The Amazing Race

Many of my friends know that one of my favorite TV shows is The Amazing Race (TAR). Even those who may not know that most likely are not surprised considering my love of travel.

So I am very happy tonight since the new season has started. And I always generalize a few of the teams into one of the following categories

1. Most Annoying
2. Most Endearing
3. Most Likely To Combust (either on air or after the show)
4. Most Likely To Be The First Eliminated

Here are my preliminary generalizations:

1. Most Annoying - I'm thinking its going to be Terence and Sarah. First, its just the first episode and they're complaining that two of the other teams have formed an alliance and didn't say "Hi!" to them at one point. Okay, yes, general pleasantries are always nice, but guess what... YOU'RE IN A COMPETITION. FOR A MILLION DOLLARS. General pleasantries are going to be tossed out the window, and its only going to get worse the further along you go. Buck up and get used to it.

2. Most Endearing - Anita and Arthur. I've got a soft spot for older couples that embark on something like this.

3. Most Likely To Combust (either on air or after the show) - This is a tough one this season. I'm torn between Ken and Tina and Anthony and Stephanie. What I don't understand are the couples who base their relationship upon how they do in this competition... and every season has one of those couples. Ken and Tina are separated after he was unfaithful and have said that how they do in TAR may play a big factor in their reconciliation. Then theres Anthony and Stephanie who said that how they do in TAR will help them to decide if they should get married, or go their separate ways.
I will never understand why couples who already have less than solid relationships will throw themselves in the middle of a fire like this. I can only imagine how stressful TAR can be on relationships and if the relationship is already strained. Why willingly put it through something that trying?

4. Most Likely To Be The First Eliminated - Anita and Arthur. While I do find them to be the most endearing, they just don't seem to have that much drive - they're just a little too laid back (turns out I was right, they were the first eliminated).

And to answer your question: Yes. I do want to audition for TAR one day. It would be perfect for me - a couple weeks of racing around the world? HELL YEAH! I'm up for that anytime!

I know I've blogged about it before, but my cousin Erin and I think that we'd make a pretty good team -- we travel together well, and our strengths and weaknesses balance each other out. Plus, the only other cousin team (that I know of) on TAR was Charla and Mirna. And they were annoying as can be. Erin and I are way cooler.
We've been saying that we want to audition for the past year, but a couple of things have held us back.
1. My weight. To be honest, my weight and lack of physical fitness would be a complete liability to any team I was on. I would need to lose a considerable amount of weight before participating in anything like this.
2. Erin spent the past year embroiled in a less than pleasant divorce, so the timing was not optimal for her.
3. My knees. This goes along with my weight - the condition that they are presently in would present a large liability in any physical challenges. Losing weight would help with the condition of my knees, and so would improving my general physical fitness.

So, I've got a lot to do if I want to even consider auditioning. I'm already working on the weight issue - I joined Weight Watchers a couple of weeks ago (more on that later) - and I'm going to be working on the physical fitness issue, especially if I'm going to be doing any of the multi-day walk-a-thons or bike rides next year (again, more on that later).
I need to do these things for reasons more than the possibility of auditioning for TAR. I need to do these things just to improve my general health.
TAR is just an added incentive.

So, I'll pose a question I've asked before:

Any suggestions on what would make an audition tape that would grab the attention of the casting directors and producers?
Those of you who know me well - what aspects of my personality should I play up?