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Author Topic: Retread "Reality" Contestants  (Read 4483 times)

Peter Sarrett

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Retread "Reality" Contestants
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2005, 05:59:55 PM »
To offer a dissenting opinion, the actual GAME of The Amazing Race is horrible.

The winner isn't the team who played the best race, it's the team that crosses the finish line first in the final leg and avoided finishing last in all the others.  And even that's not accurate, because a team can finish last in a leg and survive if they're lucky enough to do so on a non-elimination leg.  In fact, season 5's winners did just that.

To make matters worse, ever since the start of season two the producers have made sure to bunch teams together near the start of each leg.  So any advantage gained by performing very well on the previous leg is inevitably lost.

The show itself spends far too much time chronicling the teams' captivating adventures in the airports of the world.

Too many of the show's detours are serial, like last night's zip-lines.  The first team to arrive at such detours will always be the first to finish.  Yawn.  Too many eliminations have been decided by random chance.  Unrolling dozens of hay bales and still coming up empty, watching all the other teams come and go because they were luckier than you?  Horrible, horrible challenge design.  The challenges should be less about performing rote physical tasks, and more about presenting players with open-ended obstacles or goals and leaving players to figure out the best way to proceed.  If the show empowered players to get creative, the show would be more compelling.

A race is most interesting when the racers are given the opportunity to change up their order through superior performance.  Happening to catch a more aggressive cab driver does not qualify.  Rob and Amber's impressive last-to-first (then third) comeback last night not withstanding, The Amazing Race offers very little opportunity for players to excel and gain ground.  It's not about outperforming and winning, it's just about not making mistakes and surviving.

GameShowFan

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Retread "Reality" Contestants
« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2005, 08:04:23 PM »
Quote
I kind of agree about having Rob & Amber on TAR, but if you're talking about the same people popping up on all these reality shows, is it really any different from the "glory days" when certain contestants would pop up on more than one traditional game show?

When a person makes several appearances on different game shows, each one is auditioned independently. I am sure there are lots of people who got on a show, then auditioned for others but didn't get on.

With reality show contestants appearing on other shows, the biggest difference is the recognition factor, which only helps them out when compared to other contestants. Ask yourself this: Would Rob & Amber have made TAR7 had they not been on Survivor?

I'm sure that even now, if either of Rob & Amber (or any other high finisher in a reality show) auditioned for a "regular" game show (you know, the ones we like!), they would be vetted on the same level as all of the other applicants.

Furthermore, do you think Survivor would have done a Champions series if the winners didn't fade off into the sunset after their time?

'Brian

MSTieScott

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Retread "Reality" Contestants
« Reply #17 on: March 02, 2005, 09:48:02 PM »
[quote name=\'GameShowFan\' date=\'Mar 2 2005, 08:04 PM\']I'm sure that even now, if either of Rob & Amber (or any other high finisher in a reality show) auditioned for a "regular" game show (you know, the ones we like!), they would be vetted on the same level as all of the other applicants.
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Family Feud recently did a week of shows with ten former Survivor contestants (though I noticed they were careful to never actually use the word "survivor"). I didn't hear anything about them playing for charity on any of the episodes. If that was the case, then wouldn't that be an example of reality show contestants using their recognizability to win more money on a more traditional game show?

Granted, it's not the same thing as what you said, since they were approached by Feud instead of going out and auditioning. But I still don't likes it.

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Scott Robinson