America's race

Amazing Race 10 Teams Announced

IGN.com: Executive Producer Jonathan Littman, Executive Producer/Co-Creator Bertram Van Munster and host Phil Keoghan were on hand today to speak to the press, as the 12 participating teams were unveiled from The Amazing Race 10.

This season includes one of the most diverse cast ever assembled for The Amazing Race, and for a reality program in general, including an Indian-American couple, two Asian brothers, a pair of Islamic friends, and a disabled contestant. The show's creators were very proud of the cast, saying that while they always like to have a cross-section of people, they felt they really lucked out with the exciting group they got this time. ...

Littman noted that the race started harder then ever before, and that they sent the teams "head first into the toughest possible areas," instead of easing them in by sending them to easier environments, as they feel they normally do. Van Munster revealed that China, Mongolia, Vietnam and Kuwait are among the destination this season, and that the language barrier was a frequent problem for both the teams and the producers.

Name: Vipul Patel
Occupation: Sales
Age: 29
Hometown: Windermere, Fla.

Name: Arti Patel
Occupation: Nutritional Educator
Age: 26
Hometown: Windermere, Fla.

Relationship: Married

Vipul and Arti are the first Indian-American team to run the Race. Both speak several languages and are well-traveled. Vipul admits to being a bit overzealous, while Arti takes great pride in her ability to reign in his emotions and focus his strengths - a skill she will undoubtedly be forced to call upon while racing around the world.


Name: Erwin Cho
Occupation: Insurance Company Manager
Age: 32
Hometown: San Francisco, Calif

Name: Godwin Cho
Occupation: Financial Analyst
Age: 29
Hometown: San Francisco, Calif

Relationship: Brothers

These overachieving, super-competitive brothers say they are ready for the adventure of a lifetime. Godwin has grown up in the shadow of his Harvard-educated brother and is eager to show his brother and his family that he has what it takes to win The Amazing Race. This team's love for traveling the world and competing is infectious.


Name: Bilal Abdul-Mani
Occupation: Medical Supply Technician
Age: 37
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio

Name: Sa'eed Rudolph
Occupation: Power Lineman
Age: 39
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio

Relationship: Best Friends

These best friends have spent years bonding over their love of food, Browns football and their shared Islamic faith. Bilal is energetic and outgoing while Sa'eed is quiet and passive. Their vastly different temperaments will be fun to watch as they attempt to navigate over 40,000 miles in under 30 days.

Ah, my favorite show on television gets better. I'm already looking forward to hours of yelling at the tv, moments of stunned silence, lots of laughter and knowing smiles, all hopefully capped off by wild cheering.

This will be, I kid you not, be a historic moment in American television history. The ratings will be through the roof, watching the show will become the impetus for all sorts of great gatherings, and tv executives will put this together with Lost and Grey's Anatomy and conclude: Hmmm, maybe Americans want to see America on television?

Who knows, maybe it'll even push CBS to recast its new 'The Class' show, which apparently is about the class of 1906:

Lisa deMoraes' blog in the Post: "Friends" exec producer David Crane came to Summer TV Press Tour 2006 over the weekend to promote his next all-white ensemble sitcom about a bunch of people living in an urban East Coast setting - this time Philly.

It's called "The Class," it's for CBS, and it's about a group of 20-somethings who have known each other since third grade and who get together for a reunion of sorts.

"Why aren't there any people of color in this show set in 2006?" one critic wanted to know.

"It is something that is unfortunate," Crane said, putting on his Sad Face.

"It happened because when we wrote the script, we wrote it color-blind... and then we auditioned. For six months we saw just a huge range and diversity of actors and at the end of the day these were absolutely the eight actors who were absolutely right for the parts."

Wouldn't you think that, in this day and age, the TV industry talk on the West Side of Los Angeles would have labored long and hard to come up with something fresher than that old line? Crane and gang were using this one back when "Friends" debuted in the mid 90's.

We weren't the only member of the press who found it lame:

"When the word 'color-blind' casting is almost always used, is it possible that color-blind casting isn't working and you need to think about some other way? Because color-blind doesn't seem to do it," one critic cracked

"Having gotten to the end of the process, I would say 'yeah.' If we had it to do over again, I think we wouldn't. I think we would have approached the piece differently," he said, which also sounded suspiciously familiar.

"Is it possible that it has to start in the writing?" the critic continued.

"I'm absolutely agreeing with you. I think whatever we do next -- hopefully we won't have too much opportunity to, because we'll be busy doing this -- but whatever we do next, yeah, I think that is absolutely the case."

And, he promised, we'll see some actual non-white characters in future episodes of the series. Turns out, twins Kat and Lina were adopted by Korean parents, while Nicole's stepdaughter has an African-American mother.

CBS photos of the Patels, Chos and Abdul-Mani and Rudolph (does their description hint that they're in it at the end?!) by Robert Voets via IGN.com. Both articles seen first via angryasianman.com