Amazing Race 15 Off to a Flying Start
A Look at One Fan Community’s Superb Sleuthing Ability
Jul 19, 2009
Can’t wait until the end of September to watch The Amazing Race? Then you’ve come to the right place! An unprecedented amount of information has already been obtained about the fifteenth edition of CBS’s popular reality show, which began on the morning of July 18th, 2009 from an industrial district in Los Angeles. From the starting line to the first destination to some of the teams’ identities, the information is starting to leak thanks to the amazing detective work of dedicated fans at Reality Fan Forum and the flood of posts on Twitter by excited witnesses who saw the teams on the first day of filming.
The Starting Line: Sixth Street Viaduct in Los Angeles
On July 17th, Reality Fan Forum poster ‘caper’ revealed that a group known as WRP [the abbreviation for World Race Productions] would be filming the next day in the vicinity of 6th Street, Santa Fe Avenue, Mesquite Street, Willow Street, and Jesse Street – an industrial area of Los Angeles.
This tip was so promising that another Reality Fan Forum poster, ‘Chateau d If’ decided to investigate, and sure enough, was right in the middle of The Amazing Race! ‘Chateau d If’ was able to take a photo of the teams (whether there are eleven or twelve teams is being debated, based on the photo evidence) at their starting line at the Sixth Street Viaduct. This is the first time that a fan has been able to capture an image of the Race before it has even begun.
The First Leg: Los Angeles to Tokyo
The Internet phenomenon Twitter has also provided a unique opportunity for fans of The Amazing Race to follow the show’s progress in real-time as the teams race around the world. On the afternoon of July 18th – only a few hours after the Race had begun in LA –
a simple search for “Amazing Race” on Twitter revealed numerous posts by excited by-passers who had witnessed teams frantically darting through LAX.
The first to notice the teams was ‘Dr_Emperor’ who tweeted, “[J]ust saw the [A]mazing [R]ace people run through [LAX]. [W]hat's amazing is them not having to wait in line.”
An hour later, ‘dslaybaugh’ followed suit, noting that he was “here [at] LAX [and] a couple from the show ‘Amazing Race’ came rushing to the [American Airlines] counter. Cameras [and] all.” The next hour, ‘blakestuerman’ observed that “The Amazing Race is filming right in front of [him] at LAX right now.”
‘Roflitsmel’ also wondered whether what she was witnessing at LAX was The Amazing Race: “Um, I think they might be filming [T]he [A]mazing [R]ace at my gate?” She was also the first to unknowingly provide a clue to Reality Fan Forum posters as to where the teams were heading. An earlier Twitter post by ‘roflitsmel’ indicated that she was heading to London, so a quick search on LAX’s Web site by RFF posters turned up all the destinations that were loading by the London gate. Among them, Tokyo, Japan.
Soon afterwards, ‘roflitsmel’ observed this herself when she tweeted that “The [A]mazing [R]ace teams are leaving LAX going to either [T]okyo or [B]angkok... the flight is stopping in both cities [I] think.” ‘Dslaybaugh’ returned twice more to update that “It seems that the Amazing Race teams [are] on our flight to Japan. How fun!” and later, “Made it to Japan. Amazing Race ran off the plane!”
‘Gvelita’ (who apparently works for United Airlines, based on her previous Twitter posts) tweeted that she “[j]ust boarded the Amazing Race to Tokyo.” This was the final piece of information that allowed fans to determine which flights the Amazing Race teams would be traveling on: American Airlines 169 and United Airlines 891, both heading from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Japan.
If this frantic Twitter activity continues, as it is expected to, over the next few weeks, then fans should know all of the race’s destinations and even the order that the teams are eliminated all before the show even finishes filming!
Amazing Race 15 Racers: Who are They?
Based on what is known about the teams so far, at least two of them have already had their fifteen minutes of fame: professional poker players/friends Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, both of Los Angeles and Harlem Globetrotters players/friends Nate “Big Easy” Lofton and Herbert “Flight Time” Lang.
While the identities of the other teams are currently unknown, early photos snapped at LAX indicate that, as expected, there is an older couple, a bunch of young dating couples, and young athletic male friends. One Twitter user (bob_bixby) who apparently sat next to one of the teams on their way to Tokyo posted that they are a young lesbian couple who perform in a Las Vegas circus show as synchronized swimmers. Update: This is currently being debated.
The identities of all the racers are expected to be officially unveiled by CBS sometime next month.
The Amazing Race 15 kicks off on Sunday, September 27th, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. EST with a special two-hour premiere on CBS.
UPDATE 8/1/2009: For more information on the progress of the Race, please see "Amazing Race 15: Half-Over, Half-Spoiled."
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