Reality TV - I swore I would never get hooked

I must admit that I despise most "reality" television. I never got into Survivor. I hate all those Batchelor and Batchelorette shows, as I find them completely inane. I have to admit that I watched the first season of The Apprentice but lost interest in season two. I must be one of the very few folks left watching The Apprentice - Martha Stewart but it's not a great show.

But I've got to admit to y'all that I am totally hooked on The Amazing Race. I haven't missed an episode since the third season, although I've found that this season's family edition left a lot to be desired. I understand that they felt the need to stay in North America because of the logistics of hauling teams of four around the world, especially since there were little kids on a couple of the teams. So this has been the most disappointing season to date. But I just saw the promo for the new season beginning in February and we're back to teams of two traveling the world. Yay!

It was hard for me to pick a favorite team this season, as so many of them were likable. I mostly cheered the team of sisters on until they lost last week. Tonight I didn't care if the Linzes or the Bransens won just as long as those nasty Weavers didn't. Every season there is at least one snarky team and the Weavers didn't disappoint in that respect. They always cried "unfair" and "they're picking on us" when in reality they were trashing the other teams behind their backs. I guess it makes for good tv but I was glad that they didn't win. I love that the winners of that race are always a team that worked hard and didn't stoop to the level of the worst teams to get to the finish line.

So tonight I'm sending congratulations to the Linz family - three brothers and their younger sister - who worked their butts off and went home with the $1 million prize. Kudos, guys!