Amazing Race is on now!
 

Just a reminder for the rest of you, as I just missed the opening!!!

Hasn't started in California yet. Please don't forget that not everyone is on Eastern time.

This has got to be the saddest casting yet on Amazing Race.

It's way too White, way too straight, and way to dysfunctional.

Part of the pleasure of watching the show is to see the average Joes and Janes trek around the globe. Instead everyone is way to argumentative right off the bat.

It was interesting to see Iceland though.

Whew, "dysfunctional" doesn't even BEGIN to describe some of these couples! I don't know them by name yet, but crazy entrepreneurial guy who screams all the time has got to be one of the most annoying humans on the planet.

I ended up falling asleep while the contestants were going to the glacier so don't know what happened--were the NY girls last?

And dysfunctional...Marilyn, I agree w/you! Colin and Christie look like they have their act together compared to that entreprenureial (sp?) couple! Egads! If anyone ever spoke to me like that guy speaks to his wife...

Whooo boy - good thing you fell asleep. Wait until you get a load of the professional wrestlers!
Too bad... does seem a disappointing start.
And does anyone know which guy pointed the girls off in the wrong direction?
Hey, contestants, your objective at this point is just not to be last. Why start making enemies so soon?
Was NOT enjoyable to watch...

Dreamer2: I have to agree with you. Disappointing start. I think the only normal couple was the older couple. All the others have issues. Goodness.
OWJ: The 2 guys, best friends from Queens I think, were eliminated.

I agree it seems more like a circus than a race. You can almost imagine the meeting among the producers when they chose these people: "ah, yes, these two will be better than Colin and Christie, and we gotta have those wrestlers! Real television there!" The apologizing that some of the women do is painful to watch, esp. the one whose partner told her told not to use diesel in the car and later (when they were siphoning the gas out) said, "it was my fault, it was my fault, I'm sorry." The older ones are more pitiful, and all the "come on, come on, you're doing great, you're doing great" is beginning to wear on my nerves.

I still was fascinated to see Iceland, but it's beginning to remind me of endless Sunday afternoon drives to the country when my parents would fight about having gotten lost.

I agree this season isn't off to a great start. Like Cassandra, I think the producers were thinking that since Colin & Christie generated so much buzz last season, they would try to find similar couples. After reading the couples' bios on the CBS website, I had wanted the Brooklyn friends to win, but now that they have been eliminated I'll have to pick a new favorite.

I think that with the couple that accidently put diesel in their tank, it actually was the woman's fault. Her boyfriend (or husband?) asked her if the SUV needed diesel. She said that she didn't think so. Then she opened the gas tank cover, which was clearly labeled DIESEL. I'm sure it was an accident that happened because she was anxious, but if he hadn't asked the station attendant about it they would have been in a worse situation because they wouldn't have known until they were on the road and the car broke down.

Wasn't Iceland beautiful? I don't know many people who have actually been there, but those who have have only had good things to say about their trip.

Marilyn, the entrepreneurial guy was, well, ........ the kind I'd like to strangle! :-d And the wrestling husband would be in GREAT pain, when I stopped the car and got hold of him, had I been his wife......... I was sorry for the two guys who had to go home, two of the nicest!!! Iceland is very beautiful, and climbing that icy slope seemed to be a lot easier than I'd have thought (I still have a lot of exercising to do before I go on that show! ;;) )

Did anybody else get tired of hearing the word "awesome?" X(

Anyone else notice the physical challenge has been ramped up this season? Seems many of the contestants are in peak physical shape, much more so than last year. Too bad - this makes it more a clone of Survivor, Fear Factor, etc. What I liked about Amazing Race last season was the fact that the challenge was more about planning and communicating, but now it seems the ordinary "chubbies" won't have a chance. The bowling moms would never make it this season...I too fell asleep!

AR has always been third rate entertainment. Sorry, kids, looks like it's now worse than ever, so bad even the stalwarts are waking up as they fall alseep.

i think alot of the criticisms here about the show are a commentary on what the producers have done to try and make the show successful.

Yes, it's won a couple of emmys and I personally LOVE the show.

However, CBS has dragged its feet on renewing the show after nearly every seaon (even after they won their first emmy, they hadn't had a new contract yet!), and I'm afraid the dysfunctionality coupled with the sexuality is a byproduct of that.

Dressforsuccess, I'm am glad you like AR enough to keep watching! I find so few TV shows good enough to watch more than once.

I didn't start watching the last Race until a few weeks in, so I missed the beginning. It sure is hard trying to follow so many teams.

Based on just the one episode, my favorite team is "Dating Models" Freddy & Kendra. They seemd to be having fun and get along better than most couples. They were about the only ones that I would care to do anything with.

"Engaged Actors" Hayden & Aaron were also more interesting than most, but necessarily folks I would want to hang out with.

Keith

Iceland was so beautiful. I would have loved the snowmobile ride.

Well, if the swearing wrestlers can find their way...and the entreprenuers can keep from murdering each other, then I predict both teams will stay until near the end of the race. Both teams are nuts.

I haven't picked my favorite team yet. Has anyone else selected a favorite?

Wow, Keith, congrats on the "close read" of the day award, lol.

I'm sorry dressforexpress.

When you said "Sorry, kids, looks like it's now worse than ever," I assumed that you had seen the show, not that you were giving an opinion based on on 2 or 3 strangers' coments.

Oh well! At least you liked the shows you did see (if you ever did see it), that you find the subject worth following here.

Keith

Misspelling your handle was not intentional.

Keith

Keith, dressisamess is blacktie/sobetraveller/leone/etc etc etc. He literally registers and un-registers every day, always with a new handle. Sometimes, like today, he's already unregistered - before noon! I'm sure he doesn't mind. He likes the attention.

Who were the couple that got eliminated? I fell asleep last night and missed it.

Who was that annoying idiot in the yellow jacket?

I missed the entire espisode! Due to heavy rains and flooding The Amazing Race was pre-empted by news. I am so bummed :-( :-( :-( :-(

I was disappointed too. There are too many really weird people. I think I like the first three team to finish last night, but who knows? Is anyone else sick of them all calling each other "baby"? Don't any of them have names? Jonathan is nuts and I think the wrestler woman is worse than the guy. The woman who put the wrong gas in the car was right to apologise. The only question is how she managed to get on the show.

The 2 high school buddies were eliminated.
The idiot in the yellow jacket was the entre-manure.

iceeu2, that took me a minute, it's still early here! LOL!

iceeu2, as a former entrepreneur, I resemble that remark! Actually, I want to know what they sell, because I want to make sure I never buy it.

I told DH that if he was going to maintain his hipness quotient he was obviously going to have to start calling me "baby" all the time.

Do you think the category of "model" is perhaps a bit overrepresented? I guess they want to make sure there is remaining eye candy when teams are eliminated.

Since DressForSuccess (aka AMillionOtherNames) despises this show, why does he keep posting on threads about it? Better yet, why does he watch it? Or if he doesn't watch it, why would he read and post on a thread about it? Oh, it's just too much for my poor little head...

Bottom line: 2 hours is too much of a good thing. And yes, they certainly do seem to have taken the casting into the realm of the bizarre this time!

I think there are too many similar type couples. I wish there was more diversity too. Right now there are so many couples to keep track of I have to refer to pictures to keep them straight. I think it was Aaron who mis-directed the girls though Hayden didn't seem too happy with him doing that. They were far ahead and eventuallly came in first so it was pretty rotten to do so early in the game. Positive spin could be that the girls learn early not to follow but to find the places on their own. Trusting the competition is not a good strategerie.

My personal faves are the long distance dating couple Jon & Kris. They were nice to each other the whole time. I think they came in 2nd.

I thought Iceland was fantastic. Loved the waterfalls, glaciers and the blue lagoon. Stunning!

For those of you who missed the opening episode last night, it looks like they will be replaying it on Saturday night. (I thought I posted this earlier, but somehow it didn't appear.)

Susan

Thank you, bellairegirl! You've made me very happy :-)

oh, lets do have a fodors nebbish team on AR. I see one posting today. Probably gets no attention at all, the poor thing. Give her the 15 minutes, lol. She needs it!

I think 2 hours was too long for this show. It seemed like they didn't do anymore than in the 1-hour show but they showed much more of the bickering and boring stuff. I mean they were heading for pitstop and there was still over half an hour left in the show. What to do? Fill it with all the boring details that would normally get edited out on a 1-hour show. I think it will get more interesting when we get back to the 1-hour format and get rid of a few more teams. I kind of like the father-daughter team but then that's one that's close to my heart. I don't know them well enough yet to say I'd like them to win though. I thought the diesel fuel was the guy's fault because she asked him if the vehicle took diesel and he said he didn't think so. Then the camera cut to a sign on the dashboard that said DIESEL.

How could the diesel thing possibly be the guy's fault? He said he didn't know..and she didn't check, didn't look at the very clear sign that said "diesel" in big red letters. The guy's fault?? This is the kind of thing that gets women a bad name!

What I saw looked like the sign with the big red letters was on the dashboard inside the car, where the guy was. The girl was outside the car at the time.

I just watched the show (dvr'd it) and I'm almost positive it said Diesel on the inside of the little door you open to get to the gas cap. I agree it was the girl's fault (I think she seemed to realize it was her fault).

I wasn't crazy about the father in the father daughter team - I didn't like the way he spoke to her a couple of times. Not sure of my favorites yet, though the older couple is great and I'd love to see them go far. It didn't seem that long to me, but probably because I was fast forwarding through all of the commercials!!

The diesel fuel thing should have been enough to knock them out of the race. It really would have, if they had started the engine.

I kind of wondered if the film crew gave a hint that they covered by having the guy from the service station come out.

The two girls going an hour & a half past the waterfall should have been a round loser as well. But it was nice the way the other teams greeted them when they finally got to camp.

I will not miss the two guys that lost. They would have been out in another round or two, regardless.

I liked the way so many of the teams were impressed with the places they were going.

Keith

joan...add Sippy to your list :)

Since diesel ignites at a higher temperature than gas, that means that gas in a diesel engine would still combust, right? It probably wouldn't be the most efficient engine anymore, and would run hotter than normal, but as long as it didn't get hot enough to start melting things, the car should still run, shouldn't it?

If you put diesel in a gas engine though, nothing would happen because the heat from the spark plugs wouldn't be high enough to ignite the diesel. The car just wouldn't run.

I think this is right - someone correct me if I am wrong.

Wasn't there a team on a previous season that did the same thing - and their jeep/car ended up breaking down?

If you ran diesel in a gasoline engine it would probably run bad (it might not run at all), but wouldn't do damage.

Gasoline in a diesel engine may run (depends on the specific engine), but does major damage. Diesel fuel contains lubricants with lube the injectors. Gasoline is a solvent.

Keith

Where do you apply for this show?

Since Mr. GoTravel has retired he needs a project. This would be perfect. We both love to travel and it would force him to stop shopping.

GIVE ME BACK THE COSTCO CARD!!!

About the diesel-gas thing: I reviewed my DVR of the show and found 1) that she did ask the guy if they needed diesel and he did say "I don't think so," but then 2) the word DIESEL was indeed quite visible on the door over the fuel intake. She had to be seriously distracted not to see it, tho' I still think taking 100% blame for the mistake wasn't warranted.

Otherwise, I've discovered one way to get through some of the silliness is to watch what the photogs are doing and try to imagine the behind-the-scenes stuff. Some of the contestants are far more camera-aware than others (stupid wrestlers!), and I have to wonder what the camera people went through with the ice climb. Fun to contemplate.