watching him for three hours I just want him off my TV. Most of the time he appears to be barely containing his urges to be physically abusive. Sometimes you look at a relationship like this and wonder how they possibly could have gotten together in the first place, but in this case I can imagine the scenario easily. Jonathan equates success with having stuff other people want, and Victoria qualifies because she’s a former Playboy Playmate. I’d guess Victoria mistook his monomaniacal persistence as something deeper. The whole situation is so disturbing I’m considering not watching the show again until I know they’re off. I also hate to advocate the break-up of a marriage, but I think Victoria would be better off with just about any person (or largish primate) you care to name.

I hope that the horrible couples getting all this screen time means that none of them will be around long. We definitely haven’t seen much at all of the teams that have been finishing first, which probably means they will be around long enough for us to get to know them later.

Posted: Thu - December 2, 2004 at      

©