Surviving The Amazing Race
How is it that a pair of contestants who were so unlikable on one reality show have become an indispensable part of another? Naturally I'm writing about Rob and Amber, whose domination of a previous season of Survivor seemed like a cheat -- Rob was such a weasel, and Amber a parasite who didn't even have the class to attach herself to a higher order of animal than a weasel. In the end, however, the weasel and parasite did end up winning a million bucks. It's difficult to argue with success, but it's easy to feel bitter about it.
On The Amazing Race, however, the team we loved to hate became the team we love to watch -- mostly because the way they connive and scheme their way to the front of the pack with honest street smarts, brilliant psychological tactics, and old-fashioned hustle. The fact that this twosome is despised by most of the other teams adds to their underdog appeal, but the real secret to their popularity in our TV-viewing household is their relentlessly positive attitude. Rob and Amber may talk a little trash and show a bit of arrogance from time to time, but (like the under-appreciated Kris & Jon in the previous season of Amazing Race) they never bicker and rarely betray pessimistic feelings. How can you not like people who grin like giddy cheerleaders at their mere inclusion in a competition, even as they bribe bus drivers to delay other contestants?
There is some bizarre TV stereotype fulfillment going on in the fact that Rob and Amber's most bitter rivals are Alex and Lynn, this season's token gay couple. The way they overuse the word "bitch" (or worse, "biatch") and say catty things about other contestants, it's clear that these gents don't want to make your gaydar go "ping." They want to grab that bell and shake the clapper loose. In any other season Alex & Lynn might have been front-runners in my picks for contestants I wanted to see win, but their outright hatred for the former Survivor contestants -- apparently for no other reason than that they've already had their fifteen minutes of fame on another show -- has cast them in a light uglier than any bad hair day.
On The Amazing Race, however, the team we loved to hate became the team we love to watch -- mostly because the way they connive and scheme their way to the front of the pack with honest street smarts, brilliant psychological tactics, and old-fashioned hustle. The fact that this twosome is despised by most of the other teams adds to their underdog appeal, but the real secret to their popularity in our TV-viewing household is their relentlessly positive attitude. Rob and Amber may talk a little trash and show a bit of arrogance from time to time, but (like the under-appreciated Kris & Jon in the previous season of Amazing Race) they never bicker and rarely betray pessimistic feelings. How can you not like people who grin like giddy cheerleaders at their mere inclusion in a competition, even as they bribe bus drivers to delay other contestants?
There is some bizarre TV stereotype fulfillment going on in the fact that Rob and Amber's most bitter rivals are Alex and Lynn, this season's token gay couple. The way they overuse the word "bitch" (or worse, "biatch") and say catty things about other contestants, it's clear that these gents don't want to make your gaydar go "ping." They want to grab that bell and shake the clapper loose. In any other season Alex & Lynn might have been front-runners in my picks for contestants I wanted to see win, but their outright hatred for the former Survivor contestants -- apparently for no other reason than that they've already had their fifteen minutes of fame on another show -- has cast them in a light uglier than any bad hair day.
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