The Amazing Race: Family Edition

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(Spoilers ahead)

Everyone has their guilty TV viewing pleasures and mine is The Amazing Race.

I don’t know what it is about this reality show, but really gets me involved. I get tense when there’s a close finish; I’ve even cried in sympathy when my favourite teams have been eliminated, or wept for winning teams I care about. I know the show’s manipulative, but, well, I just so enjoy letting myself be manipulated by it!

Plus there’s the travel aspect. The show has made me aware of a number of destinations and their tourist attractions that I never would have placed on my ‘Must Visit’ list before the show.


Anyway, The Amazing race: Family Edition (Season 8) ended last night in South Africa. This 4-person family spin on the award-winning month-long race around the globe was pretty entertaining. I did dip in and out of the series until the participant numbers dropped (there’s a helluva lot more noise with 4 member teams), but I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw. And after the scheming of Survivor’s Rob and Amber in Season 7, it was a pleasant change to see teams who weren’t (generally) out to gut their opponents.


In fact, I was pretty much fond of all the teams. I had no problems with the winning Lintz family (3 brothers and their sister), and 2nd placed Bransen family (a father and his 3 20-something daughters) were easy to identify with. With the Bransens I could see my sister and myself doing the race with my father, although I think our arguing would have been more of the Paulo family’s proportions.


Even the uber-religious Weavers, who seemed more hated by contestants than I thought they warranted - had their entertainment value. It’s not everyday you get to see someone run over by an Amish buggy.

Next season, which looks to be a return to the standard couples format, is currently on TV in the States and I’m being very careful to avoid any mention of it online in case I discover who is being eliminated. The teaser was attached to the Season 8 finale, and this time, finally, the teams go to my dream destination - Greece!

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In other news, I’m playing Titan Quest again solo, continuing with my necromancer-conjurer and her oh-so-powerful sidekick, Chad, the Litch King. I'll post some more screencaps soon.

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