Created by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster

Presented by Phil Keoghan

Theme music composer John M. Keane
Composer(s) Mark Phillips
Erik Aho
Dan Beyer
Christopher Holden

Running time 42 minutes

Original channel CBS

Original run September 5, 2001 – present

Premise: An American multiple award-winning TV reality adventure game show; Select the team of two or four among the competitors to win $1 million grand prize.

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T he Amazing Race is exciting, although sometimes silly. In the show, teams of two or four challenge each other in a race across the world. Well, almost. They may not cover the entire world, but it sure seems that way, covering tens of thousands of miles. The best aspect of the show is the beauty and diversity of the locations the travelers must race through. These include exotic places like Thailand or Vietnam, which show how incredibly beautiful these locations are, as well as the more traditional well known destinations of many tourists, including Paris or Rome.

The teams are often odd matches, and sometimes well matched. Sometimes they are couples, which leads to some very interesting confrontations among mates when stress builds to the boiling point. There have been couples that have said they will end their relationship after this experience. There was a father and daughter. A midget and a taller woman (How do you describe a normal woman compared to a midget?). A pair of near model-quality twins. And the entertainment quality of the diverse set of characters makes the show a winner.

The races involve little twists. Like a roadblock, which can require a special activity the team must perform to continue the race; sort of like a Go To Jail card in Monopoly, but most often involving something not for the squeamish. One involved eating **Cow Lips in Madagascar, some with teeth and hair attached. Apparently, that is a delicacy in some parts of the world!! Well, some of the participants were puking trying to down a plateful of these beauties. All the while being watched by native folk that would probably kill for the meat they found so disgusting.

The race, however, is often questionable in its premise. The participants continually have to get plane tickets to somewhere and the plane does not depart until the next day.  This frequently reduces the team members to begging for the best reservations possible, which turns them all into whiny little babies or rude jerks. But the most questionable part of the race is everyone keeps on catching up to each other. Like the day begins and they all have to race through all these obstacles only to have to then, after hours of hard work, catch a plane to Paris. Inevitably, the plane does not leave until the next day, and by then, all the laggards catch up.  Because of this oddity, the teams that would obviously be the strongest and the winners keep on getting screwed. They work so hard to get ahead, but the game itself makes it impossible for it to not be a tie at some point.

That said, it is fun. The adrenalin does flow during the race and the challenges are indeed “Amazing”. So the “Amazing Race” comes up number 4 on our favorites.

**(Could you milk a camel?)