Race to the Center of the Earth

Groups of annoying people do unrelated things in a show that is a confused collection of video snaps.

And worse, it is filled with fake drama. Example: Voice over - "3km in, Marilina falls behind" - while the video shows her in between the other two cyclists.

You might as well watch people's holiday videos on Youtube.

I enjoy watching this show and how each of the competitors try but I almost have to turn it off each episode due to the taller girl on the South American team and her constant complaining and whining about everything. If I was her teammate I would leave her in the middle of the Equadorian desert and beg the producers to let our two person team go on. How can a person like this be on a show where you know every day you'll be pushing your body to limits and think that your poor teammates don't want to throw your annoying self over a cliff!

While I understand this is shown in several countries, the producers need to remember that many here in America have *no* concept of metric measurements. The teams travel 40 km, or climb up 300m. Huh? We can convert these measurements into decimal, but that takes too much brain power. Why not simply give these measurements in both metric and decimal? Easy to do, for example, "teams travel 40km or how ever many miles" that is. Metric has *zero* meaning to many of us.

While I understand this is shown in several countries, the produers need to remember that many here in Southwest Ethiopia have *no* concept of the English language. The teams walk across a desert, or swim across a river. Huh? We can convert these words into hexadecimal, but that takes too much computing power. Why not simply say everything in English and Ongota? Easy to do, just not so easy that I'll do it myself. English has *zero* meaning to many of us.

Four teams of 3 compete to win $1,000,000 by traversing difficult courses around the globe. You might consider this a combination of "The Amazing Race" and "Running Wild", but here the four teams race on four different courses.

One starts in Siberia and ends at Vladivostok. Another team races across Canada, from Quebec to Vancouver. The third starts in Vietnam and races to Singapore. And the fourth team starts in Argentina, at the southernmost tip of South America, and races westward to the Pacific.

Each team traverses 13 stages, acquiring points based upon how quickly they get to a checkpoint, as compared with times established by experts. It's like playing against par in golf. In the final stage, all four teams race to the same spot for the million dollars, handicapped according to how well they performed over the 13 previous stages.

The teams are made up of amateurs who like adventure and competition. There is no shortage of confidence. But it is clear, even after the first episode, that they will be greatly challenged by weather, topography, team dynamics, and their personal physical limitations. Navigation via GPS can be a challenge in itself.

I usually enjoy ultra challenges like this one. Testing the human spirit can be entertaining and affirming. And there is some beautiful scenery along these courses. Imagine biking along the remote coastline of Lake Baikal, for example.