Amazing Race: At what point do producers say "enough is enough"

[Mike Daniels]

In ref: to last night's episode - once a contestant strikes someone else on camera, how much further do you have to go before someone intervenes and says, "we don't think this is healthy for your relationship and therefore we're letting you go."

Other reality shows have dropped their "contestants" for anything ranging from chronic alcoholism to just making threatening gestures to other contestants. So it surprises me in light of yesterday's episode that based on upcoming previews that it appears that Jonathan hasn't been booted.

Yeah, I know the show is edited for dramatic effect but some things just shouldn't be shown for audience amusement. Consequently, the only thing that I can think of that keeps this couple on-air is that this is a big joke and that Jonathan and Victoria are just a producer's concept of the ultimate dysfunctional couple.

[Phillycat]

1. Remember on the Real World, when the black guy slapped that

one girl because she said he was gay? Good times...

And yes, they did kick him off...

[sniffa]

13. no they didn't

stephen was aLLowed to stay. and yeah, he was in the cLoset.

[DS1]

29. He was?

Must have been some sort of transparent aluminum closet, because he was clearly gay.

[sniffa]

40. oh, he'd sLap you for that

[DS1]

42. What if I'm "curious" ?

:crazy:

[Truman01]

2. I agree. I would like to see them boot Johnathon even though

it would be unfair to his wife, he is a jerk.

[RoeBear]

3. I was disgusted by that...

...'man' hitting that woman. Imagine what he must be like when cameras aren't on him. Kick him off the show then kick him in the balls.

[Mike Daniels]

10. You know it's bad when the host calls you on your behavior

I don't like to project thoughts onto others but I'm wondering if Phil (the host) came to dread seeing J&V approach the pit stop line at the end of each leg as time went on.


At least the father/daughter team provided some humor in the episode during the beer house challenge.

[keischin]

4. What about when he cracked her on the head on purpose....

when he closed the back of the SUV? Then later they show her saying how much she loves him.

[vi5]

5. Can someone explain what happened and to whom?

I don't really watch this show, although now I am intrigued.

[huskerlaw]

11. The entrepreneur couple...

Jonathan and Victoria, have this really dramatic relationship. He CONSTANTLY yells at her, to the extent that everyone around them is uncomfortable. Well, they keep coming in 2nd and at the beginning of last night's episode, he kept talking about how important it was to him that they win. The winners of each stage in the game get a prize, like last night it was a trip for 2 to Mexico.

So they get to the final point (the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin) and Jonathan and Victoria are ahead, but another team arrives and it's a foot race to the check point. Jonathan is complaining that he can't run with the pack on his back, so he tries to leave it on the street. Victoria's afraid that it will be stolen, so she grabs it and keeps running, with 2 packs. Obviously, she can't run very fast that way, so Jonathan starts screaming at her to drop his pack and hurry up. Victoria is literaly crying and can barely breathe. At one point, Jonathan pushes Victoria, not hard enough to knock her over, but it was totally uncalled for and nasty. Meanwhile the other couple wins. Victoria's still crying, Jonathan's still screaming. The host of the show tells Jonathan to go talk to her (b/c she has walked off). Jonathan goes over to her and yells "WHY DIDN'T YOU DROP MY PACK?!" She replies, "I have nothing to say to you." Etc. That's basically how the show ended.

[Mike Daniels]

14. Jonathan and Victoria

are a husband and wife team on this season's Amazing Race.

The way the team is filmed they come off as extremely dysfunctional with Johnathan constantly screaming at and blaming Victoria for every little thing that throws them off during each leg of the race.

What was initially annoying has become gradually more disturbing as recent episodes have shown Johnathan directly striking his wife in some fashion or another (none have been full out punches or slaps however).

Last night this couple (J/V) was in a tight race to the finish for the segment with another couple. J threw down his backpack to run faster and V picked it up which cause her to slow down to the point where the other couple passed her and ultimately won the leg. J shoves V as J/V approach the finish line and then proceeds to totally rip into her. She was already in tears prior to crossing the line and this just put her over the edge.

It actually got to the point where the host told Jonathan to basically quit bitching and go take care of his wife.

[ugarte]

6. There seem to be more jerks in each successive 'Amazing Race'

The first couple of seasons there seemed to be more normal people. Now they seem to be going for the dysfunctional: the steroid wrestler, the abusive bully, the spoiled model who hates the Third World, etc. Truly America at its worst and most disgusting.

I hope the black father and daughter win.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

9. I agree

I don't actually watch the show, but I do know something about the father and daughter: He's a DC-area celebrity for his flying adventures: A couple years ago he flew an open biplane to the North Pole.

http://www.gusmcleod.com/

[ugarte]

12. Thanks for the info

He and his daughter are easily the nicest people on the show.

[Mike Daniels]

28. The father and daughter seem to have hit a groove

They tend to work pretty well and compliment each other and only go off course when they choose tasks stupidly as they did last week by choosing fishing in a boat (highly subject to luck) over stacking fish on a table.

Unfortunately, I think Don and MJ just had too many cards stacked against them to effectively compete against the younger teams. You obviously have to be in some sort of shape (although the father seems questionable) and while Don and MJ aren't slouches they seemed to get winded by some of the easier tasks and didn't react as fast in correcting mis-steps.

Sadly, those seem to be the only teams that are likeable enough for me to actually have rooted for them to win. If Gus/Hedra (?) go anytime soon, it will be harder to make a point to watch.

[Cadence]

35. Did you see last night

when Gus kept wanting to drink the beer? That was so funny. I'm rooting for Hayden and Aaron to win but if Gus and Hedra won that would be cool too.

[huskerlaw]

7. They should have

disqualified Jonathan for that, totally. It would suck for Victoria, but they don't deserve to win. Additionally, if they had kicked J&V off, they could have kept that adorable older couple (Don & Mary Jo?).

[DS1]

8. That dude was psychotic

He was treating her like I've seen abusive parents to children and pets. He's not going to be popular when he returns to work/public. Personally I'd like to make like a football linebacker and shove him in front of a bus :shrug:

[Iris]

15. Why would the producers do anything? You're still watching, aren't you?

[gtp1976]

16. question

did he shove her or did he shove the backpack she was carrying? I'm not trying to excuse either but neither my wife nor I could tell and we don't have Tivo.

I thought he shoved her by shoving his backpack she was carrying and my wife thought he shoved her shoulder. Does anyone remember?

Like I said, this is not a one was better than the other type question, just one of curiousity.

[huskerlaw]

17. It was kinda hard to tell

but I think he shoved her backpack.

[skypilot]

18. I don't think it makes much difference.

He shoved her hard enough for her to stumble and considering how weighed down she was (literally and figuratively) she could have easily fallen. It was a nasty shove. That guy needs to go.

[gtp1976]

21. did you miss the disclaimer

or just ignore it? :-)

[skypilot]

23. I guess ...

...I kind of ignored it.:) I just had the image of him shoving her, and her stumbling, in my head. The fact that she was weighed down with backpacks--including his--just made it all the more appalling.

[Cadence]

34. I thought he tried to punch her in the arm but

her backpack kinda got in the way.

[CO Liberal]

19. Here's What They Should Have Done

When the last couple (the grandparents) arriced, the host should have said, "You're the last team to arrive, and normally you would have been eliminated. But we're sending Jonathan and Victoria home in your place."

[huskerlaw]

20. Yes,

that's exactly what they should have done!

[skypilot]

22. The only problem with that is...

...that it would have been a double blow to Victoria: being humiliated and abused by John and then eliminated by the producers. She doesn't deserve that. That's the problem with this couples-as-teams thing. If one goes, the other has to go as well. I'd love to see John's ass booted but then Victoria loses out also. So far, she seems like a decent enough person. It would be a shame to see her dragged down by John--more so than she's being dragged down already.

[alphafemale]

24. Maybe it'd be enough of a wake-up call for her to get rid of the asshole.

There's no reason for her to put up with his shit.

Their winning could be disasterous.
They might both take it as some sort of confirmation of their behavior.

[skypilot]

25. I wonder if Victoria's dad is alive...

...or if she has any brothers. If Victoria won't do it herself, there has to be somone in her family that will put his foot up John's ass for the way he is treating her.

[ernstbass]

27. Victoria has chosen to let Jonathan drag her down

one can't be a victim unless one allows it. Both of these folks are in a sick song and dance. the fact that she tolerates this behavior is just as sick as him being such a bully.

[Inland]

26. Your question puts finger on problem--

the nutbag is simply more of what everyone does a little on any particular day, and not just on the show, either.

The editing choices prove that the producers consider his rantings and abuse as legitimate entertainment (I wondered about that word but decided to use it anyway). If you don't, I would turn the channel.

BUT BUT BUT

Since the show's other premise is that screaming is okay as long as you manage to pull together at some point and make nice, the fact the rantings are not edited out tells me that there is going to be either repentance or comeuppance and you are expected to tune in, and enjoy that too. That's the way TV works.

[derby378]

32. Good point

Even Carolyn of The Apprentice tacitly admitted that they sometimes choose jerkweeds over competent folks to be contestants because that's what brings the ratings in. Just imagine The Amazing Race if all the teams were Quakers or Mennonites or something. It would be more uplifting, perhaps, but you lose some of that precious "lowest common denominator" whose intelligence the networks compete heavily to insult.

[Inland]

36. I just don't think unremitting nastiness is that much fun

and that's why I think that there is going to be a comeuppence.

There was one advertised confrontation (at the travel agent in Senegal) where the wrestler and one women were in a dispute and she got in his face and said he was on steroids. They basically apologized to each other, and there's a pause, and he says, "and I'm not on steriods", and by that time they are chuckling. That's more fun than the guy who just has no clue that he is doing anything wrong ever.

[Xithras]

30. Better to let them play and WIN...

...so that she can sue his sorry a$$ for the million bucks in divorce court, IMO :)

[derby378]

31. I would like to think...

...that if ginbarn and I were in The Amazing Race, and she seriously lagged behind me in the foot race to the Pit Stop or suffered a leg injury, that I would head back to her, pick up, and carry her across the finish line in my arms if that's what it took. I'll not see her suffering and crying her eyes out the way Victoria was.

The way I see it, Victoria was trying to look out for her husband, and she got her ass handed to her by Jonathan for it. She's no mind reader, and he's a first-class dickweed praecox.

[Cadence]

33. That's what I was thinking!

It's really ruining the show for me because I feel so tense about basically watching her get abused. I hope she leaves him after the show. If he's willing to smash her head with the back of the car door, scream at her and smack her on national t.v. what does he do behind closed doors?

I can't believe those producers just let that go on. Unfortunately I don't think this is a joke, I think it's a documentary of abuse.

[Inland]

37. It isn't that much fun

which is why I think you are going to get what you want--the comeuppance. they would have edited out much of that, unless the moral of the story was, you lose or your wife dumps you.

[derby378]

41. Well...

A shove isn't "abuse," but it can be a predictor for really bad mojo between those two unless intervention takes place. Jonathan set his thermostat on "Boiling" a long time ago and forgot how to ratchet the damn thing down.

[deadparrot]

38. I loved Gus and Hera and the older couple.

Guess I can't cheer for the latter anymore; it's a shame. They were adorable.

No steroid-infused rednecks, abusers, or whiny models, please.

[Trajan]

39. Easy solution ...

You call the police, and have them arrested for assault ....

It is against the law to strike another ....