Oh, you have no idea.
Holy Christ.
Spoiler, talking about the Watermelon Challenge:
HOW THE HELL WAS SHE NOT BLEEDING AFTER THAT! OR DEAD!
lorene, spoiler boxes with no indication of what’s in them don’t do people much good.
Final Destination:
New Orleans
[spoiler]Two things, I guess:
-
The watermelon was coming out of a slingshot, so it only had as much energy behind it as one person could give it. Fire that sucker out of a cannon and it would be a different story.
-
The watermelon is softer than her head. If karate masters can break boards and cinderblocks with their hands, someone can break a watermelon with her face.
I’m curious about the aftermath. Yeah, you’ve got to finish, but can you imagine the next shot? I expect she fired the slingshot and immediately put her arms in front of her head. Did they start warning the remaining teams to do that?
And if she stayed in the Race, any bruising or swelling? (And if she did, damn, I’d buy that woman a drink.)[/spoiler]
It looked like it maybe got her mostly in the chin. Hard to see it not breaking her nose if it had hit square. And good thing it shattered on impact. If it had been firmer all of that energy would have gone into her face, fortunately the watermelon was constructed with crumple zones.
Wow, I got sent the interesting bits of that Watermelon Challenge video a couple of days ago. It was stripped of its Amazing Race graphics and overlaid with some voice sample from a video game I think. Had no idea it was from The Amazing Race…crazy!
Watermelon “remix” link:
Here’s the video I was sent.
[spoiler]It’s The Amazing Race’s version of the Zapruder film.
At the last second the woman turns her head to the left and the watermelon hits her just above her right eye in the forehead. She was very lucky.[/spoiler]
I’m slowly going through the contestants on the CBS site, and so far Chad & Stephanie seem like the team to watch for meltdowns. They’ve known each other for 8 months, been a couple for 5 months, and just bought a house together. She’s a former Miss USA contestant who admits to being non-confrontational and a bit too emotional, and says he is very competitive and yells too much. They are 26 and 23 years old. They do seem pretty athletic, which usually helps.
You are indeed correct. Less than 24 hours and I’m already spoiled, having seen the clip on PTI, if you can believe it. For those who don’t know, PTI is an ESPN show where two sportswriters debate the top sports stories of the day, 1 or 2 minutes per topic. They devoted an entire topic to the watermelon challenge today, complete with video clips.
If you’re wondering, no, the Amazing Race has never once come up on PTI in their entire 8 year history. I was pretty surprised I got spoiled on ESPN. (They did do a 5-minute interview with Jimmy Johnson last week about him being on Survivor, though, so this reality show crossover wasn’t wholly unique.)
So, according to Wikipedia, three contestants this season are beauty queens who are their states’ former “Miss [state name]”.
Geez, three?! Why not just start calling the Amazing Beauty Pageant Race?
And none of these former Miss America entries are on the same team. They’re on three different teams.
Why not have average joes/janes on the show? Bring back teams like Kevin and Drew (season 1) or Lori and Dave (the nerds from season 9). If I wanted to watch a show that only catered to people “easy on the eyes”, I’d watch Fear Factor.
Yes, more ugly people! I cannot stand all these pretty people on television; who in the world likes looking at attractive people? Producers are so stupid.
Hahaha, I don’t mind pretty people…I’m just tired of every racer being a former Miss (Your State Here). 
Well, it IS a REALITY show…we’re supposed to be able to think that maybe us schlubs out here in couchland might possibly be able to be cast in it. Personally, I see plenty of “pretty” people on TV already. I could handle some people who haven’t won the genetic lottery or had so much work done they have a little “inspected by #23” tag attached to the back of their ear.
Actually, that’s a personal rant about the state of the entertainment world in general today. What happened to all the Mary Wickes and Marjorie Mains?
Not me. I’m one of the mindless sheep who prefers looking at pretty people on tv. I see more than enough schlubs out in the real world.
I will agree with you guys 100% about the surgically enhanced, though. If I never see another plastic surgery victim on television it’ll be too soon.
The way I look at it, the contestant quality is probably the same no matter what your criteria. I see no reason to believe that there is any difference between pageant winners and regular schmoes when it comes to aptitude for the dopey physical challenges you get on reality shows.
And speaking of pageant girls, they can make for the most interesting viewing just as well as anyone else. For example, IMO the most compelling contestant on this season of Big Brother was Miss Teen Arkansas semi-finalist Britney Haynes.