Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Thanks to Ace (kisses back at ya), who sent me the link to this article about The Amazing Race. There’s some good insider stuff - my favorites:

CBS has bumped Amazing Race 6, which starts in Chicago, until late October or November, when it will likely return on Tuesdays instead of a planned berth on low-rated Saturdays. [Good move, that. - ed.]

Compared with other, more stationary reality series, Race is a logistical nightmare. The travel budget alone for each season is $2 million, and it’s no surprise: Race 5, at 73,000 miles in 29 days the longest yet, started in Santa Monica, Calif., and so far has globe-trotted to Uruguay, Argentina, Russia, Egypt, Tanzania, India, New Zealand and the Philippines.

How do they pull it off? Here’s a peek behind the scenes:

[...]

Q: Have contestants ever refused a task?

A: No. But eating 2.2 pounds of Russian caviar “was very hard for a lot of people. They made it harder for themselves because they decided to pour water in it and eat it like Cap’n Crunch.”

[...]

Q: What does host Phil Keoghan do while contestants are racing?

A: He’s racing to the next pit stop, where he readies the mat that welcomes each team and conducts initial interviews. Unlike the teams - which must rely on clues - “we know where we’re going,” Keoghan says, “but that’s not to say we don’t get lost or get caught in traffic, either. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve been running up the mat from one direction and the team is running up from the other direction.”

On rare occasions, the first-place team departs for the next leg, after a mandatory 12-hour rest period, before the last-place team arrives. Keoghan once spent 14 hours in choppy waters on a Hong Kong junk waiting for a team. Once in a while, a last-place team (Mary and Peach in Race 2, for example) is fetched if all the others have checked in.

I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that Phil and his crew have a real challenge not encountering the teams in the airports. They really don’t want to interfere with the Race, so while they are often travelling at the same time and through the same airports, Phil and crew have to hide if they spot Racers. Crazy.

Finale - 9pm ET tonight on CBS. Woo!