I agree with your points that minorities and women rarely win. I’d also say the elderly rarely win. Hence, I think the show is really set up for young white men to win.

Most of the challenges and the race in general favor male strength and endurance. (By contrast, some challenges on Survivor favor the physical strength and endurance of women. I knew a woman was going to win the recent “hang as long as you can” challenge before it even started. Phillip was right to not even try and head straight to the burgers.) I’d love to see an Amazing Race that had challenges based solely on life experience so that older people could trump the younger ones. The success of the younger white guys on Amazing Race has more to do with the way the show constructs challenges for an idealized competitor and less to do with the way things are in general. I’d love to see challenges that call for contestants to use minority knowledge. Why can’t challenges in the UK be set in Brixton instead of, say, near Big Ben?

Jordan Harvey wrote an excellent essay that touches on the points we’ve addressed here as well as the points Jonathan makes above. It’s called “The Amazing Race: Discovering a True American.” I think it is an anthology titled How Real is Reality TV? Harvey points out how the series others nations besides the U.S. . At the same time, the series defines American greatness in white heterosexual male terms in a way that others other versions of American identity. That is indeed the context in which I made my points about Luke. While I concede that the series does have some moments where it has him in conversations in ASL, I don’t think Luke and Margie are shown communicating as much as the other contestants. And I can’t help but compare the series to The Celebrity Apprentice, since they are running on the same night. Again, Marlee Matlin is represented as the best contestant this season. And she raised more money for her charity than anyone in the history of The Apprentice. Of course, CA isn’t an action reality series where the contestants have to race around the world, so there are no limitations on her communicating to other contestants through her sign language interpreter. I think the fast pace of AR does limit how much time it can devote to showing Luke talk in ASL., whereas it has time to pick up on the voices of other contestants as they run around in a panic. (Moreover, Marlee has an interpreter on CA, whereas you can’t have an interpreter race on AR. Hence, Margie becomes two things: a racer and an interpreter or the camera.) So, for me, as the show favors this white young, often heterosexual, male version of citizenship, it shows Luke as less than ideal because 1) parent-child teams are usually not the best teams—they are too young and old at the same time and 2) Luke is seen as less than an ideal competitor because he is still childlike, being the son on the team, and, hence, prone to emotional breakdowns (which would be expected from young people put in a situation like AR). I think while the show would pat itself on the back for representing diversity here and having a deaf contestant, I am very skeptical of its diversity and see its fixation on Luke saying “Ma Ma” as one of many othering tactics for American citizens who don’t fit the shows ideals for competitors. I would say, though, that Luke is not othered just because he is deaf. The other issues I address above are more important in the grand logic of the show. Christina and her father aren’t ideal competitors as well, and the show goes out of its way to equate them with the Asian countries on the race. While it is nice the show gives them a hybrid identity (both Asian and American), it also uses that hybridity to discount them as ideal racers.

Anyway, I have the same ambivalent feelings toward The Amazing Race that you do.

Thanks for the post.
Jon