Reality TV Buzz

Last night on The Amazing Race, the ten remaining teams started on their second leg headed for Germany. Stuntmen Mark and Michael were the only team to not call ahead and secure their place on the first plane headed out, dropping them from third to ninth place. The flight attendants joined Mark and Michael on the last plane. All other teams arrived in Germany, with brother and sister team, Tammy and Victor, taking an early lead.

During the first roadblock, teams had to ride a cable car to a peak in the Alps. Once there, one person would parasail back down if the wind was right. If not, they had the option of choosing a sixty minute hike back down the mountain. All players chose to walk back down the mountain rather than waiting until the wind was blowing in their favor, with the exception of Mel, Mike’s dad. Mel had hurt himself in the first leg of the race and wasn’t comfortable with trecking back down the mountain. Lucky for him, after waiting it out for awhile, he recieved the go ahead to parasail. Not so lucky was Linda, who got lost along the hike, putting her and Steve way behind on this leg of the race.

During the detour teams had to choose between throwing pie in each other’s faces looking for a cherry pie or a two mile obstacle course on Segway transporters. All teams chose the pie throwing, with the exception of Mike and Mel, Mark and Michael and Cara and Jamie.

Arriving first at the pit stop with a huge lead were Victor and Tammy. Arriving next were Mike and Mel, followed by Kris and Amanda, Luke and Margie, Brad and Victoria, Cara and Jamie, Kisha and Jen, Michael and Mark, and Christie and Jodi. Last to arrive and eliminated from the race were Steve and Linda.

It appears as though fans of The Bachelor this season have been punked in a big way, according to blogger Reality Steve, who recently shared
some exclusive insider Bachelor information.

Steve says that he’s been told Jason Mesnick and Bachelor producer, Mike Fleiss, planned a fake love story (my words) for the viewers this season, even to the point of revealing the supposed winner before the season began, which is highly unusual. The screencaps clearly showed Melissa as the chosen one. It appears that the goal was to draw viewers in to make them think there was a real love story happening only to shock viewers in the After the Final Rose ceremony where they planned to have Jason dump Melissa and continue a relationship with Molly. Why? Ratings. Fleiss has been clearly exhuberant over the ratings increase this season because of fan favorite, Jason. He isn’t quite the fan favorite now that this news has been released, though. Fans are attacking him on his myspace page and across most bachelor message boards.

Another brand new blogger reported the same story just a few hours before Steve and has now recanted that initial information, saying that it may not be true afterall.

Was Jason in on this elaborate plan to punk viewers? It’s hard to believe. Was Molly in on the plan? That’s not so hard to believe. Steve says Molly and Jason were dating the entire time. (while still seeing Melissa) I just can’t imagine Molly happily accepting ’seconds’ unless she knew ahead of time what was really going on.

Since Steve started giving his readers clues about this insider news, Fleiss has been giving interviews that seem to collaborate the story, saying such things as things turned out ‘freaky’ and fans will find themselves hyperventilating in the end. There was even an announcement of a second After the Final Rose, which Steve says is to inform viewers how all three are doing now.

Another ‘rumor’ that’s taken off is that Melissa is the one who breaks up with Jason at the After the Final Rose ceremony.

For now, this is all rumor and speculation and we really won’t know what truly happened until Finale night and most likely, we still won’t know what “truly happened.”

Season fourteen of The Amazing Race premieres this Sunday with a whole new group of racers hoping to win the one million dollar prize. Amazing Race contestants this year include a deaf man, flight attendants, a few lawyers, a Hollywood writer and a couple of stuntmen who are rumored to be extremely funny and entertaining, said Phil Keoghan, host of the hit reality show. (Today on The Bonnie Hunt Show, Keoghan said to be sure and go to the bathroom before watching these guys as they would make you “pee in your pants”—from laughing)

The Amazing Race teams this season are:

Brothers/stuntmen–Mark Munoz and Michael Monez

Brother/sister/both lawyers–Tammy Jih and Victor Jih

Dating–Amanda Blackledge and Kris Klicka

Sisters–Lakisha Hoffman and Jennifer Hoffman. These two are collegiate athletes and hope to be the first female team to win The Amazing Race.

Father/son team—Mel White and Mike White. Mike is the Hollywood writer, while his Dad is a gay rights activist. These two have an interesting family backstory as Mel told his family he was gay when Mike was only 11 years old.

Married couple–Linda Cole and Steve Cole

Dating–Jennifer Hopka and Preston Mccammy

Mother/son—Margie Adams and Luke Adams–Luke has been deaf since the age of two. This team can communicate silently, which will most likely be a strong advantage at times in the race.

Married-Brad Hunt and Victoria Hunt

Friends–Cara Rosenthal and Jaime Edmonson–former NFL cheerleaders.

Friends–Christie Volkmer and Jodi Wincheski

Check out this preview video from CBS, which features a few of this season’s teams:

The fourteenth edition of the The Amazing Race begins with the eleven teams departing from the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California, and flying to Switzerland, where they must bungee jump off the Verzasca Dam. Later, each AR team receives a clue by transporting 200 pounds of cheese down a steep hill using wooden cheese racks. The episode is titled, ” Don’t Let a Cheese Hit Me” and airs Sunday February 15, 2009 at 8pm/EST on CBS.