So I was eating dinner at home today and my Dad turned on the TV. The first show that appeared was “The Amazing Race“. It is a “race” of sorts around the globe for challenges or stunts of sorts to win a grand prize. As an avid traveler I am jealous of the opportunity that the contestants have, but am shocked about the behavior of all of the teams.

Dirty Americans:
I watched with utter disgust as it showed the utter ignorance of the team members and am now completely understanding of the phrase, “Dirty Americans”. In the episode I watched (Malaysia), none of the teams seemed to be polite to locals. One team even went as far as berating an older local gentleman because he didn’t seem to understand them enough in ENGLISH to give them directions!

Oh, the HORROR! An older Malay doesn’t know how to speak ENGLISH!??!!?!?

Maybe they didn’t realize that they were in Malaysia! If I were there, I’d have pummeled them. I can’t imagine what they would do in a country that speaks no English…like China. Being from San Francisco, we get our fair share of tourists. However, I don’t ever recall seeing one get pissed off because I couldn’t understand in French or German or Japanese to give them directions to where they needed to go.

I wonder how many of those contestants know how to speak at least ONE foreign language to give directions to a foreigner?

I do understand the concept of a race, but bottom line of what disappointed me the most, in an opportunity to introduce the different cultures of the world and travel experiences to MILLIONS of Americans, the show didn’t do so. I felt sorry for the contestants as NONE of the teams were interested in any of the local culture or even cared to look around. To figure to travel tens of thousands of miles and not even take a moment to appreciate it.

What a pity.

My question:

Would you ever WANT to be a contestant on the Amazing Race?

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