Crazy in Alabama: Family Edition

“Ah ah
Ooh ooh
Ah ah
Ooh ooh
White lights, strange city, mad music all around
Midnight street magic (ah), crazy people crazy sound.”

   (Name that tune!)

For those not familiar with the reality goodness that is “The Amazing Race,” you’re missing out on a terrific series.

That is, until this season. When they added families. And drove around a lot.

And came to Dixie.

[photos and exclusive insider notes from the Huntsville leg on the jump]

I won’t recap the whole show — we’ll let the good folks at TVGasm handle that.

But we’ve known for some time that the remaining teams were coming to Huntsville, aka Rocket City, thanks to this story from July. It’s fairly detailed, considering we’re not supposed to know that much about the legs.

Stupid patriotic homeland edition.

This rocket is actually on blocks …

Still, we love a good mystery. When the teams finished up in Charleston, SC, they had to board one of two charter buses to a “mystery destination.” How bad is our state when you have to trick reality show contestants into hopping a bus to the Deep South? Fear factor, indeed.

(This was a “Race” first. Usually the teams know exactly where they’re going.)

Not to mention their Charleston challenge involved beheading 200 pounds of shrimp in a boat. The name of the task? “Forrest Gump.”

(Movie geek trivia alert: Ten points for the “Race” being close to the filming location, Beaufort, SC. Minus five points for robbing us of the real setting, Bayou La Batre, AL.)

So they didn’t know where they were going, how long they’d be on the bus, or what challenges would await them upon arrival. Luckily, they all handled it like pros.

Except the Weavers, our wacky clan of fatherless wayfarers who lost dear ol’ dad when — I’m not making this up — a race car struck him while he was clearing debris from the Daytona International Speedway in Florida last year.

Are they talking about the Waffle House,
or the actual state of Alabama??

So before they’re even in our fair state, it’s FREAK OUT time. Man, imagine how freaked out this fam would’ve been had they know where they were going? I mean, if the Paolo family is calling you nuts, you’re n-u-t-s nuts.

The grief-stricken Weavers: Worst. Closure. Ever.

They complain on the bus. They despair in the Waffle House bathroom (and, honestly, who among us hasn’t?). They dance and spin in the parking lot sometime around 1 a.m.

Then they reboard the bus to Crazytown– er, Huntsville.

Once there, like the four teams before them, they race around the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, eventually taking a ride in the G-force accelerator. It’s as lame as it sounds, and the footrace to the finish line had zero suspense.

But, as a bonus for our readers, one unnamed production assistant reveals the behind-the-scenes action:

“Actually, they were forced to come in late because of the weather — I think they didn’t want them driving into potential hurricane weather. It was actually pretty mild that night — very little rain.

The first group didn’t get in until about 1 a.m. and the last at about 6 a.m., I think. But after painting the desk dividers blue and reattaching them, I headed back to the hotel to steam and prep the interview background curtains. So I didn’t see any contestants until they came to the hotel for the night.

The Buckbee Hangar sign (my sign!) was apparently too small, because I kept hearing on the walkies, ‘Team 3 has passed the hangar … Team 7 has passed the hangar … Team 1 has just passed the hangar.’

That was pretty funny — everyone kept commenting on that over the walkies.

I guess they could have done some cooler stuff like the space shot ride, but it would have been impossible to light, and how to attach a camera safely to that thing? (Or better yet, a cameraman holding the gear? That I’d like to see.)

They put up a fence thinking there might be a crowd watching, but honestly, who’s gonna come out to the Space and Rocket Center at 3 in the morning when nobody in town knows that ‘The Amazing Race’ is here (or at least they’re not supposed to know)?

I slept in an extra interview room while contestants raced and interviewed, then I went home. Kinda boring, but I did a small part. And all my projects were seen — the desk, the hangar sign, and the curtains — so I was excited.”

Dividers + sign + groovy curtains = late-night munchies.

Good work. Especially on those curtains.

And while the Weavers survived the meltdown, the hash browns (scattered, smothered, covered, chunked and topped) and the mildly challenging fast-walk to the finish mat, can they survive next week at …

(wait for it)

the Talladega Superspeedway?!?

Seriously, it’s in poor taste to send a widow and kids to a racetrack like the one that killed their father — unless it’s for One. Million. Dollars!

Besides, the boy has a right purdy mouth.

Posted: Thursday, October 13, 2005, 9:08 pm, in Bama, Culture.
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