The Amazing Race's Amazing Moment

This past Sunday, December 9th, the conclusion of the twenty-first season of the CBS television show 'The Amazing Race' was broadcast.

For those of you who do not know, 'The Amazing Race' is a multiple Emmy Award winning competitive reality show that takes eleven or twelve teams of two contestants each to various locations around the world. (One season the teams consisted of family units of four contestants each.) The prize for the winner of the finale is one million dollars in cash, and there are prizes for winning each particular leg along the way.  For example, second place finishers Jaymes and James each won a new Ford Escape for winning the next to last leg of the race.  The show's exotic locales are often visually stunning as well as eye opening to both the contestants and the show's fans. 

Another good thing about the show is that, unlike some shows like 'Survivor', it is not necessary to be devious or to trick other contestants to win. It does happen once in a while on 'The Amazing Race' (There was an incident on this season of the show involving contestants James and Abba's money that upset some fans.); however, sneakiness is not generally a part of this show.  

At each location the teams must perform some task that is usually related to the local culture. There is often a choice of two tasks, and if the tasks can not be completed there is a four hour penalty. Most weeks one team is eliminated, but some weeks it is a non elimination, and the team that finishes last that particular week has to perform an extra task to stay in the race. The final task of the race is always something related to the places the teams have traveled to during the race, and this season was no different. In the shadow of the United Nations building in New York City, the final three teams had to match the words for 'hello' and 'goodbye' with the flags from various countries the teams had been to during the course of the race.

So, what was the amazing moment for 'The Amazing Race' this season? It was the winning team of Josh and Brent. Josh and Brent are a gay couple with a fifteen year relationship.  For the past three years Josh has been living in the city during the week to work while Brent remained on their farm.  They wanted to win the money so they could pay off their bills and live in the same place together again. (Other contestants have interesting stories as well; for example, James wanted to win to help out his father who is battling cancer.) 

The fact Josh and Brent are a gay couple is not what is amazing; there have been gay contestants on the show before, and there are certain to be more on the show in the future.  Underdogs and discounted nearly the entire race, Josh and Brent slipped under the radar and won the race.  Even as the final three teams raced, third place finisher Lexi Beerman was still discounting them as competition.  Moments after host Phil Keoghan pronounced them the official winners of the race, Josh kissed Brent. 

What is so amazing about that kiss?  The fact that a loving couple of so many years was able to show that love on a highly rated television show like 'The Amazing Race' is amazing.  It shows that we have actually made some progress in the United States in recognizing LGBT couples as equals.  I am virtually certain that there are those out there who do not see things the way I do, and didn't like Josh and Brent kissing each other on the show.  These are probably the same people who are against the gay marriage initiatives in various parts of the United States.  I, however, thought it was wonderful.  I give Josh and Brent kudos for persevering, having a loving relationship, and for not being afraid to show it.  I also compliment Phil and the other contestants for being happy for them.   

Cast member Rob French, a monster truck driver who practically defines the term redneck, stated at the end of the show Josh and Brent had really opened his eyes and that it was not for him to judge other people's lifestyle.  There's that word 'lifestyle' again, as if it were a choice, but at least Rob is making progress.  If even one person can learn something from people like Josh and Brent, then we are indeed making some progress! 

Click here to watch the full broadcast of the final episode of 'The Amazing Race'.

Click here to watch full episodes of each week of 'The Amazing Race'.

Click here to watch a video clip of the winning moment.

Click on this link to meet the teams from this season of 'The Amazing Race'.

Click here to meet the show's adventurous host Phil Keoghan.

Watch this exclusive secret scene-Josh and Brent 'Underdogs On Top'.

Click here to view photos from this season of 'The Amazing Race'.

Visit the Human Rights Campaign website for more information on how you can help support the campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equal Rights.

Click here for more information on the state of marriage equality in the United States.

The Amazing Race's amazing moment captured.

One CBS official photo of Josh and Brent.

Join Josh and Brent on Facebook, and subscribe to their newsletter.  Also, click here to follow them on Twitter, and here to visit their official website!  Josh and Brent also have a show on The Cooking Channel known as The Fabulous Beekman Boys that chronicles their life on Beekman Farm in upstate New York.

An Open Message to Fans of 'Criminal Minds'

To Fans of ‘Criminal Minds’:


I am writing this blog as a way to vent some of my frustration over the current situation with the television show Criminal Minds. I am frustrated and upset, and I can guarantee at the start this blog is probably not going to be my best work. However, I am going to go ahead with it anyway.

As any fan who doesn’t live under a rock or on Mars or someplace now undoubtedly knows, an announcement has been made that the contract of AJ Cook, who plays Jennifer Jareau on the show, will not be renewed. It has also been announced that Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss will be back on the show on a limited basis and that a new female character will be introduced on the show next season.

Naturally, no one associated with the show is happy about this situation. Certainly none of the fans are happy. One person I know on the Fan Forums at CBS.com said out of more than a thousand comments she had read only three were in favor of the cast moves. What has been frustrating about this whole situation is the tack some so-called fans have taken since these cast changes were announced.

While some people, myself included, tried to be the voice of reason and suggest fans should write calm, well thought out emails or letters; there were a few fans who blatantly suggested fans should flood CBS executives and random employees with spam and hate mail. I say ‘random employees’ because one of the email addresses one of these so-called ‘fans’ suggested we write to is that of an assistant to the Vice President of a department at CBS who likely had no connection to this decision and no power to affect it in any way. This same ‘fan’ also published the CBS phone number and suggested fans should call the number and leave hateful voice messages. She even provided country codes and other information so fans could call from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to do the same. This is ridiculous, stupid and makes the fans of one of the most intelligent shows on television look completely ridiculous. I sincerely hope that few fans took part in this campaign to encourage hate mail and spam; however I am virtually certain that some did.

One of the most bothersome aspects of this whole mess is how some fans of JJ and EP have decided to berate other characters. Some of these ‘fans’ have decided it’s appropriate to trash the other characters to save their own favorite. I have seen posts suggesting other characters were better gotten rid of than their favorite character. The ‘barrage of keep my favorite character and get rid of this other character instead’ as one fan put it, is disgusting and divisive. Most of us who know about this business in the first place learned it from fans of characters other than JJ and EP. My favorite character on Criminal Minds is Spencer Reid, played brilliantly by Matthew Gray Gubler. I learned of the contract situation from other Spencer Reid fans, and then from Rossi and Garcia fans. It is now hurtful and unfair to fans of other characters like me to be treated like this. It’s painful to hear from so-called ‘fans’ that your character is more worthy of being dropped from the show and to hear wonderful characters like Penelope Garcia, who is portrayed by a wonderful actress named Kirsten Vangness, be called names by a group of morons who call themselves fans of Criminal Minds, but yet claim they would rather see the show ‘crash and burn’ without their favorite character or think it’s appropriate to berate the other characters.

Another thing I learned about later was that some ‘fans’ were criticizing Shemar Moore (Derek Morgan on the show) for not speaking out enough in support of AJ Cook and Paget Brewster. As some fans on CBS.com tried to point out, Shemar doesn’t even have Twitter and doesn’t use the social networking sites. What was he supposed to do, take a billboard out on Hollywood Boulevard? It’s not fair to critique the other actors for their responses to this situation. Each of them is handling it in their own way, and that is as it should be. It’s not fair to expect the other actors to behave in a way that some of these fans are behaving. The best way for the other actors to handle this situation is privately, behind the scenes with the CBS executives in their own negotiations and talks.

I was too distracted by other things to accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish with this blog. Therefore, I will stop here. Following are snail mail and email addresses, plus a phone number. Use them if you want to, or hope to affect change. Unfortunately I think there have been enough rogue spam and hate mail postings to all these to bury the intelligent, well thought out and well-spoken responses that might make a difference. However, it never hurts to try, does it?

http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php  Feedback Form

CBS Television Network
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019

Main Number: (212) 975-4321

CRIMINAL MINDS
Touchstone Television in assoc. w/ Paramount Network Television
8660 Hayden Place
Culver City, CA 90232

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_entertainment/contact-list

This is a list of email addresses for some executives at CBS. I’m not even sure if any of these people have any connection to what has happened with AJ Cook and Paget Brewster. However, this is the list where the rogue person I mentioned above found her email contacts.