The Amazing Race

Of all the reality shows, I like The Amazing Race (and The Amazing Race Asia and Explorace) best. Love them in fact. Maybe because I love going for treasure hunts and travelling. OK, OK, treasure hunt is nothing compared to The Amazing Race: the latter covers numerous days, thousands of miles, various countries and cities, involves challenging tasks, with the participants working in pairs. Hence it is a lot more tiring, taxing and exhausting, and really tests the relationship between the couples. The few treasure hunts that I’ve been on so far required teams of four people, driving around based on tulip readings, solving puzzles and riddles along the route and finding the required treasures. And they all ended after a predetermined number of hours after flag-off. Mind you, frictions and arguments can still occur in groups of four: in our car, the driver would always have disagreements with the assigned/appointed navigator (who is no other than yours truly), or sometimes both the driver and navigator would have disagreements with the passengers. So yes, frictions can occur regardless of the duration and the number of people in a team.

Back to The Amazing Race: I usually have one or two couples that I favour and root for and also a pair that I get annoyed at. As for the Asian edition, although I enjoy it, I am not rooting for any particular team. Not yet anyway. I do like the Filipino guys; one of them is particularly dishy. And the girls, wow, some of them are really pretty (don’t worry, I’m still straight).

Every time I watch the Race, whichever edition, I find myself thinking and wondering how I’d fare had it been me in their shoes. For starters, I’m not sure if I could run around carrying backpacks while searching for clues and the right direction. I went backpacking before and the first time I tried on my backpack, I immediately sat down again. It was only a month later when I returned minus some body weight that I discovered I had walked around Europe lugging 15 kg on myself. So no, I don’t think I can do that again.

Then of course, what would I pack for such a race? No, don’t laugh. This is important. What clothes should I bring? They must be tough and durable and yet light enough; easy to wash and dry and care for (so I won’t look like I’ve just stumbled out of bed with a crumpled top); and comfortable to wear and can absorb perspiration, just to name a few criteria the clothes must fulfil. That was a problem we faced when we went inter-railing in the height of summer: we had to change clothes often but because we were constantly on the move, it was a challenge to launder and have them dry in time before moving on to our next destination. The clothes must also be able to cover me decently; after all I am a Muslim wherever I am. And that’s just clothes: you also need to pack multi-vitamins, pills, food supplement, toiletries, footwear, etc, etc.

And more importantly, there is the task of reading, interpreting and understanding the instructions and directions. As you know, I’m a confused and confusing lass and I’d probably misread or misunderstand some instruction. As for directions, I like to think that I have a good sense of direction and I can read maps pretty well. But oh, what about the roadblocks? Can I perform them? I can’t do anything too physical as I’m not physically strong and I tire easily. I also don’t drive, can’t swim or dive (yeah, I’m pretty hopeless and helpless) and I refuse to eat or handle anything gross (one episode of The Amazing Race: All-Stars had the participants making sausages and eating them. Euwww...).

I also wonder how I’d behave under stress, duress and pressure. I know that there are the crew and their cameras about but I can’t guarantee I can control my behaviour. I’m short-fused, short-tempered, quick-tempered, hotheaded, impatient and stubborn so chances are I’d be arguing and bickering with and shouting at my poor partner. So my partner must be a very patient person and must really understand and be able to bear with me. I also panic easily, I curse and swear readily and I bet the crew would have a field day trying to silence my expletives. And how did they (especially the girls in The Amazing Race Asia) do it going through the race and yet still looking calm and presentable at the end of each leg? If I were in their shoes, I’d probably be looking so harassed and stressed when I step on the mat ready to collapse.

So can I run around with a (carefully packed) backpack on me, looking for clues and understanding directions and instructions and staying calm throughout? Probably not. That’s why I’ll just stick to watching. Anyway, I probably won’t even make it through the selection stage, but then, I can’t help wondering how and why some of the participants got selected.

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Boro gunned down Arsenal’s amazing race in the EPL yesterday and the Gunners registered their first defeat of the season (Liverpool also scored their first defeat on Saturday). Silly Gunners! And to lose to Boro too, of all teams. They managed to draw with ManUre and Liverpool and yet lost to a team amongst the bottom in the table. Hmph!