Archive > The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race ON Line Articles
puddin:
And they're off ...
November 15, 2004
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL TELEVISION CRITIC Advertisement
Chicago all but glistens as its gray skies melt into a postcard palette of blues. An ominous, unseasonably cool and blustery mid-summer morning in Grant Park has been transformed for prime time -- in the nick of time.
"Absolutely just one of those stunning Chicago days," marvels Phil Keoghan, host of CBS' "The Amazing Race," which makes its sixth-season debut Tuesday night at 8 on WBBM-Channel 2, but actually launched its serpentine 29-day, 75,000-mile round-the-world rally from Buckingham Fountain on Aug. 13.
Off-duty police officers on security detail have sealed off the fountain's perimeter. A helicopter hovers nearby. For theatrical effect, the 11 competing couples have been brought in across Lake Michigan aboard high-speed boats. Their backpacks are carefully arranged in a row a sprint away from the "Race" starting line.
A two-person camera and sound crew assigned to each team awaits just behind the corresponding knapsacks. Other cameras, including one suspended from a boom, are discreetly off to the side, where a handful of other personnel watch.
Within moments, almost everyone will be scurrying on their way to Iceland, the first stop for the first leg of this season's race.
The winning team, which will collect a $1 million prize, will spend the next few weeks not only trying to beat the others -- overcoming various travel obstacles as well as physical and mental challenges and stunts -- but also resisting bickering among themselves.
The people behind the scenes, meanwhile, must do nearly everything the contestants do but often running backwards and looking through a viewfinder. The phrase "logistical nightmare" comes up a lot in conversations.
"The teams, they're like sprinters," Keoghan said. "They run. They rest. They run. They rest. We just run. If they're running 400-meter races every leg, we're running a marathon."
"Even when they're resting ... we are working ahead, setting up for the next show, anticipating new schedule changes. The people that make this show are truly extraordinary at what they do."
The results are just as extraordinary. "The Amazing Race" has grown in popularity at a time when reality TV is in recession, in part because it's a reality series even those who say they hate the genre can embrace.
Not for nothing has it won two straight Emmy Awards. It's packed with drama that plays out against a backdrop of international locales. Each episode is a video coffee-table book of gorgeous scenery in exotic, faraway places.
"Race" is not just the road less traveled. It is the road almost never traveled, though series co-creator/executive producer Bertram van Munster, a Dutch producer, says his lifetime of far-flung sightseeing has helped shape the show's globetrotting.
"I sit in the car, some broken piece of [garbage] car," van Munster said. "I drive around and say: 'Wait. Stop. Back up. This is really cool.' That's how we got Calcutta [in season five], with the [car] engines hanging in the trees like fruits. That's the kind of wacky stuff we get organically.
"A lot of people have tried to do [this] type of show, but it's kind of lukewarm because -- without being arrogant about it -- there's not enough knowledge to put things together like that."
Most of the planet is open to a "Race" stop, with a few easy-to-guess exceptions. "Obviously we're not going into Iraq or Afghanistan and places like that," said van Munster, who has contingency plans for evacuating teams in an emergency. "Ninety-nine percent of the world is perfectly safe."
Boston originally was to be the starting point for season six, but van Munster and his producers realized it would be better to take a less direct path to Iceland.
Once the 11 teams hustle from Chicago's lakefront to O'Hare on the Blue Line, there are three possible flights out of town and, as always, each plane has a limited number of available seats.
"I love Chicago," said Keoghan, a New Zealander by birth. "It's probably the most telegenic city in America. It has all the qualities that you want in a big city. It's got a great skyline. It's got a great lakefront. The streets and everything have a little bit of history.
"Sometimes you get places where the weather isn't great and where the city might not be showing off in a way that the locals would like to see it shown off. ... [Chicago] is just one of those cities where, no matter where you put the camera, it's going to look good."
Most places look good on "Race," though. The only reality show to compare in terms of polish and shine is CBS' "Survivor," which has the considerable advantage of taking place in one location and shooting over more time.
"[They] don't have to factor in pieces of equipment going missing on flights, customs holding pieces of equipment," Keoghan said. "We're constantly having to make compromises and adjustments to the way ['Race'] is shot.
"Things don't work and you can't get replacements in time. ... Throw in weather, mechanical problems with planes, schedule changes, delays, all of those things, it becomes a huge logistical nightmare because our playing field is global."
"Race" crew members tell harrowing stories of nearly failing to capture critical situations because of travel delays and other snafus. "We literally have had occasions where I have been running up one side of the mat [marking the end of a leg of the race] while the first-place team is running up from the other direction," Keoghan said.
"I will not allow myself to be intimidated by logistics," van Munster said. "Of course, I have a whole army of people that are always kind of scared. But I say: 'No, you can actually do this. You can go from here to here to here [in time], and how do I know? Because I have done it 50 times.'
"I have meetings with my producers [to arrange] where every camera goes for weeks on end. We know how to catch [players] at the right moment, and we have extremely talented cinematographers that catch these moments in real time."
(Interestingly enough, while the start of "Race" went off without a hitch in Chicago, CBS News' Harry Smith and Dave Price required a second take when kicking off their version of the first leg for a feature about the series set to air Tuesday on "The Early Show." While it's not clear this will be included in their report, they shot a retake of their sprint from the starting line to their bags and feigned surprise they were headed to Iceland.)
While locations usually look good, competitors often don't. As in most reality shows, the blend of participants is vital to "Race." There inevitably are teams to root for and teams to root against. Each pair has some prior existing relationship, be they best friends, parent and child, lovers, former lovers, high school pals, siblings, married couples, long-distance daters or engaged to be married.
Within the teams, there also tend to be twists and some are more obvious than others.
A husband and wife this time, for example, happen to be pro wrestlers. One engaged couple is made up of two models. Two sisters are Mormon, with one traditionally conservative and the other hyped as a wee bit wilder.
Less promoted is the fact a pair of dating actors includes a woman who participated in last winter's pay-per-view Lingerie Bowl football game. And while one pair is billed simply as "married entrepreneurs," it turns out the hothead hubby is wed to Playboy's Miss January 1996.
"The cool thing about the show is it just seems to be getting better," said Keoghan, who has a new book and new cable show, both called "No Opportunity Wasted," encouraging people to set life goals and break out of their comfort zones a la "Race."
"We're getting better at making ['Race'] ... and choosing people that we know are going to deliver material. It's the first time I've worked on a show that's grown in popularity every season. ... This thing seems to be getting stronger and stronger."
One great handicap to "Race" initially building an audience was that it made its debut in September 2001 less than a week before the attacks of 9/11 cast a pall on a show about Americans abroad.
The series has always been a critical favorite, however, and CBS chiefs Leslie Moonves and Nancy Tellem didn't waver in their support even when its ratings hardly ensured renewal.
Fortunately, a 2003 Emmy win over "Survivor" and "American Idol" proved an eye-opener to viewers, helping last summer's edition become a breakout hit.
"People suddenly found the show that had been there for a while but that maybe hadn't gotten the attention," Keoghan said. "It just exploded this summer and suddenly it became water-cooler talk. Now there's an expectation, particularly with the second Emmy award [in September]."
Those expectations are such that CBS already has ordered a seventh "Race," so things already were brightening for the show before the clouds broke right on cue three months ago in Grant Park.
"You guys have a phenomenally beautiful city," van Munster said. "It is extraordinary. When the wind is dying down, I love it."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-phil15.html
puddin:
Saydel grad embarks on TV's 'Race'
By JEFFREY BRUNER
REGISTER TELEVISION CRITIC
November 15, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On TV
The sixth season of "The Amazing Race" debuts at 8 p.m. Tuesday on CBS.
If you're a reality TV fan and wondered who to root for now that Des Moines resident Rory Freeman is off "Survivor," you're in luck. An Iowa native is part of another CBS hit show that starts Tuesday.
Kris Perkins, a 30-year-old who graduated from Saydel High School in 1992 and now lives in Long Beach, Calif., will compete on "The Amazing Race."
Perkins is a former go-go dancer and is working as a cocktail waitress and studying at UCLA. Her boyfriend, described by CBS only as Jon, is a bartender at a nightclub in Scottsdale, Ariz.
She figures if she and her boyfriend can make it to the end of the race, maybe they can make it to the altar.
Now in its sixth season, "The Amazing Race" sends 11 teams around the world racing to various destinations, performing various tasks along the way that reflect the local culture. At the end of most of the episodes, the last pair to arrive gets the boot. The last episode finds the three remaining teams sprinting to the finish line and a $1 million prize.
The other teams competing against Perkins and her boyfriend include a pair of married professional wrestlers, actors, models and a few normal people.
"They're an interesting team in that they are very, very compatible," Phil Keoghan, host of the program, said of Kris and Jon. "It's hard to believe they have only been together a few months."
Like "Survivor," CBS keeps the contestants on "The Amazing Race" away from the media in order to avoid spoiling the outcome. The CBS Web site does say: "Kris and Jon are hoping that doing the race together will show them if their relationship can work on a 24/7 basis, and if they should put an end to the long-distance part of their relationship."
If Perkins has one advantage to give her a leg up in the race, it's that she's studying geography in college. That might help her realize when they're in Bora Bora as opposed to, say, Argentina.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041115/ENT05/411150312/1046/ENT
puddin:
Ellen Gray | 'Amazing' creator writes a list for life
THE AMAZING RACE. 9 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 3.
PHIL KEOGHAN is not really interested in talking about the number of posers on the latest edition of CBS' "The Amazing Race," but I can tell you that six of the 22 contestants this time around list "model" as one of their descriptive characteristics.
Not only is that slightly out of proportion to the population, but it's one model for every round of the Emmy-winning "Race," which this summer finally shed its cult-hit status as the "reality" show for people who don't like "reality" shows and became a genuine hit.
And before I saw tomorrow's two-hour season premiere, I'll admit I was worried CBS might be trying to pretty it up for its new fans.
But bundled up in parkas to go camping atop a glacier in Iceland, the models don't stand out nearly as much as the married pro wrestlers do.
"If you actually look at these people who've called themselves models...it's a pretty ambiguous word," Keoghan, who hosts the show, reassured me last week.
Indeed, in most cases it's combined with actor or artist - or pilot! - suggesting that "model" has replaced "bartender" as shorthand for "flexibly enough employed to take time off for a race around the world."
Whatever.
Keoghan may be TV's most self-effacing "reality" host - you'd never know from watching "Race" that he's the one conducting most of the contestant interviews that pepper the show - but he's not going to get drawn into a discussion of whether the contestants are getting prettier. Not when he has a book to promote.
"We really do get people [on 'Race'] who see this as an opportunity of a lifetime," he said, adding, "This book that I have is about this, about people being pushed a little bit...It's only by experiencing a bit of discomfort that you can appreciate the true value of comfort."
"No Opportunity Wasted: Creating a List for Life" was, like Keoghan's cable show "No Opportunity Wasted" (8 p.m. Thursdays, Discovery), inspired by a near-death experience Keoghan had while diving in a shipwreck at age 19.
"I thought, 'I'm done,' " and got "really angry," he recalled, adding, "Obviously, I got out."
But "I was so charged" afterward, that "I sat down and wrote this list of things to do before I die. That list really became a life contract for me," said Keoghan, who sees both "The Amazing Race" and his book as offering others the opportunity to share the kind of adventures he's sought out for himself.
"I do get a kick out of seeing them have this once in a lifetime experience," he said.
Even the models.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/10184527.htm?1c
puddin:
Harry And Dave Go 'Amazing'
WHO KNOWS WHERE? Nov. 16, 2004
Harry, Dave In 'Amazing Race'
(CBS) Tonight on CBS: The premiere of "The Amazing Race." Two of the show's biggest fans are The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith and weatherman Dave Price -- so much, in fact, that, this time out, the producers actually allowed them to run the first leg of the race. This week, they'll show you how they did. And, warns Dave, it's not always pretty.
"Now we should make it clear," says Harry, "we were racing against ourselves and not the other 11 teams. And, of course, we were never eligible for the million-dollar price. But it was still an experience (that was) nothing short of amazing."
Here is their chronicle:
Harry: "Tomorrow: the big start. And I found out that traveling with Dave was definitely not what I expected."
Two contestants, one goal: To run a leg of "The Amazing Race." Harry Smith: outdoorsman and veteran mountain climber. Dave Price: indoorsman and social climber.
Harry was born with the right stuff: Dave had to buy it all.
Shopping at the Paragon Sporting Goods Store, Dave had a odd encounter with a salesperson:
Dave: "I need some stuff. I'm going away."
Salesperson: "Where?"
Dave: "I don't know."
Salesperson: "What will you be doing?"
Dave: "I don't know."
Salesperson: "Do you know what the weather is going to be like?"
Dave: "In general, I do. In this case, I don't."
Because team members must called everything all the time, they're advised to pack light. In the airport, Dave came to an unhappy realization:
Dave: "I got 80 pounds of stuff on my back."
Harry: "Well, then, you'll have to schlep that, I'm nice and light." (Eying Dave's backpack) "Is your mother in there?"
Dave: "No. She doesn't fly coach."
Team Early Show reported to the start city and the hotel that was the pre-race headquarters. To avoid being recognized, Harry and Dave tried to keep a low profile, wearing glasses, false noses and mustaches.
Producer Evan Weinstein gave them a quick briefing on the rules, and it was time to see if they could bond as a team.
Harry: "I knew this was a bad idea."
Dave: "I asked if I could do it with Cronkite."
Harry: "(Dan) Rather. Bob Simon."
Dave: "That would have been fine."
Harry: "Mike Wallace was arrested."
Dave: "So he couldn't make it."
Like all contestants, Harry and Dave were searched for phones, maps, cash, credit cards -- anything that might give them a leg up.
Fully briefed and thoroughly searched, team Early Show was confined to a single room, a ritual known as "lockdown," on the eve of their own "Amazing Race."
You can watch the other teams compete tonight (Nov. 16) on a special two-hour premiere of "The Amazing Race" at 9 p.m./ 8 p.m. Central
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/16/earlyshow/series/amazingrace/main655925.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories
puddin:
Laughter. Route markers. Noisy fights in airports. A snowmobile race across the world's largest glacier. That's right, TV's best reality show is back for another action-packed season! Tonight's premiere of The Amazing Race (9 pm/ET on CBS) finds 11 new daring duos racing from downtown Chicago to Iceland's famous Blue Lagoon, with lots of difficult — but hugely entertaining — challenges along the way. Here, TAR host and published author Phil Keoghan (whose book No Opportunity Wasted is out now) shares his thoughts about the show's eagerly anticipated sixth season.
TV Guide Online: This is the first time Amazing Race has gone to Iceland, right? It's a great location for the premiere.
Phil Keoghan: Yeah, we always try to do something that captures people's imaginations, and it's a challenge because you've got to outdo yourself every time. But this season has a great start to it.
TVGO: Any other big "firsts" planned?
Keoghan: There's a slight alteration to one of the rules, which has quite a dramatic impact. I'm not going to tell you what it is because it's nicely revealed in the series, but we've been looking at different ways to tweak the show and make it more challenging. People study this show; they really understand every intricate detail of it. There's one guy this season, Jonathan, who is a huge race fan and knows everything about the show.
TVGO: Tell us more about Jonathan. Based on the first episode, he's shaping up to be this season's Colin.
Keoghan: I think he is, without a doubt, the loudest contestant we've ever had on the show. It will be interesting to see how the fans respond to that. We definitely had people getting upset with him. It seems like the race gets more intense every single time. We're at that point where there's less and less of a honeymoon period. Now it's really about just getting straight into it.
TVGO: Who else should we keep an eye on?
Keoghan: There are these pro wrestlers [Bolo and Lori] who are larger than life. We have a lot of couples this season as well. One couple [Kris and Jon] has been dating long-distance and this is the longest period they will have been together. We have this interesting couple Adam and Rebecca where she thought he was gay but he actually liked her. They've gotten together now, and you have to question whether they should be together. There's also Avi and Joe who are from Brooklyn...
TVGO: Those are my guys. This New Yawker's gotta support his borough!
Keoghan: Yeah, they're funny. They're just outright funny guys. The sisters, Lena and Kristy, are polar opposites. One of them is really out there and the other one is really not out there at all. It's kind of interesting to see them [interact].
TVGO: Going into every season, can you tell which cast members will be the most popular with viewers?
Keoghan: No, you never know who is going to pay off for the audience. And when we're out there, we never know which teams are actually going to do well because it's completely unpredictable. Case in point was Charla and Mirna. Nobody thought they would go as far as they did, but they did. And who thought they would capture people's imaginations as much as they did? We actually thought that Alison and Donny were going to capture people's imaginations, but they didn't stay in it as long. We also didn't think that Colin and Christie would be as big as they were. And when I say "we," I guess I really should say "I" because I don't want people saying, "Well, we knew!" I can't speak for anybody else, but I can tell you honestly that I never know who is going to win the race. I am never able to predict all the teams at the end. I've been lucky with a couple of guesses, but I haven't worked out any science to it.
TVGO: Last season scored big ratings and brought the show renewed media attention. Does that make you more confident going into this race?
Keoghan: I've never worked on a show where it has actually gotten bigger season by season. If you work on a show that's big, it often comes out of the gate big or takes a little while to build up speed. But this show has progressively gotten stronger and stronger and then, last season, it just exploded. And now we're in this great situation: We have two Emmys, Season 5 was big and we've got a great time slot for Season 6. You never want to anticipate [success] because you just never know, but I'd be lying if I said we didn't think we had the opportunity to take the show to another level again.
TVGO: Finally, have you got anything to say to Donald Trump, who dissed TAR after it beat The Apprentice at the Emmys?
Keoghan: Yeah, I heard that he wasn't happy. You know, I didn't say this, but somebody said I should tell him: "I'm sorry to tell you, you've been eliminated." I guess he was eliminated before he was able to fire us. But that's just what somebody suggested I say. I don't want The Donald coming after me with his heavies. (Laughs)
http://www.tvguide.com/news/insider/041116c.asp
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version