Real Relationships in Fantasyland

If you haven't heard of The Amazing Race, you are in for a treat.

Couples of all sorts of relation race around the world, covering in the neighborhood of 30,000 miles in about 3 or so weeks. Five continents. 11 teams of couples. $1 million prize.

It is the present day Canon Ball Run, just without the mustache of Burt Reynolds, the heft of Dom DeLuise, and those two hot chicks in the Lamborghini who would pause at various traffic signs to doctor them so that the speed limit was 165 rather than 65 (another great use for duct tape).

The running undercurrent to The Amazing Race, as if the thrill of travel and whirlwind jaunts through exotic lands weren't enough, is the constant stress placed on the competing couples, and how their relationships hold up (and often don't hold up) under such pressure.

For instance, Terrence and Sarah, young, athletic, uber-motivated, have been dating just about a year. They are nasty cute together in matching black tank tops and a sort of "he's sensitive, she's cutthroat" new agey kind of blah. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the way the producers want to portray them, for most people are more than two dimensional, but for the sake of Reality Television, moving the game along, etc....we can pretend. Besides, too much depth would detract from the fact that it's just a game for $1 mil in the end.

I'm guessing (hoping?) that these two will provide no shortage of teary meltdowns as they are running out of gas on an empty back road or missing the last helicopter flight off a dreamy tropical island, or something else just as tragic and time consuming.

Their bio says: "This Team is determined to prove to themselves whether they belong together while on the Race. They hope that being well-traveled, physically fit, and highly competitive will help them win the $1 million. They think their biggest weakness could be the tendency to become too intense, fighting amongst themselves, or their dietary restrictions."

Man, if my diet held me back from winning a million conolies, somebody slap me. Put that South Beach on hold for 3 weeks and commit!

I think I will probably put this couple on my Fantasy Amazing Race Team anyways, because a marathon runner and a Wall Street financier have gotta have more than a little fight in 'em. Just as long as those two old tie dyed hippies don't get in the way.

Anybody out there want to race me around the world for, say, a million sunflower seeds? Could be another Fantasy becoming Reality (tv).