Reality Shows' Bite

I am so into reality shows nowadays. I love the Amazing Race, Survivor, and America's Next Top Model (ANTM).

Of the three, I love the Amazing Race the most because not only are the challenges so competitive but the countries the teams visit as well are all so spectacular (I don't think I will ever get the chance to travel to such amazing countries!). It was Amazing Race 3 that was the first to be aired in the Philippines where best friends Flo and Zach won the $1,000,000. Amazing Race 4 had a married gay couple, Reichen and Chip, finishing the race around the world. Meanwhile couple Chip and Kim conquered the Amazing Race 5, with some scenes shot in Palawan, Laguna, and Manila. Beauty queen Kendra and her beau Freddy emerged victorious in the Amazing Race 6. And the latest, the Amazing Race 7 now has only four teams - Uchenna and Joyce (with the latter agreeing to have her head shaved to win the Fast Forward in the last episode), Ron and Kelly (former POW and beauty queen, respectively), Rob and Amber (both from the Survivor show, and the latter winning Survivor All-Stars), and lastly, Meredith and Gretchen (who are now officially the oldest team to make it that far). I would love to see Uchenna and Joyce win, or Rob and Amber. Rob may be conniving but he's got the best strategy I've seen so far, and although teams honestly don't like them to win, I think he's getting better as the competition progresses.

Before, I wasn't really a Survivor fan. The first one I religiously followed was Survivor Amazon where my bet, swimsuit model Jenna Morasca won. Then followed Survivor Pearl Islands where Sandra Twine, the woman most likely not to make it 'til the end, took home the million dollars. Then there's the Survivor All-Stars where former contestants (both winners and nonwinners) again battled it out for the prize money. Of course, the nonwinners made sure that the "Sole Survivors" were voted out as early as possible, with an exception for Jenna since she quit the game mid-way to be with her cancer-stricken mother who died a week after she left the show. As stated earlier, Amber Brkich won here, with a little help from Rob Mariano. They are now engaged (as if the whole world doesn’t know already!). Survivor Vanauatu had the girls conquering almost the entire 39 days because of their alliance from the very beginning, but it was a guy named Chris Daugherty who the jurors voted for. And for the ongoing Survivor Palau, I am gunning for Stephenie or Ian, but I am not sure the remaining five will let the former stay because she is so good with challenges, and she is actually the only one left standing from her former tribe (Ulong) which led to an early merge.

ANTM is the only show I was able to watch from the very start. Unfortunately, as my friend Debbie told me, they are now seeing Cycle 4 in the States when Cycle 3 just piloted here a month ago. Anyway, I love both winners of Cycles 1 and 2, Adrianne and Yoanna, but I still am yet to convince myself that Eva deserved her win in Cycle 3.

At work, most of my officemates are American Idol fanatics so I cannot really relate to them while they talk of Anwar or Constantine. Anyway, they're all wishing for the latter to win.

Reality shows have definitely made TV viewing pleasurable and a looking-forward-to event for viewers around the world. As for me, I’m enjoying every minute of it since local shows have become so boring!