More Amazing Race

Season 17 just ended. At the beginning of the season my husband and I thought all the young coupled teams were weak. There seemed to be drama and a total lack of partnership from the very beginning. We both thought this would be the season when a female team won. We were expecting the doctors (who would make a great couple) and the volleyball players to do well and had high hopes for the gay best friends who all seemed very fit. Of course the volleyball players were super cocky and went out early and the gay best friends went out the first episode. But the doctor's did win! They frustrated us by winning a leg and then almost losing the next leg but we loved them as a team and felt like they really cared about each other. And it was nice to see someone with diabetes living such an active life without them hitting you over the head with the diabetes story. We totally fell for the father daughter team of Gary and Mallory and the HSN hosts Brooke and Claire. They were much stronger than we expected and we'd love to see them on an all-star season.

Season 16 had our favorite team of all time: The Cowboys. They were great competitors. They had great personalities and didn't fall into any of the childish games that the other teams played. We also liked the cops, Louie and Michael, and loved to hate the lesbians Carol and Brandy. There is nothing more frustrating than the "alternative team" making a bad name for other people who live an alternative lifestyle. We were surprised by how well Brent and Caite did despite their stereotypical dumb model moments. It was painful to see Joe and Heidi kicked out early with a U-turn but he was an ass so I guess it was karma. They could definitely win if given another chance. We couldn't stand Dan and Jordan, the brothers and eventual winners. Why do so man 20-somethings act like they're still in high school?

Season 2 had our second favorite team of all time: The Miami Diva Gays aka Danny and Oswald. They had the best attitudes. They were hilarious. They kept their sense of humor, they maintained a great friendship and when time allowed they went shopping and got spa treatments along the race. I would love to hang out with them. We had high hopes for Shola and Doyin, the twins, and were hoping they would last longer. Cyndi and Russell, the married pastors, were a team we wanted to hate but they did have a great attitude and a really sweet marriage. It's always nice to see older people that can compete. The former roommates (Gary and Dave) and the separate couple (Tara and Wil) were annoying. We went in and out of liking the uber fit brother and sister team (Blake and Paige). The grandmothers were inspiring but we didn't have any hope for them. We were happy when Chris and Alex, the best friends won, but only because we liked them more than the other teams in the final three.

Season 3 is the last season that we watched before season 17. This season featured the most annoying competitor and worst winner ever. Based on this season all of the rules for future seasons should be set. One team member should not be allowed to complete most of the tasks. Zach and Flo won the race. Flo complete 1 road block. Zach did the other 9. Flo constantly quit the race and Zach often had to physically carry her because she was too lazy to try. I hope he took his half of the money and never spoke to her again. Terri and Ian, the older married couple, started as another couple with a bossy husband and submissive wife but during the season he seemed to realize how important she was and she started to assert herself more. We found ourselves rooting for them more and more as the race wore on and were happy to see them finish second. We liked the brothers, Ken and Gerard, from the beginning but feel like they would have gone further if they didn't get caught up in all the alliance drama. We were hoping than Team 911, Andre and Damon would do better. We also rooted for John Vito and Jill but they often got caught up in the high school b.s. with the other teams jealousy towards the wonder twins, Derek and Drew.

So we've watched 9 seasons of the Amazing Race in 14 months. Eight more past seasons to catch up on and an All-Star Season coming in February. It seems like in recent seasons CBS has skimped on the production of the show. There haven't been 2 hour specials. There haven't been fake pit stops that were actually just the half way point in the race. They have the footage and they definitely have the money. Why not give us a better show like you did in the earlier seasons? They need to stick with making sure each teammate does an equal number of roadblocks and stop equalizing the field at the beginning of every leg. There should be multiple flights. There shouldn't be one team sitting around for 12 hours before a place opens to let all the other teams catch up. I know they have to do it sometimes but if they do it every time it gets annoying.

Because the Deaf Kid Might Be a Jerk

My husband and I are currently watching season 14 of the Amazing Race (casttv.com and youtube are great if you missed prior seasons of some of your favorite shows). One of the featured teams is a deaf kid and his mom. Initially we were rooting hard for this team but we aren't liking them so much any more.

The mother totally smothers the kid (who's like 20 by the way) and refuses to accept that he might not be perfect. The kid is completely whiny and totally gossips on other teams. Well in the last episode (8 or 9 I think) the deaf kid pushed a female member of another team twice to try to get the clue before her. It was very clear the deaf kid started it and was being physical when it wasn't necessary. So of course when he is confronted him and his mom pull the deaf card.

All of the sudden they're bitching about how he's had to struggle his whole life with people making assumptions about him because he's deaf and they should be ashamed of themselves, etc. Last I checked, being deaf doesn't turn you into a saint. If this kid weren't deaf all the other teams would be calling him out for being physical when he didn't have to. But sadly I think its going to go the other way and the deaf kid will prevail.

My father was physically handicapped for my entire life. He was paralyzed, had slurred speech and was blind. There was nothing mentally wrong with him; he was one of the smartest people that I ever met. But my dad had a temper. His father was physically and emotionally abusive and a total drunk. Like a good Catholic, my dad never talked about this so he had a lot of pent up anger. My dad was an asshole sometimes. There is no doubt about it. And if he was acting like an asshole I hope someone told him that he was. I know my mom did. She wasn't disrespecting his disability. She was pointing out that he was being a jerk and rightly so.

It pisses me off that every time there is a "special" person I'm not supposed to expect anything from them. Isn't that worse? Aren't I supposed to treat them equally? So deaf people, blind people, people with kids, old people, people in wheelchairs, morbidly obese people and anyone else who thinks you get a free pass in life because it hasn't been all roses and sunshine in your life: watch out. I'm all about equal rights and if your an asshole I'm going to treat you like every other asshole out there.