There’s a certain kind of dread that you feel when watching The Amazing Race on CBS.  Unlike other “reality” shows, there’s a real sense that any of us could be on the show and that any of a number of things could happen, things that could both help or hinder us.  That’s particularly true of the challenges.  While shows like Survivor create these elaborate, puzzle-like challenges, the challenges on TAR have a nice sense of history and culture along with a big dose of “you just don’t know if it will work or not.”  You felt it at two challenges this week: first at the challenge where teams had to find fish of a particular color with particular numbers (at least a little like that horrible hay bale challenge from a few seasons ago).  And then there was this challenge, which was about learning to play a well-known tune with the only instrument of its kind created in the 20th century.

Such a palpable frustration for those teams . . .

Looks like they are posting more unreleased content from each episode over at YouTube, which is a great idea.  Definitely looking forward to week two next time.